Fencing had been around since the dawn of time; no sooner had man learned to work with wood and iron than he began making weapons for his defence and survival. The students of Oxford and Cambridge were proud to be facing one another today, for they were partaking in a near-eternal tradition. Indeed, such duels went back as far as ancient Greece, when true masters of arms already walked the earth. Influenced by the tales of the Iliad, the organisers of the first ever Olympic Games in 776 BC included fencing in their contests. Later, the conquering Romans would transform the Greek Olympic Games into a circus, with greater emphasis on emotion and savagery; men fighting wild beasts and spectacular duels. The people wanted blood, death and brutal violence. Swordplay was also the art of the knights of the Middle Ages, when men carried heavy blades to vanquish their enemies in battles and crusades. But it was toward the end of the 16th century that the Italians would revolutionise the discipline, replacing the power of raw strength with finesse and dexterity. The weapons were lighter now, and agile combatants learned to dodge blows as well as deliver them. The armour, the plating, the helmets and the harnesses disappeared. Two-handed swords began to emerge, before being forgotten in their turn and replaced by a long, slender weapon from Iberia: the rapier. Temerity gave way to cunning, guile and finesse. Men called upon God’s favour before any duel by sword. The outcome of the encounter would be taken as God’s judgement, even if men could not fight without the king’s authorisation. Little by little, duelling became a courtly and elegant sport, in which one could compete without fighting to the death.
The students of Oxford and Cambridge liked to draw inspiration from famous heroes. There had been many great swordsmen over the course of History, both real and fictional. In The Three Musketeers, d’Artagnan fought for the values of loyalty and heroism, and would inspire generations to follow his example. Alexandre Dumas was himself an excellent fencer, and his cape-and-sword books were as much a response to the tastes of the time as an expression of the ideal man, able and courageous. But history shows us that weapons were not solely brandished by men. Patrician women were known to fight in the Roman circus, and in the medieval era tournaments were commonly held for women in Italy and Germany. “I’d have been a better fighter if I’d been a woman,” Éon de Beaumont liked to say. The Chevalier d’Éon lived as both knight and maiden, and the mystery surrounding his gender would persist until his autopsy, up to the moment when the delighted surgeon exclaimed: “He was a man!” But at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the fairer sex seldom fought – although the Olympics had allowed women’s fencing since 1924, not many ladies were encouraged to take up the discipline.
On the lawns of Cambridge, the students commented on the duel between Andrew and Charles:
“Andrew’s counter-riposte is spectacular!”
“Worthy of d’Artagnan, I’d say.”
“I find him a little stiff; he barely bends his legs.”
“Excellent! Look at how Charles lunges with that explosive push from the rear leg.”
“His heel barely left the ground!”
Alan Alfredo Geday
Opmerkingen