Advantage through leverage

Any cut can be transformed so you gain more leverage in the bind, but some work in a direct way thatautomatically give you more leverage as you connect with the opponent’s blade. Meyer describes this with the following words:

Now the other parrying is when you simultaneously parry and hit; it happens with the reversed cuts, such as the Squinting Cut, Clashing, Crown, and Thwart Cut. (10)

So, the related cuts of Zwerchhauw, the Schielhauw, the Glützhauw and the Kronhauw are the best ones for this purpose, in Meyer’s opinion. And remember how Meyer tells us that half the fighting should be done with the Zwerch?

The Thwart is one of the chief master techniques [Meisterstuck] with the sword; for you shall know, if the Thwart did not exist in modern combat [‘fighting of today’], then fully half of it would go out the window, particularly when you are under the opponent’s sword, where you can no longer attack with long cuts through the Cross (11)

If this is true even for the older fencing before Meyer is hard to tell, but in Meyer’s case his advise is very clear and bears some careful consideration how we should apply this in our fighting.

Another important aspect to consider here is how this relates to keeping our hands safe, as these particular strikes do protect our hands well when executed correctly. Other strikes do not do this as well, which might explain why they are less used for Versetzen strikes that actually are intended to hit and parry at the same time. Still, cutting simultanously trying to parry and hit at once will always put your hands at more risk, which is likely why Meyer also advises us:

… so too it is no use to be overly aggressive with striking, or to cut in at the same time against his strokes recklessly as if with closed eyes, for this resembles not combat but rather a mindless peasants’ brawl. (12)

It should also be noted that some counterstrikes can begin like a displacing cut and then transform into a cut that uses leverage more, as either of you move closer. Things are not always, and excuse the pun, clear-cut.

Striking hard

This topic I believe is a commonly misunderstood one. Oftentimes it is claimed that striking with the point or the centre-of-percussion (c.o.p.) provides the hardest strikes, especially when you strike with the hands close together, per the advise given in the Hs.3227a treatise. However, this strongly relates to the blade typeand the material you cut at. Most of our longswords are not forward-heavy and we see the same in many of the treatises, even early on like in Talhoffer and others. This means that striking hard with the point or the c.o.p. works well against soft targets, but not at hard ones. The implication of this is that such cuts work well against a neck or hands/wrists etc, but for a proper head cut you need to cut further in on the blade, closer to the middle, somewhere in the orange area of the blade in the image above.

One of the best examples of this is Paul Hektor Mair who consistently shows blod spurts with such head cuts in his treatise Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393) of ca 1550.

From Paul Hektor Mair’s Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393) of ca1550

These powerful cuts naturally require fighting at closer distance, which is also why we oftentimes see them used as the second cut, the Nachschlag, as the attacker moves closer after having been parried.

This kinetic power can of course also be used when deflecting or supressing the opponent’s cuts with the Maisterhäuwe as in the first two methods described in this article.

That’s it for this time. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and found some of it useful. Thanks to Dr.Jeffrey Forgeng and David Lindholm for providing us with great translations of these sources!

Next time we will begin to cover the topic of Types of cuts.

1. The stages of a fight and distance (Published) 2. Vor, Nach & Nachreissen (Published) 3. The Schweche, the Mittel and the Stercke (Published) 4. Fuhlen, Indes, Hard and Soft, Weak and Strong and if you like; just fuck it all. (Published) 5. Kinetic energy, leverage, Versetzen and distance (Published) 6. Types of cuts (Published) 7. Mentality and tactics (Published) 8. Mess with the mind, then with the body (Published) 9. The point of stances (Published) 10. Shifting Grips (Published) 11. Cutting 12. The Line and protecting the hands 13. Leaning 14. Stepping 15. The Zwerchhauw, the Wechselhauw and the Verfliegen 16. Flow and Combat application 17. Solo Exercises 18. Partner Exercises

Until next time, thank you for taking the time to read this and feel free to comment and share your ideas! Have a great weekend everyone!

Roger Norling