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french Archive
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La Canne Royale: Where do I buy it?
La Canne Royale, my translation into English of two French cane training manuals, has hit the virtual bookshelves and is available for purchase. If you are interested in the history of stick fighting or the early development of modern physical education, this is the book for you.
Check out the book’s page on the LongEdge Press website to find which online bookstores are carrying La Canne Royale.
Here’s the blurb from the back of the book to whet your appetite.
[…]La Canne holds a unique position in the development of martial arts in the nineteenth century. It was at
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A Duel with a Phantom Cavalier (1615)
Here’s an interesting little piece titled “The Strange Story of the Solicitous Phantom Cavalier who Fought a Duel on 27 January 1615 near Paris“[1]Original title : Histoire prodigieuse du fantôme cavalier solliciteur, qui s’est battu en duel le 27 janvier 1615, près Paris jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1954_6_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1954_6_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); (PDF). It fits firmly in attempts in Europe to ban duelling which, despite the heavy-hitters, both organisations and individual, engaged in the struggle failed to achieve this end until well into […]
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Snippets of Sainct-Didier
There’s two famous members of the Sainct-Didier clan. The most well known is Henry de Sainct Didier, the author of the fencing manual I’ve translated. The second, earlier one is Guillaume de Sainct Didier, a twelfth century Provençal poet.
Here are the relevant entries from the catalog of Count of La Croix du Maine’s library, published in 1584. The full title of the book is The First Volume of the Library of the Lord La Croix Du Maine, which is a general catalog of all types of authors who have written in French for the last five hundred years and […]
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Cavalcabo: Easy as First, Second, Third
You are standing in quarte or fourth, the guard for defense and waiting. You opponent changes posture into one of the offensive stances: first, second or third. What do you do? How does Cavalcabo say you defeat these aggressive guards?
You will put yourself in quarte guard making a turn to the right side of the enemy, and holding your dagger on the left side, neither too high, nor too low, you uncover the right side, so that the enemy has the opportunity to strike first.
We’ve seen this before. Stand with your weapons on one side so that you […]
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Cavalcabo: Passing? Traverse? Triangle Step?
This technique appears in various formulations so frequently in the text [1]the very influential translation by Villamont from Italian to French of Cavalcabo’s Treatise or Instruction on Fighting with Weapons (1597) and a similar essay by Patenostrier, available in English translation by Rob Runacres of the Renaissance Sword Club jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1937_15_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1937_15_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); that it must be at the core of Cavalcabo’s teaching. In its most concise form, it is written like this:
[…]To understand how one must attack
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Cavalcabo: Plays of the Estramaçon
Cavalcabo[1]the very influential translation by Villamont from Italian to French of Cavalcabo’s Treatise or Instruction on Fighting with Weapons (1597) and a similar essay by Patenostrier, available in English translation by Rob Runacres of the Renaissance Sword Club jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1936_18_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1936_18_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); delays dealing with cutting strikes until after his advice on how to use the cloak as an off-hand device. Is this a measure of the importance he places on them?
The sections on strikes are about […]
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Cavalcabo: Tactical Advice
So, I’m trawling through Cavalcabo’s fencing text [1]the very influential translation by Villamont from Italian to French of Cavalcabo’s Treatise or Instruction on Fighting with Weapons (1597) and a similar essay by Patenostrier, available in English translation by Rob Runacres of the Renaissance Sword Club jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1935_21_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1935_21_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); for nuggets of tactical advice. You know the sort of thing I mean, “always maintain the initiative,” “don’t feint because smart fencers won’t fall for it and stupid ones won’t […]
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Cavalcabo: Techniques Against Feints
I’m trying to figure out the very influential translation by Villamont from Italian to French of Cavalcabo’s Treatise or Instruction on Fighting with Weapons (1597) and a similar essay by Patenostrier. This text is available in English translation by Rob Runacres of the Renaissance Sword Club.
The text is fairly straightforward but there are occasional sections which seem very dense and need some unpacking to understand what is being said. Here’s the second example I came across and what I did with it.
[…]“Against those who use feints
So you understand which things are counters to those who use -
Fencing through the Ages: Where do I buy it?
Title: Fencing through the Ages
Selling Paperback and eBook
Author: Adolphe Corthey
Translator: Chris Slee
Publisher: LongEdge Press
Pub. Date: 2015
Language: English (original in French)
Pages: 76
Format(s): US Digest, EPUB, MOBI
ISBN: (Paperback) 9780994359001, (eBook) 9780994359018- Lulu Bookstore [paperback link, ebook link]
- Amazon
- Barnes and Noble
- AbeBooks
- Angus and Robertson
- Fishpond Bookstore
- Kobo Bookstore
Adolphe Corthey is the powerhouse behind the revival of interest in historical or period fencing in late nineteenth century France yet he remains largely […]
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Secrets of the Sword Alone: Where do I buy it?
Here’s my modern English translation of Henry de Sainct-Didier’s 1573 sidesword/rapier treatise Secrets of the Sword Alone. This is a straight translation. I’ve not attempted to interpret the text as it’s really not required.
It’s 154 pages long including an introduction and 34 pages of Sainct Didier’s images.
The print version is currently available from these stores.
- Lulu
- Book Depository
- Amazon
- Barnes and Noble
- AbeBooks
- Foyles
- Adlibris
The eBook can be ordered today from these stores:
- Barnes and Noble
- Apple iBookstore
- Kobo
- Amazon (Kindle)
- Bookworld
- Angus & Robertson
- Scribd
- Blio
- BookBaby
The back of the book says:
A modern […]
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Sainct Didier’s Drawing the Sword
This is a translation of the section concerning how to draw the sword in Henri de Sainct Didier's Secrets of the Single Sword (1573). More sections of the text will be translated as time allows. The importance that Sainct Didier gives to drawing the sword is a puzzle that I believe is only resolved when the illustrations are considered literally. All the draws start with the opponents facing each other, feet together and hands on hilts. This does not suggest to me a military application but a civilian and social setting, whether a judicial duel, duel of honour of friendly competition. -
Recovering My French
Ever since I achieved my DELF B1 certificate more than a year ago, I’ve allowed my French to slip. I just haven’t used it. I’m trying to correct this sorry state of affairs. Here’s how.
First, as always for me, is listening practice. If you can’t understand what’s being said, there’s not much point. Living languages are all about conversing, gossipping and chatting. Only dead languages, such as Latin and Anglo-Saxon (which I also understand) centre on reading. I used to listen to a wide range of podcasts but I find, this time around, that I’ve limited myself to the […]