I Still Have Much to Learn

        Last year as the HEMA season began to wind down, I created the Professor Fencer TikTok page. On that page I created two free online video courses where I teach the viewer the basics of Liechtenauer's longsword fighting system as the online persona "Professor Fencer". A huge part of creating these videos was the research put into accurately representing Liechtenauer's fighting system and teaching it in an engaging and authentic way. During these phases of research, I was constantly faced with aspects about the Art that I had misunderstood or overlooked. When the videos were completed and my role as a coach solidified, all I could think about was just how much about fencing I still have to learn. 

    It is true that you never truly stop being a student. What I want to pair with that saying is that everything can become your teacher if you allow it. Sometimes when I reflect upon a session with fencing trainees, I tend to find ways I can improve my own style after observing their fencing. Experience and arrogance tend to grow intertwined, and it is important for veterans of this sport to remain humble and open-minded to discovering their weaknesses both in the ring and in their understanding of the material. 

    The fun in fencing for me now is experimentation. I love to test myself against asymmetrical bouts or with a new partner. Each fencer's instincts are calibrated uniquely to reflect their journey- lessons learned at a pace and setting that could be vastly different from your own. When two experienced fencers meet, it can feel literally like an intersection of two long roads where neither fencer walks out of the interaction the same. 

    Have confidence in your knowledge of the Art, but do not let what you know stop you from learning what you could know. Even when you're working with someone who had never read single a page of a historical manual in their life you should be open to exploring their style with enthusiasm and an open mind. Test your knowledge constantly both in theory and in the ring and never be afraid to admit you're wrong if it leads you to the truth. Never hesitate to help a fellow fencer whilst continuing to carry yourself with the humble spirit of the novice.

 

Your First Sword

  Finding the right sword for you is still a trial despite living in an age where it hasn't been easier to become a swordsman. Ever since swords were aged-out as tools used for executing the law they have become little more than stage props and decorations to the average person. The Internet provides a vast catalogue of swords for purchase but many of them will disappoint the novice swordsman looking for an authentic blade to train with. Build qualities can vary due to swords being marketed as house decorations which can lead to issues such as imbalanced blades or weakened steel. As authentic swordsmanship has become more popular we see sword makers offer swords which are of martial art quality within the hoard of ornamental swords. In this article I will give guidance on choosing your first sword. 

  Novices should not look at buying a sharp sword to train with, nor should they consider a blade with a pointed tip. There are many dull, rounded blades that will be good for developing expert handling of the sword before you can safely wield a sharp one. The things you want to consider for a training blade is handling, build material, blade quality, and profile. You may find it difficult to train with a fully authentic dull medieval longsword because you haven't been conditioned to the weight of such an object. For these situations some training blades are made thinner or from lighter material than steel so that you can train techniques without straining yourself. 

  If you are new to swordsmanship on a budget I highly recommend a plastic synthentic blade to start you off. Many of them can be purchased easily online for under $100 by googling "Synthetic [blade name]". These trainers are often made with a profile to match their historical counterparts and come with flexible blades for added safety. Sparring can be a challenge with plastic blades as a good amount of safety gear is still required. The main drawback is that the dull blades are very slippery when they bind together. Plastic synthetics are best for absolute beginners on a budget. Red Dragon and Black Fencer offer high quality and affordable plastic synthetic swords.

  The ideal training blade is a historically accurate sword with a dull and flexible blade. This held true for the time period as well with the prominence of federschwerts/ "featherswords" as popular training tools. Feders have thinner blades and added hand protection above the crossguard known as the schilt/shield. The weight of a feder is comparable to an authentic sword which will give you a real-feel for the blade. If you plan on fencing a feder is necessary as it is the sole standard for acceptable tournament equipment. Of course maximum protection is needed as well before you spar with a steel blade. Manufacturers like SIGI and Regenyei offer excellent feders for purchase. 

  There are plenty of steel blades offered for reenactment as well. You assume the most risk because you'll have to sort through the piles of trashy blades to find one that will fit your swordsmanship but some of my favorite swords for training come from this category of available swords. You will need to do extensive research and find as much advice as you can on the sword that caught your eye before purchasing as many swords in this category have considerable drawbacks. The main drawbacks you will find is the quality of the steel, the lack of blade flexibility,  pointed tip, and improper balance. Some blades make great purchases on sale. I've been very happy with my Hanwei Tinker arming sword for drilling and sparring. I'm also interested in purchasing other reenactment blades such as the Red Dragon Hand and a Half Sword. If you're an absolute beginner I still recommend going with a feder or synthetic to make life easy for you but if you have done thorough research you may find yourself happy with an reenactment blade. 

