Project Hausbuch #7: Footwork in German Longsword

[@Alex.Ost.2001]

This should have much more views Great stuff, happy to have found it. Also, beautiful sword!

[@Sprechfenster]

Thanks! :)

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Excellent stuff as always, these videos are much appreciated!

[@Sprechfenster]

Thanks, means a lot from you!

[@radekduszynski6992]

Excellent work, as always, Maciek. 11:49 is where my favorite part starts and something I will try introducing to my repertoire. So many times I could have avoided getting hit in the leg, if only I changed my footwork slightly. Fascinating how these small nuances make such a huge difference.

[@Sprechfenster]

Thanks! I'm curious if it will work for you.

[@radekduszynski6992]

@@Sprechfenster I use it already in rapier. Capo Ferro plate 8 has this withdrawal of the forward leg nicely depicted. Never thought about the benefits of using similar stances/footwork for longsword though.

[@nicopetri3533]

This might be your most important video yet. I can't count the amount of times I have heard that footwork of the past was still a mystery to us. This video adds so much more to the equation than just having the stabil stance and half step videos I have seen so far.

[@Sprechfenster]

Now, this is nice :) Thank you!

[@Sprechfenster]

Btw. if you find time to elaborate on what you found novel or otherwise interesting, please do. I'm genuinely curious.

[@nicopetri3533]

@@Sprechfenster things I found novel is stuff like Umbeschreiten like at 7:20 crossing the centerline even with the right leg leading. Abtreten like at 5:50 is something I did intuitively, but so far haven't found any videos teaching it like this. Most interestingly how it's applied in the tertiary tactical complex is something I haven't thought of, but makes quite a lot of sense. Hurten is again something a lot of us developed intuitively, but now we have the proof for it, which I find very exciting. Completely new was the hip hinge stance. I've seen it in rapier, but not in longsword like this. The interpretation off überlaufen might make a lot more sense like this, since we aren't specifically told to perform an abtreten (like in fiore for example), but it might make a lot more sense with a change to the hip hinge stance like you show in 13:38.

[@Sprechfenster]

@@nicopetri3533 Thanks again!

[@Druid_Ignacy]

This is pure gold, I watched text-based interpretation with sparks in the eyes, but when practice-based interpretation arrived, my jaw just dropped! Thank You!

[@Sprechfenster]

Very glad to hear, thanks! :)

[@Druid_Ignacy]

@@Sprechfenster Ausschreiten is shown with two variations, one step and two steps. Is this something to be covered / discussed, or is first step in two-step ausschreiten just preparational - by itself is treten, and only second step is schreiten? How to understand that you seem to show two different motions for one term, as the rest of footwork is named very precisely?

[@Sprechfenster]

@@Druid_Ignacy Could you drop a timestamp?

[@Sprechfenster]

Do you mean 14:34?

[@acaristic93]

excellent video and write up

[@rideitalia]

Excellent work, well presented. Thanks for sharing

[@Sprechfenster]

My pleasure :)

[@freifechterbasel6115]

Clean and well crafted video! A clean delivery of basic footwork, what more is needed!? It's interesting how just a hundred years later, Meyer seems to use Austreten instead of Ausschreiten. I guess language isn't as precise as one could wish it to be, especially when things like time and local dialect are involved.

[@Sprechfenster]

Exactly, language is shifting and locally diversified, that's one thing. Also, we need to remember that fight book authors had to craft their technical jargon from scratch, which means they appropriated common words and bestowed them with some special martially-related meanings. This approach certainly made it harder to maintain terminological stability across the corpus and throughout historical periods.

[@freifechterbasel6115]

@@Sprechfenster And having these discussions is really valuable for these comparisons in my opinion! Thanks again for the video and the reply!

[@retohaner5328]

This is really interesting stuff! I'm surprised at how much it resembles the footwork described in Bolognese sources, as well as Meyer.

[@Sprechfenster]

Does it? I am actually curious, cause I know very little about both the Bolognese and the Meyer's footwork. On the other hand, perhaps it should not be that surprising. The 16th-century fencing did not emerge out of nowhere, after all. Thanks for the comment!

