Lesson 67 – Sebastian Heußler class
Dori and I taught a rapier and dagger class this weekend on Sebastian Heußler’s and dagger. The actual text is pretty extensive and we only looked at the first couple of plays. I find the text interesting in particular for two reasons: First, Heußler’s text is an early commentary on Capoferro and Fabris from a German perspective which is a really interesting thing to have. Second, the opening section of the rapier and dagger section presents a three-hit sequence – the fencer attacks, recovers, counterattacks, recovers, and then counterattacks again. I find this useful from a teaching perspective both, because stringing together sequences like this presents a challenge for the student, but also because it teaches the student to not assume that their first (or second) hit actually stopped, or even hit the opponent. The first sequence that he teaches shows three hits and relies on counterattacks with the sword and not dagger parries. The second sequence shows only two hits, but uses a dagger parry for the second one. For the purposes of my class, I combined these into a three-hit sequence that hits, first with a thrust in fourth, then with a dagger parry and counterattack, and finally with a counterattack with the sword. First, Heußler describes the guard position to start in: Figure C represents the starting position for this drill. The body is profiled, the hand is in third position, and the dagger is held back near the body. Next, the fencer makes an attack in fourth to […]
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Lesson 66 – Decatur School of Arms
Last night was the fourth class on rapier and dagger at the Decatur School of Arms. Our goal with the lesson was to practice some of the guards and dagger parries from Capoferro’s text. In particular, plates 26, and 28. Plate 26 demonstrates parrying with the rapier and dagger together and then making a riposte while maintaining opposition with the dagger. Plate 28 demonstrates a dagger parry under the sword arm, the hit can be made with either a thrust or a cut, we practiced only the thrust. Here’s the lesson plan: Starting in a closed guard* of third, as the instructor changes to an invitation in closed third, straight thrust with a lunge, keeping the dagger forwards for opposition Starting in a closed guard of third, as the instructor attempts to engage in close fourth, disengagement with a lunge, closing with the dagger under the sword arm and protecting the flank From a closed guard of third, the instructor attacks the inside high line with a straight thrust, counterattack in fourth while parrying upwards with the dagger towards your left. From a closed guard of third, the instructor attacks the inside high line with a straight thrust, parry in fourth with both weapons together and making contact. Riposte with a thrust to the chest while maintaining opposition with the dagger Same as 4, but riposte with a cut to the arm. Starting from a closed guard in third, attempt to engage the opponent’s blade in third, at the […]
by adminLesson 64 – Rapier and Dagger
Continuing the work with Kevin Maurer’s translation of Sebastian Heußler‘s text from 1615, I gave another rapier and dagger lesson last night. The first part of Heußler’s rapier and dagger section establishes progression for working with rapier and dagger. At a high level, I read it as: Simple attacks Defense against simple attacks, using a dagger parry Defense against feints (two dagger parries) Single Feints around the dagger Double Feints Second Intention type actions (he seems to classify them as feints) This is all pretty rough, and there seems to be plenty of nuance in the text, but it will do for now. One pattern that the text establishes is that, following offensive actions (ie, simple attacks, or feints) you should recover defensively, engaging your opponent’s weapon in either the inside or outside line, depending on where your initial attack was targeted. This way, you are prepared to defend against the opponent’s immediate attack, either by counterattacking with the sword only, or by parrying with the dagger and counterattacking with the sword. While this lesson is based on what I have been reading in Heußler, I changed a lot of things around, mostly because my student and I are opposite handed and some things don’t make quite as much sense that way. (Student invites in a guard of third with the dagger held back near the chest) From the instructor’s invitation in third, straight thrust to the low line (hand in second in third, low and to the outside), close the line with the […]
by adminLesson 63 – Rapier and dagger
Lately, I’ve been reading through Kevin Maurer’s translation of Sebastian Heußler‘s text from 1615, which is heavily influenced by Italian rapier. Here’s the lesson that I did this evening: Starting with single sword In time, as I invite in third, straight thrust (no lunge) In time, as I invite in fourth, straight thrust (no lunge) In time, as I changed to an invitation (third or fourth) (lunge) In time, as I attempt to engage in either third or fourth, disengagement (lunge) Next, we worked on the sequence described in sections 1-3 of the text. I interpreted this a sequence involving multiple hits. I began the initial attack with a disengagement, rather than a straight thrust as seems to be indicated in the text. I also added a retreat following the recovery of the lunge, which while not specified in the text, made the subsequent actions a little easier. The additional retreat was also recommended by Capoferro. I also did this part of the lesson left-handed, so the sequence is slightly different. In time, as I attempt to engage in fourth, disengagement. Recover back into an engagement in fourth and retreat. From engagement in fourth, as I attempt a disengagement, counterattack in third with a lunge. Recover back into an engagement in third and retreat. In time, as I attempt to engage in fourth, disengagement. Recover back in fourth, then counterattack in third with a lunge against my disengagement (second hit). Recover back to third. From engagement in third, as I […]
