14. Classifying Foil Actions on the Blade

Fencing texts in the 1880s and later develop schemes of classification for fencing actions, either explicitly or as the result of organizing the contents logically.  These taxonomies serve several useful purposes.  As noted they help the author organize the material in the text by grouping like actions together.  Similarly they organize the techniques for inclusion in instructional curricula.  And, probably most importantly, they reveal something about how the authors view the tactical application of the techniques.  

This blog post examines one specific area of classification, actions which involve the use of the fencer's blade to move the opponent's in foil.  Today these are generally termed "attacks on the blade" and "takings of the blade." Some modern coaches have argued that the use of "attacks on the blade" is an incorrect description of what happens, because you cannot attack a blade, only the opponent.  As the sources below indicate, this is a modern conceit.  The classical fencing masters had no doubt that their actions attacked the blade; one went so far as term the blade action as an "assault on the blade."  

The distinguishing characteristics of these types of actions is blade contact with the opponent's blade to remove or control it.  Attacks on the blade essentially achieve this by some degree of percussion, with contact being relatively brief.  Takings of the blade are often termed "transports" in modern terminology, a term that accurately describes the use of leverage and to move the opponent's blade to a new location.

In examining the allocation of actions to categories it is important to understand that there is considerable flexibility in what actual activity is meant by these actions.  For example, a Graze may be anything from a Glide (a thrust with opposition of varying degrees) to a Froissement (a forceful  expulsion of the opponent's blade from the line). 

It is also important to note that attacks on and takings of the blade were most commonly considered preparations of the attack.  Preparation covers a range of events that create conditions which allow the attack to succeed.  In these cases the attack or take removes or controls the opponent's blade so that a simple or compound attack may score.

The following is a convenience sample of sources that created categories for attacking actions.  Not all classical period texts separated attacks into easily identifiable categories, but the following ones did, either as a single category for actions against the opponent's blade or for two categories.

H. A. Collmore-Dunn's 1889 text Fencing identifies a single category with six techniques:

(1)  Force Attacks (actions that assault the opponent's blade to disturb his defence)

• Beat
• Press
• Re-Beat (a Beat in one line and then in another)
• Graze
• Bind
• Flanconnade (mentioned as a type of Bind)

Master of the Sword George Heintz Sr.'s 1890 text Theory of Fencing with the Foil, In Form of a Catechism identifies one category and seven techniques: 

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Pressure 
• Beat
• Graze (Expulsion)
• Chassey (see blog post on Heintz's Chassey)
• Counter Beat
• Counter Chassey (see blog post on Heintz's Chassey)
• Encircling (description appears to be an Envelopment)

Maitre d'Armes Louis Rondelle's 1892 text Foil and Sabre: A Grammar of Fencing identifies one category and five techniques:

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Beat
• Press
• Traverse (Expulsion)
• Bind
• Cross (Croise)

The Amateur Fencers League of America's translation of the 1908 French Ministry of War's Manual of Fencing identifies two categories and eight techniques:

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Beat
• Press
• Froissement (Expulsion)

(2)  Prise de Fer

• Opposition
• Liement (Bind)
• Envelopment
• Croise (suggested for use primarily in the riposte)
• Coule (Glide)

Maitre d'Armes Ricardo Enrique Manrique's 1920 text Fencing Foil Class Work Illustrated identifies one category and eight techniques:

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Beat
• Double Beat
• Press
• Glide
• Traverse (Expulsion)
• Low Thrust
• Bind
• Croise

Manrique also includes the Time Thrust and Stop Thrust with attacks on the blade, but this appears to be an error in editing.

Maestro de Armas Julio Martinez Castello's 1933 text The Theory and Practice of Fencing identifies one category with six techniques:

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Beat
• Press
• Expulsion
• Glide
• Bind
• Envelopment

Maestro Di Scherma Luigi Barbasetti 1934 text (originally written in the late 1890s) The Art of the Foil identifies two categories and seven techniques.

(1)  Actions Against the Blade of an Opponent

• Graze (thrust with the opponent's blade bound)
• Change Graze
• Flanconnade
• Deviamenti (a Press and Graze) 

(2) Beats

• Simple Beat
• Counter-Beat (a Circular Beat against the blade in line)
• Change Beat 

Maitre d'Armes Felix Grave's 1934 text Fencing Comprehensive identifies two categories and six techniques:

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Beat
• Press
• Graze (Expulsion)

(2)  Actions that may be Attack, Counter-Attack, or Parry

• Bind
• Croise
• Enveloppe (not an Envelopment, rather a vertical displacement from high to low line against the high line disengage or coupe)

Joseph Vince's 1937 text Fencing identifies two categories and six techniques:

(1)  Actions that maintain contact with the blade until the action is complete.

• Glide
• Bind 
• Envelopment

(2)  Actions that strike the blade aside.

• Pressure
• Beat
• Pressure Glide (Expulsion)

G. V. Hett's 1939 text Fencing includes two categories, six techniques, and one unattributed technique.  Hett was an experienced British International.

