Fechtbuchs and their Impotance to Modern Practioners of European Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts

Information on these and other manuals can be found at: http://www.thearma.org/manuals.htm

So, I have been blogging this quarter about the practice of European Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts techniques but there is an important question I have not expounded on much and that question is how do we know the information that we do about the fighting techniques used from the 13th century to the 17th century? The answer lies in the surviving fighting manuals which the Germans called Fechtbuchs (Fight Books). The Germans called these books "Fight Books" because they taught more then just swordsmanship in them. They taught wrestling and unarmed techniques, dagger techniques, pole arm techniques, sword and buckler techniques, and even mounted techniques in their pages. The European sword masters were actualy called Fechtmeisters (Fight Masters), not sword masters, because when these recognized masters from fight guilds tested to become masters they had to demonstrate their abilities in both armed as well as unarmed combat. Most of the fechtbuchs which have survived today are in German and Italian with a few also in Latin, English, Spanish, and French. These books are extremly important to modern practioners of European Medieval and Renasissance fighting techniques because there are no surviving fight schools from the periods who passed on the techniques purley through verbal tradition. We are very lucky that some people in these periods decided to document what was being taught and said in these fight schools and wrote down the techniques and provided pictures of what was happening. Without this, knowledge of how Europeans fought with swords during the Medieval and Renaissance periods may have been lost forever. Contrary to what some may believe, European fighting techniques did not "die off" when fire arms were introduced into European society. Sword techniques were transfered to other weapons systems. For instance, during the 1500s knights started to use their swords more like spears by "half-swording" the sword. This simply means that the knights would hold the flat of the blade with both of their hands and use their sword more like a spear. The knights started to do this because other armored opponents were wearing plate armor by this period and cutting at the plate did not do much to your opponent but using the tip of the sword to thrust up into gaps in the armor would. These same techniques for half swording were then transfered into uses for other pole arms which were eventually transfered over to the musket and bayonet and then the rifle and bayonet. Evidence of half swording can be seen in pictures from the fechtbuchs and in the text of the books when fight masters described how to apply half swording techniques (often against armored opponents).

I have posted two pictures of two manuals which I highly recommend for beginners of this art in particular but I would recommend them to anyone really interested in this. The first (the one in color) is an Italian Fighting Book from the Italian Master Fillipo Vadi. Vadi was from Piza and is said to have studied under the most famous master of fighting from Italy named Fiore Dei Liberi. The book has two parts to it and is important for a number of reasons. First, it is one of the few books we have where the master tells us exactly why and to who he is writing the manual for. Vadi writes in it that he is writing the manual as a supliment instruction manual for Guido da Montefeltro who was the Duke of Urbino. He says specificly in the manual that it is much easier to show and do these techniques in person then to study them in text and drawings but that he still feels the manual would be useful for rememering the techinques (think of it like learning a second language through a computer program on top of taking a foriegn language class. The computer program will help backup what is being said in class.) The first part of the book Vadi talks a lot about theory and then the second part he talks about techniques which drawings of the techniques. I recommend this book for the theory in the first part though. Vadi gives us insight into a master's mind back then on sword fighting. He talks about the ethical responsibility of those who take up the craft and how one must use their knowledge responsibility so as not to shame themself or the master who taught the person learning. Vadi also talks about feudal structure in Europe at the beginning of this manual stating that he did not believe everyone should learn this craft and that only princes, dukes, scholars, courteriers, and men-at-arms should learn this craft and that it should not fall into the hands of "low born men" (rememer, he was worried about ethical responsibility and the misuse of this information).

The second manual (the one picture up top in black and white) which I recommend comes from the German fechtmeister Joachim Meyer in his fechtbuch titled Kunst des Fechten from 1570. Meyer taught in a fecht guild in Nuremburg Germany. By 1570 people who had not previously learned fighting techniques were starting to learn them in the name of self defense. Thus Meyer in this text is speaking more to civilians interested in learning self defense then soldiers as previous fechtbuchs had. This fact shows in his manual too. Meyer's Kunst des Fechten has much more explanation in it of techniques then other manuals and is very easy to understand. Like the other fechtbuchs, Meyer's manual covers unarmed techniques and wrestling, sword techniques, dagger techniques, and pole arm techniques.

