L'École des armes (Domenico Angelo, 1763)

L'École des armes (in English The School of Fencing) is a printed fencing manual by Domenico Angelo, published in England in 1763. Angelo, a native of Livorno (1716), learned Italian fencing in Pisa and then studied classical French foil fencing in Paris under Teillagory. In 1758 he became fencing master to the British royal family and taught Prince George of Wales and his brother Edward, Duke of York. In London he ran a fencing school at Carlisle House in Soho. The core of the book is its engraved plates showing the classical stances and techniques of the old schools of fencing. We have not been able to verify how many plates there are: Wikipedia gives 25, while the description of the University of Notre Dame copy gives 47. We have not been able to reliably establish who drew the models for the plates. According to the same source, Chevalier d'Éon may have collaborated on the French text. Angelo treats fencing as a gentlemanly exercise, not as a necessary preparation for a duel. According to Wikipedia, the book was published in French and then also in English. In 1787 an English edition appeared under the title The School of Fencing with a General Explanation of the Principal Attitudes and Positions Peculiar to the Art. It was prepared by H. C. W. Angelo, who added an index, and its plates bear the date 1783. Wikipedia describes the book as very successful in its day. In 1780 Angelo's son Henry took over the running of the family fencing school, and the family went on teaching fencing at Eton College for another three generations.

Martial arts in this work

Contents

L'École des armes rests on engraved plates showing the classical stances and techniques of the old schools of fencing. The sources disagree on their number: Wikipedia gives 25 plates, the description of the University of Notre Dame copy 47. The accompanying text is in French, and according to Wikipedia Chevalier d'Éon may have collaborated on it, though only as a possibility. Angelo does not present fencing as a necessary preparation for a duel but as an exercise belonging to a gentleman's education. We have not been able to reliably establish who drew the models for the engravings.

Editions and translations

The original edition was published in England in 1763. We have not been able to determine definitively the order of the language versions: in one place Wikipedia states that the book was published first in French and then in English. In 1787 an English edition appeared under the title The School of Fencing with a General Explanation of the Principal Attitudes and Positions Peculiar to the Art. It was prepared by H. C. W. Angelo, who added an index, and its plates bear the date 1783. The digitised copy of this edition, converted from microfilm, is incomplete: plates 2, 11 and 13 are missing. According to Wikipedia the book was very successful in its day and became an object of collectors' interest.

People and martial arts

• H. C. W. AngeloEditor

Details

Form

Printed book

Editions

• 1763 · FR · L'École des armes · first edition
• 1787 · EN · The School of Fencing with a General Explanation of the Principal Attitudes and Positions Peculiar to the Art · translation