Greetings and welcome.

I am ____________________ of the Kansas

Duelling Society. We are an educational, non-profit

organization, whose mission is to educate people about life in

the Renaissance, specifically concerning the art of the duel.

We fight in styles that are as close to an actual duel as you will

see. The moves are not choreographed, not “pulled” and, if our

weapons were sharp, would be at least very painful, and most

likely lethal. We will be showing you daring exploits and fighting

styles of various types today, as we tell you about the ways that

fighting with swords has come down to us today. Please

remember we are highly trained and use safety equipment, so

don’t try this at home.

The Duel has been around since at least 4000BC.

The oldest recorded history of dueling dates to the early

Egyptians, where hieroglyphics have been found that show two

men squaring off with swords while others look on.

The Greeks carried on the tradition, the Spartans being the most

well known example. Sparta was a city that devoted itself to the

cult of the warrior.

The most famous story of the Greeks and dueling concerns no

less a person than Helen of Troy. Homer speaks of this in the

Iliad. Paris and Menelaus are to fight for the possession of Helen,

and both armies solemnly swear to recognize the outcome of the

duel as the will of the Gods. Hector and Odysseus, as “impartial

persons,” clear the fighting space and draw lots to determine

who is to have the first spear-throw. These two serve the familiar

place as seconds for the duel. More on trial by combat in a

minute.

The Romans carried this on with the Circuses in the Coliseum.

Many thousands died at each other’s hands, all for the pleasure

of those who looked on. Those of us who are about to die, we

salute you. (Laugh)

Other cultures also dueled. The Japanese are probably the most

famous example of this. Japan’s most famous swordsman was

Miromoto Musashi, who wrote A Book of Five Rings. This book,

written in 1645, is probably the best known work on the art of

fighting with the sword. “To know one thing is to know ten

thousand things…” is one of his sayings, and another is, “If you

master the principles of sword-fencing, when you freely beat one

man, you beat any man in the world. The spirit of defeating a man

is the same as for ten million men.” The Japanese warrior had 9

basic rules that he should follow to become trained in the Way of

Strategy.
The emergence of the personal duel of satisfaction grew from the

duel of chivalry, which in turn came from the trial by combat.

The renaissance duel originated a thousand years before in

Burgundy. The Burgundians had the novel concept of trial by

combat. The earliest officially recorded trial by combat (not

counting Homers stories) was in 510 AD. The theory behind this

“trial by battle” was not that justice would always prevail, but

rather that anyone slain while defending a just cause would be

blessed in Heaven, while anyone defending an unjust cause

would be rewarded in an opposite manner. Out of this custom

rose the duels of chivalry: the meeting of two knights to contest

a point of law.

(have 2 fighters out, along with either clergy dressed or courtly

looking officiate the duel and make up some horrendous crime

like “mopery with intent to creep” or some such, then duel in trial

by battle)

Eventually, this notion did die off, whether due to changes in the

art of warfare, or because the church criticized and disapproved,

probably both. Anyway, by the middle of the fifteenth century,

was gone completely. This was at the beginning of the

Renaissance.
How did technology play a part? From the 7th century until the

13th century, specifically 1253, and beyond, until the middle

1400’s, there was an arms race in Europe, wherein armor got

heavier, so swords got heavier, so armor got heavier, so swords

got heavier, until you ended up with the fully armored knight

wearing 65 pounds of plate steel and trying not to get knocked

over on the field of battle. Granted, most who wore that much

armor were mounted heavy cavalry, but they would occasionally

fight from the ground. 30 to 40 pound armor was not uncommon,

even amongst the regular fighters.

(have fighter with heavy blade go thru a few moves with blade)

What happened in 1253 was simple. The Great Equalizer (draw

flintlock)! Suddenly the lowliest foot soldier armed with an

harquebus, could knock a knight wearing 65 pounds of heavy

plate armor off his horse. The harquebus is an earlier firearm

than this pistol, which is from the 18th century. So, the question

you might be asking is, well, since they had firearms, why did

they need swords at all? Up to this point, for the last 400 years or

so, the sword developed into a bludgeoning weapon, weighing up

to 7 or 8 pounds, made to soften up the soft human egg inside its

steel shell. Suddenly, we peel the shell off, because it’s obsolete.

The firearm makes wearing the armor useless. BUT! The firearm

does have a couple of disadvantages at this point. It is of very

low reliability and has an extremely low cycle rate of fire.

These problems with the firearm kept the development of the

sword and armor going for another 150 years and more.

(make sure pistol is unloaded, take pistol in hand and continue)

Anyone ever hear of the Musketeers? Did you ever wonder why

they were such good swordsmen? They were the most advanced

fighting force in the world at that time. They had wheel locks and

flintlocks, but even the best flintlock marksman could only get

off a shot about once every 20 seconds. In order to fire this

pistol, you have to load a pretty close to precise amount of

powder, pack it, put a wadding in, pack it, put a ball in, pack it,

and put a final wadding in, then pack it down. THEN, you have to

flip up the flashpan cover, pour in another metered amount of

powder into the flashpan, close it, pull back the hammer and fire.

