The foil evolved in the mid sixteenth century as the practice weapon for the larger and heavier rapier. From this period onward, the cutting action in sword fighting was rapidly becoming obsolete as fighters preferring the faster thrusting action of pointed weapons. Accordingly a flat edged training weapon was no longer required. And so the modern fencing foil was born, the name comes from the french refouler, meaning to turn back. In England the new training weapon was known as a foil, which was the term employed for any rebated or guarded weapon.

The first mention of the sabre in print comes in Marcelli's manual (1686). Originally the heavy, curved, weapon with which the Household Cavalry is still equipped today, it became known in western Europe during the eighteenth century as a result of the contact with the Hungarian light horsemen (hussars) who had originally derived the weapon from the oriental scimitar of the Ottoman Turk.