During teleconferences, I usually find that of any given hour, I’m not involved for 55 minutes. I take these moments to pick up my ruler and drill, either footwork or handwork, or think through actions.
Today I was thinking through a statement in the Weber-Hand interpretation of MS I.33 (“Tower Fechtbuch”, also known as the oldest extant fencing manual), apparently drawn straight from the manuscript: “From Priest’s Special Longpoint, the entire art of the manual can be performed.”
This requires understanding a couple of things: MS I.33 is not rapier play. It’s 3 foot broadswords laying into your fellow unarmored man with the true edge. There is only one thrust in MS I.33 (the “punta roversa” of Italian play, or the thrust from quarte). The rest is cuts, either lateral or diagonal up/down or straight down. And it’s true, from PSL you can throw all of these.
There is a counter in MS I.33 to PSL, called Priest’s Special Counter. And I had a thought: “If PSC counters PSL, and PSL contains the whole of the art, can PSC counter the whole of the art?”
Enter the ruler and an imaginary buckler. “Unterhau from left, PSC transitions to left cover. Check.” “Oberhau from left, PSC blocks on blade, transitions to thrust-strike. Check.” “Unterhau from right, transition to Crutch. Check.” “Oberhau from right, block on buckler, strike. Check.” “Thrust, bind on buckler, strike. Check.” “Woah.”
Pretty spiff stuff. To the armorer! Time to take this on the cut-and-thrust field!
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