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Fencing and The Rapier in Elizabethan England
8/2/09, A&S Tent 10, 6:00 pm
Class Summary: The Elizabethan era saw the beginning of wide sweeping social changes throughout English society. Through the lens of fencing and the rapier we will examine some of these changes. Discussion topics include dueling, class differences, social mobility, English xenophobia, Roaring boys & Roaring girls,
Introduction
· This class is based on a few research papers that I did for several graduate English classes. As a result, what I will be doing is looking at the rapier in history through works of literature (primarily Shakespeare).
· Literature Theory: New Materialism
o Common objects contain meaning beyond the simple use that they were created for. Society imbues these objects with meanings, representations, & values over time. Much of this creation of meaning occurs through works of literature (society influences literature, and then is influence by literature in return).
To offer an interesting contrast to the meaning of the rapier in Renaissance England, as I talk about the different meanings of the rapier I am also going to talk first about the sword during the course of the Middle Ages by looking at representations of the sword in some medieval works of literature. This will show you how meaning changed over time.
I. The Sword as a Status/Class symbol:
From Anglo Saxon times to the Renaissance this is one meaning that does not change.
II. Coming of age/symbol of ancestral lineage:
In Anglo Saxon times and in the high Middle Ages a sword was often given to a youth as he approached manhood or a family sword was passed onto him as a continuation of ancestral lineage. This meaning is not really present in the literature of Elizabethan England. However, the use of rapiers in Elizabethan times as very strongly associated with use by young men, and there was a generational gap in the use of weapons as this time as the rapier and the continental styles of fighting became popular in England.
III. Mythical Associations / Xenophobia
Anglo Saxons imbued their swords with godlike qualities and often named them. However, by Elizabethan times there was not much mythical or supernatural about the rapier. However, we do have a new association developing with the rapier in Elizabethan England. As a continental import the rapier, gained focus as an object of English Xenophobia and dislike of continental influences.
IV. Symbol of authority
The sword is a symbol of authority for Kings and other leaders in Anglo Saxon and Medieval times, and the exchange of weapons a sign of fealty between a lord and his man. In Elizabethan England the rapier lost some of the strong association between authority and kingship. However, the rapier is connected with the attempt of upper class nobility to recapture some of their authority and identity, via the Duel, because much of their influence and power was declining as England moved from the Feudal to the Early Modern Era.
