[E Stafford]

Hey. It's been a while since I've been around. I have a quick question. Does anyone know where I can get information on the three main rapier styles: French, Italian, and Spanish? differences of thought, stances, tactics, that kind of thing. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Nathan Robinson]

We have an article on the Italian Rapier right here on this site.

[Vincent Le Chevalier]

There are descriptions of spanish and italian stances in this short manual (at the bottom of the page).

Well of course it surely isn't totally objective, since it's a spanish manual We'll have to find an italian manual with a description of the spanish stance to balance that

I was under the impression that french rapier masters were often inspired by either italian or spanish masters. For example, it has been said that Henry de Saint-Didier has an italian style, whereas Girard Thibaut was a supporter of the spanish school. The french style would appear later with the advent of smallsword and foil...

Regards

[James Holczer]

For Spanish style rapier I would check out the Martinez Academy of Arms website. In my opinion Maestro Martinez is the go to guy when it comes to Spanish Rapier. His website contains an excellent dissertation on understanding the Spanish School. You could also try the Destreza Translation and Research Project.

http://www.martinez-destreza.com/articles/spanish1.htm
http://www.plumes.org/destreza/index.html

Good sources for Italian rapier are much more common. As Nathan mentioned, there is an excellent article on this website written by Bill Grandy. I would also recommend Tom Leoni’s translation of Salvatore Fabris “The Art of Dueling” This is probably the most complete treatise covering Italian Rapier available today.

http://www.salvatorfabris.com/Home.shtml

Jim Holczer
Student - Umbs School of Fence/Martinez Academy of Arms

[E Stafford]

Thanks. I saw both of those in my earlier research; I just didn't see those texts. . Thanks for the help.

[Bill Grandy]

Here is a fantastic resource on the Spanish system of Destreza:

http://www.plumes.org/destreza/

As stated, you won't find too much information on a strictly French style. You will find some English stuff (Josehp Swetnam's manuscript, as well as Pallas Armata), but even those appear to be largely Italian influenced, even if with different emphasis on certain techniques.