Greetings from Denmark!
This is a greeting from a medieaval fencing studygroup in Denmark. It is nice to see that people are interested in the old art all over the world. It is always nice to hear other peoples ideas and thoughts about interpretations of the old texts. After reading many of the postings on thearma.org I decided to write a bit about how we do things in our studygroup. It could perhaps inspire some people and perhaps some of you have advice and comments on the text I have written.
Our primary research area is the hand-and-a-half sword.
There is no official trainer in our studygroup. We are all active researchers. When someone has a new thought about an interpretation we discuss and test it together. We are not normaly open to new members which probably is the reason why the way we do things is possible.
After many years of training there are som gereral guidelines about our way of interpretating and doing things.
1: We have all developed a personal style. We all fight in wery different ways. We all follow the general guidelines to german medieval fencing, but see them as only guidelines. There are no millimetre-discussions in our group about how high a sword should be held. Should it be 5 cm. lower og higher, or which eye the point of the sword should target. You do what works for you and considder the surroundings you figth in and how your opponent is build(thich/thin, High/low).
2: It is always nice to learn new things and yes also the flashy moves. One should however remember that german medieval fencing is precise, accurate, effective and deadly. Do not focus on the visual effect but focus only on the final result.
3: The absolute keywords are "fühlen/indes". The way to defeat an opponent is "no longer" a surprising or new move but a keen understanding of fühlen/indes. If you can master fühlen/indes the basic moves are enough to defeat all the smart moves in the world.
4: Footwork is also an important issue in our research. For many years we strugled with the basic steps thats often shown in most modern interpretations of fighting manuals. We did however often find them heavy and slow. We are now firm believers that to small steps are often better than a single big one. Together they are faster and have a longer reach.
5: How much power and speed should you put into your attack? We believe that it should only have enough power to damage your opponent seriously and force him to react. It is not nessesary to cut his head off, just hit the main artery in his neck.
If you come against him with too much speed and power you will not be able to do much against an effective counterattack for example against your hands.
6: When fighting always try to construct a plan in your head. How shall I attack him, how will he react, and how should I proceed after this. If you are able to plan ahead you will often find that you gain more accuracy and will be much more resolute in your decissions. Surprises often happens but a well constructed plan normaly resolves in a much quicker fight that turns out to your advantage.
7: Your sword is your shield. So stay behind it.
These were just some thoughts and ideas that we work with in our studygroup and that I wanted to share with you. There are of course much more to our research but it is late sunday night in Denmark and my bed is calling.
Just write if there are any comments or questions.
Best Wishes
Claus Sørensen
Medieval archaeologist
Member of the studygroup "Laurentiusgildet".
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