and indeed, was one of the first truly civilian weapons developed in any so-
ciety. It rose from a practical street-fighting tool to the instrument of a
“gentleman’s” martial art in Western and Central Europe from roughly
1500 to 1700. No equivalent to this unique weapon form and its sophisti-
cated manner of use is found in Asian societies, and no better example of
a distinctly Western martial art can be seen. The rapier is a thrusting
weapon with considerable range and a linear style well suited to exceed-
ingly quick and penetrating attacks from difficult angles. Dueling and ur-
ban violence spurred the development of numerous fencing schools and
rapier fighting styles. The practitioners of rapier fencing were innovative
martialists at a time when European society was experiencing radical trans-
formations. By the late 1600s, this environment led to the creation of the
fencing salons and salles(“halls”) of the upper classes for instruction in du-
eling with the small-sword. The small-sword was an elegant tool for de-
fending gentlemanly honor and reputation with deadly precision. An ex-
tremely fast and deceptive thrusting tool, it has distant sporting
descendants in the modern Olympic foil and épée. Both rapier and small-
sword fencing incorporated the use of the dagger and an array of unarmed
fighting techniques. Each was far more martial than the sporting versions
of today and far more precise than the amusing swashbuckling nonsense of
contemporary films.
Russia was also a land where martial arts were in constant develop-
ment. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, before the Mongol inva-
sions, Russian warriors wore armor of high quality and wielded shields and
long-swords in deadly combination. A Russian proverb confidently stated
that a two-bladed sword from the Rodina(motherland) was more than a
match for any one-bladed scimitar from the “pagans” (Muslims and Tar-
tars). When Peter the Great assumed power in 1682, Russian peasants were
so proficient at stickfighting that one of his first official acts was to put a
stop to it. Peter was going to war against the Ottoman and Swedish em-
pires, and he was going to need healthy troops for the army. In the stick-114 Europe
An old German woodcut illustrating various methods of the “art of fighting,” Kunst des Fechtens,which included an
array of bladed and staff weaponry along with unarmed skills. (Courtesy of John Clements)