#ringeck

To make a long story short; about a year ago I was very disappointed in my longsword fencing. I felt like I did the same things over and over, and I didn’t use historical techniques that I should be using and instead mixing and matching ideas and tidbits from all over the place. So to get myself somewhere in my fencing, I decided that I would make the Vier Versetzen work in my sparring.

I decided on the vier versetzen for two reason; they are the breaking of the four legers by four of the five hews and I figured they should be how to fence against them, and that I very rarely see them used in sparring so I figured it could do the community some good if I managed to get a better understanding of them.

The big problem with the vier versetzen in the sources is that they aren’t very well described. They’re mostly just offhandedly put in there, like a “..oh, and also do the schielhau to pflug”. So the first thing I felt like I had to do was to understand their context, otherwise it was really hard to get to grips with distance and intent of them.

First off I had to understand the five cuts in a better way. I felt like I had trained the “how” a lot, but not the “why”. So I started off by reinterpreting all five cuts from the standpoint of:

* What problem does it solve, and how does it solve it better than the other cuts * When do I use it and how do I time it - differences between Vor and Nach * How does it work at different distances

So I ended up with a bunch of general guidelines so that each cut got it’s place in my fencing and that it didn’t overlap with the other’s. This was very briefly:

Zornhau for working in Nach, and as a fallback cut for when I just don’t have a plan.

Krump for sweeping away attacks from my opponents right side and counterwinding when in nach, clipping the hands of a passive opponent in anfechten.

Zwerch for taking care of threats from above.

Schiller for taking care of thrusts from below and breaking defenses where the hilt is low and centered.

Schaittler to break defenses where the hilt is in one of the corners to break the center.

I based it all on the idea that the five cuts are the five first haupstücke of Ringeck, so unless I feel I understand them to the point where they really are the core of my fencing I couldn’t get further in my understanding of the art.

When I felt like I could spar by using the five cuts and the five cuts only I started exploring options for getting the Vier Versetzen to work.

Mechanically some of them seemed quite easy, but they were incredibly hard to get to work well in sparring. Shiller was a bit tricky, where we tried out quite a few different alternatives. Schaittler was exciting, since I actually managed to figure out a mechanical solution that seemed to work at longer range. 

A key account to making the Vier Versetzen work was to rediscover the vier leger, or the four “guards” which is the haupstucke just before. Luckily there were some discussions online about Zufechten which got me thinking more and more about the fighting philosophy of Ringeck and Liechtenauer. Changing my Zufechten from a somewhat static distance more toward a movement towards my opponent in which I decide what to do the Vier Leger made much more sense. When moving through Zufechten the Vier Leger suddenly became very good setups for preloading attacks into Anfechten.

With that in mind the Vier Versetzen suddenly made much more sense. When moving into Zufechten I can decide between Nachreisen (the next hauptstucke) if my opponent has mistimed her action, or decide one of the Vier Versetzen if my opponent moves in preparing an attack from one of the Vier Leger ( or langort :-P ). Of great importance seems to be that I move into Anfechten in ernest, so I close distance but not too much so I get into Krieg. 

When applying this idea the Vier Versetzen finally started working. 

Zwerch against Vom Tag works great when doing the leap described in the sources. The attack angle makes it work quite like the sources describe it, with the opponents blade collected with the hilt.

Krump against Ochs also works well, with the hit on the hands becoming completely natural. Since you should start your Zufechten move rolling your balance over the left foot (if you’re right-handed), your leap to the right voids your opponents strikes or movements from Ochs, while the most static part of your opponent is usually her hands which you just Krump to. If the hands are removed, go for the blade.

Schiel against Pflug (and in extension, Langeort) is a bit tricky with the timing, but seem to work well if I remember to turn my blade to false edge quite early and then let it move just slightly to the left on it’s way down while I move my body to the right. If done correctly my opponent will either have her point pushed away to the left, or if she tries to durchwechsel I should still get an overbind and remove the point.

Schaittler against Alber has always been one of the hardest to figure out, mainly due to Schaittler being the least described cut of the five. My interpretation right now, which seems to be working decently, is based on the key pair “Alber versecz” in the Zettel coupled with what I believe is the only depiction of Langschaittler in Peter Falkners part about the Schaittler (blue clothes below).

The main action of a fencer setting up in Abler in Zufechten is generally to Versetz, so my aim is the lure out a versetzen with the hilt in a corner but instead strike a hard bind on her weak on the center line. I try to accomplish this by moving in closer on my right foot loading a serious threat from the langschaittler (put my sword behind my back for a powerful blow to the right upper opening), but change the strike into the schaittler when the defense comes up. This usually ends up in situations akin to what Ringeck describes.

