Reddit reviews By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions; 10th anniversary edition (Modern Library Paperbacks)

First I'm not an expert and have only read three books on the subjects of swords/dueling/fencing so I was hesitant to comment on it (since we are talking about an evolution of swordplay over a long span of time) but the most recent book I've read, "By the Sword" (http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Gladiators-Musketeers-Swashbucklers-anniversary/dp/0812969669), mentions it and since I just finished the book it was fresh in my mind.

There is an excellent book called By the Sword which illustrates the evolution of swords throughout history. I highly recommend it, but lochlainn has already done a brilliant job of tldring the info.

Edit: Formatting

Here's a book called By The Sword. It's a history about swords. :) http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812969669

Also when duelling started getting real big in europe it became a craze among the catholic monks at the time and the Church started getting worried partly due to the fame/ego and also the dead monks, and instituted the no dulling with bladed weapons thing in hopes of dissuading the young monks. - source By the Sword

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Michel

Wikipedia has one version of the story, but IIRC, By the Sword tells it a little differently. Guy's friend challenges him to a duel to the death. He can't turn down the duel and doesn't want to kill his friend, so he uses a training foil. Knocks the guy out, breaks his jaw.