(Point the gun at one of the fencers and pull the trigger. Of

course nothing happens) Why didn’t it go off? The powder may

have been wet, or your flint may have come out of adjustment, or

the flash hole may be plugged, or the timing may be off on the

pistol, or it may be burning and go off in a minute or so, so don’t

look down the barrel just yet! Like I said, reliability was not a

strong point.
So, now you can see why the Musketeers became such good

swordsmen. They could fire their weapon off once, then close

and fight in close quarters with swords, giving some of their men

time to reload if needed.

The Musketeers lived at a point in time when the modern duel

hadn’t quite been as developed and codified as later. At this

point, the judicial duel had gone away, but the classical 1 on 1

duel we think of today hadn’t yet arrived. Generally, you would

have at least 2 men on a side, more likely 3 or 4, and they would

meet each other at a time and location agreed to, and fight it out.

This was very much against the laws of the land at the time, but

the penalties were so harsh as to be unbelievable. Besides, the

duelists often would include members of the Musketeers (who

were, after all, the Kings personal bodyguards).

These duels would often be fought for what we would consider to

be very silly reasons, or rather, no reason at all that we can see.

(2 on 2 melee duel, make sure to give some insult, but remember

the audience)

In a very real, but ironic sense, the firearm made for

swordsmanship as art! Since the nobility could no longer hide

behind plate armor up to ¼” thick, they began to learn how to

fight with their swords. And fight they did.

The Renaissance was an era of great change and

experimentation, and the area of sword making was no

exception. The rapier we think of today is a fairly late design,

coming to us from the French and Italians circa 1650. Prior to

this, the blades were thicker, heavier, more made for cut and

thrust, as opposed to simple thrusting weapons. Advances in

steel technology made this possible, as did changes in fighting

style.

The steel used in making a modern sword is a far cry from what

they made 500 years ago. Today with all of the near alchemic

designations of AUS-8 and 440C or 420B or even some of the

more exotics such as ceramics, the carbon steel that they used

then seems very plain. However, most of the blades we use are

still made of carbon steel. Why? Well, the short answer is that

they are period! Seriously, the ceramics and stainless steels in

use today are great for holding an edge, and staying shiny and

rust free, but the trade off for holding an edge is loss of

flexibility, hence why so many types of steel used by sword and

knife makers. Carbon steel gives way better and flexes nicely for

our use, so it is desirable. The downside is that you have to

maintain it or it turns ugly with rust.

What we are showing you today are many of the different fighting
styles and forms that you would have seen, had you witnessed

dueling on the streets of London, Paris, or Florence. We do use

some different equipment for our simulation, for the sake of

safety. Our blades are of modern design, in period type rigs. The

blades we use are from the modern collegiate fencing sport: the

foil, epee and saber.

(foil fighters enter and engage)

The foil is the modern equivalent of the training blade that

originated in the fencing schools of Italy and France in the late

15th Century. The term foil comes from “foiling” the blade; that is,

making it so that it won’t cut. They would take a regular sword,

grind off the edge, weld a steel ball on the tip and that would be

their “foil” or practice sword.

This blade gradually developed into the modern fencing foil by

the middle of the 19th century. The modern foil is very light, very

flexible, and a good training weapon for a beginner.

(foil fighters step off, epee fighters enter and engage)

The epee originated in Italy in the early 16th century. It has a

triangular cross section, which is very strong for punching holes

in armor and for opening up links in chain mail, and is also strong
enough to be sharpened up along its tip and be able to block

much heavier rapiers with little problem. Generally, though, it

was used as a poking weapon, as it was strongest longitudinally

or along its length. The epee grew up into the small sword of the

late 18th and early 19th centuries. The sword that was used by

duelists all throughout this period were small swords, which is, in

effect, a fighting epee. The modern epee is a lightened blunted

version of this. It is heavier than a foil, but moves with almost as

much speed.

(epee fighters step off, saber fighters enter and engage)

The Saber is developed from the calvary sabers of old. The

modern fencing saber is much much lighter and has an extremely

flexible blade. This is so that the fighter is not injured when

dueling. The movements of this weapon are more hack and slash

as well as point pokes. Thus we use it to simulate cutlasses and

sabers of old.

(saber fighters step off, dagger fighters enter and engage)

We use specialty daggers when we fight. This is a poinard, which

has no cross guard, like this real dagger. Both were used

extensively throughout the period, and some of our other people

have daggers with cross guards. The poinard is handy because it

can be used offensively as quickly as a regular long blade when

fighting in the Florentine style. The normal main gauche, or left

hand dagger, has a crossguard and some form of hand protector

on it, to keep the heavier rapier from sliding up the blade and

cutting the hand holding the blocking weapon.

(Dagger fighters step off, schlaeger fighters enter and engage)

The schlaeger is a heavy weapon that comes from Germany. It is

the closest thing to a real rapier we carry out here today. An hour

on a sharpening wheel, a little grinding and you have a real

rapier. This blade is used for modern schlager fighting, or

mensur. The German style is to have the two opponents stand at

arms length away from each other, and strike at each others

head, while only wearing minimal eye protection. If you step back

you are done. The term Heidelberg dueling scars comes from

this. This style makes you wonder about the Germans.

