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| whether provoked by words, or agitated with anger to come to blows, represent all four. The premiere, having drawn the sword entirely out of the sheath, they raise the arm in the same tempo to strike. The seconde, while holding firm, they lower the hand a little, with the arm to the equal of the sword. The tierce, at the same time that they put themselves into posture with the sword near the knee at the outside<re>In other words, on the inside of that knee which is to the outside. I am indebted to Olivier Dupuis for correcting my original translation, which was ‘near the outside of the knee’, similar to a ‘Bolognese’ guard of coda lunga e stretta.</ref>. The quarte, bringing the sword hand to the inside of the knee. These are here the principal guards, and from which all others derive as their elements, and from which they are strengthened as their foundations, that we placed here in order, but first I will discuss how to hit so you do not resemble the Alchemists without experience, who derive from their science only vanity, and who make it look like a trick, and an obscurity.  
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| whether provoked by words, or agitated with anger to come to blows, represent all four. The premiere, having drawn the sword entirely out of the sheath, they raise the arm in the same tempo to strike. The seconde, while holding firm, they lower the hand a little, with the arm to the equal of the sword. The tierce, at the same time that they put themselves into posture with the sword near the knee at the outside<ref>In other words, on the inside of that knee which is to the outside. I am indebted to Olivier Dupuis for correcting my original translation, which was ‘near the outside of the knee’, similar to a ‘Bolognese’ guard of coda lunga e stretta.</ref>. The quarte, bringing the sword hand to the inside of the knee. These are here the principal guards, and from which all others derive as their elements, and from which they are strengthened as their foundations, that we placed here in order, but first I will discuss how to hit so you do not resemble the Alchemists without experience, who derive from their science only vanity, and who make it look like a trick, and an obscurity.  
 
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| '''Chap. 3.'''
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| ''Chap. 3.''
  
 
To firstly assault with a seconde, I want you to attack your enemy in seconde so that he strikes you, and in striking, you parry with the dagger and strike him in the head.
 
To firstly assault with a seconde, I want you to attack your enemy in seconde so that he strikes you, and in striking, you parry with the dagger and strike him in the head.
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| ''Chap. 9. Feints''
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There are many kinds of feints with the dagger, and in particular the principals to feint from below to strike above; from above to below; to feint to the outside and striking between the two weapons to the inside, and striking resolutely with the sword to your enemy so that he makes a riposte, and then you can parry with the dagger, striking him in the same tempo; strike him with a thrust, so that he parries, and during this you will strike him a maindroit to the head, or with a revers, or other blows as the tempo helps you find out.
 
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| ''Chap. 10. Evading the feints''
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Having clearly seen the feints which can be made with the dagger, I want to give the method to avoid them. First, consider in which guard and in what posture your enemy puts themselves: if it is in premiere,
 
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| point to the ground in awaiting his blow, if he strikes, parry with your sword from within, and pass with the left foot, with your dagger on his sword, by this way you will reduce him until you will strike him at will, and with this guard you will be able to still use it against the seconde. To defend yourself from the tierce of your enemy: against this tierce you place yourself in premiere, parry first, by lowering the point of his sword into the ground, because by sliding your sword against his, he will push it from the left side. Then you cover with your dagger, and you will remain the victor, and you will still be able to use the same against a quarte.
 
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| '''Chap. 11. Of the guard of the left foot'''
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Having spoken hitherto quite fittingly of the guards of the right foot, being much assured
 
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| in this posture, I want to henceforth teach the guards of the left foot, which are specific to the brave men. Here is why staying on the left foot, and being assailed with a point under the hand, parry from the outside with your sword, you will strike your opponent with this seconde cited above. If your enemy carries a thrust to you under the hand, parry with the dagger in passing with the right foot in front of his right side, giving him the riposte.
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Your enemy wanting to strike you with a cut; while he raises his blow go resolutely to strike him in the stomach, by turning the hand in quarte.
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Similarly, if you want to attack from the left foot, you must advance the left foot until you come to your enemy's sword with your dagger, and when your opponent moves in the same tempo as you enter, and beat him in the stomach with a thrust, being still on your left foot, and you feint to strike
 
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| him a blow to the face in order that he parries, and when he parries with his sword, you go against him by passing with the left foot, covering his sword with your dagger, you will find the convenience of hitting him where he will be uncovered.
 
