Columbia Classical Fencing, LLC

Here is an 1885 article I found a while back.  The article fictionalizes a small-sword’s biography, from its creation to its retirement.

The article is from the charmingly-named Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art.  Besides its celebration of swordsmanship, the article is interesting as a snapshot into the late 19th-century:  the article is full of classical references, Victorian manliness, and commentary on passing mores.

I haven’t seen this article provided anywhere else, so I hope this is new for people.

One of CCF’s fencers was recently featured in one of our local papers.   It’s a nice little multimedia piece on her and CCF.  Give it a read.

Here’s the link.

A couple posts ago, I wrote about French authors using the nonsword hand to parry or oppose the incoming blade.  Without too much detail I referred to poignards and daggers, glossing over the distinction to talk about using the unarmed hand.

The link below goes to Leonard Tarassuk’s 1978 article “Some Notes on Parrying Daggers and Poignards.”  At the time of printing, Tarassuk was evidently a research associate at no less than the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Needless to say, his article is very informative. Not only does it examine the types of parrying daggers used hundreds of years ago, but provides details regarding the distinctions between poignards and dagues.  Its a fascinating article and refers to Italian masters such as Marozzo and Agrippa.  I don’t know if this has already been well cited and linked throughout the Internet, but I thought it worth posting here for anyone else interested.  Here’s the link.