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The Corporation of the Master in Deeds of Arms of Paris was founded under the auspices of Charles IX in 1567 and, for the next 225 years, it regulated the conduct and teaching of fencing in Paris until its demise in the French Revolution. The Corporation included many of the most celebrated names of the French fencing world such as Pompée, Cavalcabo, Saint-Ange, de la Touche, le Perche, Liancour, De Brye, Danet, Boëssière, and many others. Henri Daressy, whose father and grandfather were also famous fencing teachers, collected the Corporation's scattered documents over a thirty-year period. His Les Archives des Maîtres d'Armes de Paris (1888) presents these documents which outline the changing the rules and regulations of the Corporation and detail some of its legal battles with unlicensed fencing teachers. He includes a number of brief portraits of famous members of the organisation.

The Fencing Manual 1877 is at once the last of the practical military manuals of swordsmanship and the first of the handbooks of sports fencing. Teaching the swordsmanship is describes was made compulsory for all arms in 1877 and it was in continual use for thirty years until its replacement, a thoroughly modern sports fencing manual, was introduced in 1908. During this time, fencing lost its relevance to the military context and became solely a sporting endeavour. This book stands as the gateway between the old and the new styles of handling both weapons.

La Canne holds a unique position in the development of martial arts in the nineteenth century. It was at once a weapon for self-defense taught in the boxing and savate clubs across France and Belgium as well as a tool for gymnastics and physical education. The canne was taught to the officer class in military academies and to children in public schools.This volume presents two mid-century methods for learning the canne which encompass both these aspects of its use. Larribeau's 1856 A New Theory of the Art of the Canne concentrates more on self-defence and introduces lessons against a mannequin as a teaching method. Humé's 1862 Treatise and Theory of La Canne Royale centres more on the gymnastic and athletic aspects of the canne. Both provide a fascinating insight into the canne before it was codified by Vigny and incorporated into the composite English martial art of Bartitsu.

Adolphe Corthey's meticulous research into the styles of fencing of former times were translated into public demonstrations which astonished the general public and helped to popularise fencing as a sport. These demonstration events were hugely popular throughout the Continent and even the famous British fencing historian Alfred Hutton was invited to participate.This volume collects two of Corthey's most influential works. In Fencing through the Ages, Corthey traces the history of swordsmanship from primitive times through a series of development to culminate in the modern art. His On the Subject of the Transformation of the Combat Sword is an argument to alter the shape of the duelling sword in order to take advantage of previous hundred years of the development of fencing theory.Included also are a number of items from the contemporary press reporting on these demonstration events and a brief biography of Corthey from a who's who of the nineteenth century fencing world.

A modern English translation of Henry de Sainct-Didier's 1573 fencing training manual. Sainct-Didier taught a style of swordsmanship informed by more than two decades as a soldier on the battlefields of France's Italian Wars. He demonstrates techniques which are straight forward and direct, without the niceties of the Italian and Spanish salles of the period.This is a textbook of lesson plans teaching basic cuts and thrusts, how to counter them, and the ways to respond to and defeat these defenses. It is written so that each action builds step by step into complex two-person drills in which initiative passes back and forth between the combatants.No interpretation of Sainct-Didier's text has been attempted, allowing his words to stand on their own merits.