19th Century fencing exhibitions/competitions/grand assaults

[Elena Cerrolaza]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to your site and hope that someone will be able to guide my search for information. If the topic has already been discussed, I would appreciate being redirected to the relevant forums.

I am interested in how fencing competitions were conducted before the regulations we use today were developed. From the accounts that I have come across, I have not been able to figure out if there was a consistent way of judging fencing competitions / exhibitions / grand assaults, etc. I do often get the general impression that for a large part of the 19th century, the “exhibition” aspect of fencing was equally if not more important than the more competitive side, that the style of fencing and the gentlemanly manners of the fencer were just as important as scoring hits. Is this a misconception on my part? I have read several accounts of public exhibitions where championship medals were awarded, but these reports make no mention of scoring that would have determined the winner. Were bouts timed and scored in some way or was the winner based on a general appreciation of his performance? Are there any 19th century (or earlier) documents that deal specifically with the judging of competitions? When did formalities such as the salute actually develop?

Thanks for any insights into this topic.

Elena C

[Stacy Clifford]

The 19th century is later than the period we focus on, but of course the roots of competition extend well back into our area. Here are a few of our articles that cover arranged contests in the Renaissance:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/Pinder.htm
http://www.thearma.org/essays/BridgeWars.htm
http://www.thearma.org/essays/Lalaing.htm

They don't cover the judging directly, but some standards can be inferred from the articles. Please note that we prefer everyone here to use their full first and last name.

[Elena Cerrolaza]

Hello Stacy,

I’m aware that the main focus of ARMA is the period of the Middle Ages and Renaissance - I’ve used your site before to explore other subjects and found its information very helpful. Since the Reading and Research section includes a link to a list of 18th and 19th century sources, and the online manuals include a couple of Alfred Hutton’s works, I hoped that someone might have extended their research a little and come across the specific material that interests me.

Thank you for the links to the articles. They were very interesting reading and you’ve provided me with some new avenues to explore.

[Stacy Clifford]

Well there are a number of posters on this forum whose interests extend into the later eras you're researching, so you may yet get some answers, but you may need to be patient as it may take the right people a while to find this thread. John Clements also has a lot of later fencing references that may be useful to you, but he's not active on the forum so you'd have to email him using the address in the page footer. I'm glad you've found the site useful, we just like to be clear about our focus with first-time posters since we don't know how long you've been lurking.

[John Trojanowski]

From the accounts that I have come across, I have not been able to figure out if there was a consistent way of judging fencing competitions / exhibitions / grand assaults, etc.

The short answer is that there was not a uniform, consistent, same from nation to nation (or even region to region) method of judging, or even organizing exhibitions, assaults etc.

Simply put, before the regular international competitive venue (i.e. The Olympics) there was no burning need for such uniformity.

The sort of homogenization of fencing regulations we see today is an outgrowth of the international olympic movement. It took many decades, more than a few protests and walk-offs and at least a duel or two to get there. Once there was a regular, re-occurring international competitive event, it was of paramount importance that the athletes of all participating nations adopt uniform regulations and tournament formats, lest their athletes find themselves at a serious disadvantage at least once every four years.

Of course, today, there is an annual world fencing championship every 3 out of 4 years, in addition to the olympics every four years. Praise it or damn it, much of what modern fencing is today is directly attributable to the Olympic Games.