[@retohaner5328]

@@Sprechfenster My knowledge is primarily limited to Bolognese, what I know about Meyer's footwork is mostly from talking to and fencing with Meyerists from other clubs. There also are good historical links between Meyer and the Bolognese, which have become clearer thanks to the 1561 Manuscript. As for the footwork in this video, there are so many examples of parallels that I'd almost have to make a timestamp every ten seconds. Suffice it to say, it's everywhere from the general posture, the hip/leg rotations, the individual steps, the complexes, even the very specific things like straightening the lead leg to avoid a cut to it. I haven't seen this sort of movement from more "old school" KDF practitioners, so this is extremely fascinating to me! I think you're right, 16thC footwork didn't come out of nowhere, and it's probable that this general style of posture and movement was just part of the culture in a wide area and timespan. Be it fencing, dance, or countless other things. That people who had similar "movement cultures" would have similar footwork solutions shouldn't surprise us, I guess. Your interpretations have interesting implications for the Meyer-Bolognese link, in that they somewhat weaken it. You can't say Meyer drew much influence from Bolognese footwork (outside of stuff like using the Segno) if the footwork culture in the German-speaking world already had very similar characteristics anyway.

[@Sprechfenster]

@@retohaner5328 These are great and fascinating points, many thanks! P.S. Would you mind if I quoted this short conversation in my research diary and, possibly, in my PhD thesis?

[@MrodriguezProd]

Excellent video, very clear and easy to follow. I appreciate your dedication to fence in historical shoes, even in a competitive set-up ! How much did it impact your footwork ?

[@Sprechfenster]

Thank you! As for the shoes and their impact, I wrote a little about in the article. But long story short - I was surprised to find that they don't affect me much after I got used to wearing them. In other words, the impact was huge when I lacked skill, but diminished with practice.

[@PedroPanetto]

Great!

[@petritzky]

Might umbeschreiten from the left indicate a fleche? I tried it out a few times and it kinda ended up becoming one. It also resolves the unstable situation one is in after performing one.

[@Sprechfenster]

Yes, in my case it also often works this way. Considering that the Codex states that attacks can also be made with jumps (springen), I think a fleche-like motion does not contradict the source. On the other hand, I often do umbeschreiten in a more cautious way, especially against new and unknown opponents, and in these cases it looks more like 8:00 (only more towards the right, across the centreline, similarly to 8:43).

[@owensykes6273]

How do you find historical footwear changes (or doesn't change) your footwork? Also did you make your historical shoes or purchase them somewhere? I've been looking to purchase some to experiment with in my fencing

[@Sprechfenster]

I talk about it briefly starting from 16:24. All in all, from my experience, the influence of historical footwork seems very big at the beginning, before you get used to it. But later it diminishes and eventually turns out to be rather subtle - for me, it has the greatest impact on the way I perform lunges (voltreten), as making them so long that I had to land heel-first turned out much more risky than in modern shoes. I ordered my pair from a respected historical reenactment manufacturer, Marcin Ramczyk (aka "Medieval Shoemaker"). His FB profile is here: facebook.com/medievalshoemaker

[@Sprechfenster]

Also, do experiment! Moving in historical footwear is fun and rewarding in itself :)

[@owensykes6273]

@@Sprechfenster Thanks! My club is doing a public demonstration this autumn that will require historical-looking clothing. The shoes, etc. should yield interesting results! Also thank you for the great content

[@leichtmeister]

I am late to the party: Where in Ms3227a do I find the Waage (wogen)?

[@Sprechfenster]

There are only two mentions, at fols. 15v (prose section on footwork) and 27r (verse on Vorkerer).

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Lovely video! Watched it a bit too late though, eheh

[@Sprechfenster]

Thank you :) But why too late? Too late for what?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@Sprechfenster ah! I meant quite a bit of time after you made it ;-)

[@Sprechfenster]

@@FedericoMalagutti Oh, I see no problem with that. Luckily, it's not going anywhere ;)

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@Sprechfenster ahahahah, true, true!

[@Fricsak]

The Sheffield Hema Instructional Team disliked the video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pX2mY2apaMyka5I :D :D :D

[@Sprechfenster]

LOL :D