T.3. The Early French Lines

The 1877 French Ministry of War Fencing Manuel d'Escrime (Slee translation) provides a discussion of lines that is consistent with the understanding that appears in the 1908 edition of the manual (the Amateur Fencers League of America translation).  However, this discussion differs significantly from later interpretations in the classical period and with modern practice.

The 1877 model envisions four lines, as do following models of the line to this day:

• The Right Line - also known as the Outside line - defined as being the envelope of space to the right of the blade.  The manual does not address how a left handed fencer would view this, but for a left handed fencer this would be to the outside. 
• The Left Line - also known as the Inside Line - the envelope of space to the inside of the blade.
• The High Line - the envelope of space above the fencer's wrist.
• The Low Line - the envelope of space below the fencer's wrist.

So far, that would be familiar to any fencer in the later portion of the classical period and even today.  The difference comes when the lines are numbered:

• Outside (right) Line - Tierce 
• Inside (left) Line - Quarte
• High Line - Prime
• Low Line - Seconde

The Manuel adds a set of tactical rules to this model:

(1) The Inside (Left) and Outside (Right) are the only lines in which engagements are taken.  This suggests that one engages in tierce or quarte.

(2) The High and Low lines are the lines into which attacks are directed.  This suggests that one attacks in prime and seconde.

(3) The High Line defeats the Low Line.  This appears to be a reference to the practice of attacks in the high line taking priority over attacks in the low that maintained popularity for some time (and that was actually rejuvenated in an international fencing tournament in the 2000s for an hour in the morning before a mass mutiny of the competitors forced an immediate rethink by the Federation Internationale d'Escrime).

(4) Fencers should only attack in the low line (derobement) when the high line is closed by a feint, a beat, or opposition or press in a way that prevents a timed strike.

Because today we often use the name of the guard or parry used to defend an envelope of space to describe a line, this identification of lines seems confusing.  In addition, the naming of lines as left-right vertical and up-down horizontal does not make it obvious that the target is viewed in quadrants.  This formulation of the Ministry of War's approach to fencing continues as late as the 1908 edition of their manual.  

However, Rondelle (1892) significantly clarifies the theory of the lines by identifying that there are in fact four quadrants and that there are a set of guards (and thus parries and invitations) associated with each quadrant.   He presents a diagram that shows the theoretical target divided into four quadrants:

• High Sixte - high outside quadrant - defended by the parries of Sixte or Tierce
• Low Sixte - low outside quadrant - defended by the parries of Seconde or Octave
• High Quarte - high inside quadrant - defended by the parries of Prime or Quarte
• Low Quarte - low inside quadrant - defended by the parries of Quinte or Septime

There is not complete agreement on names for quadrants.  Provost (1890) in Fencing (with Pollock and Grove, although it appears that the technical section of the part of this combined volume in the Badminton Library was written by Provost) identifies a quadrant structure with four lines:

• high inside - termed the Inside Line
• high outside - termed the Outside line
• low inside - termed the Lower Line
• low outside - termed the Exterior Line

A footnote suggests that these are Provost's anglicizations of "dessous" and "dehors" and that exact translations are not possible.  Provost also notes that to determine the line the blade must be either raised or lowered, but that there is no requirement for engagement.  His wording suggests that unspecified individuals were of the opinion that the existence of a line depended on engagement.

Additionally, in 1898 Cany and Gosset's Manuel d'Escrime: Methode Rationnelle names the four quadrants as High Line (high outside), Inside Line (high inside), Low Line (low inside), and Outside Line (low outside).  The four quadrants have distinct names, although they appear to form a pattern of diagonal opposites with the High Line and Low Line quadrants being outside and inside and the Inside Line and Outside line quadrants being high and low.

The variability these sources provide suggests that it is important in earlier texts to understand the meaning of the lines as the author intends them, and to understand that French terminology was not as stable in the early days as one might expect.

Copyright 2019 by Walter G. Green III

The Early French Lines by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.