Wasters and their Importance in Western Martial Arts Training

Article Address: http://www.thearma.org/essays/wasters.htm

Today I just want to blog a little bit about a very simple but important piece of equipment both for the modern practioner of Renaissance martial arts but also for practioners of swordsmanship during the Medieval and Renaissance eras. It would have been very expensive for knights, men-at-arms, and other sword practioners to keep having to replace their steel swords from wear and use. So, a simple solution was devised. Soldiers, knights, men-at-arms, and other sword practioners made practice swords out of wood. They called these wood swords wasters since they were used for practice and when they were used up they were often discarded. These swords were often made of hickory wood or some other extremly hard wood. The swords wre skillfully made to weigh about the same weight and made to the same length of the steel swords. Roman legionares made wooden wasters of their Gladiuses they used and sometimes made them heavier then their real Gladius so that their steel Gladiuses would seem lighter. These wooden swords were often more rounded on the edges so that they would last longer then if they had square shaped edges. Many modern practioners use wooden wasters when learning sword techniques and some people even use plastic. The wooden swords have great reliability and can last the user a number of years if properly taken care of. The only draw back to wood is that the blades do not slide along each other in binds as two steel swords would. Plastic behaves a little bit more like steel when in a bind in the sense that the swords slide along each other more like steel in a bind. This is considered the most basic piece of equipment for the modern practioner of today as it was for practioners 400 and more ago.

Medieval and Renaissance Swords and On-Edged Parrying

More Information for this can be found at:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/damagededge.htm

Today I would like to blog about one of the two most important myths about Medieval and Renaissance swords from Europe. There two two HUGE and false myths which continue to be misunderstood by modern society due in large part to popular media and esspicaly the movie industry. One of those myths is that horizontal cuts are thrown in a ball ball like swinging fashion. IT IS NOT. There is plenty of surviving fight books which have survived from the Renaissance and late Medieval period which tell us that horiztonal cuts were thrown with the whole hilt (which includes the pommel, handle, and crossguard of the sword) of the sword over the head while the blade swings out in front of the person throwing the cut. The second myth which this article addresses is that attacks on a fencer were blocked with the edge of their weapon. They were NOT. It would be more ideal for a fencer to not have to block with the sword at all and avoid on coming blows by using good footwork such as side stepping to get off the line of attack while throwing your own blow but even good fencers get in a bind once in a while where they will have to use their sword to block an incoming attack. The surviving fechtbuchs (german for fightbooks) are very clear that if a fencer needs to defend theirself with their sword from an incoming attack then this should be done WITH THE FLAT OF THE BLADE. This means that the fencer should block with the non-cutting edge of their blade if they must block an incoming attack. The fetchbuchs are full of techniques about how to do this. Some are litterly a static block, some are swings that actualy smack the edge of your opponent away with the flat of your own blade, and some of the more advanced techniques (and the ones that fight masters in Europe highly praised) both block the attack of your opponent away with the flat of your blade while at the same time attack with your own. IF YOU DO NOT BLOCK WITH THE FLAT OF YOUR BLADE YOUR SWORD WILL LOOK LIKE THE PICTURE ABOVE. The word will have a bunch of bite marks in it and will destory the sword. I can attest to this personaly one day when I accidently hit one of the bricks outside in the yard on the edge of the brick with the edge of my sword and a bite got took out of it just like the one above. Parish from your minds this myth that hollywood (a constant unrealiable source on anything having to do with sword fighting which will be discussed in the next blog regarding sword for entertainment and sword for fighting) shows the correct use of sword fighting in their films by showing edge on edge blocks. What good is a CUTTING sword to you if you have so many bite marks out of the sword that you barley even have an edge anymore?

