Often a new fencer wants to learn a historical style but is at a loss as to where to begin. They know that the historical system is different from modern fencing, but may not have the information required to understand how it is different. What are the basic principles of Destreza and where can a new student go to get information that will help them begin?

We at the Destreza Translation and Research Project are not “Masters of the Spanish System” and won’t be making that claim anytime soon, but we do have information directly from the texts and fencing experience. Our goal is to share and present the information from the texts in a manner that is clear and easy to understand.

The articles listed below describe an approach to learning La Verdadera Destreza. We recommend beginning with the basic footwork article and working through all of the articles in order. You are free to print out and use these articles in your own study.

We will continue to add articles and content to this page as we find it. If you would like to cite any of these articles to support your own research, we will happily provide citation information. If you have a request for information, clarification, comments, or peer review that you would like to send to us please contact:

destreza@gmail.com

Disclaimer: With any interpretive process, there will be subjective decisions, a possible bias towards previous experience, and even errors. We strive to present the best information possible and invite other scholars to give feedback concerning the articles presented below.

Do you have something to share?

We welcome peer-review and contributions to our site, including translations into other languages. Thanks to Pierre Louarn the first footwork article has been translated into French!