19th century fencing foils

[katana]

Hi Broadaxe ,
thanks again for your comments. I always thought the foil was unusual. As I said before, the sharp point is 'old', using a magnifying glass I can see the same patination and slight pitting as the blade. The blade isn't as 'whippy' as you might expect. To give you some comparison if the foil is pushed, point first into the wall (pressing on the pommel) there is very little flex. If the same pressure is applied to the Sabre the blade flexes around 3" ( I used a spring balance weighing scales to push the pommels ..both were 'forced' by 5.5 kgs ...approx. 12lbs).
The foil would have no problem in stabbing (quite deeply ) assuming it missed bone I also found this, perhaps my half hearted thoughts of this being a dueling 'sword' is'nt so wrong


"...The foil was invented in France as a training weapon in the middle of the 18th century in order to practice fast and elegant thrust fencing. Fencers blunted the point by wrapping a foil around the blade or fastening a knob on the point ("blossom", French fleuret). In addition to practising, some fencers took away the protection and used the sharp foil for duels. German students took up that practice and developed the Pariser ("Parisian") thrusting small sword for the Stoßmensur ("thrusting mensur"). After the dress sword was abolished, the Pariser became the only weapon for academic thrust fencing in Germany.

Since fencing on thrust with a sharp point is quite dangerous, many students died from their lungs being pierced (Lungenfuchser) which made breathing difficult or impossible. However, the counter movement had already started in Göttingen in the 1760s. Here the Göttinger Hieber was invented, the predecessor of the modern Korbschläger, a new weapon for cut fencing. In the following years, the Glockenschläger was invented in East German universities for cut fencing as well.

Thrust fencing (using Pariser) and cut fencing using Korbschläger or Glockenschläger) existed in parallel in Germany during the first decades of the 19th century - with local preferences. So thrust fencing was especially popular in Jena, Erlangen, Würzburg and Ingolstadt/Landshut, two towns where the predecessors of Munich university were located. The last thrust Mensur is recorded to have taken place in Würzburg in 1860.

Until the first half of the 19th century all types of academic fencing can be seen as duels, since all fencing with sharp weapons was about honour. No combat with sharp blades took place without a formal insult....."

Regards David

A Pariser..