The comparative lightness of Italian fencing sabres was something that foreign commentators took particular note of in the 1890s as Italian fencing weapons and styles received ever more exposure throughout Europe, particularly within Austria-Hungary. An aspect of this that is often overlooked, however, is what these observations can tell us about the fencing cultures of the Austro-Hungarian empire prior to the explosive spread of Italian sabre fencing with the arrivals of Luigi Barbasetti and Italo Santelli. In short: if Italian sabres were considered light, what were the sabres like in Austria-Hungary?
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| Fencing equipment — Udrycki de Udryce (1879) |
Although there were some distinct moments in which Italian sabre fencing gained notable footholds within Austria-Hungary in the 1890s, it must be kept in mind that this influence did not begin at a single moment in time, nor was it felt equally in all corners the vast empire. Former Italian military fencing master Pietro Arnoldo had been established in Graz since the mid-1870s, forming his own local contingent of Italianate sabreurs,1 and several Radaellian masters had taught in Trieste (then part of Austria-Hungary) since 1881.2
Despite this, it would not be until after Barbasetti's arrival in Vienna in 1894 that Italian influence spreads throughout Austria proper, and the fencing masters of Budapest would not adopt Italian fencing customs until there became a demand for it following the 1896 Budapest 'Millennium Tournament' and the arrival of Italo Santelli. Italian influence would take several years to reach most of the major cities of the empire, either through directly hiring a master from Italy, or by acquiring a recent graduate of the Wiener-Neustadt school (following its reorganisation by Barbasetti in 1895). Italian influence was therefore quite localised initially and took place at varying rates.
Due to the my own linguistic limitations and the greater prevalence of sources from Austria and Hungary, this article will focus on the evidence from just these two regions, with a particular bias towards the cities of Vienna and Budapest. The incredible diversity of cultures which comprised the Austro-Hungarian empire cannot be completely ignored, thus any conclusions drawn from this article should not be assumed as universal for all the constituent regions.
Treatises
The preferences for fencing sabres as detailed in treatises throughout Europe as a whole is a topic that I have discussed in greater detail previously, so here I will focus on a few treatises from just the Austro-Hungarian region in the years prior to any (apparent) Italian influence.
First we have Murz (1890), who says that a sabre weighs between 640 and 790 g.3 Chappon (1893) gives a similar range of 600 to 850 g plus a blade of 80 to 85 cm4 and Horváthi Menyhárt (1896) also gives the weight as between 620 and 800 g.5
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| Arlow & Litomyský (1894) |
Arlow & Litomyský (1894) recommend 'medium-light' blades with a width of 13 mm at the weak and 16 mm at the strong, at least in the initial stages. Students can be transitioned to heavier blades at the later stages of training if their technique is not affected, but they acknowledge play becomes very limited with the weight of a military service weapon.6
Although a limited sample size, the three aforementioned weight ranges are notably consistent with each other and, as we will see, the blade width given by Arlow & Litomyský seems to have been well within the average range expected in fencing halls and tournaments.
Tournaments
For the 'First Viennese Fencing Tournament' in 1883, the regulations prescribed 'the common spadon with a straight or curved blade' as the permitted fencing sabre for the event (spadon being a common Austrian term for fencing sabre).7 There then seems to have been few public competitions in Vienna until fencing experienced a large resurgence of interest in the mid-1890s, due in no small part to Barbasetti's influence.
