The Sword of Combat

By Rob Runacres and Thibault Ghesquiere

In the 17th century Italy was the place to learn the art of the sword. Travellers visited training salles and across Europe Italian works on fencing were translated and Italian schools sprang up. France was no exception. Francois Dancie’s 1623 treatise L’Espee de Combat (The Sword of Combat) is therefore an anomaly. Dancie’s views are blunt and acidic. He says that many who teach fencing are a ‘bunch of libertines’. He has no truck with the geometry that had crept into fencing since Agrippa’s work of 1553 and had contempt for that author’s use of illustration. Dancie’s style follows an Italian form, but rather than following other authors by providing an explanation of tempo and measure, Dancie prefers to concentrate on what temperament is required in a confrontation. His is a direct, fighter’s treatise, dedicated to a military man of similar temperament, his methods and descriptions speak more of the street than the salle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781326022952

Book preview

The Sword of Combat

The Sword of Combat

or

The Use of

Fighting With Weapons

By François Dancie, Gentleman

Of Verdier, Limousin

Translated by Rob Runacres

and Thibault Ghesquiere

First edition, published 2014

Translation Copyright  Rob Runacres and Thibault Ghesquiere

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the copyright holders.

Published through Lulu.com

ISBN 978-1-326-02295-2

Forward

For the French, Italy was the place to learn the art of the sword. Travellers and commentators such as Montaigne[1] and Brantôme[2] visited salles or the Maestros themselves. To spread the teaching of the two maestri Cavalcabo and Paternostrier, Seignieur de Villamont translated their treatises into French in 1597.[3] Cavalcabo, and later his son César, were called to the French court to teach the Dauphin, the future Louis XIII, and his brother Gaston of Orleans; their father was taught by Salvio. Cavalcabo’s treatise was so popular it was reprinted four times up to 1617, while Giganti’s first book was translated in 1619. The method of the time was Italian and, as elsewhere in Europe, Italian schools sprang up across the country.[4] Even the French Maître, Andre Des Bordes, claimed tutelage from an Italian Maestro, perhaps to give himself credibility.[5]

There does not appear to have been any native backlash against this imported system as compared with, for example, England’s George Silver and his tirades against Italian fencers such as Saviolo and Bonetti. Indeed there are very few treatises of French origin before the explosion of smallsword treatises from the mid to late part of the seventeenth century. Possibly Royal patronage of Italians, as far back as Charles IX and up until 1642, ensured continued popularity of Italian forms. Alternately, the dearth of treatises may only signify a lack of works, written or surviving, by French Maîtres.

François Dancie is therefore an anomaly at least insofar in what we understand to be the fashion in France at the time. What is known of the man or how he entered into his profession is slight. He was a gentleman of Limousin in central France and may be the same François Dancie of Nonards who is recorded as marrying Jeanne de Linnars, daughter of Jacques de Linnars, Judge of Bretenaux.[6] Jeanne’s brother Jean was married to Marie de Maynard, daughter of Géraud de Maynard, counsellor to the Parliament of Toulouse and also sister to the poet François de Maynard. This association by marriage would explain the presence of Maynard’s poetry in Dancie’s publication of 1623.

Francois Maynard held several official posts, becoming secretary to Margaret of Valois, former wife of Henry IV, in 1605 and President of Aurillac between 1611 and 1628. His attempts to further himself in Paris after his employment by Margaret met with repeated rebuffs from Cardinal Richelieu and it was not until after the Cardinal’s death that he saw a return to the capital, though this ended in disappointment.[7] It is interesting to consider whether association affected the prospects of Maynard’s circle, including Dancie, though ultimately this is merely speculation.

The earliest known record of Dancie is a manuscript that he produced sometime before 1617. This manuscript appears to have been written in his own hand, with some corrections made by another. The manuscript was in the possession of Geoffroy de Malvyn, who died in 1617 and whose papers were later compiled into a single volume.[8] The text itself is restricted to techniques of the sword and dagger and the single sword, without the wider discussion which appears in the publication of 1623. Comparison of the manuscript with the full treatise confirms that the writing style is the same and that some techniques are repeated verbatim, though the printed treatise expands significantly upon the manuscript. The translation of this manuscript has been included at the end of this work as an appendix.

Dancie’s publication of 1623 is dedicated to Henri de Schomberg: De Schomberg was Superintendent of Finances and a hero of the recent Wars of Religion, having reduced the Huguenot strongholds in the South of France; Tulle, where Dancie’s book was printed, was staunchly Catholic and had been sacked in 1590 by the Protestants. The dedication suggests Dancie was Catholic, while events in the region could indicate that his family, if not himself, may have seen or been caught up in the troubles affecting the region. Certainly, as a leading Catholic and man of action, De Schomberg would appeal as a patron to Dancie.

Unfortunately, Cardinal Richelieu was jealous of De Schomberg and had him removed from his post, citing his inability with finances and giving him a Marshal’s Baton as a sot in 1625;[9] De Schomberg went on to win a famous victory against Buckingham’s expedition to Ile de Ré in 1627. Whether Dancie’s fulsome praise was mistimed and affected his advancement, if indeed he was even noted in Paris, is impossible to assess.

Dancie appears in an account of an incident of 1629, six years after his treatise was published, when he was a witness together with one of Marie De Medici’s officials, Jacques Touchet, to open defiance of the King.[10] Touchet had been sent to Aubeterre (probably modern Aubeterre-sur-Dronne) to speak with the Marquis d’Aubeterre who had usurped his mother from the castle. Touchet states:

‘…we arrived in the town of Aubeterre, Sunday 4 March, about eight hours in the morning, and made for lodging the house where hangs the sign of the King David, where having remained a little time, [and] taking with us François Dancie, Sieur du Verdus, we made for the gate of the castle of the said place, which we found closed and the bridges raised’

Eventually, Touchet and Dancie gained entrance to the castle, where they found the Marquis had been raising a private army. Dancie later signed as witness to Touchet’s testimony to the King.

Why was Dancie in Aubeterre? The castle is a little over 100 miles from Tulle and even further from Nonards, two locations associated with him; there are a number of locations bearing the name ‘Verdier’, some close to Aubeterre, but given his other connections, Dancie’s Verdier is likely to be closer to Tulle. Aubeterre is therefore some way from his home. Dancie is not named in any official capacity by Touchet, but it is possible they met specifically before going to the castle. However, given this incident is six years after publication, it is equally possible that Dancie had moved away from Limousin and happened to enter the inn at the same day Touchet arrived and offered his support in the venture.

If Dancie’s life is outlined by glimpses and inference, his treatise is soaked with his personality. Blunt, acidic, even contemptuous, he imposes his views throughout his writing. His lamentations that many who teach fencing are a ‘bunch of libertines’ is hardly subtle and his reference to ‘clerk d’armes’ may be a comment on the novices of the French Academy. As Brioirst identifies, Dancie has no truck with the geometry that had crept into fencing since the time