Lutte Parisienne (Parisian Wrestling)
Grappling component of savate from 19th-century Paris that, according to Green, hid its techniques. Since 1992 it has been called savate défense, according to Le Monde.
Quick Facts
FranceCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Lutte Parisienne (Parisian Wrestling)
Lutte parisienne, Parisian wrestling, is the grappling component of savate. Green (2001) writes that it arose as the savate practitioners' response to a law by which the Paris police punished street fighting with hands or feet with long military service, as a form of grappling that hides its techniques as much as possible. In his view the savate practitioners most responsible for codifying the techniques were Hubert LeBroucher and Louis Vigneron, while Joseph Charlemont in his 1899 book writes Leboucher. According to Green the techniques derive from Western wrestling and use throws and joint locks to injure the opponent and allow a quick escape. Joseph Charlemont at the end of the 1870s systematized the teaching of boxe française, the cane and lutte parisienne into grades. In the late 1970s lutte parisienne was, according to Green, removed from the regular study of savate. Le Monde wrote in 1998 that it disappeared in the late 1960s, returned in 1991 and since 1992 has been called savate défense, a codified discipline of the French federation of boxe française and savate.
History
Le Monde states that lutte parisienne reached the Paris prefecture under prefect Dubois and owes its development to François Vidocq, and that it was first famous with the police and then in boxe française clubs. Charlemont in his 1899 book printed the program of an extraordinary match of 10 May 1868 at Saint-Ouen, which included pointe, contre-pointe, canne, grand bâton, boxe française and lutte parisienne, and clippings from the Brussels press, according to which lutte parisienne was part of a match in 1878 and he himself a teacher of fencing, canes, boxing, lutte parisienne and gymnastics. Desbonnet writes in 1911 that in 1868 lutte parisienne was at its peak in the Paris arenas, and uses the term for Parisian wrestling shows.
How it differs
Le Monde writes that, unlike boxe française, lutte parisienne resembles a sport for rascals and does not rule out pulling ears, squeezing noses or fingers in the eyes, if they are effective. Green states that La Lutte Française, later called Greco-Roman wrestling, allowed holds from the head to the waist without attacks on the legs and forbade headbutts, chokes and joint locks.
Technique
Green states that lutte parisienne techniques use throws and joint locks to injure the opponent rather than hold him, and that many are meant to look like an accident or stay hidden from witnesses. According to him Vigneron stressed strong throws and holds, LeBroucher chokes and neck breaking. According to Green the cane with a curved end, with which an opponent can be hooked, pulled down or tripped, also comes from lutte parisienne. The French savate federation writes in its historical overview that Leboucher pushed fierce entries, leg hooks and enfourchements and that savate défense drew widely on these techniques.
Training
Green writes that in savate danse de rue the techniques of lutte parisienne are introduced through partner exercises following the weapons system, and the top two silver glove grades add more complex wrestling sequences. Le Monde in 1998 describes training with Pierre Chagne at Élan de Montreuil, who called the technique defense-based. In the small hall, the paper says, everything is allowed if one defends oneself: hands, feet, head, body-to-body fighting, the cane and the pole.
Ranks and progression
Green states that Joseph Charlemont divided the teaching of boxe française, canes and lutte parisienne into grades and created a glove system for assessing pupils, with colored sashes or cuffs.
Competition
Le Monde in 1998 called lutte parisienne a combat sport without competitions and real tests. Desbonnet describes wrestling shows in the Paris arenas in 1867 and 1868, where the rules forbade addressing the spectators and a fall was decided by a jury whose chairman raised a tricolor flag.
Today
Le Monde states in 1998 that savate défense, formerly lutte parisienne, is a codified discipline affiliated with the French federation of boxe française and savate, and according to Pierre Chagne it is practiced by 500 to 1 000 people. In 1992, according to the paper, a special unit of the Los Angeles police turned to the federation so that its members could take lutte parisienne courses. The French savate federation lists Pierre Chagne as an expert in lutte parisienne and savate boxe française.
Did you know
Charlemont relates that Leboucher awakened the sleeping wrestling and supported the wrestler Arpin, and that Empress Eugénie had public bouts banned because she found them shocking. In 19th-century literature, for example in Bloy and Verne, the expression lutte parisienne is often only a figurative name for the Parisian struggle for success.
Frequently asked questions
Is lutte parisienne a separate form of wrestling?
Green describes it as the grappling component of savate and Le Monde as a discipline that has been called savate défense since 1992 and belongs under the French federation of boxe française and savate.
Who created lutte parisienne?
Sources differ. Green attributes the codification of techniques to savate practitioners Hubert LeBroucher and Louis Vigneron, Le Monde its development to François Vidocq.
What was the relationship between lutte parisienne and Greco-Roman wrestling?
Green says that La Lutte Française, later called Greco-Roman wrestling, forbade attacks on the legs, chokes and joint locks. About lutte parisienne he writes that it uses throws and joint locks to injure opponents.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.