In Budapest, for what was considered to be the first 'national' Hungarian tournament in 1894, sabre blades had to be between 6 and 8 'lines' wide,8 or around 13.2–17.6 mm, with the explicit intention being to exclude 'thin, whip-like Italian sabres'.9 Following the tournament, an article remarked that the sabres used at the tournament were mostly in the range of 7–8 lines wide (15.4–17.6 mm).10
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| Gyula Iványi and Zsiga Halász, c. 1895 |
At the Austro-Hungarian fencing tournament in Vienna two years later, the mandated 'Austrian sabre' had to have a minimum blade width of 10 mm, but no wider than 15 mm, blade length between 84 and 88 cm, with a guard no wider than 11 cm.11
Later that year, as part of the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest, a large international tournament was held, attracting many prominent fencers from Austria-Hungary and abroad. Despite the attendance of several notable Italian amateurs and fencing masters, the rules dictating the kind of sabres allowed at the tournament are well in line with the 1894 tournament and what we see in the aforementioned fencing treatises. The required specifications were:
- Guard no wider than 11 cm
- Blade width between 6 and 8 lines (13.2–17.6 mm)
- Minimum blade thickness of 2 lines (4.4 mm)
- Maximum blade length of 88 cm
- Maximum total length of 150 cm
- Minimum weight of 600 g12
The resulting spectacle of the Italian fencers at this tournament meant that Italian fencing, along with its lighter sabres, would quickly come to dominate Budapest's fencing halls in the following years. This is not to say that proponents of the old styles were entirely eradicated from the scene, however. In 1903 a tournament was held in Budapest solely for those born after 1 January 1880, with the mandated fencing sabres being of the 'Keresztessy' type, provided by the organisers of the tournament. The sabres weighed 690 g and were 1 metre long in total, with 84–84.5 cm of that being the blade.13
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| Hungarian fencing master József Keresztessy |
These sabres were named after the late renowned Hungarian fencing master József Keresztessy,14 who ran one of the most popular and long-lived fencing schools in Budapest during the latter half of the 19th century. Articles at the time compared the Keresztessy sabres to the now more dominant Italian sabres, with one report saying that: 'Fencing was done not with the Italian sabres used so far, but with the much heavier Keresztessy Hungarian sabres.'15
Contemporary Commentary
One major challenge of understanding history is determining what the norms were within a given society, as the people of the time are more likely to write about events and phenomena outside the norm or their daily experience. In this regard we are fortunate that the main cities of Austria-Hungary were experiencing significant cultural change with regard to sabre fencing during the 1890s, such that in reading period commentary on these changes we are able to gain an insight into what the prevailing norms were.
After a tragic accident at a Viennese fencing hall in 1889, in which a young man was killed when his opponent's sabre pierced his mask due to a violent thrust, an article in the Austrian sporting magazine Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung discussed whether or not thrusts should be allowed in sabre fencing. The writer's recommendation was that fencers should use blades that are 9 lines wide (~19.8 mm), instead of the common 7 line (~15.4 mm) blades, as the narrower tips of the latter type were more likely to fit through the mesh of fencing masks.16
Four years later, one commentator sent out a rallying cry to the fencers of Vienna that sabres were becoming far too thin, and that action must be taken to prevent further decline:
Those who have closely followed sabre fencing on the fencing floors of Vienna in recent years will have observed that cut fencing is in decline, which is related to the fact that the cutting weapon has steadily decreased in weight. From 11 lines [24 mm] wide, we have gradually come closer to 4 line [8.8 mm] blades, and recently even 3 line [6.6 mm] sabres have been ordered from arms dealers!
A further decrease from these blade sizes is hardly possible, and here it comes to a standstill on its own, because we cannot imagine that the cutting weapon could be reduced to the width of a knitting needle. Through the continued decrease in the heaviness of the sabre, the character of the cutting weapon itself has now almost lost its character, because the cut necessitates a certain force which is not produced by the powerful swing of the arm alone. The light fencing sabre has been adapted to the style of fencing as it currently stands, and in our opinion it is the exact wrong thing, because the manner of wielding the weapon should naturally accommodate itself.
