The 19th century saw a resurgence in Italian fencing, starting with Rosaroll-Scorza & Grisetti's "Science of Fencing" with the smarra. Here's a select look at a few fun actions from their fencing manual.
The yielding glide is a relatively unknown and underutilized fencing action. This paper will go over the use of the yielding glide in historical fencing manuals from the 17th century rapier through the dueling sword and foil of the 19th century classical fencing manuals.
Just how much armor protection does a wool cloak give you against a sharp rapier in a duel? I ran a little experiment (and a bunch of historical research) to find out.
The passata sotto has gone by many names of the centuries and have taken on various forms. In this blog post & video, we look at six variations of the low void.
Looking for an alternative action to the disengagement? Give the yielding glide a try. Full, free sample lesson.
Fresh off my return from Sonoma, I'm happy to announce I passed my instructor-level test at SSU's Fencing Master Certificate Program and am now an Instructor at Arms in Italian foil.
I recently went back to Paris to celebrate my 40th birthday. While there, I swung by the Salle d’Armes Coudurier, the oldest fencing salle in the city, for a few nights of traditional French fencing.
At RASP 2023, I took a fantastic lesson with Maestro David Coblentz on Francesco Antonio Marcelli's rapier & dagger. Marcelli was a Southern Italian (Neapolitan) fencing master in the latter-half of the 17th Century.
To cap off Cloaktober, we do a quick comparison of Alfieri's and Fabris's sword & cloak guards.
Welcome to Cloaktober! Let's examine the basic guards & postures in rapier & cloak, as described by Alfieri.
