0.5b. Grave and Coming On Guard

Rondelle, Senac, Grandiere, and others represent the standard French method of coming on guard in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as established in the 1877 Ministry of War Fencing Manual (translation by Chris Slee).  However, this approach does not remain unaltered throughout the classical period.  Maitre Felix Grave presents the trend toward simplification with a five count and a three count coming on guard in his 1934 text, Fencing Comprehensive.  Grave held the diploma of Maitre d’Armes from both the Academy of Arms of Paris and the Academy of the Epee, and maintained a Salle in London, starting in 1900.

Grave’s manual offers three versions of the coming on guard sequence.  The first is the standard 1877 Ministry of War model described in the article in this series on coming on guard with the French Foil.  The second is a five movement sequence:

(1)  The fencer stands in First Position (which Grave terms the Prepare Position), standing upright with the leading foot on the directing line, rear foot at 90 degrees off the line to the inside, the legs together, and the weapon slanted down and forward.

(2)  Raise the weapon arm with the foil in line with the arm so that the hand is at eye level in supination, the point toward the opponent.

(3)  Bend both arms.  The weapon arm is bent in front of the chest with the pommel of the weapon level with the waist line, the hand slightly to the outside, and the point level with the chin or eyes.  Although Grave indicates the pommel is at waist level, photographs place the pommel higher than the waist when in the on guard position with the forearm and blade in a straight line.  The rear arm is described as rounded – the accompanying photograph shows the upper arm extended horizontally to the rear, the forearm at approximately a 45 degree upward angle, and the hand relaxed, palm and nails forward.

(4)  Bend both legs, keeping the feet together, so that the torso lowers toward the sitting position.

(5)  Carry the weapon foot forward approximately 15 inches, keeping the heels on the line, the rear foot at right angles to the inside, and the weight evenly distributed between the legs.  Note the change in how weight is distributed from slightly to the rear in the 1890s to even in 1934.

This is substantially the same process of coming on guard described in the 1908 French Ministry of War manual distributed in English under the title Fencing.

Grave’s second method of coming on guard is done in three movements:

(1) The fencer raises the weapon arm directly as described above, standing upright with the legs together, without necessarily formally assuming the First Position.

(2) The arms bend with the weapon arm and rear arm moving into the positions described above.

(3) The fencer steps directly into the last position of the guard with the weapon foot stepping forward as described above.

Grave represents the trend toward modernization of the step-by-step formality of the late 1800s.  By the end of the classical period, Deladrier (1948) only describes a three step process similar to Grave’s three motions, and Lidstone (1952) says that all of the motions of coming to guard should be performed simultaneously from First Position.   Grave provides the mid points of five and three movements that transition from the most formal classical to the least formal modern ways of assuming the guard. 

Copyright 2018 by Walter G. Green III    

Grave and Coming On Guard by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.