Evolution of the Lunge: A Look at 17th & 18th Century Fencing Lunges

My buddy Phil Swift came up with this fun video “challenge“ where you demonstrate lunges (or any basic attack footwork) from the various masters you’ve studied. It seemed like fun, so I gave it a whirl myself, demoing Italian Rapier (north & south) and French Smallsword lunges. You can check out Phil’s video here: Not all of these are picture perfect (i.e., I’m not flexibile enough to completely nail La Touche and I’m hinging with Marcelli’s “starfish lunge“), but I think it gets the idea across. This was fun and interesting project to do and highly recommend folks do their own version (even if you don’t publish the video anywhere). It’s pretty illuminating. I *do* have some new actual training videos in the works, so stay tuned. PS - I do not apologize for this music choice. Bask in the Big 80s Energy. TOC Fabris (1606) - 00:15 Capoferro (1610) - 00:48 Alfieri (1650) - 01:28 La Touche (1670) - 02:07 Marcelli (1680) - 02:56 Girard (1740) - 03:25 Image Credits:​ Guy Windsor, Wiktenauer, Christopher Holzman, and Bibliothèque nationale de France. DONATIONS: If you found this video useful, please consider a small donation so I can continue to produce rapier & other historical martial arts content. Donate at ⚔️ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR⚔️ Justin Aucoin (aka Remy) has been fencing since 2006, first as a foilist and then joining the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in 2010. For the past eight years, he has studied Italian rapier, going through the works of Giganti, Capoferro, Fabris, and most recently, Alfieri. As a competitor, he has won numerous rapier tournaments in the SCA -- both in singles and in group melee -- including Carolingia’s Baronial Champion, East Kingdom Crown Champion, and named 6x to the Pennsic Champs team. He is also a former general of the East Kingdom Rapier Army, is a member of the SCA’s Order of Defense, and holds a Silver Broach and a Maunche for his historical martial arts research, and a Silver Wheel and Silver Crescent for his coaching service. He’s also a member of the Company of St. Jude in the SCA, a group dedicated to the study, exploration, and practice of historical martial arts. Outside of the SCA, Justin has taught rapier at Athena School of Arms, one of Boston’s premiere HEMA schools. He’s the founder of Boston Academie d’Armes, a hybrid in-person/online fencing school for HEMA & SCA historical fencers, with a focus on Italian & French rapier. He is a Level One student guide & apprentice instructor through Academie Duello and a certified personal trainer through NASM. You can follow his historical martial arts and fitness research and journey at . ⚔️SOCIAL⚔️