Example Device 126r.1
Meyer provides an example device to explain the context of the Stages of the Exchange in great detail.
This is an extremely important device within Meyer's work as it not only illustrates his broader theory of fighting, but also lays out the groundwork for how the devices are to be read and interpreted. The PDF below analyses the technique in extensive detail.
Onset/pre-fencing [Zufechten]
The initial section of the fight in which we seek the advantage over the opponent. The fencers move between the guards looking for an opening or a weakness to exploit, and may strike various feints as a way of probing the opponent's defences. often this is where the Provoker comes into play as one fencer uses threats and deceptions to force a reaction, then leverages it to close and attack.
Middle [Mittel]
The middle denotes that the combatants have engaged and will often be in the bind. This bind may be brief as they strike around, or may be held as the combatants remain on one anothers blade, winding and performing other handworks (when the opponent's go up with the bind this way Meyer describes the situation as the war [krieg]).
In this part of the fight we see handworks, and may see ongoing use of provoking, as well as Taker and Hitter strikes.
Withdrawal [Abzug]
An often neglected part of the fight; getting out safely. This is relevant to the fechtschule as part of the afterblow, but is equally applicable in combat in ernest [ernstfechten] as people don't simply drop down dead when cut or stabbed. We practiced this earlier in the year with our examination of three timings for cutting away (before, simultaneously, and after) which highlighted the importance of cutting strongly into a guard to escape danger.
Example Play
Being the wordy kind of chap he was, Meyer is considerate enough to give us an example device [stucke] 1.26 r.1, which highlights these stages of combat, and this is what we'll be examining in this lesson. The text of the device (Rasmussen translation) is shown below (wall of text warning): In the pre-fencing come into the right Changer, pay attention that as soon as his sword shows bearing to strike, then before him nimbly strike through above you, and strike with a Traverse from your right at the same time as his, in the strike step on to his left side, if he drives his strike directly at your head, then hit with your Traverse to his left ear, however mark that he doesn’t strike straight to your head by winding his strike with the long edge against your Traverse in the displacement, thus pull the strike with a long Traverse nimbly to his right ear, step just then with your left foot to his right, now you have attacked out of the change with two traverse strikes to each side over against the other.
This you take now from the first part to this attack, Forward you will step on to Middle work, then bring yourself to the other part thus, if he slashes from your sword over to the other side, then move after him with a cut against his arm, hit with the strong of your blade, or with your hilt in a jerk away from you, just as he still threatens from the thrust, and still has not yet reached you, then drive to rush out with crossed arms and slash him with the short edge over his right arm to his head; and so that when he reaches you from the thrust, but where he stops you and sweeps away through displacing, then let your sword fly off again, and traverse to his left ear while you step away with your left foot; or where he doesn’t go off or slash around, but stays with the cut or long edge outward, then loop your sword so that your half edge comes at his, ride his sword thus on your right side, but just then let it clip off into the air, so that your hands come together again crosswise high over your head, to then slash him as before, as he reaches from the ride with the short edge over his head, step back following with the left foot, and strike a high traversing middle strike with the long edge from your right to his half, and just as it glides, then pull off to your right with a high strike.
Thus you see now how there’s always one part after the other, the application and ordering through must be conceived and executed together, which makes up an entire part of Fencing. Lastly mark here also that the entire engagement can be completed in two or three strikes, where you rush to engage in the first strike, and with the second strike off again and in this strike commit either to the first or last meeting, which needs to be undertaken correctly, or you will lead on there to a third strike. Namely engage with the first, follow after with a second, but when the proper time such must be shown, that you have something worth saying, then mark how one speaks such that you will learn yourself, after which you will learn all other parts in fencing and here on retain your lessons with diligence.
Disassembling the Device
We will now reverse engineer this device to see where it takes us.
(i) In the pre-fencing come into the right Changer, pay attention that as soon as his sword shows bearing to strike, then before him nimbly strike through above you, and strike with a Traverse from your right at the same time as his, in the strike step on to his left side.
Analysis
In this technique the opponent has the advantage; they are high and ready for a scheitelhau while we are in a vulnerable low guard. By using the slash up, however, we threaten the oppoonent and forestall their action, giving ourselves time to fail off and attack with a zwerch. In our application we are using a nachreisen and fehlen together in the onset to steal the advantage from the opponent.
Implementation Step 1
Form pairs, P1 and P2. P1 right alber, P2 in right wechsel P1 lifts up to vom tag in preparation for a blow P2 slashes up to langort P2 immediately takes a passing step forward to the right and cuts a zwerch to P1’s left ear.