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| '''For fencing with the sword and the cape or mantle'''
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Fencing with the sword and the cape or mantle is very prompt and necessary to the man in all places since it is a custom to all and by all to wear a sword and mantle. For the first instruction of this fencing, it is expedient to know when it comes to such a fight as how one can hit his enemy.
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Firstly if your enemy is approaching and strikes you with the point or the edge, you will parry in this way.
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If he strikes you with a maindroit or a thrust
 
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| over or under the hand, carry yours from within and parry with the edge of the sword by pressing [with] the left arm, and passing the left foot together, and you will master your enemy's weapon.
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But if he strikes you a revers, you will parry with a seconde, accompanying your sword with the mantle you will immediately strike him a thrust in the stomach.
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If you want to assault with the sword and the mantle, carry a thrust to him under the hand, and thus you can force your enemy to parry by necessity, and as he will parry from inside you will lower the point, and will strike him a cut. With this blow you will remove his sword as this blow has force; you will even strike him with the point, with a revers or a blow to the head. Another shorter way: you will go to strike a maindroit on the head of your enemy so that he parries, and while he parries, you will pass with the left foot, giving him a jarretière<ref>Cut to the leg</ref>.
 
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| But in doing this, cover yourself with your mantle for greater assurance, and while you parry you will be able to throw your mantle on his face, as by this act you will make him tarry and you will take the convenience of hitting him where it is easiest.
 
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| '''Discourse on the combat with the dagger, of man-to-man.'''
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To make a fight with the dagger alone, Man to Man, I will show you here an easy, brief, and useful method. He who wants to choose the weapons, although the duel is between unequal force, and that the strongest comes to seize, with the weakest.
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Firstly, you will put your right foot in front of the left, keeping an eye on the point of your enemy's dagger. You will
 
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| strike him a thrust to the hand from within so that he parries, especially as in parrying you have the tempo to take away his dagger with your left hand by passing with the left foot; then you will hit him where the opportunity presents itself.
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To teach you another method, I want you to hold your dagger in premiere, and that you attack your enemy, and as he wants to parry the blow, you will pass under his dagger, giving him a thrust in the stomach. But if you want to wait, you will take care as [to how] your enemy holds his dagger: if he holds it low, coming to hit you with resolution; meet his dagger arm with your right hand at the same tempo which he strikes, holding the flat of the dagger back on the right side, and so you will disarm him.
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Another example: if you put yourself in seconde and that your enemy awaits you in premiere, and that on that guard he strikes you, you will pull back his dagger with your left hand, and pass with the
 
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| right foot, covering his arm, you take away the weapons. But in this you must take care and do not mock this way of fencing of which I have here written, especially since it comes from experience, that he is very fortunate that knows the means to defend himself.
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FINISH
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| '''Extract of privilege'''
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Permission is granted to Blaise ANDRE, printer of His Highness, to print or transfer the right to print the Discourse on the Theory and the Practice, and Excellence of Weapons, by the Sieur DESBORDES, with very express prohibition to all Printers and Booksellers, of printing, selling for cash or credit any other copies other than those that would have been printed or made to be printed by the said André, and that the penalties contained more fully to said Privilege. Given at Nancy on the twenty fourth day of October, 1610.
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Signed HENRY
  
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And below
  
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C. de Girmond
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{{sourcebox
 
