Fencing is to European culture, what Archery is to Confucian culture. Fencing is not just a martial skill, but also a spiritual and ethical discipline that defines a man’s character. Fencing and duelling are deeply rooted in the chivalric codes and aristocratic honor that define West European culture and history.

Going back as far as the Roman Empire, duelling developed through the Middle Ages and reached its peak days during the 17th and 18th century. While initially fought with swords, duels in the late 18th century transitioned primarily to pistols.

Duelling codes, or Code Duello, developed alongside with strict, highly formalized sets of rules during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Defamation and libel laws and the ethical belief that a person’s public standing and dignity must be legally protected from malicious untruths is a direct evolution of this duelling mindset.

Duels also play a key role in European literature, from “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (1774) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to “The Brothers Karamazov” (1879-1880) by Fyodor Dostoevsky and “Eugene Onegin” (1825-1832) by Alexander Pushkin.

Though duelling is no longer a practice in European culture, the principles of dignity and honor are still highly important. Article 1 of the German Basic Law states “Human dignity shall be inviolable”. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states explicitly that all human beings are not only equal in rights, but also in dignity.

At the same time, chivalry evolved to combine martial prowess with Christian values and courtly love and etiquette, and functioned as a strict aristocratic ethos, defining the nobility’s behavior and separating them from lower social classes.