student of about 1700 , 1725 Starting in Spain at the end of the 15th century, the dueling sword (
rapier) became a regular part of the attire of noblemen throughout Europe. In the
Holy Roman Empire, this became usual among students, as well. Brawling and fighting were regular occupations of students in the German-speaking areas during the
early modern period. In line with developments in the aristocracy and the military, regulated duels were introduced to the academic environment, as well. The basis of this was the conviction that being a student meant being something different from the rest of the population. Students wore special clothes, developed special kinds of festivities, sang student songs, and fought duels, sometimes spontaneously (so-called , French "meeting" or "combat"), sometimes according to strict regulations called (French "how"). The weapons used were the same as those employed in civilian
dueling, being at first the
rapier and later the
smallsword (court sword, dress sword, , ), which was seen as part of the dress and always at hand as a
side arm. Student life was quite unsafe in these years, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries during the
Reformation wars and the
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), when a major part of the German population was killed. Public life was brutal and students killing each other in the street was not uncommon. A major step towards civilization was the introduction of the "regulated"
duel, of which the first recordings exist from the 17th century. The fight was not decided on the spot, but the time and location were appointed and negotiations were done by officials. A so-called did the arrangements and a "second" represented the interests of the fighter during the duel and could even give physical protection from illegal actions. A kind of referee was present to make decisions, and eventually, the practice of having an attending doctor became normal so as to give medical help in case of an injury. At the end of the 18th century (after the
French Revolution), wearing weapons in everyday life fell out of fashion and was more and more forbidden, even for students. This certainly reduced the number of spontaneous duels dramatically. The regulated duel remained in use, though still forbidden. The
foil was invented in France as a training weapon in the middle of the 18th century to practice fast and elegant thrust fencing. Fencers blunted the point by wrapping a foil around the blade or fastening a knob on the point ("blossom", ). In addition to practising, some fencers took away the protection and used the sharp foil for duels. German students took up that practice and developed the ("Parisian") thrusting small sword for the ("thrusting mensur"). After the dress sword was abolished, the became the only weapon for academic thrust fencing in Germany. Since fencing on thrust with a sharp point is quite dangerous, many students died from their lungs being pierced (), which made breathing difficult or impossible. However, the counter-movement had already started in Göttingen in the 1760s. Here the was invented, the predecessor of the modern , a new weapon for cut fencing. In the following years, the was invented in east German universities for cut fencing as well. Thrust fencing (using ) and cut fencing (using or ) existed in parallel in Germany during the first decades of the 19th century—with local preferences. Thrust fencing was especially popular in
Jena,
Erlangen,
Würzburg, and
Ingolstadt/
Landshut, two towns where the predecessors of Munich University were located. The last thrust is recorded to have taken place in Würzburg in 1860. Until the first half of the 19th century, all types of academic fencing can be seen as duels, since all fencing with sharp weapons was about honour. No combat with sharp blades took place without a formal insult. Compared to pistol duels, these events were relatively harmless. The fight regularly ended when a contestant received a wound at least one inch long that produced at least one drop of blood. It was not uncommon for students to have fought approximately 10 to 30 duels of that kind during their university years. The German student Fritz Bacmeister is the 19th-century record holder, due to his estimated 100 mensur bouts fought in
Göttingen,
Jena, and
Würzburg between 1860 and 1866. In the 20th and 21st century it was Alexander Kliesch (Landsmannschaft Brandenburg Berlin) with 70. For duels with nonstudents, e.g., military officers, the "academic sabre" became usual, apparently derived from the military
sabre. It was a heavy weapon with a curved blade and a hilt similar to the . During the first half of the 19th century and some of the 18th century, students believed the character of a person could easily be judged by watching him fight with sharp blades under strict regulations. Academic fencing was more and more seen as a kind of personality training by showing countenance and fairness even in dangerous situations. Student corporations demanded their members fight at least one duel with sharp blades during their university time. The problem was that some peaceful students had nobody to offend them. The solution was a kind of formal insult that did not actually infringe honour, but was just seen as a challenge for fencing. The standard wording was (German for "stupid boy.") In the long term, this solution was unsatisfying. Around 1850, the (German means "ascertain", "define" or "determine") was developed and introduced throughout Germany. This meant the opponents of a were determined by the fencing official of their corporations. These officials were regularly vice-chairmen () and responsible for arranging bouts in cooperation with their colleagues from other corporations. Their objective was to find opponents of equal physical and fencing capabilities to make the event challenging for both participants. That is the way it is still done today and is the concept of the in the modern sense of the word. Before the
Communist revolution in Russia and before
World War II, academic fencing was known in most countries of Eastern Europe, as well. ==Modern Mensur==