History of Right-Of-Way

Foil fencing is governed by certain conventions, commonly called "right-of-way". These conventions lead to a logical sequence of play, or phrases d'armes, in which both fencers attempt to control the priority of the actions and hit. The rules of play for foil fencing originally were intended to demonstrate a logical method for the practice of dueling swordplay in the late 17th century. One can see the beginnings of this concept in literature contemporary to the period, such as Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670), in which the inept Monsieur Jourdain attempts to learn fencing from a master of the classical French school, who berates our hero thusly:

How many times must I repeat this? The secret of successful swordplay is to give and not to receive. As I proved to you at the last lesson, by a process of demonstrable logic, it is impossible for you to be hit so long as you know how to deflect your opponent's weapon from the line of your body. This you achieve with the smallest flick of the wrist, either inside or outside. See?"

However frustrated and snobbish Moliere's maitre d'armes may seem, he is actually giving his bumbling student a relatively modern lesson, trying to explain concepts of fencing through "demonstratable logic". Amusingly enough, when M. Jourdain attempts to show off his new-found fencing skills, he is soundly trumped by his acerbically-tongued maid, Nicole.

Ultimately, whether in the 17th or in the 21st century, the foil has been and will certainly always be an academic weapon. It was never intended for combat even in Moliere's time, but served instead as a training tool for the dueling sword. The blunt point of the foil made it possible for fencers to practice swordplay safely, a factor which was furthered by the introduction of the wire mesh mask in the late 18th century. With the foil and the mask, fencing masters and their students could easily hone technique in a more realistic manner than had been possible in the previous two centuries.

A Bout in 1760 in the Salle of Domenico Angelo.
(Note the elevated arm of the attacking fencer as well as the rather rotund man being helped into an early mask.)

Before, fencing was conducted in an extremely academic fashion that took into account the safety of the participants. Attacks were conducted with a highly elevated arm, as to avoid hitting one's partner in the face, and a defending fencer could riposte only when their opponent had fully recovered to guard. The foil target was limited to the front half of the torso from neckline to hipline, a convention which heralded the origins of the modern foil target. This choice of target was a logical place to attack during a duel: a thrust to any vital organs would be fatal, while a thrust to the musculature of the arms or legs may not necessarily end the encounter.

With the invention of the mask in the 1760's by La Boessiere, a French master, these academic considerations were rendered obsolete, despite the protests of many fencers, who felt that the mask would impede the classical beauty of fencing and introduce a brood of "pokers", fencers who ignore the earlier conventions of foil and simply attempt to hit regardless of the cost. The bias of being Europe's greatest swordsmen also influenced the more conservative fencers' views on the mask as being only fit for those without enough control over their weapon.

So it was in the early decades of the 19th century that the foundations for modern foil fencing were truly established. Foil being an academic weapon, it was only logical that a set of rules would be created so that fencers would understand the underlying concept of fencing: "to hit and not be hit". Without it, amateur fencers would indeed be "pokers", relying on an I-hit-you-first method rather than taking into account the theory that they are handling needle-sharp dueling swords. This consideration was a point of concern for many fencers, who felt that making foil fencing "too safe" would destroy the foil's use as a training weapon for the duel. Even with the developing concept of "right-of-way", some fencers went to new extremes and abandoned the foil altogether, preferring to use a blunted version of the dueling sword, or as was known in France, the épée.

Foil Fencing in the 19th Century

By the 1870's, there was a split in the fencing world. New schools of fencing had arisen, especially in France. Unlike in Italy, where the gap between practice sword and dueling sword was not very great, the French regarded fencing as two very different things: academic foil fencing and practical épée fencing. Fencing épées resembled their dueling counterparts with the
absence of a sharp point. They were equipped with a large circular hand guard and had triangular-sectioned blades, ending in a three-pronged coronet known as a point d'arret, which would snag on a target, reflecting the first blood rule in a épée duel. As for foil, many felt that it had degenerated into a purely theoretical weapon, even to the point of pedantry. For example, fencing strips were often just long boards laid down, and some masters had students work on academic trivialities such as the "Grand Salute". Things were about to change though.

In the last decadent decades of the 19th century, fencing saw a boom of international interest in competition. Beginning in the 1870's with professional matches between fencing masters known as "assaults-at-arms", these demonstrations often featured European champions from different nations. When Italy reached a state of national unity in 1861, the creation of a national school of fencing was a direct result. Italian fencers traveling beyond the Alps challenged French masters to prize fights, such as that between Aurelio Greco and Lucien Merignac in the 1870's. Though many well-known European fencers, including Greco, engaged in duels up until the 1930's, the duel had begun to die out, and after World War I it was almost entirely extinct. Fencing endured, however, in its sporting form, and in 1896 was included as one of the original events of the modern Olympics. Interest in amateur fencing had begun to grow in the late 1800's, and only increased in popularity when in 1913, the Federatione D'Escrime Internationale or F.I.E. was founded as the international governing body for the sport. With the new international rules for fencing, modern foil saw its final stages of development in the concept of "right-of"way".

French and Italian Fencing Masters (Amberger Collection)

By the turn of the 19th century, the developments in fencing had caused many to reach a mutual decision regarding the relationship between the foil and the épée. The final ruling was that the foil was an academic weapon that taught one the basics of fencing technique, theory, and tactics, while the épée was required a different understanding of tactical use owing to the entire body being target. Essentially, the foil replicated ideal combat, held in check by the agreed-on conventions of "right-of-way", while the épée replicated actual combat with the exception of bodily harm. The only issue left to settle in foil was the agreement of a common target area.
Modern Foil Target (Note: the bib is incorrectly shaded as off-target)

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, fencers wore padded plastrons for protection against a firm thrust, and it was into the 1870's that the tradition of only hitting the front side of the torso from neck to hip lasted. With the creation of the sporting épée and the growth of first professional then amateur fencing, the target for foil was furthered to include the entire torso from neck to hip. In France, however, the upper sword arm was counted as well. This led to debate among French and Italian fencing teams, the latter whom had withdrawn from both the 1912 and 1924 Olympic foil events because of controversy over accepted target. Aldo Nadi, the great Italian fencer of the 20th century, complained about this French bias in his famous bout with Lucien Gaudin in 1922. Later, by the 1928 Amsterdam Games, foil target was finally accepted by both nations as being the entire torso, neck to hip, front and back, including the padded area of the mask bib. In the 1940's, the groin target and was also declared by the F.I.E. as legal target in Men's fencing.

By the 1950's, with the development of the electrical foil, the groin target was also added to Women's fencing, while in both the mask's bib became off-target due to technological difficulties in electrification. These changes only reflected the technological changes in fencing of the era. In standard foil, the bib is still counted as valid target. The rules for foil fencing formulated in 1913 by the F.I.E. have been subsequently developed and revised throughout the years, owing to several factors, most recently due to the electrification of foil. Though right-of-way differs somewhat in practical interpretation between standard and electrical fencing competitions, the concept of a logical system of swordplay, meant to teach fencers the old maxim "to hit and not be hit" is still as valid as it was in its time of origin.


Good Fencing!