by adminLesson 25
This is a lesson that I did with a friend today in practice. The goal of the lesson was to give him a brief (well sort of) overview of some of the rapier and dagger work that Dori and I have been working on lately. In general I’m fairly happy with the terminology that we are using for the daggers, but I have yet to settle on a concise way to describe the starting position for some of the guards. Towards the end of the lesson things started to get a little crazier as we both started experimenting with different counters to the movements. Again, I did this left handed. The basic principals would work with same handed opponents but some of the details might come out a little different. From the instructor’s invitation in 3rd, straight thrust. Closure with the dagger in low 4th (under the arm). From the instructor’s invitation in 4th, straight thrust. Closure with the dagger in 3rd. From the instructor’s invitation in 2nd, straight thrust, hand in 3rd. Closure with the dagger in 4th (over the arm). From the instructor’s invitation in low 4th, straight thrust. Closure with the dagger in 3rd. From the student’s invitation to the inside low line, dagger parry of low 4th, riposte (in the same tempo as the parry) with the hand in 2nd. From the student’s invitation to the inside line (dagger high and extended), dagger parry of 2nd, riposte with the hand in 2nd. From the student’s invitation […]
by adminLesson 19
This is a lesson that I did for Dori at practice today. From the invitation in 3rd, straight thrust, closure with the dagger in low fouth From the engagement in 3rd, disengagement Same thing, but instructor parries low 4th with the dagger. After trying a couple of different options, we ended with Dori passing forward and doing a glide with the dagger. From the engagement in 3rd, glide From the invitation to the inside high line, parry 4th with the dagger riposte in 3rd hand position with the sword Same thing. instructor counter parries the riposte with the dagger in low 4th. Second touch with the dagger by glide while passing forward. Same thing. instructor may or may not do the counter parry. Either way, student recovers forward to make the second touch with the dagger In time, attempt a blade seizure in 3rd, instructor disengages, switch to a blade seizure in 3rd with the dagger and pass to the outside low line. Same thing, second touch with dagger Same thing, but the instructor parries low 4th. to block the first touch. We played around with it a bit and found that while I couldn’t get in a good touch with my rapier at this point, I could pretty easily get a touch with my dagger as she was passing in. We ended up settling on having her do a transport to 1st with the dagger during the touch which blocked my dagger sufficiently. The dagger touch ended up in […]
by adminLesson 17
Rapier and dagger lesson from this afternoon. The two of us were opposite handed. From the instructor’s invitation in low 4th, straight thrust, hand in 4th, dagger closing in 3rd. From the instructor’s invitation in 2nd, straight thrust, hand in 2nd, dagger closing in low 4th under the sword arm. From the instructor’s invitation in 3rd, straight thrust, hand in 3rd, dagger closing in 4th over the sword arm. From the instructor’s invitation in 4th, straight thrust, hand in 4th, dagger closing in 3rd. Parry 4th with the dagger over the arm, riposte underneath hand in 3rd. Same thing, but riposte with a lunge if the instructor takes a retreat after the initial attack. Parry low 4th with the dagger under the arm, riposte above, hand in 2nd. Same thing, but riposte with a passing step if the instructor retreats after the initial attack Parry 2nd with the dagger, riposte to high line, hand in 2nd. Riposte with a pass if the instructor takes the retreat. Parry 3rd with the dagger, riposte to the low line, hand in 3rd. Riposte with a pass if the instructor takes the retreat. Instructor does a pass with the dagger in low 4th. Disengage under the dagger, parry in 4th over the sword arm and hit with the hand in 3rd while withdrawing the entire front leg and leaning the body forward. (kind of like going into a backwards lunge but with the left leg forward) Instructor dose a pass with the dagger in […]
by adminLesson 15
Here’s the rapier and dagger lesson that I did with Dori today. I’m going to follow the notation that Kevin Murakoshi is using for the dagger. I’m using 4 dagger parries which correspond roughly to the four guards in the classical Italian system. 1st is to the dagger’s inside, under the arm (point high), 2nd is low and to the dagger’s outside (point low), 3rd is high and to the dagger outside and 4th is to the dagger’s inside over the arm. Also, if some of the actions seem awkward it could be because we are opposite handed. Or because they actually were awkward From the instructor’s invitation in 3rd, straight thrust (hand in 3rd), dagger closes in 4th. From the instructor’s invitation in 2rd, straight thrust, dagger closes in 1st. From the instructor’s invitation in 4th, straight thrust, dagger closes in 3rd From the instructor’s invitation in low 4th, straight thrust, dagger closes in 2nd. From the instructor’s engagement in 3rd, disengagement , dagger closes in 4th. From the instructor’s engagement in 2rd, disengagement, dagger closes in 1st. From the instructor’s engagement in 4th, disengagement, dagger closes in 3rd From the instructor’s engagement in low 4th, disengagement, dagger closes in 2nd. From the student’s engagement in 3rd, glide , dagger closes in 1st. From the student’s engagement in 2rd, glide, dagger closes in 4th. From the student’s engagement in 4th, glide, dagger closes in 3rd From the student’s engagement in low 4th, glide, dagger closes in 3rd. From the […]
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