Historical Fencing & Martial Arts Academy
“When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re going to see some serious sh!t…” Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown Caveat: If you don’t care about maths of physics at all, stop reading now, however a better understanding of some simple physics will improve your understanding of which cut to apply when. Not to mention the fact thatRead more about Stand Back, I’m about to do… SCIENCE![…]
“They were likewise taught not to cut but to thrust with their swords. For the Romans not only made a jest of those who fought with the edge of that weapon, but always found them an easy conquest. A stroke with the edges, though made with ever so much force, seldom kills, as the vitalRead more about Getting to the Point of Cutting[…]
In general terms deflecting the opponent’s sword comes under the term “parrying”, though you may also encounter the term “setting aside”, as well as the German words “absetzen” or “versetzen” (which basically mean setting aside or displacing). Meyer himself tends to describe all parrying using absetzen/versetzen, but in other texts there are very specific passagesRead more about Meyer’s Longsword: On Parrying[…]
Reading: Meyer 1570 Chapter 6 The trend in German swordsmanship is to concentrate a lot of our attention on the vor and zufechten (before and pre-fencing) with an eye to taking the initiative and forcing our opponent to take action in a predictable way. This is without doubt a keystone to success; if we doRead more about Withdrawing from an Exchange[…]