Lesson 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 admin