Category Archives: Savate

Savate (Boxe Française) on Film, Circa 1898

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 17th April 2013 Attributed to the Lumiere brothers and dated circa 1898, this film appears to be one of the earliest cinematographic representations of la boxe française. The athletes may be soldiers at the famous … Continue reading

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“The Great Anglo-Japanese Tournament”: Bartitsu in Nottingham (March 1902)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 29th July 2013 The best evidence indicates that E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu Club in London closed down during the early months of 1902, for reasons that are still mysterious.  A recently-discovered series of … Continue reading

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“Coming to Close Quarters”: the Strategy of Unarmed Bartitsu

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 27th March 2018 This article assumes that the object is to train in a neo-Bartitsu that is as close as possible to the original style. Therefore, the approach described here is very … Continue reading

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Defense dans la Rue Vol. 2: Fundamental Striking Skills

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 26th August 2015 The second volume of Craig Gemeiner’s Defense dans la Rue (“street self-defence”) instructional DVD series is now available: During the later decades of the 19th century Parisian citizens experienced the … Continue reading

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The Earliest Known Collaboration Between E.W. Barton-Wright and Pierre Vigny: July 20, 1899

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 1st March 2016 These newly-discovered articles from the St. James’s Gazette offer our first glimpse at the original collaboration between Bartitsu founder Edward Barton-Wright and savate/stick fighting expert Pierre Vigny.  The articles … Continue reading

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“Bad News for Honest Burglars” (Dundee Evening Telegraph, January 2 1922)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 3rd March 2016 Very occasional references have been made, considerably after the fact, to the idea that Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright may have continued to teach self-defence into the 1920s. According to … Continue reading

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The Art of Self Defence (Illustrated London News, Nov. 30, 1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 12th August 2016 The various methods of self-defence adopted by followers of the Bartitsu system were demonstrated at their School of Arms on Nov. 23, when they were opposed by English and … Continue reading

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La Savate at the Alhambra Music Hall (The Graphic – 29 October, 1898)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 2nd October 2016 Events during the years immediately preceding E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu initiative had not predisposed the average Londoner to look kindly upon the French arts of self-defence. In October of 1899, … Continue reading

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“Self-Defence as a Fine Art” (London Daily News, 29 October, 1902)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 11th October 2016 Last night, his School Arms at 18, Berners-street, Professor Pierre Vigny gave a striking exhibition of the possibilities self-defence afforded by a simple walking-stick. In these days, when the … Continue reading

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“Engaging Toughs” – The Bartitsu Sparring Video Competition

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 1st November 2016 … by engaging toughs I trained myself until I was satisfied in practical application. –  E.W. Barton-Wright, 1950 Announcing the first international Bartitsu sparring video competition, for prizes of up … Continue reading

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