(ii) if he drives his strike directly at your head, then hit with your Traverse to his left ear, however mark that he doesn’t strike straight to your head by winding his strike with the long edge against your Traverse in the displacement, thus pull the strike with a long Traverse nimbly to his right ear, step just then with your left foot to his right, now you have attacked out of the change with two traverse strikes to each side over against the other side.
Analysis
With the conclusion of step 1 we strike around with a zwerch. This becomes the first bifurcation point in the sequence - our opponent could continue their oberhauw strike down at us, or they could fall on the blade and parry with the intent of winding. The first option is the naive choice for them, and good for us. It is the classical use of the zwerch and displaces with the strong while striking in with the tip of the sword. If this happens we can withdraw at our leisure as we have won the bout. In this case our blow is at once a Taker and a Hitter. Another opponent might bring his oberhauw down on our blade around the middle (a Taker for them). This drives our blade down offline and we have no mechanical advantage in cutting around, thus they are protected. The same defence is described in earlier German sources. This places the opponent in a position to wind over our blade and thrust, or to schielhauw, or any number of other attacks. In this case, in both Meyer and the early German we are told to spring out to our left in a side step (to the opponent’s right) and nimbly cut around with a zwerch to his right ear, before the swords touch (if you can). The observant will not that this is a type of flying, so now we have chased, failed, and flown off, all at once! This is largely where the early German sources end their treatment of the zwerch. NOTE: In either case we must strike our initial zwerch with intent; failing to do so is a risk as if he doesn’t parry and simply cuts, we will be cut.
Implementation Step 2 - Permutation A
From Implementation Step 1, earlier: P1 right alber, P2 in right wechsel P1 lifts up to vom tag in preparation for a blow P2 slashes up to langort P1 begins to cut down with a zornhauw to P2’s head P2 immediately takes a passing step forward to the right and cuts a zwerch to P1’s left ear. Thus P1’s blow is caught and prevented, while P2’s attack hits home.
Implementation Step 2 - Permutation B
From Implementation Step 1, earlier: P1 right alber, P2 in right wechsel P1 lifts up to vom tag in preparation for a blow P2 slashes up to langort P1 begins to cut down with a zornhauw to P2’s head P2 immediately takes a passing step forward to the right and cuts a zwerch to P1’s left ear. P1 turns the blow to cut down to a left pflug like position on the middle of P1’s blade, thus parrying. P2 side steps out to P1’s right and cuts a zwerch to the other side. Thus P2 evades P1’s defence and cuts around.
Exercise 1:
This is a reaction/decision exercise. In pairs perform the device, however P2 does not know if P1 is going to cut or parry, and so must act accordingly. (iii) if he slashes from your sword over to the other side, then move after him with a cut against his arm, hit with the strong of your blade, or with your hilt in a jerk away from you, just as he still threatens from the thrust, and still has not yet reached you,
Analysis
At this point our adversary strikes around with his sword to the other side. The exact meaning of this isn’t clear - is it a strike from the first parrying action, is there a second parry assumed? We can look ahead in the section to the line
- or where he doesn’t go off or slash around, but stays with the cut or long edge outward
Which is referring to the alternative situation to the sentence indicated in (iii). This tells us that at some stage our second zwerch has been parried with the long edge outward. It also tells us that we’re at a bifurcation in our decision tree; if the opponent doesn’t do this action, we can skip straight to section (v) later. This is progress, we know that the opponent has parried (probably with a backstep) our second zwerch with the long edge, and we’re told that they cut around to the other side (which is to say our left, around the outside of our raised sword). What type of cut? Most likely a zornhauw with high hands based on the context - other cuts would expose the opponent to a face slice. As the opponent does this we chase their arms with our strong, slicing and shoving their arms down to the right, and if we want we can add a shoulder charge in for good measure to really off balance them.
Implementation Step 3
From Implementation Step 2, Permutation B earlier: ... P1 turns the blow to cut down to a left pflug like position on the middle of P1’s blade, thus parrying the intitial zwerch P2 side steps out to P1’s right and cuts a zwerch to the other side. P1 parries with the long edge P1 cuts around to P2s left around the sword P2 chases on the arms with the strong, shoving them hard away to the right.
Exercise 2:
This is a discovery and experimentation exercise. In pairs perform the device, experiment with other types of cutting around and see where the slicing on the arm works. Add in a shove with the shoulder and see how it changes things.
