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Our wish is to teach the true techniques handed down to us by the great masters of the art and science of rapier defence. In order to do so, it is not sufficient to simply read the texts written in the period, nor to take the word of modern interpreters of these martial arts of our forefathers. In the first instance, the “great masters” such as De Grassi, Saviolo Capo Ferro and many others were writing in the Italian of the time which is hard enough for a modern native Italian speaker to interpret, and what has been handed down is often the product of shaky translation and dubious interpretation. Even the English of the time (some150-250 years ago) was very different than that of the late 20th century, and so even where original texts written in our own tongue survive, it is not always clear exactly what the writer is trying to say.

Coupled with these straightforward linguistic problems the fact that the teachers were often deliberately camouflaging some of the techniques they were passing on to their paying students, lest their rivals in business (for a business it certainly was) should steal an advantage, then you can see that mere bookish scholarship is unlikely to give us the whole story. Fortunately there is still a tradition of rapier and other forms of Italian western martial art still being practised in salles in Italy. FISAS represents these practitioners.

Therefore, as with all martial arts or body skills, it is only by doing that we may come close to understanding what we are about, and a large part of that doing takes the form of drilling and fencing with our colleagues in the School, pitching the techniques of one master against those of another, attempting to perfect lunges and passes, parries and ripostes.

Part of the accurate simulation of techniques is coupled closely with the weapons we use. Modern foils, epees and sabres just will not do - they are far too light and 'whippy', quite unlike the real rapier, which, even in its late, stiletto-like form, could never be flicked around like modern Olympic weapons. This is where the Del Tin (FISAS) or Leon Paul (rapier combat 40" blade comes into its own. Fitted to a hilt of period design, it both looks more accurate and performs as a reasonable facsimile of a real rapier blade designed primarily for thrusting. At the same time, modern metallurgy allows the blade to be strong and yet flexible enough to 'give' on impact to keep our fencing sufficiently safe.