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Page name: Fencing [Logged in view] [RSS]
2008-04-20 17:46:48
Last author: Maeve104
Owner: darkscribe
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Fencing




Taught by: [Maeve104]


In these pages I will try and share my knowledge of swordplay. Swords come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the principles of attack and defence are the same.

Apart from being interesting, I hope these pages will add to peoples' vocab for role-play. Why say "...he swiped with this sword..." when you can say "...having parried the orc's thrust, he made his disengaged riposte to his attacker's carte"?


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The Salle


"Salle" is the generic name for a room or hall used for teaching fencing.  Think of it as the classroom.  A modern-day salle could be anything from a gymnasium with monkey-bars, to an oak-panneled lounge with candles and a side-board.

For a more advanced look at fencing visit The Art Of True Defence.

Recent Updates:
Lesson One is completed and ready for review and discussion!
Lesson Two is completed and ready for review and discussion!
Lesson Three is completed and ready for review and discussion!


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Fencing Glossary of Terms

Work in progress: Fencing Vocabulary

For everyone who might be wondering what a "balestra" is.


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Back to Fencing and Martial Studies or the Elftown Academy


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2003-04-04 [Naruko]: kwel~~i need more vocab in the empty space up there

2003-04-05 [Angel Dreamer]: he made his what to his attacker's what?

2003-04-05 [darkscribe]: ha ha, thats why you should that the class.  "...he blocked the orc's blade, then stabbed back, twisting his point underneath the orc's block and hitting him in his right flank"

2003-04-05 [Naruko]: whooa...heh the prob is tha tnot every1's gonna understand it

2003-04-05 [darkscribe]: thats why you should go INTO that salle.....

2003-04-05 [Mirime]: Ohh I see you have to click the link...

2003-05-05 [brokenman5000]: hiyah! wahhh!

2003-06-25 [J077]: "stab"

2003-07-03 [Adali]: I have to say, your above example (way at the top), seems rather elegant for a sword. If you were describing an elegant courtier with a rapier, okay. But a guy fighting an orc with a sword? No. You don't parry, or thrust when you're fighting a big dummy with a big sword. You hack, slash, and do all manner of slow, inelegant things that cause lots of damage. Just thought I'd point that out. Besides, isn't it more likely that a noble (or educated person) would say 'riposte' and so forth and your stock peasant would say 'swung' and sundry other crude words?

2003-07-04 [RainbowDreams]: hmm... good point... this seems like fun!

2003-07-04 [darkscribe]: Of course [Adali], I bow to your superior knowledge and expertise.  Perhaps you would like to take the class yourself?  "You don't parry, or thrust when you're fighting a big dummy with a big sword" - hmm, it seems quite obvious that you don't know what a real parry is.  If you "do all manner of slow, inelegant things" then you are using the same bethods as the opponent that you are fighting, and in this case, would surely get yourself killed.  Mind you, I've only got 7 years experieance, I dare say your're right.  Hail to [Adali] the blademaster!

2003-08-08 [darkscribe]: Sorry, Adali, you're wrong, and if you want to join up, perhaps we can talk?

2003-12-12 [Athene Noctua]: Recently added Fencing Vocabulary...wondering what "export" is, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

2004-03-29 [Lireal]: Can I become a student???

2004-03-29 [Athene Noctua]: Well, I'm not the actual professor, but you can ask questions and I can try to answer them. :)

2004-03-30 [windowframe]: :x

2004-04-28 [Lachametar]: I can help out as well - I'm a fencer and marshal.

2004-10-25 [Erestor]: As stand in professor could anyone contact me to teach on this page?

2005-04-28 [Eggs Maledict]: I'm more than happy to help out somewhat if help is still needed...and I strongly disagree with Adali, since the best way to beat an orc is skill, not strength

2005-08-24 [jakehead]: hmmm a bit quiet isn't it?

2007-07-01 [Maeve104]: Ok! I'm going to make some changes and hopefully renew some interest in the class. *rubs hands together in preparation for lotsa work* Anyone who wants to help can! Just make sure you know the subject. Thanks bunches! :D

2007-07-02 [Dumnorix]: I'd like to offer an iniciative of systematic nomenclature, so that we may understand eachother better. It so happens that, oftentimes, there are as many ways of calling and spelling thrusts and their parades as their are coaches, and things can get a bit confusing.

I offer, as this is a modern, actual approach to fencing, that we employ the system and nomenclature suggested by CORDELOIS in 1860. He simplifies the number of parries by eliminating pronation, and they all receive the modern names which they have today.

Therefore, in a CORRECT vs. INCORRECT basis, we would have

QUARTE > CARTE
TIERCE > THIRD, THREE, &c.
SECONDE > SECOND
&c...
Parade: The stance. Parry: The action.

