Academie de l'Espée (Girard Thibault d'Anvers)

Academie de l'Espée
Academy of the Sword
Title page of the first edition
Author(s)	Girard Thibault d'Anvers
Place of origin	Leiden, Netherlands
Language	French
Genre(s)	Fencing manual
Publication date	1630, 1668
Pages	488 pages
Treatise scans	Digital scans (1630) Digital scans (1630) Digital scans (1630) Digital scans (1630) Digital scans (1630) Digital scans (1630) B&W photocopy (1630) B&W photocopy (1630)

The title of this article contains the character é. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Academie de l'Espee (Girard Thibault d'Anvers).

Academie de l'Espée ("Academy of the Sword") is a Dutch fencing manual written by Girard Thibault d'Anvers and initially printed in 1630. Arguably the most elaborate fencing manual ever written, it was the work of several years and its lavish illustrations were prepared by a team of sixteen master engravers. Thibault's work treats the use of the rapier after the Spanish style La Verdadera Destreza ("the True Skill") and is well-known for its use of intricate geometrical figures (especially the cercle mysterieux, or "mysterious circle").

Publication History

Academie de l'Espée was printed in Leiden in the Elzevier workshop. Its title page was initially dated 1626, but most copies were later changed to 1628 (by hand); printing seems to have continued through at least 1630, when a note announcing Thibault's death began to be appended to the book. A second edition was allegedly printed in Brussels in 1668, but there are no known copies of this edition and it might be spurious.

A full-size lithographic reproduction of the prints appears to have been made in the 19th century, but details of this printing are not currently known.

A third edition of Academie de l'Espée was published in Paris in 2005 by Kubik Editions; this edition was reduced to roughly ⅔ of the original size due to technological constraints.

The following year, in 2006, an English translation by John Michael Greer was published in Highland Village by Chivalry Bookshelf; this edition was even smaller, just US Letter size (8½ × 11 in.). A second edition of Greer's translation was published in London by Aeon Books in 2017 (and reduced in size again, to Crown Quarto or 7.44 × 9.69 in.).

Contents

The pagination of Academie de l'Espée restarts after each table, so there's no sense in listing page numbers. Instead, this is organized by table number.

ⅰ - ⅹⅹⅵ	Introductions and dedications
1.1 - 2	The proportions of the human body, the circle, and the sword
1.3	Drawing the sword and approaching
1.4 - 6	The straight line posture
1.7	Timing of attacks and counters
1.8	Imbrocades
1.9 - 10	Sentiment
1.11 - 12	Entering within the angles
1.13	An alternate guard
1.14 - 18	Cuts
1.19 - 20	Controlling the blade
1.21	Attacks of first intention
1.22	Diverse counters
1.23	Another alternate guard
1.24	Different postures
1.25	Subtle variation
1.26	Subjecting to the inside
1.27	Parrying
1.28 - 29	Unnatural postures
1.30	Maintaining advantage
1.31 - 33	Facing the postures of Salvator Fabris
2.1 - 2	Introduction to book 2
2.3 - 7	Facing sword and dagger
2.8 - 9	Facing sword and shield
2.10 - 12	Facing two-handed sword
2.13	Facing a musketeer

Gallery

Title Pages

1626 Title

1628 Title

Portrait (blank)

Portrait (text)

Dedication

Louis ​ⅩⅢ

Georg Wilhelm

Johann Sigismund

Christian der Ältere

Maurits van Oranje

Frederik Hendrik van Oranje

Ernst Casimir van Nassau-Dietz

Simon VII & Otto zur Lippe

Stephan Gans zu Putlitz

Book 1 Tables

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Table 7

Table 8

Table 9

Table 10

Table 11

Table 12

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Table 13

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Table 14

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Table 15

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Table 16

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Table 17

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Table 18

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Table 19

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Table 20

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Table 21

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Table 22

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Table 23

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Table 24

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Table 25

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Table 26

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Table 27

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Table 28

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Table 29

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Table 30

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Table 31

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Table 32

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Table 33

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Book 2 Tables

Table 1

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Table 2

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Table 3

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Table 4

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Table 5

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Table 6

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Table 7

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Table 8

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Table 9

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Table 10

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Table 11

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Table 12

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Table 13

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Additional Resources

The following is a list of publications containing scans, transcriptions, and translations relevant to this article, as well as published peer-reviewed research.

• Fontaine Verwey, Herman de la (1978). "Gerard Thibault and his Academie de l'Espée." Quaerendo 8(4): 283-319. doi:10.1163/157006978X00188.
• Majár, János; Zoltán Várhelyi (2014). "Thibault and Science I. Measure, Distances and Proportions in the Circle." Acta Periodica Duellatorum 2(1): 67-104. doi:10.1515/apd-2015-0014.
• Saviello, Julia (2018). "Girard Thibault: Bewegung in Harmonie mit dem Körper (1630)." Schönheit ― Der Körper als Kunstprodukt: Kommentierte Quellentexte von Cicero bis Goya: 287-300. Ed. by Romana Sammern; Julia Saviello. Heidelberg: Arthistoricum.net. doi:10.11588/arthistoricum.425.c5753.
• Thibault, Gérard (2006). Academy of the Sword. Trans. by John Michael Greer. Highland Village: Chivalry Bookshelf. ISBN 978-1-891448-40-9.
• Thibault, Gérard (2017). Academy of the Sword. Trans. by John Michael Greer. London: Aeon Books. ISBN 978-1-190465-884-9.
• Thomas, Rémy (2022). Pratiques et apprentissage de l'escrime dans l'Academie de l'espée de Girard Thibault d'Anvers (1630) [Unpublished thesis]. Liège: Université de Liège. http://hdl.handle.net/2268.2/15440

Copyright and License Summary

For further information, including transcription and translation notes, see the discussion page.

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Transcription		Index:Academie de l'Espée (Girard Thibault d'Anvers)