Academie de l'Espée (Gérard Thibault d'Anvers)

Academie de l'Espée
Academy of the Sword
Title page of the first edition
Full title	Académie de l'epee, ou se démontrent par reigles mathématique, sur le fondement d'un cercle mysterieux, la theorie et pratique des vrais et jusqu'a present incognus secrets du maniement des armes, a pied et a cheval
Author(s)	Gérard Thibault d'Anvers
Place of origin	Leiden, Netherlands
Language	French
Genre(s)	Fencing manual
Publication date	1630, 1668
Pages	423 pages
Treatise scans	Black and white photocopy (1630) Black and white photocopy (1630) Black and white photocopy (1630)

The title of this article contains the character é. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Academie de l'Espee (Gerard Thibault d'Anvers).

Academie de l'Espée ("Academy of the Sword") is a Dutch fencing manual written by Gérard Thibault d'Anvers and initially printed in 1630. Arguably the most elaborate fencing manual ever written, it was the work of several years and its lavish illustrations were prepared by a team of sixteen master engravers. Thibault's work treats the use of the rapier after the Spanish style La Verdadera Destreza ("the True Skill") and is well-known for its use of intricate geometrical figures (especially the cercle mysterieux, or "mysterious circle").

Publication History

The title page of Academie de l'Espée indicates that it was completed in 1628, but it wasn't printed until 1630 (a year after Thibault's death) in Leiden, Netherlands. A second edition was printed forty years later in Brussels, Belgium in 1668.

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