{{sourcebox
 
  | work        = Translation
 
  | work        = Translation
  | authors    = [[Rob Runacres]]
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  | authors    = [[translator::Rob Runacres]]
 
  | source link = http://swordschool.uk/Desbordes%201610.pdf
 
  | source link = http://swordschool.uk/Desbordes%201610.pdf
 
  | source title= The Renaissance Sword Club
 
  | source title= The Renaissance Sword Club
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== Additional Resources ==
 
== Additional Resources ==
[[Index:Discours de la théorie de la pratique et de l’excellence des armes (André des Bordes) 1610.pdf|Transcription by Olivier Dupuis]]
 
  
[http://swordschool.uk/Desbordes%201610.pdf Translation by Rob Runacres]
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== References ==
 
== References ==

Revision as of 03:49, 17 March 2022

André des Bordes
Born 1582
Nancy, Lorraine
Died 28 January 1625
Nancy, Lorraine (?)
Spouse(s) Marie Olivier
Occupation Fencing master
Patron Henri II, Duke of Lorraine
Genres Fencing manual
Language Middle French
Notable work(s) Discours de la théorie de la pratique et de l’excellence des armes (1610)
Manuscript(s) MS E.1939.65.435

André des Bordes (Abraham Racinot; 1582-1625) was a 17th century French fencing master. Nothing is known of this master's youth other than the fact that he studied swordsmanship in Italy for many years and achieved some degree of mastery. After returning to his native France, he soon befriended the future duke Henri, and was appointed fencing master to Duke Charles III of Lorraine in 1606. When Henri became duke in 1609, Bordes was named a gentleman, and in August of 1609 he was raised to nobility (with the usual fees waived). Earlier that year in June, he had married Marie Olivier, a woman from a distinguished family in Pont-à-Mousson.

In 1610, Bordes completed a treatise on fencing entitled Discours de la théorie de la pratique et de l’excellence des armes ("Discourse on Theory, Practice, and Excellence at Arms"); it was published in Nancy and dedicated to the Duke. Bordes' treatise seems to largely be an abbreviated French translation of Camillo Palladini's Italian treatise Discorso di Camillo Palladini Bolognese sopra l'arte della scherma come l'arte della scherma è necessaria à chi si diletta d'arme (De Walden Library 14/10).

After this, Bordes' wealth and prestige increased; in 1612 he was appointed captain, warden and tax collector of Boulay, and in 1615, captain and provost of Sierck. In 1617, he joined the duchy's Council of State and gained the title Squire. At some point, Bordes also seems to have served as a foreign ambassador for Lorraine. Events turned against Bordes after the death of Henri II in 1624. His political enemies contrived to have him imprisoned on charges of witchcraft in November of that year, and on 28 January 1625 Bordes confessed to the crime and was executed by strangulation and burned.

Treatise

Additional Resources

References

  1. In other words, offer his knowledge and skills.
  2. As in the pictures
  3. Agrippa, Camillo, Treatise on the Science of Arms (Rome, 1553)
  4. In other words, on the inside of that knee which is to the outside. I am indebted to Olivier Dupuis for correcting my original translation, which was ‘near the outside of the knee’, similar to a ‘Bolognese’ guard of coda lunga e stretta.
  5. Manciolino of Bologna
  6. A vertical, downwards cut, equivalent to the Italian fendente
  7. A rising cut with the false edge, possibly similar to the false edge cut described by Dall’Aggochie
  8. A circular cut to the opponent’s right side, equivalent to the Italian moulineto
  9. A ‘garter’ or cut to the leg. Note the term’s spelling varies in this work.
  10. A thrust
  11. Probably a criticism of Agrippa’s recommendation to turn the head away when lunging.
  12. As in strike
  13. Dupuis suggests that Des-Bordes is in fact suggesting the fencer lowers the whole sword as the enemy attempts to thrust underneath, thereby striking with the quillions. This author considers that the lowering of the point may indicate a parry with the false edge, but that would not lend itself to a following thrust under the enemy’s sword.
  14. Cut to the leg