And that’s it! This is how I currently interpret and join together the eight first haupstücke of Ringeck. Keep in mind that this is only an interpretation, and you can wholeheartedly disagree with any and all of it :-)

Tonights technique training showed us how important it is to work straight from the sources, and not trust old interpretations of techniques too much. We’re working through Ringeck from cover to cover this spring, and it’s just so much fun!

We had some interesting work with the zwerhau tonight, and while most of it was fairly straight forward (small adjustments and minor new things came up), one technique that we usually skim through quickly with an interpretation we were taught a few years ago proved to be...well... wrong :-)

It was the first counter to the zwerhau:

Note,[18] when you bind him from your right side with an over-cut (or otherwise[89] on his sword), if he then strikes-around with the thwart to the other side, so come forward as well with the thwart-cut[90] under his sword on his neck (as stands pictured hereafter next to this),[91] such that he strikes himself the same with your sword.[92]

As we were once taught (or read/saw on youtube or wherever it came from), this was presented as a counter left zwer with a left step while trying to go under the sword. This works decently as a defense, but it usually just hits the arms with a kind of weak cut from the left and sometimes even causes double hits. Also not any faster than the vor zwer, so quite hard to do in sparring. 

So tonight we went back to square one, and figured out how we should hit the neck. End result is that you just go up to the right with a short right zwer into the neck, under his sword just as the manual states. This is faster than he can strike around, so quite safe and very rarely ends up in doubles. And he strikes himself with your 

This is probably how most others do it, and it just shows how important it is to revisit and revise what we think we’re certain of from the manuals :-)

Short video of revised technique below.

Vier sind versetzen / dy die leger auch ser letzen / 

I have spent a fair amount of time the last few months thinking about how Liechtenauer wanted us to fence. One of the first things I started to note when diving into Ringeck (our primary source), was that it fairly explicitly states that 

1. Always start from the right side (if you’re righthanded) (14r-14v)

2. If you’re doing a vorschlag (you take the initative, which is what liechtenauer tells us to) against someone defending, you should only use the five cuts (16v-17v)

3.Four of these cuts each break one of the four guards/lyings (vier leger). (34v-36v). These are called the vier versetzen, or the four setting asides; Zwer to tag, Krump to ochs, Schiel to pflug and Schaitler to alber. Note that Zornhau is not one of these, due to it not breaking any leger (I’ve been toying with the idea of zornhau breaking central positions as vorschlag, such as langeort and sprechfenster when applied properly).

Interestingly enough the vier versetzen are seldomly used in sparring by the HEMA community, and they are rarely seen in competitive matches (oberhau and thrusts are much more common openers). I know I personally almost never used them, instead reverting to simple oberhaus and thrusts when attacking. The exception is the zwer, which we see a decent amount of as a vorschlag to tag.

So in the name of science and fencing, this year I’ve decided to focus on being able to perform the vier versetzen in earnest when fencing, to the point that I can consistently perform them even in competition. 

My first problem for performing them is confidence. I think I got the technique down for them, but I keep doubting my distance and timing and losing the moment for performing them. I fully expect it will take all of spring before I can start doing them reliably, but when they work I’ll be one step closer to fencing in a way that Liechtenauer would approve of!

Hey guys! This post is going to describe the average dimensions and components of the German Longsword and how they are referred to in the manuals. Let’s get started!

I’ll start by showing you the whole thing. These represent your fairly standard Longsword (blunted for training purposes)

The longsword consists of four main parts that almost every sword has, the most obvious being the blade. We’ll cover the blade later. First are the parts of the handle: The crossguard, the hilt or grip, and the pommel.

The crossguard is always metal but can vary is size and shape. Its purpose is twofold. The first is to prevent the opponents strikes hitting your hand and wrist. The main purpose however is to assist in what’s called binding (binden) and winding (winden). Using the crossguard you can control your opponents blade and get around his/her guard. Another point to mention would be the “point of rotation” which is located in the center of the crossguard. Instead of telegraphing your attacks through laborious movements, you instead move the sword around this point as best you can.

The hilt is pretty self explanatory. This is simply a piece of what is usually wood covered in leather or rope used to hold and control the weapon. It usually has enough room for both hands to grip with a little room to spare between them depending on the length of the blade.

The pommel is interesting. Also exclusively metal, this usually rounded piece at the bottom of the hilt provides somewhat of a counterweight, a spot to apply extra control in overhead thrusts, and as an offensive striking tool when in very close quarters. I find the pommel interesting simply because it represents a part of swordplay that I hadn’t considered: super close combat and grapples. Throws and wrestling are an integral part of longsword fencing.