LongEdge Fencing training materials for gymnasium sabre are constantly under development.
Each “author” page has a table listing the techniques in the text in a standard format. Soon, I'll be pulling all of these into a concordance and doing some analysis on which techniques are the most common, obviously, core, etc.
LongEdge Fencing is just starting to look at nineteenth century gymnasium sabre as described by the following texts.
Other authors to be examined as secondary authors to be consulted are listed below. These texts are used to validate our interpretation of the core texts and to provide differing perspectives on the topic. The latter two both trained at the Joinville Academy under the 1877 army fencing manual.
Valville produced his text for the Russian court and included much of the Slavic sabre fencing.
The three core texts give a range of tactical advice for how to conduct oneself when sparring with sabre. Understanding the advice and the implications of it is the current focus of research.
In the section on The Assault in the sabre part of Rondelle's manual, we get these principles. How do we best bring these into play?
In every attack he should take the greatest pains to preserver Opposition, and thus, guarantee himself against a Point Strike upon the body, which the adversary might make. The precept is absolute. […]
The Riposte by the Point Thrust is the most terible for the adversary and the most advantageous for the one who employs it, for it is the most rapid attack and it maintains the adverse blade in Opposition. Fencers too often quit the the line of the defence to make ripostes and thus expose themselves to Replacings [lit: remise, a renewed attack]. […]
The assailant after every attack, whether successful or not, should retreat slightly out of distance and at the same time hold the adverse blade outside the line of his body.