The Master Players: Overview of 16th & 17th Century French Fencing & Dueling Culture

The French had a reputation of being excellent swordsmen and bloodthirsty duelists. But how true was that and what was the fencing and dueling culture like in France? This hour-long lecture gives an overview of how the French approached fencing and dueling from the mid-16th through 17th centuries. In this hour long presentation, hosted by the SCA East Kingdom's Ministry of Arts & Science Office, we go over:

- The creation of Corporation of Masters, aka the Parisian Fencing Master's Guild
- A quick look at French fencing manuals
- What life was like in a French fencing salle
- How one became a Maistres Joueurs/Maître d'Armes
- The dueling culture of Renaissance & Early-modern France

You can go through the slides of this presentation (with links) here:

ADDITIONAL VIDEO RESOURCES:

⚔️ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR⚔️
Justin Aucoin (aka Remy) has been fencing since 2006, first as a foilist and then joining the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in 2010. For the past eight years, he has studied Italian rapier, going through the works of Giganti, Capoferro, Fabris, and most recently, Alfieri. As a competitor, he has won numerous rapier tournaments in the SCA -- both in singles and in group melee -- including Carolingia's Baronial Champion, East Kingdom Crown Champion, and named 6x to the Pennsic Champs team. He is also a former general of the East Kingdom Rapier Army, is a member of the SCA's Order of Defense, and holds a Silver Broach and a Maunche award for his historical martial arts research, and a Silver Wheel and Silver Crescent for coaching.

⚔️SOCIAL⚔️

[sleech]

Great presentation. Well done. I wish more people were interested in fencing in this period in France. :p