For our use, though, it is used as a rapier, and it handles almost

exactly like the real thing.

(Schlager fighters step off, kendo fighters enter and engage)

Our last major weapon system is the shanai, or kendo sword. It is

a multiple piece bamboo weapon that is formed like a sword. It

handles just like a katana, and so we use it to simulate the

Japanese form of the duel. The Japanese developed the bushido

or warrior class into one of the best fighting forces ever seen.

Their effective use on the battlefield was the rival of their

European contemporaries. The largest land war of the 17th

century was not fought in Europe, but rather Japan, with over a

hundred thousand combatants involved over the line of

succession to the Shogunate. The Japanese also used

gunpowder in battle, more as cannon, some large harquebus

weapons and the like, but tended not to use them once enemy

formations closed ranks.

(shanai fighters step off, duelists step on and challenge, then

insult and then engage. Make sure to vary weaponry quite a bit)

Honor in the 16th century was nothing to be trifled with. The use

of the duel to settle disputes grew so fast in favor that by the end

of the 16th century, 30,000 nobles had died in disputes of honor in

France alone. It was so serious a situation that Queen Elizabeth

of England, and other monarchs attempted to outlaw the duel.

Does anyone here know what swashbuckling means?

Let me explain where it came from.

(Sword and buckler fighters step on and engage)

So, here we are in 1590, and I have a dispute with you. I cannot

send my second to you directly to challenge you to a duel, as we

both could be thrown into jail for disobeying the writ of the

Queen. I still have to challenge you, for you have offended me.

What do I do? I wait until some time when you are at home and I

stand out in front of your house with my buckler (hold it up) and

my sword, and I strike my sword on my buckler like this (smack it

loudly) and “Swash” my “Buckler”, hence the term swashbuckler.

Now if I were to keep this up for 20 or 30 minutes, you’ll get

annoyed enough to come down here and make me stop, so then

we could fight our little duel.

Mastery of defense didn’t just come from ruffians (even if

nobility) fighting it out in the streets. The Masters of Defense in

London held the various instructors and swordsmen to a high

standard by “Playing the Prize”. There were several levels

recognized by the Masters: Scholars, absolute beginners on

probation, and did not yet rank as members, Free Scholars, the

junior grade, then Provosts or Assistant Master, and finally,

Masters. The governing body, known as “The Four Ancient

Masters of of the Science of Defense,” was chosen from among

the Masters. To become a Free Scholar (and a member), a

scholar had to pass an examination, usually at a school run by

one of the Masters, but at any rate under a Masters direction.

This consisted of bouts with various weapons, in which he had to

encounter a given number of young men who had already passed

that ordeal. Beating all comers was not necessarily needed, but

it helped. After seven years, a Free Scholar could apply to be a

Provost, and would have to face a certain number (decided on by

the examiners) and fight with three different styles of weapons.

This would be arranged in advance to allow any who would want

to come to be able to arrive in London. This would normally

happen in a public place, such as a tavern or other place of

amusement, the most popular of which were the “Bull” at

Bishopsgate, the “Bellsavage” at Ludgate, the “Theater” and the

“Curtain” in Holywell. To become a Master was somewhat the

same, and after the same amount of time again. The call out for a

Master, though, was to all Masters and having to face all comers.

The Provost wishing to become master set the call out to any

Masters living within 40 miles and give 8 weeks notice for this.

Then, on the day, he had to play his prize with all of the following

weapons, 2 handed sword, bastard sword, the pike, the

backsword, and the rapier and dagger. Also, the staff , sword

and buckler, long sword, and others were also played.

I stand today ready to play the prize for you. I will take on each of

my opponents with a different weapon system. (face off and fight,

explaining each system as you go)

As the 18th century drew through, the modern duel as we think of

it came more into play. Wherein, a gentleman would challenge

another, and they would find some secluded spot to work out

their differences.

The weapon of choice throughout the later part of the 18th

century and into the 19th was the sidesword. This weapon is

basically a stiffer sharpened epee.

Always remember that we are highly trained and use safety

equipment when doing this, so do not try this at home!

Thank you again for watching today, I hope we’ve been

entertaining and that you’ve learned something. If you have any

questions, we will be here between performances, and would be

glad to answer them for you. Good Morrow to you all.

-------------------

The following are people/styles I am adding to this to give a more

rounded (and accurate) description of where the art came from.

Agrippa:

Di Grassi:

Giganti:
Marrozo:

Cappo Ferro:

Pallas Armata: 1630’s 1st English language Italian style fighting

manual

Destreza: Spanish style, “parry” with your feet i.e. move out of

the way

George Silver: English fighting manual, 1599, how to defeat

Italian style rapier fencing with a sturdy backsword and buckler

Hans Tolhofer: 15th Century German text on all forms of fighting,

including open hand, daggers, shields, and swords.