  Keep in mind your first sword won't likely be your only sword. Your first sword is supposed to help walk you on the long path of swordsmanship. The best advice I can give before you buy your sword is try out as many blades as you can to find what you like. That's why it's important to connect with other practicing swordsmen in your area and try out what they have collected to see if a similar blade is right for you. You do not need to rush this process either. Be patient and the correct blade will find you! 

Edge on Flat pt. II

Edge on Flat: Part II 

 A few months ago I wrote about my exploration on the concept of parrying edge blows with the flat of your blade. I was turned onto the idea whilst researching how swordsmanship was being taught in the early stages of its revivial in the modern era. A common practice I witnessed was this idea that parries were actually performed with the flat of the blade instead of the edge. Doing so meant that the quality of your edge would remain preserved and it allowed your opponent's blade to slide downwards when using a hanging guard. I perked up from this lesson because this was a concept never taught to me.  I tested the idea over the following weeks and today I will leave my final thoughts on this. 

  First of all, the Liechtenauer commentaries heavily discourage intential parrying with the longsword (my sword of choice). Purely diffensive movements leave wide openings that can be exploited if your opponent outtimes you. Therefore, better defensive tactics utilize disciplined footwork alongside switching between the four positions (vier leger). By doing so, you will always be threatening the opponent whilst protecting yourself. Therefore, intentionally parrying with the flat wouldn't be the smartest tactical decision to make. 

  There is also the issue of your opponent's sliding blade. It seems like a big advantage at first but when I tested it I found that I lacked sufficient power in these maneuvers. It's almost as if the technique worked too good. I had zero control of the opponent's sword nor my own. When you bind edge on edge, you engage your whole body into a solid structure which allows you to make split second decisions from the bind whilst keeping their sword under control. 

  There's also the issue of the crossguard. Flat parrying doesn't keep my crossguard in the correct alignment to meet my opponent's sword. The crossguard requires prudent control in order to maintain its effectiveness or otherwise it is useless in protecting my body. 

  Based on my experience in testing I cannot condone flat parrying as a serious tactic in a duel. It may still be something that will manifest on a moment's notice, but the benefits do not justify the risks in using them. 

Liechtenauer: Four Primary Guards Quick Review

 Vier Leger

Four guards alone hold
and disdain the common
Ochs, Pflug, Alber,
vom Tag should not be unknown to you.
-Johannes Liechtenauer

    Sword fighting has a lot more to do with guarding than one would think. The four primary guards of Liechtenauer's Kunst des Fechtens fighting system are a key expression and are intertwined with the vier versetzen (four attacks). Guards are both starting and end points of cuts. If you pay close enough attention, you'll realize that the guards are a mirror of another guard. The technique of guard changing is to cut into the guard rather than simply move to it. This article contains a brief summary (and personal notes) on the four primary guards. 

Vom Tag[From the Day]: The most common of the Liechtenauer guards. Your sword arms are aligned with your strong side (the direction your chest points towards). Hold the sword with the cross-guard parallel to your pectoral region. Relax the muscles and face your knuckles forward (check by seeing if your index finger on both hands can be pointed forward). Your long edge faces your opponent or to the sky to enter a "high vom tag" guard. 

transitions: 

cut downward with a passing step to change into alber.

perform a zwerchau with a passing step to change into ochs.

cut downward and stop a hip area and raise point to change into pflug.

Alber[Fool]: The mirror of vom tag. Lures opponents to strike the head. Excellent option for lunging attacks. A useful guard when performing disengages. Masters recommend you have the left foot. Chamber the sword at your right hip. Point your sword to the ground to make the short edge face the sky. 

transitions: 

cut upwards with the short edge to arrive at vom tag.

raise knuckles to face the sky to reach ochs (left), or cross wrists, passing step, and cup upwards with the long edge to reach ochs (right). 

raise point to reach pflug. 

(see: Fencing from the Sweeps) 

Pflug[Plough]: Works best against thrusts and lunges. Chamber pommel to the right hip and raise point. Thrusting position. Holds center line. 

transitions:

raise knuckles to face the sky and point short edge downwards to transition to ochs. 

lower point to transition into alber. 

raise point to the sky to transition into vom tag. 

