“Sir Don Costantino, as one of those aware of their play, quickly said in a loud voice: “halt my good fellows, that you will witness two valiant men”.

At these words many were opposed, asserting worriedly that it shouldn’t be allowed for two youngsters to partake in this play with two handed swords, unarmoured as they appeared.

The Prince and the Duke of Amalfi, as it happens gentlemen not easily frightened by such games, even they were suddenly struck with concern; and would have been even more so, had Pagano not assured them that the play between the two would end well.

This was because, having left space for the combatants, as soon as the two youngsters appeared, facing each other with their spadoni, all of their apparel seemed normal. But nonetheless underneath they were armoured, which none of those present, however discerning they might have been, had noticed.

The most appropriate measure was that they had hats on their head, made in such a way that as soon as they lifted them, an iron mask came out to cover their faces.

Pagano divided the two of them, and from that moment, having taken a step back, suddenly they produced fierce blows, touching their hands to their hats so that their faces remained armoured.

They were strong with their sword in hand, and by God with such speed that they seemed two bolts of lighting entwining with each other.”

Marcantonio Pagano (1553)

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A few interesting notes on this: In some old sources schielhau is rendered “schildhau” - Rechtregeln (above) may be describing the upper left opening as the “schildt” - and the shielhau on the left side is very closely related to the sturzhau in its line of attack (though using a longsword we have more options for the line we can take and can use a more optimal one.)

I theorise that the naming convention and cutting model comes from fighting with a large shield. The cuts on the left are done with the false edge because the shield was in the way - Wechselhau gets its name because its the first change of the line after the ubiquitous oberhau. Sturtzhau gets its name because we simply fall from the right unterhau without re-aligning to the true edge. On the right hand side they would always cut with the true edge.

Jogo do pau português.

Hauter’s Golden Rules of Grappling

Rule 1: Be the person on top.

Rule 2: When on top, stay on top.

Rule 3: When on bottom, have an impassable guard.

Rule 4: Never forget Rule 1 (avoid the seduction of the bottom guard)

1. Be in the vor

2. Stay in the vor.

3. When in the nach, have an impenetrable defence.

3. Never forget rule 1.

Hauter’s Golden Rules of Grappling

Rule 1: Be the person on top.

Rule 2: When on top, stay on top.

Rule 3: When on bottom, have an impassable guard.

Rule 4: Never forget Rule 1 (avoid the seduction of the bottom guard)

http://www.leonpaul.com/hema-gorget.html

Leon Paul have just released their new HEMA Gorget, which I’ve had the chance to test in a couple of training sessions, so just about enough to put out a short review.

Leon Paul describes this product as follows:

The synthetic gorget is lightweight, durable and comfortable to wear.

Made of 2mm ABS synthetic for durability

Fully articulated for mobility and protection

One size fits all - fastened and adjusted with Velcro on the back

I’ll break down my first impressions into sections:

Customer Service and Pricing

No issues with any of this at all. I ordered the product on February the 28th via their website, and got it on the 8th of March, so about a week later. The listed price was £40.83, adding international shipping and VAT that became £68.08, which in Euro is (as of writing this) €77.60.

Mobility and Protection

The mobility, in particular the armoured front section, is really good. It is wider than other padded gorgets on the market, but since it contracts easily you don’t feel it all while tilting your head forwards or sideways, and when you tilt it back the armour segments restore back to their extended position. This is really clever stuff.

The protection in the front is superb, and the blade catcher fits the inside of the fencing mask perfectly. I initially thought that they could have added some inner padded lining, to avoid having the ABS plastic directly against your throat, but having had a few thrusts there since I got it, I feel that it dissipates the blow over the entire neck area far better than the soft padding neck guards do. The fencing mask bib and jacket throat cover absorb some of the thrust of course.

Protection on side of the neck could do with a bit of extra soft padding where the plastic armour ends in my opinion, so on the back strap right before the Velcro. If you train or compete in a zwerchau-rich environment, you know you sometimes get hit right there, and as it stands only the BoH protector offers some cover to that area. In theory you could also get a thrust in that spot, if someone stabbed towards your throat as you turned away, so that’s a bit of a gap.

Heat Dissipation and Comfort

The lack of soft padding between the plastic segments and the neck actually helps with heat dissipation a great deal. All other throat guards I’ve used act as a turtleneck jumper, which causes quite a lot of heat build-up. I got the feeling that, comparatively, the Leon Paul allows a bit more airflow.

Differences in profiles between the Leon Paul and the Roughneck by Destroyer Modz (above) and the Allstar throat protection (below).

Having said that, when it comes to HEMA gear I have a bit of princess-and-the-pea syndrome, so the slightest uncomfortable component really bothers me while fencing, and one aspect that I found unpleasant was the width of the back strap with Velcro. It is very wide, so if fastened with a normal straight overlap, it presses against the base of your skull with the slightest backwards tilt of the head, which I found quite bothersome.

As a workaround, you can simple fasten the Velcro at an angle, as per picture above, which increases the total circumference at the top, but in my view Leon Paul should maybe redesign the back strap to be at least a 3rd narrower or less, much like other throat guards currently in the market, as seen below.

Quality and Durability

It’s too soon to discuss durability, though I should point out that after just one training session with some drills and light sparring the stitching on one of the Velcro segments became a bit undone already. Easy to repair and maybe just a case of hasty sewing, so probably no big deal.

As for the rest, it is really well made, the clavicle section looks really robust, and the fasteners and grommets etc appear to be of great quality. Being mostly just made of plastic, sweat can be wiped off more easily than other guards, which should hopefully prevent bacterial degradation, i.e. one less stinky item in your gear bag.

Very interesting excerpt out of Christoph Amberger’s latest find, Alchemia Dimicandi, that talks about “armoring” the torso against a thrust. (This is my translation, from the transcription that he sent me.)

“Now some of those fencers from Jena say that the upper body should be strongly bent at the hips, so that the ribs form a kind of thorax or breastplate, causing the adversary’s point to glance off if he lands a thrust…”

The author disputes this, and goes on to say, “If you wish to armor your ribs, then blow out through your nose as you take a tempo” (that is, when you attack).

https://m.facebook.com/groups/122966407729095?view=permalink&id=1838494052842980

If you hold your hand up in front of your face with your fingers spread wide and your palm facing you, you can see gaps between the fingers like the spaces between ribs. Tilt your palm towards the ground, keeping the fingers spread, and at an angle the spaces disappear. Your torso, leaning forward at the hips, closes the gaps in the same way against a frontal thrust. To try the other, exhale sharply and deeply through your nose, like you’re doing a crunch while standing. The spaces between your ribs should contract with the muscles of your abdomen as your chest kind of hollows in.