The common school of cut fencing from previous years has been completely abandoned. Instead of drawing swings in the cuts, effort is made to strike directly from the guard without any chambering, and in recent times they seek to move the blade so that the point describes no large movements in the cutting plane and is brought to the opponent’s opening by the shortest path. This naturally has the consequence that a cut is no longer given, but a whole other kind of contact with the opponent takes place, lying somewhere between a cut and a thrust, whereby we cannot fail to mention how the thrust is intended more than it was previously. We have already seen sabre bouts in which the cut only happens in exceptional circumstances! We would not think of looking back to the old method and the huge heavy sabres of the old days, nor would we like to see the thrust excluded; but with how sabre fencing is done now, the decline of cut fencing does not seem too far off.17
As a result of this article, around a dozen fencing clubs held a round-table discussion and unanimously agreed that they would not allow fencing sabres with blades less than 6 lines wide (13.2 mm) in their clubs and competitions. There was a desire from some of those present that the lower limit be one or two lines greater, but the general sentiment was that this agreement was a positive step towards preserving traditional Austrian fencing. The writer further justified the decision by stating that 7 and 8 line (15.4–17.6 mm) blades were common at military training institutions.18
Commenting on this initiative by the Viennese clubs and the continuing discussion of whether to allow thrusts in sabre fencing, one Budapest magazine states that the Hungarians tend to use heavier, wider, and more curved sabres than the Italians, with the majority of Hungarian fencing sabres being between 8 and 10 lines wide (17.6–22 mm).19
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| The Hungarian Athletics Club's national fencing tournament at the Vigadó (1895) |
By mid-1895, the typical 8-line sabre blades seem to have become all but a distant memory for many in Austria thanks to the trend encouraged by Barbasetti. A writer in the Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung gives an emphatic promotion for the new Italian school of fencing and its lighter weapons, countering some of the common arguments against the latter aspect:
At first glance, the objection regarding the introduction of the Italian sabre appears to be objectively conceived. In practice everyone will have already experienced the uncomfortable feeling which becomes apparent when switching to a weapon with a different weight or form. With the introduction of the Italian sabre, the feared difference between the school sabre and the sabre for the duel is unfounded, since it really already exists.
The service sabres of our officers are 17 lines [37.3 mm] wide in the cavalry, 11 lines [24.1 mm] in the infantry, and many years ago in our fencing halls 9 line [19.8 mm] wide spadons were in use. Since then there has been a steady decline in blade width, and today there should be few fencing halls where blades wider than 5 lines [11 mm] would be used. Matters of honour should be no game, but they do not have to be a slaughter either. This applies to practice too; fighting with service sabres can only occur in exceptional cases. Heavy sabres 9 lines wide should likewise be used extremely rarely; as a rule, the seconds should bring to the duelling ground the same kind of sabres common in the fencing hall, and 5-6 line [11–13.2 mm] wide sabres are also dangerous enough, if wielded correctly, to produce the usually intended result of incapacitation.
The width of the Italian sabre hardly differs from our modern fencing sabre; indeed in Italy a heavier blade is used in the fencing school, and lighter blades are only used for exhibitions and such, as they significantly facilitate greater elegance and speed.20
Aside from giving us further corroboration regarding established fencing practices in Austria, we also see how the aforementioned efforts from the old guard to preserve the heavier 'spadons' had evidently been in vain, perhaps with the silver lining that the arrival of Italian fencing had breathed new life into an arguably neglected pursuit in Austria by this time.
The Italianisation of sabre fencing would take slightly longer in neighbouring Hungary compared to its Germanic cousin, but was no less remarkable in nature. Following the aforementioned 1896 Millennium Exhibition in Budapest, fencing masters such as Italo Santelli, Federico Giroldini, and Arturo Gazzera would establish themselves in the Hungarian capital, changing the fencing landscape there as quickly as Barbasetti did in Austria. In February 1897 the Italian journalist Roderico Rizzotti, who had been a judge at the Millennium Exhibition the previous year, remarked how Károly Fodor's fencing halls were now completely filled with Italian sabres, foils, masks, and gloves, with the few remaining heavy Hungarian sabres serving only as wall decoration.21
No doubt there were still many who held out against the new Italian trend, as evidenced by the aforementioned tournament in 1903 with the mandated Keresztessy sabres, but in the decades following the arrival of the Italians there were few in Hungary who could ignore the profound impact of the methods and practices they introduced had on the country.22
Summary
Given the data and anecdotal evidence presented here, I feel able to, with a reasonable amount of confidence, provide a general summary of the kind of fencing sabres one would expect to see being used at a fencing hall in Vienna or Budapest in the early 1890s, with the generalisation most likely applying to the late-1880s, if not earlier. One may expect a fencing sabre from this time to have the following attributes:
- Total weight between 600 and 850 g
- Blade no longer than 85 cm
- Blade width between 14 and 20 mm at the guard
- A thicker and less flexible blade than those commonly used in Italy or France
- Guard no wider than 11 cm
The reader should feel free to draw their own conclusions from this data, keeping in mind the variations that undoubtedly existed between clubs, cities, regions, and time periods. If nothing else, the data provides an excellent reference point for those interested in Italian fencing in this period, showing how foreign observers viewed Italian fencing methods and equipment and how their initial hesitation would eventually give way to emulation.
