La Touche’s “Irregular“ Thrusts (American Smallsword Symposium 2024)

Welcome back to the third episode of this series on Philibert de la Touche’s early French smallsword system. In this video, we look at what La Touche calls his “irregular“ thrusts or attacks, plus a couple of bonus actions. La Touche is pretty light on details for a bunch of these actions, so we need to fill in the gaps with outside knowledge in a few parts. A lot of the cross-referencing between French and Italian came from “Fencing Terminology“ by Meastro William M. Gaugler; a great resource if you can find a copy. - Overview of Irregular Attacks | 00:10 - The Flanconade | 01:42 - The Imbrocade | 06:50 - The Botte Coupée | 10:49 - The False (Faux) Blows | 13:21 - The Same-Time Thrust | 17:54 - The Renewal | 21:22 - The Redouble | 25:14 - The Peasant Strike | 27:22 - The Blow by Void | 32:10 - The Volte | 36:25 In the fourth and final episode, we’ll look at some beats and crossings as described in La Touche. Philibert de la Touche’s 1670 treatise, “Les Vrais Principes de l’Espée Seule“ (“The True Principles of the Single Sword“), illustrates a transitional period in French fencing -- from the rapiers of the early 17th Century into a more traditional French smallsword system. Not in this series is feinting and mounted combat, which was taught by Christopher Treichel and cutting with the smallsword, which was taught by Patrick Bratton of @saladellaspada . Special thanks to Kevin Rezac, Wendy Colbert, Amy Dove, and Tim Guerinot for being the demo students in this video! These were recorded at the 2024 American Smallsword Symposium where I was the guest instructor. 🤺 MORE ON LA TOUCHE 🤺 Great translation by Reinier van Noort ( @RnrvnNrt ) Free translation by Wandrille Duchemin on Wiktenauer Plates and high-rez scan of the treatise from Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) :/12148/btv1b8452406x.r=Philibert de la Touche?rk=64378;0 Information on the American Smallsword Symposium ---- DONATIONS: If you found this video useful or interesting, please consider a small donation so I can continue to produce rapier & other historical martial arts content. Donate at ⚔️ABOUT JUSTIN AUCOIN⚔️ Justin (aka Remy in the SCA) is the product of when a five-year-old boy who fell in love with Zorro and The Three Musketeers grows into a mostly functional adult. His life-long love of athletics and swashbuckling has led him down the road to studying and practicing historical fencing. He’s the founder of @bostonacademiedarmes , a historical fencing school for HEMA & SCA fencers, with a focus on French and Italian rapier, Italian smallsword, and Italian dueling saber. He puts an emphasis on good body mechanics and helping his fencers to improve their physical fitness, athletic ability, and fencing skill while operating within their current physical limitations. As a competitor, Justin 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 8x to the Pennsic Champs team. He is 15th member of the East Kingdom’s Order of Defense, holds a Silver Broach and Maunche for his historical martial arts research, and a Silver Wheel and Silver Crescent for his coaching. Outside of the SCA and the Academie, Justin has taught rapier at Athena School of Arms and workshops at events such as Western Martial Arts Workshop (WMAW), Lord Baltimore’s Challenge, the American Smallsword Symposium, and Iron Gate Exhibition (IGX). He is a certified Instructor at Arms in Italian foil through the Sonoma State University Fencing Masters Certificate Program (SSU FMCP), and is is a personal trainer through NASM. You can follow his historical martial arts research at ⚔️SOCIAL⚔️