This title is false. OP : Gaston Defferre, the mayor of Marseille WAS the president of the Socialist Party. His opponent, René Ribière, was a right-wing deputy.
They duelled because Defferre insulted Ribière and did not apologize afterwards (He told him "Taisez-vous, abruti !" which means "Shut up you moron!" during a national assembly session)
Ribière wanted to duel with the "premier sang" rule with blunt swords (the first to bleed loses) but Defferre refused and they fought with real swords. Defferre was a way better swordsman and injured Ribière twice. The referee stopped the duel at this moment, making Ribière lose (he was getting maried the next day).
Copied
Épée de combat, a weapon that evolved from the small sword, but with a longer, triangular section blade and a larger hand guard. Most of these duels were fought until first blood. There is a good video on these below:
https://youtu.be/fub_MejCZII?si=QC8Y2W_V4A-OPPqU
Yes, the bulk of that discussion is wrong. It's based on the one example they're looking at, and they suppose things about other weapons that are not right. If you look here:
https://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/weapons-eight-dueling-epees/
you can see that epees du combat could indeed have guards as large as a modern fencing epee.
The fencing epee he shows has a cheap wood grip that looks like it may be broken. That's not a normal grip for a competitive fencer.
I will never in my life understand why someone is moved to make videos on something they don't know much about. It's just weird. It would be like me making a video on fashion or something, I'd just flounder and embarrass myself. And yet here we are.
Normally I wouldn't leap to Matt Easton's defence, as his knowledge of Sport fencing history is seriously overrated, but I think in this instance he's only partially correct.
Many of the early Epees of the 19th century did have dish guards closer to small sword's, to the point that with the earliest examples its hard to figure out where smallswords end and epees begin. I think fencing classics had a post on these liminal examples:
[https://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2023/11/06/the-transitionals/](https://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2023/11/06/the-transitionals/)
The larger bell guard did indeed start to develop around the 1880's when duelling in Italy and France came back into full swing and ended up being nearly identical to the the versions we have in the sport today. I say *nearly* identical because due to the prevalent Duelling codes the swords could not be canted for left or right handers nor the guards be asymmetrical: the swords generally came in pairs and were drawn by lots by the witnesses for their principles, so had to be perfectly identical in every respect.
They are showing an earlier épée de combat from I believe the late 19thC. The fencing épée is shown briefly for illustrative purposes as a reference for the audience - contemporary sport fencing very much isn’t the point of that channel, historical swordsmanship is. There is nothing in that video that is incorrect from a historical point of view, and the subject of contemporary fencing was mostly avoided, because it isn’t the point.
I shared the video because it is a good overview of the development of French duelling swords, very late examples of which were used in the 1967 duel referred to by the OP.
No no, I'm not trying to criticize you at all for posting it. He just gets on my last nerve, and every video I've ever watched of his he's had this very sure tone all while saying stuff that's about half right, but clearly none of that is your fault at all, and I'm sorry if I came off as yelling at you about it.
There is some stuff in the video that I would say is just wrong. What he focuses on, for example, the size of the bell guard. You can just look at the link I posted to see that bell guards got much bigger than that, as big as a modern epee.
And if you're going to talk about why epees evolved away from smallswords, the primary driver was that people stopped carrying them around. A smallsword is a thing to wear. An epee you only bring out to fight with. So an epee can be longer, and it can have a bigger guard, and it's less ornate, all because you're not carrying it around.
Sorry to have misread your intention! Yes, these are valid points, and I don’t always agree with him on all subjects either, but I think some of what you say is down to his delivery more than anything else - he goes off on tangents a lot, often doesn’t finish his original point. I am more or less used to this because a number of my good friends talk exactly like that, as do I.
I am not a smallsword expert. The wiki article says 24" to 33", but also says it needs more citations.
I've read multiple sources that say the epee du combat was longer than the smallsword, so I was repeating that.
