The School of Fencing with a General Explanation of the Principal Attitudes and Positions Peculiar to the Art. by Mr. Angelo.

by Domenico Angelo

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British Library

T143107

Edited by H. C. W. Angelo. With an index. Plates dated 1783.

London, 1787. viii,105, [9]p.,47 plates; obl.8

Genres: Nonfiction, Martial Arts

172 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2005

Reviews

[Elizabeth Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Domenico Angelo’s School of Fencing, first published in 1763, is a lavishly illustrated book of instructions that went through numerous editions in French and in English. In his foreword to a new edition, Henry Angelo proudly quotes the entry on fencing (“escrime”) in the French Encyclopédie, which cites his father’s treatise as its sole source, saying it was the best there is (p. viii).

Beginners or laypeople may find this difficult to get into; Angelo’s descriptions and the finer points he makes seem to require some experience of fencing and a good three-dimensional imagination. I was reading this for research purposes and thought I might integrate at least the formal salute described on pp. 17–21 into a scene set at Angelo’s Academy of Fencing, but I was quite unable to picture it until watching Philippe de Broca’s classic swashbuckler On Guard (Le Bossu), whose first scenes are set in a fencing school. Mind you, one thing I learned from reading Angelo’s School of Fencing is how inappropriate the wide arm movements are that we all know from cinematic fencing.

Reading Domenico Angelo’s School of Fencing side by side with Roworth’s Art of Self-Defence on Foot produces a strong impression of the fundamental difference between smallsword and broadsword. Angelo writes: “You ought to practise not only to make your thrusts with great quickness and vivacity, but also to deliver them with an elastic disengagement and disposition; and the motion of the body should appear like diverse springs throughout the whole frame” (School, p. 22). Next to strength and firmness, his emphasis is on elegance, agility, ease, grace, and address, none of which Roworth even mentions.

Domenico Angelo (1716–1802) was an Italian from Livorno who had trained in Paris and moved to London in the 1750s. In 1780, he handed the school on to his son, who moved it to new premises on 13 Bond Street. Henry Angelo (1756–1835) retired from teaching in 1817, when his son Henry Charles Angelo (1780–1852), also known as Henry Angelo the Younger, took over running the academy. This is the “Angelo dynasty” referred to by modern masters like Nick Evangelista.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent text for the smallsword student. Since it was originally written in English, there are no details lost in translation. Worth getting forbthe student of swordplay.

[Charley Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic historic treatise, with some much-appreciated notes, addendum and appendices for novice fencers who, like me, spend more time trying to remember they have feet (which the enemy may stamp on) than perfecting their stances.

[Michael Vallery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome crafts make, excellent repose, vised verses recumbent to a time past, yet forgotten; how amazing a time period requisite of all to the mastery of the sword for life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness.

[Edward Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

One for the coffee table, a good resource on small sword

[keereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

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