21.1.3.a. Pinto Martin's Lunge

Mestre d'armas Antonio Domingos Pinto Martins served as Fencing Master to the King of Portugal and to the schools of the Navy and Army.  The Manual de Esgrima was written as an effort to translate the manuals of the French Army, but to also provide a more detailed description of technique and applicable exercises to compensate for the limited training opportunities for military fencing instructors.  His manual was approved in 1893 by a committee of officers appointed by the Minister of War as being superior to  other Portugese and foreign fencing manuals presented for their examination, and was ordered for general distribution and adoption.  

Occasionally, in reading a previously unread fencing manual, one encounters a gem, an unusual approach to a technique or tactic, that has not been encountered before.  Pinto Martins does not disappoint in this.  There, starting at Figure 13, is a different way to execute the lunge in the following four steps:

Prolog - Pinto Martins starts with the fencer in either Firm Position (the equivalent of first Position) or in Guard Position.  The descriptions of these positions are common ones, except that the line drawings accompanying the text shows what appears to be a slight backwards lean to the torso when on guard that may well indicate an uneven distribution of weight to the rear leg.  The line drawings are of good quality, plentiful, and correspond to the descriptions in the text.

First tempo (yes, tempo ... it appears that in this case tempo is used as a guide to sequencing the movements, not in relation to fencing time) - extend the weapon arm, with the hand slightly above shoulder height, the hand in supination.  This blade position is not an absolute rule - it may vary with the type of attack being delivered.

Second tempo - simultaneously lean the torso forward and to the outside line.  This is a deliberate shift to meet two objectives:

• Penetration - the forward lean increases the distance the attack penetrates into the opponent's defense.
• Loading for movement - Pinto Martins suggests that this position on completion of the lunge "powerfully aids the return to guard, because as soon as the right foot hits the ground, the torso attempts to return to its vertical position due to the reaction of the extensor muscles of the right leg and thigh whilst the ones of the lower back react to the sudden movement and, as a result, transmit the motion to the whole body; matching the retreat of the torso with the pressure exerted by the foot to return to the guard, the right side of the body is relieved by this impulse ..." (p. 17).  

Third tempo - extend the non-weapon leg driving off the forward portion of the sole of the rear shoe.  This appears to be a small, partial roll of the back foot and is depicted in other illustrations in the book.  The forward foot remains in place.  Pinto Martins suggests that the penetration of the lunge would be reduced without the leg extension and that the rear foot would be dragged forward by the weight of the torso, rendering the recovery to guard more difficult.

Fourth tempo - the weapon foot moves forward close to the surface, but without contact, to approximately twice the width of the feet in the guard position.  It lands on the toes and ball of the foot, and finally on the heel. Simultaneously the rear arm is lowered with the palm of the open hand facing to the inside and maintaining approximately 15 centimeters (6 inches) of separation from the leg. 

The way the foot lands has two objectives.  

• Movement control - it prevents the foot sliding forward which would make recovery more difficult. 
• Safety - Pinto Martins suggests that landing on the heel often causes concussions on the brain and may cause "synovial spills on the right knee" (p. 20).  This is very curious.  Although today we recognize the potential for micro-concussions, they have not been linked to the fencing lunge that lands on the heel of the forward foot, and reported or observed concussion events in modern national and international fencing appear to result from collisions in corps-a-corps or direct blows to the mask with the guard.  This may be linked to an older practice of the front foot actually stamping the ground to make the landing of the lunge resound on the floor.  Prevost notes that by 1889 this practice had been abandoned in all good clubs in France and was considered vulgar.

It is important to note that this execution of the lunge is does not appear to be a common contemporary French technique.  The French Ministry of War regulations of 1877 (Slee translation) and 1908 (including the Amateur Fencers League of America translation), Prevost, and Rondelle all stress the essentially simultaneous action of the front and rear legs.  With the exception of Prevost the front foot lands flat; he specifies that it must land on the heel. 

Sources:

France.  Ministry of War; Fencing Manual; translation by Chris Slee; [fencing manual]; reprint by Long Edge Press, no place; 1877 reprinted 2017.

France.  Ministere de la Guerre; Reglement d’Escrime (Fleuret – Epee – Sabre); Librairie Militaire Berger-Levrault & Co., Paris, France; 1909.

France.  Ministry of War; Fencing: Foil, Epee, Sabre, Theory, Method, Regulations; translation by the Amateur Fencers League of America; [fencing manual]; Alex Taylor and Company, New York, New York, reprinted by Rose City Books, Portland Oregon, United States of America; 1908, reprinted 1908, Rose City Book reprint no date.

Pinto Martins, Antonio Domingos;  Manual de Esgrima para Uso do Exercitio; translation by Rui Carlos Pinto Ferreira; [fencing manual]; Livraria de Antonio Maria Pereira, Lisbon, Portugal 1895; translation and reprint by Espada Negra HEMA Study Group, 2017.  Note that the Portugese to English translation contains a number of terms that appear to be literal translation of the Portugese and not a translation to the equivalent, common usage, fencing terms.

Pollock, Walter H., F. C. Grove, and Camille Prevost; Fencing; 2^nd edition; in the Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes; [fencing manual]; Longman’s, Green, and Company, London, United Kingdom; 1890.

Rondelle, Louis; Foil and Sabre: A Grammar of Fencing in Detailed Lessons for Professor and Pupil; [fencing manual]; Estes and Lauriat, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America; 1892.

Copyright 2021 by Walter G. Green III

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