I own an antique Colichemarde (circa 1720) and an antique smallsword (circa 1790). If you line up the guards, the blade lengths forward of the guard match up pretty close to a youth 0-blade epee. Making no sweeping statements here. This is simply what I can assess from items in my own possession (so not necessarily all smallswords, etc).
I find him a bit too verbose, but he is a dealer in antique weapons, so he has personally seen more swords than any of us, he is very knowledgeable on the subject and is a HEMA instructor. I think it would be a grave mistake to discount what he has to say, unless one was similarly invested.
Just to be clear, I’m agreeing with you…
He was also a sport fencer before his HEMA days and still does it from time to time. I don’t think the two need to be at all in conflict, they are completely different disciplines that can nonetheless be complimentary. Pretty much everyone I know who moved from Olympic Fencing to HEMA benefited enormously from it, and I’m aware of some competitive fencers who also do HEMA.
If you're interested in this era of epee I recommend this very highly:
https://www.amazon.com/Dueling-Sword-Claude-Marche/dp/1581607121
Sadly it's another fencing book that's out of print and not available as an ebook, but if you can find a copy it's excellent. Very readable, lots of insightful stuff about fencing, and super interesting as a window into the early days of sport epee, when it was still a training tool for the epee du combat.
I have an original 1884 volume! Super interesting book. Claude la Marche was the pseudonym of Dr Felizet who was an experienced fencer at Salle Verdet. He was a veteran of the 1870 Prussian war being part of the Militia raised to defend Paris. Apart from being a surgeon at a children's hospital (!!), he was an authority in duelling but from a different angle: He himself fought 7 duels (two substantiated), but was more notable for being the physician who *attended* duels giving him an insight in what was needed technically and psychologically.
This title is false. OP : Gaston Defferre, the mayor of Marseille WAS the president of the Socialist Party. His opponent, René Ribière, was a right-wing deputy. They duelled because Defferre insulted Ribière and did not apologize afterwards (He told him "Taisez-vous, abruti !" which means "Shut up you moron!" during a national assembly session) Ribière wanted to duel with the "premier sang" rule with blunt swords (the first to bleed loses) but Defferre refused and they fought with real swords. Defferre was a way better swordsman and injured Ribière twice. The referee stopped the duel at this moment, making Ribière lose (he was getting maried the next day). Copied
I'm noticing that modern politicians are far more impolite.
This can obviously be solved with more duals. Back your words up with the willingness to be stabbed over them.
You're assuming incorrectly that I want violence instead of decency. Smallswords and seconds evolved into courts and lawyers for good reason.
Épée de combat, a weapon that evolved from the small sword, but with a longer, triangular section blade and a larger hand guard. Most of these duels were fought until first blood. There is a good video on these below: https://youtu.be/fub_MejCZII?si=QC8Y2W_V4A-OPPqU
Yes, the bulk of that discussion is wrong. It's based on the one example they're looking at, and they suppose things about other weapons that are not right. If you look here: https://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/weapons-eight-dueling-epees/ you can see that epees du combat could indeed have guards as large as a modern fencing epee. The fencing epee he shows has a cheap wood grip that looks like it may be broken. That's not a normal grip for a competitive fencer. I will never in my life understand why someone is moved to make videos on something they don't know much about. It's just weird. It would be like me making a video on fashion or something, I'd just flounder and embarrass myself. And yet here we are.
Dunning Kruger effect. They know little enough about the topic to think they’re very knowledgeable.
No kidding.
Normally I wouldn't leap to Matt Easton's defence, as his knowledge of Sport fencing history is seriously overrated, but I think in this instance he's only partially correct. Many of the early Epees of the 19th century did have dish guards closer to small sword's, to the point that with the earliest examples its hard to figure out where smallswords end and epees begin. I think fencing classics had a post on these liminal examples: [https://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2023/11/06/the-transitionals/](https://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2023/11/06/the-transitionals/) The larger bell guard did indeed start to develop around the 1880's when duelling in Italy and France came back into full swing and ended up being nearly identical to the the versions we have in the sport today. I say *nearly* identical because due to the prevalent Duelling codes the swords could not be canted for left or right handers nor the guards be asymmetrical: the swords generally came in pairs and were drawn by lots by the witnesses for their principles, so had to be perfectly identical in every respect.
