Classical Fencing: The 4 Lines

During the classical period and into fashionable situations, fencing masters have divided the foil target into 4 distinct places. These are generally termed traces, and often traces of assault, strains of defense (Rondelle 1892), or strains of parry (Cass 1930). The final result is a division of the focus on into large and reduced, exterior and inside traces, making four quadrants. How you understand these quadrants relies upon on how they are described and illustrated.

The illustrations are essential to how several fencers, even today, consider about the focus on. They have appeared in several texts, and drop into two types:

• Illustrations that display the traces as subdivisions on the upper body of the fencing jacket.
• Illustrations that exhibit the lines with the fencer holding a weapon.

The variation is considerable. The illustrations based mostly on as subdivision of the chest, this kind of as Colomore Dunn’s (1891), show the focus on divided laterally and vertically into 4 related locations. The vertical division is down the centerline of the upper body and stomach the horizontal division splits the focus on into two fundamentally equal components. The weapon arm is not depicted, offering no reference to how the quadrants align with the weapon. The impression is that these are fixed segments based mostly on the condition and sizing of the fencer’s physique.

In contrast, the illustrations (for case in point, Pinto Martins 1895 and Cass 1930) that incorporate the weapon arm, exhibit the quadrants in relation to the weapon. This is significant, simply because a strike to the upper forward quadrant of the upper body could be a hit in possibly of the two superior line quadrants, depending on the site of the arm.

The quadrants them selves are explained in the very same way by most resources based on the French university. There are 4 traces:

• Substantial line – every little thing above a horizontal line drawn by way of the guard or the fencer’s hand.
• Lower Line – all the things underneath a horizontal line drawn as a result of the guard or the fencer’s hand.
• Inside of Line – every little thing from a vertical line via the guard toward the fencer’s upper body and abdomen (to the fencer’s remaining if right-handed, or to the appropriate if still left-handed).
• Outdoors Line – anything from a vertical line through the guard towards the fencer’s flank and back again (to the fencer’s correct if appropriate-handed, or to the still left if still left-handed).

The mix of the traces final results in the 4 quadrants:

• Superior Within – also termed Fourth.
• Low Inside – also termed Seventh. Rondelle conditions this Very low Fourth.
• Minimal Outside – also termed Second or Eighth. Rondelle phrases this Reduced Sixth.
• Substantial Exterior – also termed Third or Sixth.

Be aware that in just about every scenario the issue from which the line is described is variously the guard, the hand, or the grip of the weapon, efficiently the similar put (Heintz 1890, Rondelle 1892, Manrique 1920). Mainly because the guard moves, the lines them selves go upward and downward, inward or outward, with the final result that the quadrants improve in dimension and form, from time to time featuring an in depth goal location, sometimes a incredibly smaller a single.

Mainly because each attack and protection are explained during fencing in phrases of the lines, knowing the phrases is critical. Simply because the way an attack or protection is explained is in the context of the strains, implementing the technique tactically involves an being familiar with of not only the area, but also the mobility, of the lines.