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Battement (Beat)
• Pression (Press)
• Froissement (Expulsion)

(2)  Prises de Fer

• By Opposition
• Liement (Bind)
• Enveloppment

(3)  Coule (Glide)

Deladrier 1948 text Modern Fencing identifies two categories and five techniques:

(1)  Preparations Striking the Blade

• Beat
• Expulsion

(2)  Preparations Maintaining the Blade

• Press
• Opposition
• Glide

Deladrier's categories are similar to those of Vince, and this is the only observed classification that puts the Beat and Press in different categories.

R. A. Lidstone's 1951 text Fencing identifies two categories with eight techniques: 

(1)  Attacks on the Blade

• Beat
• Press
• Graze
• Froissement (a Beat or Press and a Graze)

(2)  Prise de Fer

• Graze (when used to open a closed line)
• Bind
• Croise
• Envelopment

So what does this inventory of how authors addressed the classification of attacking actions against the opponent's blade tell us?  There is one obvious outcome; many author's obviously like the term Fencing for the title of their magnum opus.  But we can derive more information than that from this catalog.

First, older sources tend to address all offensive blade techniques against the opponent's blade as "Attacks on the Blade."  The 1908 French Ministry of War manual is the first source that this survey identified as introducing two categories of actions: the Attack on the Blade, and the Prise de Fer, or Taking of the Blade.

Second, the term "Attacks on the Blade" remains in use as a generic term as late as Castello's 1933 text.  The use of two categories did not immediately become the standard theoretical construct in the classical period.

Third, overall the term "Attacks on the Blade" is the most common characterization of these techniques.  When a second category is introduced, "Prise de Fer" (typically termed a Taking of the Blade) is the second most common category name.  When the techniques are listed in a text, typically attacks on the blade precede prise de fer or takings of the blade.

Fourth, when only one category is present, the selection of techniques included is (in order of the times the technique was included in one of the 5 texts):

5 times - (a) Beat, (b) Press (or Pressure)
4 times - (c) Bind, (d) Expulsion (or Traverse or Graze or Froissement)      

3 times - (e) Re-Beat (or Double Beat or Counter-Beat), (f) Graze (or Glide, not the Graze that is an Expulsion)
2 times - (g) Envelopment (or Encircling), (h) Croise (or Cross)
1 time - (i) Chassey, (j) Counter-Chassey, (k) Low Thrust, (l) Flanconnade

Fifth - when two categories are present, the selection of techniques included is (in order of the times the technique was included in one of the 7 texts):

7 times - (a) Beat (or Battement or Simple Beat), (f) Graze (or Glide, not the Graze that is an Expulsion, or Coule)
6 times - (b) Press (or Pressure or Pression), (d) Expulsion (or Traverse or Graze or Froissement)
5 times - (c) Bind (or Liement)
4 times - (g) Envelopment (or Encircling)
3 times - (h) Croise (or Cross), (m) Opposition
1 time - (e) Change Beat (or Re-Beat or Double Beat or Counter-Beat) (l) Flanconnade, (n) Enveloppe, (o) Counter-Beat (different technique from Change Beat), (p) Change Graze, (q) Deviamenti

It is important to note for both groups of techniques that technique names are variable and may have different meanings.  Sometimes there is no effective difference in the technique, sometimes there are subtle differences, and sometimes the same word may be used for completely different techniques.   For example, the Graze, Coule, Glide, and a thrust in Opposition are essentially the same action, perhaps with differences in the amount of leverage applied or in the degree of deviation of the opponent's blade.  In contrast the Graze as a Traverse, Froissement, or Expulsion is usually described in very different terms.

Sixth - if we merge the two lists and use the classification criteria that Vince and Deladrier apply, the primary techniques in each group are:

(1)  Preparations that strike the blade and displace it (Attacks on the Blade):

• Beat - included 12 times (100%)
• Press - included 11 out of 12 times (92%)
• Expulsion - included 10 out of 12 times (83%)
  

(2)  Preparations that maintain contact with the blade throughout the action (Takings of the Blade):

• Graze, Glide, Coule - included 10 times (83%)
• Bind - included 9 times (75%)
• Envelopment - included 6 times (50%)
• Croise - included 5 times (42%) 

Seventh - the Expulsion (Traverse, Graze, Froissement) is commonly covered in period texts from early in the period to late.  Although it is not unusual for the authors to have described it as a violent, often uncontrolled action, with the implication that it was not an ideal technique, It was taught in 83% of the manuals examined.  This suggests that it clearly has a role in modern study of classical fencing.

It should be noted that data from other authors not included in this study or from texts that did not specifically classify actions in the way these have may well result in different preferences for specific techniques.  The examination of the texts focused on the primary technique discussed, not on multiple tempo extension of the technique. 

Copyright 2018 by Walter G. Green III

Classifying Foil Actions on the Blade by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.