Swords in the stone of Fort St Angelo

If you associate fencing with the Olympic sport and immediately think of the foil, épée and sabre, think again. Over the weekend, 22 associations from 13 countries converged at Fort St Angelo, using some very different kind of weapons.

They were in Malta to take part in the Malta Historical Fencing 7th International Meeting, which saw them involved in various demonstrations and workshops.

“Sport fencing is a game with many rules and restrictions with a point system and the aim is to score before your opponent,” says the Malta Historial Fencing Association president Andrei Xuereb.

“On the other hand, in historical fencing, the aim is to defend oneself properly as if the weapon were really sharp and life-threatening, hence making fencing – as many people also describe it – a historical European martial art.”

‘Fencing’ or scherma in Italian originally referred to the art of defence and its origin can be traced to ancient civilisations. The need to know how to defend oneself and one’s family and nation forms part of humankind’s DNA. Tribes fought other tribes and empires rose and fell.

In times of battle, a soldier had to know how to use all weapons. These ranged from various types...