Ochs[Ox]: Works great to deflect downward cuts from the opponent. Very useful in winding. Easily countered by krumphau. Chambers a downward thrust. Cross wrists and face your long edge to the sky and point downward at the opponent's face. 

transitions:

face long edge to the opponent to change into vom tag.

lower knuckles to face the ground to transition into pflug

cut fully downwards with long edge. 

    Keep in mind while training that the guards are merely one half of a more whole coin. The primary cuts are the movement between guards. Through performing the cuts, you will naturally find yourself switching guards as a result. It is never recommended to excessively change guards out of measure as that allows the opponent to target openings. 

 Being "Wrong"

Hans Talhoffer, Wurttenburg Treatise plate 39

  "The only thing that I know is that I know nothing" - Socrates 

    A swordsman's study is never completed. It is important for a swordsman to make contact with others of his kind. Through discussion and group training ideas are exchanged thus helping every martial artist involved in the discourse grow as a result. Every martial artist is a manifestation of their level of training in that specific art. Sword play is a universe within itself with a seemingly infinite number of teachings for a swordsman to grasp. There will come a time when your understanding of your martial art will be ill-informed, and you be humbled for it. 

    You should never be afraid to be wrong. Very often I see swordsmen defend their takes on the art at all costs even if it derails any helpful discussion entirely. As we progress down the path of swordsmanship there is no doubt that we will be chosen to mentor other swordsmen along the way and find mentorship in those who are senior to us in the practice. A major test in your swordsmanship journey will be when you find yourself in the spot of knowing enough to not know you don't know enough. 

   Seeing the error of your ways is the highest signal of growth within yourself. It is also important to keep in mind that when other swordsmen criticize you, it is often not a personal attack but as a way to help you become stronger. Our self-centered egos would have us believe that we are under attack because it simply wants the peace and security that comes with the feeling of "knowing everything", even if that notion is actually a detriment to our true understanding. That's not to say that you should take all criticisms to heart, but it all is fair game for consideration. 

    You should ask yourself "what do I gain by seeing things differently?". Step outside of the mere interaction of two separate people and see the wholeness in the conversation.  Visualize yourself becoming a more capable warrior by having this discussion. Once you remove your attachment to your knowledge, you will know if their message resonated with you. If it did, then allow it to inform your fighting style and allow it to strengthen your spirit. 

    It is honorable to admit that your interpretation may have been misguided. From that position you have the ability to make the necessary changes to become who you were meant to become by following the sword. You can be grateful that you had the strength to overcome this internal enemy of "rightness".  

 Edge on Flat: The Proper Way to Parry?

Hans Talhoffer, Württemberg Treatise plate no. 39

    

    We currently live in a martial arts renaissance for medieval European swords. Since the 1990's modern humans have been seeking the teachings of the once forgotten medieval sword masters so that we may once again understand how real people fought with swords in an age where swords ruled the land.  Most of the early work of this period of rediscovery was searching for an understanding of the sword itself- and how it synergized with our bodies. Practitioners of this stage were more concerned with obtaining authentic knowledge of the weapon rather than discovering the best strategies to employ in modernized fencing tournaments (the era I was raised in). 

    I was always curious of the time when sword training was a niche practice even amongst other sword enthusiast circles. I often imagine the time period of using the early internet to discuss the topic on forums on the fringes of cyber space. Mysterious names such as Liechtenauer or Talhoffer pointing you in the direction of untranslated manuscripts and esoteric illustrations. In an attempt to immerse myself in the times, I sought out old medieval martial arts training videos and websites to get a feel for how swordsmanship was understood at that time. 

    What I mostly found was the blueprint for how swordsmanship would be passed down to us today, without the notions of applying "what works" within abstract tournament settings. Practitioners in this original era of study treated their chosen art as a traditional martial art and not as a "sport". 

    

Hanwei, Practical Bastard Sword

     A main difference I saw in the way they trained back in those days was that they taught that you should often parry blows with the flat of your blade as opposed to using your edge. This teaching stuck out to me as I don't recall this practice ever being taken into consideration with many (sport) practitioners or instructors today. Edge on edge parries are much more common these days and not much thought is put into them. I continued studying from these old practioners who would give their reasoning as to why parries should be made with the flat of the sword and not the edge. 

