What’s with this crazy posture found in both Meyer’s manuscript and printed manual? Currently we think it’s a teaching exercise associated the the Oberstich (High Thrust) device (Meyer Forgeng 2.61r.1 Garber page 203). Here is the commentary from our Meyer Rapier Drill Book 1. Raising the foot prior to the thrust serves several purposes, even if you wouldn’t do it in an actual fight. First, it eliminates the question about how much weight should be on each foot. All of your weight much be over the back foot or you will fall over. When you step in this manner, assuming you land on the ball of ..read more

One of the most fascinating and frustrating things about reading the manuals is when a play tells you how it is different from a previous play. I ran into that recently in dusack, where I misunderstood a couple of parry drills as counter-cuts. In isolation I maintain my interpretation makes sense, but in the next two plays Meyer explains how they differ from the previous two in that they are using counter-cuts. Which means that said prior drills could not be counter-cuts. And what’s worse is that I didn’t notice it the first time through. It was only when I was writing them up and kept confusi ..read more

For the past couple of decades, I’ve been taught and teach that you should time your cuts so that your foot lands at the same time your sword hits the target. And I continue to think that this is a good way to instruct novice fencers. You don’t want to step before your cut, because that brings you into measure without a creditable threat. If you try, the observant opponent will strike you as your foot lands. Conversely, you don’t want to step after your cut completes because that leaves your foot in the air. And obviously you can’t have a strong posture if you are balanced on one foot. Current ..read more

Here’s how we currently see the 12 patterns from Meyer Chapter 10. The first pattern is the well known Meyer’s Cross, which opens with three slashes, then one of the four 4-cuts sequences, and finally a Zwerch to withdraw. The next three patterns are the same, but with feints. Pattern 5 and 6, according to our interpretation, also include the driving in the onset but omit the withdrawl. For the rest, we have neither an onset nor a withdrawal. We just time-skip the to middle of the fight where we are already in measure, ready to throw our first real attack. What if only the middle is supposed ..read more

Event info: https://www.chicagoswordplayguild.com/csg-presents-school-of-the-renaissance-soldier-sept-14-17-2023 Morning Drill – Wrestling We focused on jumping, one of the primary exercises of a knight. It is really important to learn how to land softly. If you land on your heels, it hurts. Even on soft grass. The jumps are straight up, powering with the ankles, knees, and hips. (Work on these individually if necessary.) And don’t forget your arms. Lower them while ascending, the raise them to help cushion your landing. After that we did wrestling where you try to push your opponent across th ..read more

Meyer 2.55v.1 Also referred to as a Oberhauw (High Cut). This play feints a beat to create an opening on the other side. Agent Eisenport (Irongate) or Gerade Versatzung (Straight Parrying) Patient Eisenport (Irongate) or Gerade Versatzung (Straight Parrying) 1 Raise sword straight up, keeping the sword before the face. 2 Indes Feint a beat in the manner of a vertical slice to the side that is more open, narrowly missing the opponent’s point. Patient attempts to disengage the beat. 3 Agent springs to the other side, cutting a slice close to the blade so that the blade ends ho ..read more

Meyer’s longsword manual is divided into an introduction, 12 chapters, and part 3. While it is important to read it in this order, for actual exercise it is more useful to start with chapter 10. This is where he starts to layout the basic skills that you’ll need to develop before tackling the more complex actions found in the vocabulary chapters. The first pattern contains what is often referred to as “Meyer’s Square”, so named because an ornamental square border was drawn around the crisscross pattern. This is, of course, not the first or only cutting pattern that Meyer draws inside a square ..read more

Katana The second row of knuckles on the left (lower) hand must in alignment with the blade. The right (upper) hand rotates around the handle as necessary through the cut, turning the wrist outwards. In Tag, the arms must be high and back enough that you can look past them to either side. Must like we see in Meyer, though the feet and posture are different. Naginata The haft (lower) hand must be far enough away from the butt that the elbow roughly meets the end without going past it. When cutting a fendente, the blade (upper) hand should slide along the blade for the entire length of the cut ..read more

An often overlooked aspect of the first play (plate 7, paragraph 35) is the final passage, and in such a conclusion would retire into a low quarta Far too often people just end the play when the opponent is struck. And why not? It feels great to pull off the attack as described in the book. The problem with this thinking is that it doesn’t take into consideration what happens next. Maybe your opponent has a mortal wound, maybe they don’t. And if they do, maybe it will stop them immediately and maybe it will take weeks to succumb to an internal infection. Not wanting to take chances, Capoferr ..read more

There are two ways the Zwerch (Thwart cut) can defeat Tag (High guard). The difference is not so much in the action itself, but rather the timing and distance. When Given a Tempo There are several ways an opponent can give you a tempo, a time to act. These are summarized as, After you have parried your opponent’s attack After your opponent’s sword has traveled past your body When your opponent lifts his hand in order to strike When your opponent injudiciously changes his guard When your opponent steps forward (with his front foot) In our first scenario, numbers 3 and 4 both refer to the oppo ..read more