Winden

15th Century

The term for turning the body and the sword through the Hengen (ochs and pflug guards) as a way of displacing the opponent’s blade or moving around it to attack an opening.

Earlier texts noted 8 basic windings.

1. Winding out to left ochs: after you have come to the bind after both striking a right zornhau, “wind” the arms up into a left ochs to attack his upper right opening; this is winding “out” to push him outward (as in the image).
2. Wind in to right ochs: From 1, if he presses against your wind, reverse the wind to a right ochs; in this way he pushes your strong across but your point remains toward the face. This is winding “inward” with the movement rather than pressing out against it.
3. Winding out to right ochs: repeat (1) but both use a left zornhau. In this case wind “out” to a right ochs.
4. Winding in to left ochs: repeat (2) but wind inward to a left ochs.
5. Winding out to left pflug: repeat (1) but instead of winding high to ochs wind low to a left pflug.
6. Winding in to right pflug: repeat (2) but wind to a right pflug inward.
7. Winding out to a right pflug: repeat (3) but wind out with a right pflug instead of winding high to ochs.
8. Winding in with a left pflug: repeat (4) but wind in with a left pflug instead of winding high to ochs.

The earlier texts also noted that a wind could attack with a strike, slice, or thrust, thus giving 24 techniques with the wind!

16th Century

Meyer uses both outward and inward winding in the same way. He also often winds inward from a bind; consider:

You and your opponent strike a zornhau against one another from the right. In the bind your opponent is strong, pushing you offline; Meyer suggests winding immediately to the low right with crossed hands, thus hitting with the false edge to the upper right opening.

Meyer also uses the term "winding" when he is describing an Umbschnappen like motion to rotate over their blade, often into a wrenching. He does this in the longsword section as well as in the Polearms, which only adds to the confusion and fun.

Application Examples

Winding "out" can be seen in:

• Thrusts Application - Low Winden Absetzen
• Thrusts Application - High Winden Absetzen

Winding "in" can be seen in:

• Blendthauw
• Windthauw