    The reasoning they gave is edge on edge parries would damage the blades had the blades been sharpened. In those days, they were training under the assumption that their blades would be sharpened in their sword plays (of course they still trained with blunt swords). In their minds, a competent swordsman would be capable of maintaining the quality of their blade throughout a series of battles. When swords clash edge on edge, the will cut into each other (this is known as "biting"). In the worst cases, the swords would seem to stick to each other by their edges if the cut was deep enough. Plays were written by the medieval masters to work around this "biting", but the result would be the same- your blade is now damaged. 

    If your edge is bitten into over and over again, eventually it would render the blade useless to you. Thus, there had to be some other solution to parrying. Surely the medieval masters weren't just running through blades constantly. The early researchers into the medieval martial arts came to the conclusion that parries were instead made with the flat of the blade more often than the edge to prevent biting. A technique like the schielhau is an edge on flat parrying technique for example. 

    

    In the case of sharpened sword play, edge on flat also manifest binds where one sword slides around the bind. Sliding binds are far more common today as we practice with unsharpened weapons, even on the edges the blades will slide given the right placement. This is yet another example how misinformation in sparring could lead to bad habits in practical combat. If a fighter is used to edge on edge parries because they believe sliding binds come easy due to the unsharpened practice swords, they would be in for a rude awakening in a live duel. 

More Thoughts on Alber (Fool's Guard)

 More Thoughts on Alber

The Alber x Vom Tag Zufechten, illustrated

    Alber (fool's guard) is a common German longsword guard where you stand with your right leg forward and point your sword to the ground with your short edge facing toward the sky in front of you. The guard offers very little defensive capability directly. However, I believe this guard may be the hardest out of the other guards to attack directly. 

    Firstly, some longsword guards can reliably be attacked in a direct fashion. An example of this is Vom Tag. If you're brave you can directly attack Vom Tag by performing a Zwerchau through the opponent's center line. The cut will block your enemy's strike if it does not outright make contact with them. Thus, this movement is safe in the beginning stage of fencing known as Zufechten. If a bind is created, the Zwerchau has sufficient power on either side of the indes (weak or strong), and can respond appropriately in krieg. 

    This is a different case for Alber. The obvious attack to Alber would be to strike their head with either a cut or thrust. The problem with Alber is that the opponent's typical reaction (especially if they have little concern for their own safety) is to counter your attack with a thrust by simply raising their sword in good timing. This opens a significant chance for a double-hit (an outcome where both fighters strike each other simultaneously). For this reason, I believe it should be best to avoid attacking Alber from Zufechten as the danger of double-hitting is too high in most cases. I would especially avoid attacking a novice fighter who stands in Alber in Zufechten. 

    I propose an asymmetric answer to Alber within Zufechten. Alber is mostly used as a bait to invite their opponent to attack them from the Vor (before, see: "Fencing from the Sweeps"). The best offense to an opponent who seeks to bait and attack you is to simply not take the bait. Take a chambered stance such as Vom Tag or Plough and strafe outside of their measure in Zufechten. 

    Your movement will expose a major weakness of Alber. Most guard changes taken from Alber require the fighter to raise their sword in some way. Your opponent will become impatient and either: 

    (a): change guards (more often than not by raising their sword) 

    (b): launch a thrusting attack (raising their sword to Lang-ort and lunging)

    (c): cycle between the lower guards (Neben-hut, Eisenport) 

    The response to (a) and (b) should be the same, that is to capture their sword with the Krumphau using your short edge. Once their blade is captured you seize the Vor by striking them with either edge of your sword and quickly fleeing out of Krieg. 

    You have an instinctual choice to make with path (c). You could strike them as they change guards and surprise them, or you can continue to wait them out. The latter option would work best with experienced and agile fighters whilst the former would work best on a novice. 

    This train of thought has led me to further respect Alber as a guard and to see it more than simply a "foolish" guard that only an untrained fighter would assume. I do not believe that there is any guard that is inherently superior than the others in Zufechten (although I am not a fan of beginning your plays from the Ochs guard). However, the Vom Tag x Alber Zufechten play is a reliable one to cast from either side of the ring given each fighter is well versed in both of the guards. There is no clear winner when the starting positions clash and it comes down to the fighters' skill of the art more than a simple game of chance which is the standard exchange for today's age of sword fighting.