Achille Broutin
Achille Broutin (1860–1918) was a French fencing master and a collector of weapons, emigrated to Spain.
Biography
Achille Broutin (named Aquilès in Spain) is born in Metz in 1860. He is son of Emmanuel Broutin, fencing master and Marie-Louise Pasquier, dressmaker. C. Leon Broutin, fencing master too is one of his brothers.
He left France in 1863 because of a duel between his father Emmanuel and a person close to the Emperor Napoleon III's court.
Pupil of his father Emmanuel (himself pupil of the famous Jean-Louis Michel), he was attaché in his youth to the Queen Isabella II of Spain's secretaryship. He put an end prematurely to his fencing master's career because of his marriage with Maria de Torres y Kruz (Lisbon 1852-Donostia-San Sebastian 1920). His peers of fencing said of him that he was very elegant and "toucheur".
After the Second Empire falling, in 1870, he came back to Paris every winter with his family and so could participate in fencing tournaments.
Eminent Horseman, cultured historian, he proceeded his father's collection of weapons with his pupils's presents and purchases to the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. His widow left in 1923, 13 000 pieces to the San Telmo Museum of Donostia - San Sebastian.
He died without descent in San Sebastián, in 1918.
References
- Baron de Vaux : Les Hommes d'Epées - Paris - 1882
- C. Leon Broutin : El Arte de la Esgrima - Madrid - 1893
- Szwiec, Nathalie "Un Duel sous le Second Empire" in Bulletin n°18 de l'Académie du Second Empire - p 103-104 - 2010