In the 1880s in Great Britain the Italian sabre systems started to become fashionable. There was a divide between British sabre fencers who followed the 'French' methods, championed by the likes of Alfred Hutton, founder of the London Fencing Club and former student of Henry Angelo Jnr, and those who favoured the Italian masters, championed in Britain by Colonel Fox, who was in charge of British Army Gymnasia.
While many British manuals contained a degree of 'native' British material, indeed with influences from Austro-Hungary, Germany and elsewhere (as exampled by the works of Charles Roworth and Henry Angelo Snr and Jnr), by the 1880s the two predominant styles of sabre fencing in Britain were commonly defined as simply 'French' or 'Italian'.
One of the first people to introduce the Italian material to the English-speaking fencers in the UK was Colonel Francis Vere Wright. I have uploaded his abridged 1889 translation, largely based on Masiello's 1887 manual, here:
http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/topics/so ... wright.pdfWhat most people don't know about Wright is that he himself had an interesting career, including fighting in the Italian wars of Unification.
Colonel Francis Vere Wright JP was born in Scampton, Lincolnshire in 1835. Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He eventually became a Justice of the Peace and Colonel commanding the 4th North Staffordshire Regiment. He had served (age 25) under General Masi in 1860 and 1861 in the then Papal States of Umbria, with what became the 52nd Regiment of the Royal Italian Army, and lost two fingers of the left hand in action. He was made a Knight Officer of the Crown of Italy.
In 1889 he wrote, "The Broadsword: As Taught by the Celebrated Italian Masters, Signors Masiello and Ciullini, of Florence"
His burial monument fittingly features a sabre and cavalry equipment.
Related work:
http://shoggoth.lusers.org/The%20Sword% ... e%20It.pdf
Posted: 29 Sep 2010 03:01