2 These being Salvatore Arista, G. T. Angelini, and Luigi Barbasetti. See Giulio Cesari, "Il cinquantenario della Società Triestina di Scherma," Rivista Mensile della Città di Trieste, May 1931, 1–7.↩
3 Frigyes Murz, Vitőr-, kard- és párbajvivás (Debrecen: Debreczeni Ellenőr, 1890), 107.↩
4 Károly Chappon, Kardvívás kezdő és haladó vívók számára (Debrecen: Csokonai Ny., 1893), 13.↩
5 Béla Horváthi Menyhárt, Kard- és párbaj-vívás (Pécs: József Taizs, 1896), 5.↩
6 Gusztáv Arlow and Franz Litomyský, Systematisches Lehrbuch für den Unterricht im Säbelfechten aus der Hoch-Tierce-Auslage (Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1894), 23–4.↩
7 "Grosse Wiener Fecht-Turnier," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 22 February 1883, 143–4.↩
8 The 'line' (Linie in German, vonal in Hungarian) is an old Austrian unit of measurement which by the 1890s had become standardised to a little over 2 mm. See here for more information.↩
9 "A vívómérkőzés," Sport-Világ, 15 April 1894, 171. Italian sabres were also derisively dismissed as 'children's sabres' in a Hungarian article from the previous year (see "Nemzetközi vivóversenyek," Vadász- és Verseny-Lap, 26 November 1893, 668.).↩
10 "Az első vívómérkőzés," Sport-Világ, 27 May 1894, 240.↩
11 "Das Österr.-ung. Fechtturnier in Wien," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 26 January 1896, 86.↩
12 "Az ezredéves országos kiállítás alkalmával 1896. évi május hó Budapesten rendezendő nemzetközi vívóverseny szabályzata," Sport-Világ, 16 February 1896, 7.↩
13 "Sport," Pesti Napló, 4 January 1903, 14.↩
14 "Keresztessy József," Vívómúzeum, accessed 1 November 2021, http://vivomuzeum.hu/gyujtemeny/keresztessy-jozsef-1819-08-07-1895-04-16.↩
15 "Sport," Pesti Napló, 5 May 1903, 11. See also: Magyarország, 5 May 1903, 10; "Das szemere-Fechtturnier," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 10 May 1903, 551.↩
16 "Der Stich beim Säbelfechten," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 21 April 1889, 379.↩
17 Josef Schmied-Kowarzik, "Über die Notwendigkeit der Einführung eines Normalsäbels," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 29 October 1893, 1144.↩
18 Josef Schmied-Kowarzik, "Der Normalsäbel," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 3 December 1893, 1261.↩
19 "A szúrás a vívásnál," Sport-Világ, 1 January 1894, 19.↩
20 "Die italienische Fechtmethode und der italienische Säbel," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 5 May 1895, 424–5.↩
21 Roderico Rizzotti, "Scherma in Ungheria," Gazzetta dello Sport, 3.↩
22 Gusztáv Arlow, A Kardvívás (Budapest: Az Athenaeum Irodalmi és Nyomdai, 1902), xviii–xix; Béla Nagy, "A Nagyvilág Vivómüvészete," Nemzeti Sport, 6 January 1907, 3–4.↩