(iv) then drive to rush out with crossed arms and slash him with the short edge over his right arm to his head; and so that when he reaches you from the thrust, but where he stops you and sweeps away through displacing, then let your sword fly off again, and traverse to his left ear while you step away with your left foot;
Analysis
From our shove in step (iii) we now strike a false edge cut with cross hands (similar to the one at the star of the zirckel) - we’re not told if our own hands go high in this movement, but based on the broader context of Meyer’s work, it’s safe to assume they do. If we hit, well and good, but if our opponent parries this away, we take a passing step back with our left foot and zwerch around to their left ear. This is a minor decision point, but we will examine both scenarios.
Implementation Step 4 - Permutation 1
From Implementation Step 3 ... P2 chases on the arms with the strong, shoving them hard away to the right. While P1 is off balance P2 strikes essentially a sturtzhauw like blow with crossed hands, hitting toward the upper right opening of P1
Implementation Step 4 - Permutation 2
From Implementation Step 3 ... P2 chases on the arms with the strong, shoving them hard away to the right. While P1 is off balance P2 strikes essentially a sturtzhauw like blow with crossed hands, hitting toward the upper right opening of P1 P1 parries with a kron or krumphauw like movement P2 takes a passing step back and cuts a zwerch to P1’s upper left opening.
Exercise 3:
A reaction and experimentation exercise. Continue the motion from exercise 2, attempting to strike with the sturtzhauw. P1 will attempt to parry using various parries - masks are recommended.
(v) or where he doesn’t go off or slash around, but stays with the cut or long edge outward, then loop your sword so that your half edge comes at his, ride his sword thus on your right side, but just then let it clip off into the air, so that your hands come together again crosswise high over your head, to then slash him as before, as he reaches from the ride with the short edge over his head, step back following with the left foot, and strike a high traversing middle strike with the long edge from your right to his half, and just as it glides, then pull off to your right with a high strike.
Analysis
In this case our opponent didn’t cut around as in section (iii), but rather stays on our blade with his long edge, remaining and awaiting our reaction. In this scenario we perform a movement similar to the third hanging point parry (this is one of the sources that inspired that parrying drill). We turn our false edge onto their blade and reverse over, wrenching and flicking it away to our right side just as in the parrying drill. From here we snap over with the false edge as before. Again if this hits, all is well, or we can step back and cut a mittelhauw at his neck from your right side. If he should parry this then fail off and withdraw with a high strike (oberhauw/zornhauw). There are many small decision points in this movement, however we will simply perform two variations.
Implementation Step 5 - Permutation 1
From Implementation Step 2 ... P1 turns the blow to cut down to a left pflug like position on the middle of P1’s blade, thus parrying the intitial zwerch P2 side steps out to P1’s right and cuts a zwerch to the other side. P1 parries with the long edge and remains P2 reverses [verkheren] and wrenches away to the right P2 snaps over [umbschnappen] with the false edge to cut
Implementation Step 5 - Permutation 2
From Implementation Step 2 ... P1 turns the blow to cut down to a left pflug like position on the middle of P1’s blade, thus parrying the intitial zwerch P2 side steps out to P1’s right and cuts a zwerch to the other side. P1 parries with the long edge and remains P2 reverses [verkheren] and wrenches away to the right P2 snaps over [umbschnappen] with the false edge to cut P1 parries this with a kron or krumphauw like motion P2 steps back with the left foot and cuts a mittelhauw at P1’s left side of neck P1 parries with the long edge P2 fails off from the parry and cuts an oberhauw as they withdraw
Exercise 3:
A reaction and experimentation exercise. Continue the motion from exercise 2 with P1 remaining, attempting the wrenching and strike with the schnappen. P1 will attempt to parry using various parries - masks are recommended.
Putting it all Together
Lastly mark here also that the entire engagement can be completed in two or three strikes, where you rush to engage in the first strike, and with the second strike off again and in this strike commit either to the first or last meeting, which needs to be undertaken correctly, or you will lead on there to a third strike. Analysis Basically our whole engagement must be smooth and by the numbers, each movement performed with intent. Notice than in either decision point we withdraw with cuts - this is the abzug section Meyer talks about - always cut away into a guard position.
Exercise 4:
Review the entire sequence of movement and the various decision points therein. Start out slowly and work upward in speed with your partner giving you different stimuli so you can get used to making the various decisions. Decision points are: Attacker chooses to cut either an oberhauw against the initial zwerch, or to parry After parrying the second zwerch the attacker decides to cut around to the outside, or to remain. With the snapping over the attacker decides to parry, or to simply get hit.