Basic Stances for Fighting with the Longsword

More information about this can be found at: http://www.thearma.org/essays/StancesIntro.htm

Today I would like to blog a bit about the 5 common stances for fighting with the longsword that Men-at-Arms and Knights would have been familar with all throughout Europe. The manuals which descripe fighting with the longsword can be found in a number of language in Europe during the Medieval era and the Renaissance. These languages included German, Italian, Latin, Spanish, French, and a few English texts. By far the most amount of literature we have about this comes from the Germans followed closely by texts in Italian. The dates of the manuals about how to fight with the longsword date from the 14th century through the 17th century. There was a particular explosion of literature on fighting with the longsword in the 15th century. As you read this blog, bare in mind that the purpose of these stances were to keep the fencer safe as they approached their target from being hit and they also allowed the fencer to be able to attack and respond to an attack as a target was approached. Also, there has been misinformation handed out by some historical fencing organizations about the over-importance of these stances and getting too nit picky about the details of them. These stances were important but as a fight master named Lichtenuer said during the 14th century, a good fencer is always in motion and changing positions so idly you will not be in any one of these positions for very long.

Alber (German for the "Fool") Stance- The picture for this stance can be found in the line of color pictures. It is the last one all the way on the left side. The fencer keeps the longsword in front of them and in the center of their body with the sword tip pointed toward the ground. The full is a very deceptive position though for ones opponent to see. If they approach the fencer head on, all the fencer needs to do is lift the tip of the sword up and the on coming opponent will find their self running into the tip of the sword. Also since the longsword is double-edged, the longsword can be lifted up verticly in a backhand strike where the sword changes positions from being pointed at the ground at the start to ending up over the head of the fencer in a position called Vom Tag (Translated from German as "From the Roof") which will be described next.

Vom Tag (German for "From the Roof")- The picture for this stance can be found in the color pictures to the right of the Alber picture. It is the second one on the left with the sword being held over the fencer's right shoulder. There are actualy two versions of this stance. One is where the crossguard of the sword is held on the right side of the fencer level with their shoulder. The other version of this guard is held with the entire sword over the top of the fencer's head with the sword tilting back slightly. It has been generally agreed that the reason why there were two versions of this stance is because of armor. The stance with the sword over the head would have been very tiring for an armored fighter to hold as opposed to the one at shoulder height. The version of the stance with the sword over the head would have been more for unarmored dueling. Both stances offer the same advantages though. This stance is seen as very offensive because any type of cut can be made in it. One can do a vertical cut, horizontal cut (which is actualy thrown over the head and not like a baseball bat like the movies would have you believe ), and also diagonal cuts from this stance. A common mistake by beginners though in using this stance is to stick their elbow out too far in front of them which allows it and their forearm to get hit. A general rule for avoiding this for the version where the sword is over the head is to make sure the pommel is not in your periferal view until you are ready to commit to a strike. For the shoulder version, make sure your crossguard is at your shoulder length. The more you hold it above the shoulder the more your elbow sticks out and if you hold it too low it takes more time to raise your sword up for a strike.

Ochs (German for "Ox") Stance- The picture for this stance can be seen in the colored pictures. It is the third one in the colored pictures going from left to right. The sword is held on the right side of the head with the crossguard and hand pointed at roughly a 45 degree angle but it can also be reversed and held on the left side just as easily. This is seen as a very offensive position because the sword is held in a way that allows the fencer to both stab or cut at an opponent. It takes more time to throw a strike from this position because one must pass through other stances to start the strike but since a fencer can chose to either stab or cut with it the stance becomes very flexible for attacking purposes. It is also easy to move into parrying positions from this stance.

Pflug (German for "Plough") Stance- The picture for this stance can be seen in the last picture all the way on the right side of the color pictures. The sword is held at waist level with the tip of the sword pointing at the opponent's head or chest. This stance can also be held in the same manner on the left side of the fencer. This stance is for stabing and a number of defensive parries can be taken up from this stance.

