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.
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