Overhead vom tag - a curious question

[Alfred Wong]

Dear all,

After a year practising longsword and reading manuals, I can on longer suppress my curiosity about this -

Why, there's no "overhead vom tag" in Fiore?

While the manual has a lot of other good guards, I cannot understand why this guard is not included in it... don't know if it's a good ol' question or something?

(When I ask Lance, he suggested that maybe it's the crown that the master wear, he just cannot do it -lol! <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

Regards,
Alfred <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[John_Clements]

It's a good question that's been asked before.
It may be a technical issue related to the deisgn of Italian plate armor with more restrictive shoulder pieces, or it may be related to the generally slighter build of Italians preferring to fight from lower postures, or it may be a personal stylistic choice on Master Fiore's part, or it may be a simple omission by the artist. Such an overhead stance with longswords certainly appears commonly enough in 14th - 16th century Italian military artwork.

JC

[Alfred Wong]

Thanks for answering!

Yours faithfully,
Alfred