All of the stances above were taught by fighting masters in Europe during the 1300s and 1400s mainly for close quarters military fighting. The last stance got added to the 4 by fighting masters in Europe mainly in the 1500s. It is speculated that it probably came about for use in duels as opposed to military battles due to the fact that fighting masters were starting to teach more and more civilians how to personaly defend themselves and the space needed to throw strikes from the last position.

Nebenhut (German for "Tail)- The picture for this stance can be seen at the top of the page in black and white. The sword is held on the right side of the fencer with the point pointing down and the crossguard and hand pointed at roughly a 45 degree angle. This stance can also be held on the left side of the fencer. This position was common for someone to end up in if they through a diagonal strike from top left to bottom right or top right to bottom left. A number of defensive parries can also be made from this stance.

History of the Pell

http://www.thearma.org/essays/pell/pellhistory.htm

I have created this blog to comment on various aspects in history on European sword techniques. One of my interests outside of school is the study and practice of European sword techniques. I am part of an organization called Arma (Assoication for Renaissance Martial Arts) that studies European fighting techniques from fighting manuals that were written in the 13th century through the 17th century. These manuals however did not just teach fighting with a sword. They included other things such as unarmed combat, wrestling, dagger techniques, pole arm techniques, sword and buckler techniques, and even mounted techniques. I have included the link to the article from our website and will keep bloging on various articles from our website. All the articles I will be commenting on from the site are considered public information by our organization and can be viewed by anyone by simply going to http://www.thearma.org/ and going to the articles and essays section of the site.

For this first blog I would like to comment on an excellent article we have on our site about the Pell. A Pell was typicaly a poll sticking straight up out of the ground that swordsman would have practiced their techniques on. Armies during the Medieval and Renaissance era started training on trees while armies were camped to keep their skills up. Evidence that soldiers and men-at-arms really practiced on trees can be found in numerous pictures and wood-block pictures of students of the sword doing this. Men-at-Arms practiced against pells sometimes with their real swords but they also practiced against pells with wasters (wooden swords) to save the wear and tear on their steel swords. We can relate practicing against a pell to our own time by noticing how boxers train by hitting punching bags, police officers hitting punching bags with their battons, and watching other martial arts practice hitting other stationary fixed targets. Perhaps the most obvious benefit of hitting a fixed target such as this would be to build muscule. I can tell you from many hours of practicing at my own pell (check out the picture on the top left to see my own home made modern version of a Pell) that it certainly does that. Another perhaps obvious benefit of practicing at the pell would be the practicing of angles to swing at a target at. You do indeed get to practice attacking a target at angles with the sword (which include diaganol, verticle, and horizontal cuts). Perhaps the most underrated advantage of practicing at a pell however are all the things you learn without even having a sword in your hand. If a person does not stay within strike range of the pell then you can practice approaching a target. This is extremly important because (just like with other martial arts) the moment a fight with the sword starts your opponent gets to work studying your movements and their distance to you. They look for the openings which you are presenting to them and move in to attack those openings. So, you can practice approaching a target and learning what distance you need to be in order to attack someone (beginners of sword techniques are notroious for their bad sense of distance and timing because they haven't learned to pay attention to this yet). The other thing that is underrated regarding the pell is the important of the body's angle of attack to a target. Anyone who practices sword fighting (fencers unfortuntly have a hard time with this because fencing has been turned into a sport and are not allowed to move off a line of attack because of the rules of their sport) knows that if you just stay facing your opponent face to face you will not last long. The reason for this is that once your opponent attacks an opening on you and they keep attacking you just keep backing away to try and get away from it is much easier for them to move forward and attack you then for you to move backwards and defend. So the answer to this delema is to move off to the side. Moving to the side helps to save your bacon when the opponent keeps you moving back. The pell provides a straight line for you to look at and practice moving off to the side at. In other words, the pell gives you a focal point which you can use to practice moving around. These are just a few of the advantages that knights, swordsman, and Men-at-Arms would have had practicing at the pell during the Renaissance and Medieval Era.