Sources
So, what is the material basis for recreating European swordplay? What evidence exists to allow us to fence in the same style as our ancestors and, perhaps most importantly, how do you get hold of this evidence? Let's have a quick look at the recorded history of western swordplay before coming back to that question of what is out there for you to make use of. Most books about fencing follow Egerton Castle’s lead in stating that medieval swordplay was rough and untutored and that the first true fencing master to leave us a manual was Achille Marozzo who published his Opera Nova in 1536. This is extremely curious, because Marozzo was neither the first master to publish a manual, nor the originator of a new school. In fact another member of the Bardi School, Antonio Manciolino had published a treatise five years before his fellow student Marozzo.
The history of fencing starts with Manuscript I.33, an anonymous South German manual of sword and buckler play from the late 13th century. Ms. I.33 shows us that sophisticated forms of sword use existed much earlier than authors like Castle would have us believe. At this early stage there are already some things we would not expect, like a strong emphasis on the use of the point, sophisticated footwork and an understanding of fencing line. Around the same time we have the first named fencing teachers appearing in, mainly legal documents. Men like Roger le Skirmisour who was charged in 1310 or 1311 with keeping a school of arms and “drawing young people together, to the wasting of their property and the injury of their characters”. Roger was jailed. Whether the mention of fencers and fencing teachers for the first time, around 1300, indicates that they arose at this time, or whether their absence in earlier material is simply a product of the scarcity of documents of any kind, is not known. We favour the latter interpretation because hints of sophisticated fighting systems appear throughout European art and literature, from the Iliad on.
The continuous record of European swordplay begins with Johannes Liechtenauer. Liechtenauer wrote down his teachings in a set of cryptic verses which only survive in the manuals written by his students. The first of these treatises was published in 1389 by Hanko Doebringer. Most common medieval weapons were taught in the Liechtenauer system. His style emphasised gaining and keeping the initiative and hence favoured the attack over the defence. Throughout the 15th and early 16th centuries a succession of German fencing masters wrote a succession of treatises based on the principles laid down by Liechtenauer. This continued up until about 1550 when the rapier slowly began to supersede the older styles and entirely replaced them by about 1620.
The earliest extant Italian fencing manual appears to be Fiore de Libri’s Flos Duellatorum, the Flower of Battle from 1410. Three versions of Fiore’s manuscript exist. The treatise describes a comprehensive system. Whereas the German system was based around the principles of longsword play, Fiore based his system around wrestling, discussing wrestling, dagger, sword, longsword and many other weapons.
In the 16th century, Italian Masters like Manciolino (1531) and Marozzo (1536) taught a relatively new weapon, the Spada da Filo (edge sword) or Spada da Lato (sidesword). This was a civilian sidearm, designed to be used for thrusting and for less immediately lethal cuts than a medieval arming sword. These weapons were called rapiers by the English and Germans and were the precursors of the Spada a Striscia, the almost pure thrusting rapier of the 17th century and taught by Masters like Fabris (1606) and Capo Ferro (1610). Meanwhile, Spanish Masters like Carrança (1569) and Narvaez (1600) taught a separate Spanish rapier style.
At Stoccata we focus primarily, but not exclusively on English sources. Our core syllabus is English shortsword (a double edged, basket hilted military sword that was actually quite long) according to the teachings of George Silver (1599 and c.1605) and rapier according to Vincentio Saviolo (1595) and Pallas Armata (1639). A gentleman enthusiast, Silver’s style is essentially medieval in nature. Saviolo is arguably the first true rapier master and teaches a style which combines Italian sidesword with the Spanish system of La Verdadera Destreza. Pallas Armata, written by the semi-anonymous G.A. is much more mainstream Italian, but with an English twist.
Other systems that we teach include sword and buckler according to I.33 (c. 1300), large shield according to Talhoffer (1467), Sidesword according to Camillo Agrippa (1553) and Giacomo Di Grassi (1570 and 1594), German longsword according to Sigmund Ringeck (c.1440), English rapier according to Joseph Swetnam (1617) and quarterstaff according to Silver and Swetnam.
Following are listed some of the sources we have found useful in our study of historical western sword arts prior to 1650.