Fencing In The Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan ages were very dark, and very violent. War was a common occurrence during Queen Elizabeth’s rule, and it was often quite bloody. slightly before the Elizabethan times, war was only fought with swords and shields. To teach soldiers how to handle these weapons, especially a sword, fencing was a necessity for winning battles and eventually for winning wars. But as guns were being introduced into warfare during Queen Elizabeth’s rule, fencing became more recreational (Elizabethan 1). Even though fencing was becoming more obsolete in warfare, it was still used to train knights, and was also used to keep the people of England entertained.
Scholars have dated the first sword fighting schools in the 12th century (Elizabeth 1). The

It was written in latin and consisted of an advanced system. The mastery of fencing took time with the sword, effort, and immense emphasis on practice. In the Elizabethan era a boy spent 14 years to become a knight. he would start at 7 and then at 21 he would officially become a knight and begin his formal entry into Knighthood (Elizabeth 1) It was their job to fight, master the sword, and most importantly to honor the Code of Chivalry (1). Fencing In total, 14 years of practice and training would result in the final status of knighthood. A big plus to becoming a knight was also the ability of automatic entrance into tournaments during the Elizabethan era (Steps

The first sword used for fencing during this time was the broadsword. The broadsword was a large, double-bladed sword that was hard to use due to it’s heavyweight (Andrew 53). With the broadsword, came the sword-and-buckler technique. The sword-and-buckler technique involved using large, powerful slashes with the broadsword, and blocking with the buckler (a small shield strapped onto the forearm (Olsen 34). In the beginning of the 16th century, the rapier was introduced to fencing (Andrew 53). Unlike the thick and large broadsword, the rapier was thin light, long and maneuverable. With the rapier, a dagger was used for parrying and the rapier was used for attacking (Olsen 35). Later in the century, the dagger was replaced with a gauntlet due to gauntlet’s effectiveness in