I am learning historical and classical fencing. Here are a few titles that might help you in your quest to uncover the skinny on duel rules.
Baldick, Robert
The Duel
London, 1965
Billacois, Francois
The Duel: Its Rise and Fall in Early Modern France
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990
Cienfuegos, Luis Ramos Yzquierdo
Codigo Del Duelo
n.p. 1889
Gelli
Manuale del duellante
n.p. 1889
Hutton, Alfred
The Sword & the Centuries
London, 1901
Kane, Harnett T.
Gentlemen, Swords & Pistols
New York, 1961
Keirnan, V.G.
The Duel in European History
Oxford, 1986
Landry, Stuart O.
Duelling in Old New Orleans
New Orleans, 1950
McAleer, Kevin
Dueling: The Cult of Honor in Fin-de-Siecle Germany
Princeton University Press
Princeton, New Jersey 1994
Steinmetz, Andrew
The Romance of Dueling in all Times and Countries, 2 vols.
London, 1868
Thimm, Carl A.
A Complete Bibliography of Fencing and Dueling
1846
Author Unkown
The British Code of Duel: A Reference to the Laws of Honor and the Character of a Gentleman.
London, 1824
When fighting for your life, rule number one is: WIN. So is rule two, for that matter.
However, the details supplied of the ettiquitte of this kind of impolite thing are most interesting. It made me thing of a book I’d read that was originally in French, apparently. The reference in question is to a person called Jarnac, for whom is named the Coupe de Jarnac. I gather this is a move that cuts the Achilles’ tendon, but whether this was done BY or done TO Jarnac, I don’t recall. I reckon the term Coupe de Jarnac is now used (in French?) as a reference to a low blow or cheater’s shot. Is this true?