L’épée de combat
The French duelling sword (l’épée de combat) is a thrusting weapon for duelling, which developed in the fourth decade of the 19th century in the gradual transformation of the short sword from the previous century. The duelling sword inherited the lightened triangular cross-section from the short sword, as well as the length and holding of the weapon. The typical guard of the short sword was replaced by the bell-shaped basket guard providing ample protection to the hand and forearm. Unlike the short sword however, the duelling sword was never a side arm. With time, the very sharp duelling sword came to be used more and more as a sporting weapon, especially in the second half of the nineteenth century. For these purposes, the dangerous point of the duelling sword was blunted, and its blade became more flexible.
Methodology: maître d’armes Michal Kostka
Instructor: maître d’armes Michal Kostka
Methodology manuals:
Donald Walker: Defensive Exercises, Fencing and Broadsword, London, 1840
Baron César de Bazancourt: Les Secrets de l´Épée, Paris, 1862
Claude La Marche: Traité de l´Épée, Paris, 1884
Camille Prevost: Théorie Pratique de l´Escrime, Paris, 1886
Luigi Barbasetti: The Art of the Épée, New York, 1936
Dr. Jan Černohorský: Šerm fleuretem a kordem, Praha, 1947
Leonid Křížek: Historie evropských duelů a šermu III – Od duelového ke sportovnímu kolbišti, Praha, 2015
Target area: the whole body, thrust only