In modern fencing, the Croise is typically taught as a high line to low line vertical transport of the blade. It is generally described as an action initiated in Fourth and ending in the flank (Crosnier 1967), although it can be executed in Sixth against a left handed fencer (Handelman 2014). Is this all there is?
Well, no. Any examination of classical fencing technique reveals a rich variety of possible applications of a particular technique, either alone or in concert with others (see the Classical Academy of Arms Classical Fencing Actions Project for a steadily growing catalog of these). The Croise is no different.
We know of four applications of the basic technique of Croise, formed by a pivot of the fencer's blade across the opponent's extended blade, forte to foible, followed by a vertical transport of the opponent's blade and a thrust to the resulting exposed target.
The Croise appears in Maitre Louis Rondelle's Foil and Sabre: A Grammar of Fencing in 1892. Rondelle uses the Anglicized term "the Cross" for the Croise, and describes it as similar to the bind in that it is executed over the blade, suggesting a downward Croise (much as does the 1908 French Ministry of War fencing manual as translated by the Amateur Fencers League of America). Rondelle differentiates between the Croise and the Bind in that the Croise pushes the opponent's blade away energetically to create an opening, whereas the Bind maintains contact with the blade.
In his 1920 volume, Fencing Foil Class Work Illustrated, Maitre Ricardo Manrique lists four possible Croises, including both high line to low line and low line to high line:
- from Fourth to Second
- from Sixth to Seventh
- from Second to Fourth
- from Seventh to Sixth
Manrique provides an important remark about the tactical application of the Croise, noting that it is usually employed after parrying the opponent's blade. Thus the parry of Four becomes effectively the preparation for the Croise from Four to Second. Note that Manrique uses the Anglicized term "Cross."
Maitre Felix Grave provides the most detailed description of the Croise in his 1934 text Fencing Comprehensive. He defines the movements in terms of movement between the quadrants, and offers specific attacks as examples, suggesting that Eighth and Second or Third and Sixth might be to some degree interchangeable. His pairings are:
- from low inside to high outside line - engage in Septime, Croise, hit in Sixte
- from low outside line to high inside line - engage in Octave, Croise, hit in Quarte
- from high inside line to low outside line - engage in Sixte, Croise, hit in Septime
- from high outside line to low inside line - engage in Quarte, Croise, hit in Octave
Grave states that the Croise may also be used as a parry, and offers two examples:
- from (1) engagement in Sixte, (2) the opponent feints a disengage in Octave, (3) the defender opposes in Octave, and (4) executes the Croise to high Quarte to hit.
- from (1) engagement in Quarte, (2) the opponent feints a disengage into Septime, (3) the defender opposes in Septime, and (4) executes the Croise to Sixte to hit.
Grave is not an advocate of the use of these parries because he feels that they lead to large and uncontrolled movements.
Grave's discussion of the Croise adds an additional element which fits with Rondelle's description of the action and brings into question whether the common description of the Croise as a vertical transport on the same side of the body misses the actual distinguishing characteristic of the action. Grave notes that the origin of the term Croise (with a translation into English of "cross" or "crossed") is descriptive of the movement pattern. The same side of the body works in the Croise from Fourth, and to some degree from Sixth. However, it is difficult to see how it can be done safely from low to high line.
However, if we look first at Rondelle's description of the Croise as being the same as what Rondelle terms in his discussion the Half-Bind, except that it pushes the blade away, and does not rely on continued contact to manipulate the blade, there is the inference that this is a diagonal movement. Grave adds to this the assertion that the four options of high and low directed Croises create a cross (or more accurately an X shape). If this is the case, the Croise is distinguished from the Bind by its reliance on a strictly diagonal pushing movement as compared to the partly circular rotation of the Bind. Both techniques rely on a diagonal high to low or low to high track.
Copyright 2018 by Walter G. Green III
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