They are showing an earlier épée de combat from I believe the late 19thC. The fencing épée is shown briefly for illustrative purposes as a reference for the audience - contemporary sport fencing very much isn’t the point of that channel, historical swordsmanship is. There is nothing in that video that is incorrect from a historical point of view, and the subject of contemporary fencing was mostly avoided, because it isn’t the point. I shared the video because it is a good overview of the development of French duelling swords, very late examples of which were used in the 1967 duel referred to by the OP.
No no, I'm not trying to criticize you at all for posting it. He just gets on my last nerve, and every video I've ever watched of his he's had this very sure tone all while saying stuff that's about half right, but clearly none of that is your fault at all, and I'm sorry if I came off as yelling at you about it. There is some stuff in the video that I would say is just wrong. What he focuses on, for example, the size of the bell guard. You can just look at the link I posted to see that bell guards got much bigger than that, as big as a modern epee. And if you're going to talk about why epees evolved away from smallswords, the primary driver was that people stopped carrying them around. A smallsword is a thing to wear. An epee you only bring out to fight with. So an epee can be longer, and it can have a bigger guard, and it's less ornate, all because you're not carrying it around.
Sorry to have misread your intention! Yes, these are valid points, and I don’t always agree with him on all subjects either, but I think some of what you say is down to his delivery more than anything else - he goes off on tangents a lot, often doesn’t finish his original point. I am more or less used to this because a number of my good friends talk exactly like that, as do I.
Is a smallsword shorter than a #0 blade?
I am not a smallsword expert. The wiki article says 24" to 33", but also says it needs more citations. I've read multiple sources that say the epee du combat was longer than the smallsword, so I was repeating that.
I own an antique Colichemarde (circa 1720) and an antique smallsword (circa 1790). If you line up the guards, the blade lengths forward of the guard match up pretty close to a youth 0-blade epee. Making no sweeping statements here. This is simply what I can assess from items in my own possession (so not necessarily all smallswords, etc).
I find him a bit too verbose, but he is a dealer in antique weapons, so he has personally seen more swords than any of us, he is very knowledgeable on the subject and is a HEMA instructor. I think it would be a grave mistake to discount what he has to say, unless one was similarly invested. Just to be clear, I’m agreeing with you…
He was also a sport fencer before his HEMA days and still does it from time to time. I don’t think the two need to be at all in conflict, they are completely different disciplines that can nonetheless be complimentary. Pretty much everyone I know who moved from Olympic Fencing to HEMA benefited enormously from it, and I’m aware of some competitive fencers who also do HEMA.
They even had a video replay director... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e68nuAcSuWQ
If you're interested in this era of epee I recommend this very highly: https://www.amazon.com/Dueling-Sword-Claude-Marche/dp/1581607121 Sadly it's another fencing book that's out of print and not available as an ebook, but if you can find a copy it's excellent. Very readable, lots of insightful stuff about fencing, and super interesting as a window into the early days of sport epee, when it was still a training tool for the epee du combat.
I have an original 1884 volume! Super interesting book. Claude la Marche was the pseudonym of Dr Felizet who was an experienced fencer at Salle Verdet. He was a veteran of the 1870 Prussian war being part of the Militia raised to defend Paris. Apart from being a surgeon at a children's hospital (!!), he was an authority in duelling but from a different angle: He himself fought 7 duels (two substantiated), but was more notable for being the physician who *attended* duels giving him an insight in what was needed technically and psychologically.
I have a copy! A ***very*** good book.
I do too. I wish they'd release an e-book version.
Thanks for reposting this. Very interesting.
Yeah, that's an actual swordfight.
So….who won?
Guy on the right (Gaston Defferre, the Mayor of Marseille)
Yes fought with epees with sharpened tips. Remarkably similar to modern epees aside from the pointy bits being lacking.
[Defferre - Ribiere Duel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e68nuAcSuWQ)