The Bâton français
, French for "French staff", also known as French stick fighting
, is a European historical fencing
discipline which uses a staff
about 1.2 m long (4 ft). The techniques have much in common with longsword
The origins of this system are lost in antiquity but probably share a common root with other European stick fighting systems such as quarterstaff, German Stockfechten, Portuguese Jogo do Pau, etc.
The Bâton was systematized in France during the 1800s and is still part of a set of skills associated with the modern French martial art of boxe française (savate).