We could also eliminate the superfluous "sixte", which is a very novel term, simply calling "tierce" the high-outside, as is traditional, only with a (as always, in modern fencing) supinated hand.

What do you chaps think?

2008-01-09 [Imperator]: Question: Somewhere in here I saw that you are supposed to meet an enemy's sword tip with the base of your own to counter the attack. Why is that? Wouldn't you be making yourself more vulnerable for another attack?

2008-01-09 [Maeve104]: The base of the sword, nearest to your hand, is the easiest part to control as well as the strongest. It's easier to push someone's sword tip out of the way with the base, and if you do it right you can push the tip of their sword away from you, then slide your sword along theirs straight into their arm/torso. ;)

2008-01-09 [Dumnorix]: Basically, the base of the sword is known as the fort, which in French means "strong". The half more towards the tip is known as the foible, which in old French means "weak". It's a question of leverage, which you can figure out for yourself: you exert more strength on the blade the nearer it is to your hand, whereas, the further it is, the less strength you can give it. Therefore, if your two swords are "wrestling", your "fort" will beat his "foible"... and it's not a slight margin, I can assure you. Even a weak person can easily deflect a much stronger person's thrust by parrying fort to foible.
Then, through this opposition of strong to weak, you can, for instance, attempt to bind his blade in what is called a "prise de fer" (litteraly, "taking of iron" in French) and attack while simultaneously keeping his steel at bay.

P.S: I just remembered, Sir Alfred Hutton proved that, by parrying fort to foible, a normal fencing foil, weighing about just under a pound, can effortlessly deflect a thrust from a British army rifle and bayonet, the whole weighing 15 pounds.

2008-01-10 [Imperator]: How interesting, thanks to the both of you! :-)

And [Maeve104], where are the new lessons you made?

2008-01-10 [Maeve104]: The new lessons are in the Main Salle. Click on Salle and then Main Salle and you'll see the list of lessons. Hm...maybe I should make them easier to find. >_O

2008-01-10 [Imperator]: If I were you I would get rid of the Salle page and put your lessons right here on this main page.

2008-01-11 [Maeve104]: Hm. Good idea, though it'll have to wait a few days-I'm packing up to go back to college! XD

2008-01-12 [Imperator]: Cool! What are you studying?

2008-01-13 [Maeve104]: Aerospace engineering. :) Tis soooo awesome. :D

2008-01-13 [Imperator]: Whoa! That is awesome! Going to NASA? :P

2008-01-13 [Maeve104]: Hopefully! :)

2008-01-13 [Imperator]: So what type of Aerospace engineering specifically? Or does it get more specific? lol, I don't know how this works...

2008-01-13 [Maeve104]: I'm sure once I get to a career it'll be more specific, but right now I'm just studying basic Aerospace. Fluid flow and dynamics classes this semester-should be interesting. (And hopefully not too brain-crushing. >_<)

2008-01-13 [Imperator]: Ooooooooooo. So what do you hope to do? Design rockets? The next Moon lander? The Death Star? :p

2008-01-14 [Maeve104]: hehe. Well, hopefully not the Death Star. But yeah, it'd be awesome to work on missions to other planets/moons. I'd really like to be on a team for future Europa missions. Right now they don't have any way to sample the ice to see if there's any life in it so maybe they'll need a team to design that? :D Any project would be really cool though. I love space exploration.

2008-01-14 [Imperator]: I've heard that they're considering a submarine type thing that will use nuclear fuel to melt through the ice and then explore the supposed under ice oceans.

The U.S. should put billions more into the space program. I mean, look at what NASA is doing with its meager budget! If that was tripled we would be on the moon by then of this decade! Quite frankly, I want to see Star Wars technology in space before I die. :p

2008-04-15 [Imperator]: I see you haven't put your lessons on this page where they can actually be found or removed the old RPing pages. When do you plan on doing this? It's been over three months since you asked for a few days to do it...

2008-04-16 [Maeve104]: I'm sorry. I've been pretty overwhelmed with college recently. I know I've got to make some changes to the pages. >.< Quite frankly I'd forgotten completely about it until you said something. O_<

2008-04-16 [Imperator]: Ah, much better. :-) *gasp* How could you forget the ETA? You act like it's some internet page that never gets visited... :P

2008-04-17 [Maeve104]: hehe. Well, I've been busy with learning about beam stresses and Laplace transforms. >_< Eek! That'll put updating internet pages to the back of your mind any day. lol.

2008-04-19 [Imperator]: Uh... I don't think I'll ask...

2008-04-19 [Maeve104]: Don't! O_O Run awaaaaaaay! I'm done with most of my exams though, so hopefully I'll be on more this week.

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