Sword & Shield: Monte vs. Marozzo? @International Rapier Seminar 2023

The International Rapier Seminar 2023 in Warsaw was a lovely event, I met many awesome people, fenced a bunch, held a workshop and judged the tournament. My only complaint is really only that it was over too quickly.
Besides the usual rapier stuff, there was also some early rapier / sidesword workshops. Pedro Velasco taught on Pietro Monte's single sword and sword & shield. On sunday we had the chance to do some technical fencing - it was our very last bout of the weekend, but I think the form is still quite nice and you see a bit of the different approaches. Mind, Monte was an Italian who wrote on spanish at the end of the 15th century.
Enjoy! :)
In historical fencing or HEMA (for Historical European Martial Arts) we reconstruct sword fighting systems from historical sources. Our club focuses on Italian medieval and renaissance sources, fencing with the Spadone (Two-Handed Sword), Spear, Sidesword (One-Handed Sword) together with Shield, Cape, Dagger, you name it!
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[@Davlavi]

Very cool.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Nice!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thank you! 😊

[@pj_mckenna]

Marvelous!

[@palestrita]

And now I discover that this video exists. Martin, it was a real pleasure to share fencing with you, I hope to meet you in the near future and play different weapons. A big hug from Spain.

[@corrugatedcavalier5266]

Very nice! You both looked great, but I don't think I've ever actually seen some really "fencing Monte" so it was very cool. More sword and shield is always great to see.

[@palestrita]

You are indeed correct, the seminar I gave was about Pedro Monte's fencing. This friendly assault was not circumscribed to any particular style. What Martin meant was that I was using weapons described in Pedro Monte's works.

[@frenchgalloglass5204]

The imbroccata at 2min58 was amazing ! Great fluid sparring guys

[@palestrita]

Playing calmly, interesting techniques were possible.

[@frenchgalloglass5204]

@@palestrita yes it's very good fencing

[@gremlin633]

Pedro is a War Machine 😄❤

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

He held two great workshops and was lovely to fight with. 😊

[@palestrita]

I'm going to have to blush.

[@MartinGreywolf]

Dark Souls has stamina bar, here in the real world, we have "how far forward and how high can you hold your rotella" bar. I'd hazard a guess that this was fairly late in the day? :)

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Haha, literally my last bit of sparring that weekend, yes.😁 I hope it's still interesting 😊

[@MartinGreywolf]

@@SchildwachePotsdam More interesting even - you see a lot of sparring between fresh opponents, but what do you do when you can't lift your shield properly any more is a very important problem to solve. Conversely, how to best stab someone who can't properly lift their shield is important as well.

[@Thesandchief]

what style is the guy holding the Adarga shield? also where did he get it?

[@Thesandchief]

@@tatumergo3931 did the Spanish use adarga shields? I thought it was a muslim thing mostly.

[@palestrita]

@@Thesandchief At first it was mainly a piece used by Muslim kingdoms, but by the end of the 15th century it was also used by Christians.

[@Brokenlance]

Maybe I’m just not versed in sword and Rotella but I feel like the Rotella could’ve been held out and actively defending more during these bouts. Either way, beautiful fencing!

[@hjorturerlend]

Perhaps, tho in general the inability to push the shield forward (or sidewards or vertically) is the price you pay for the stability and ease-of-use of a strapped shield.

[@Brokenlance]

@@hjorturerlend fair, however in systems like Capo Ferro, the Rotella is held out for most of the plays as that is a bit more of an active defense and helps cover your sword arm.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thanks and yes - in an ideal world I hold it out with a stretched arm. Here, I was just tired of a weekend full of fencing and tried to conserve energy when I am out of range... and as I got even more tired even within range 😅 Still I was very happy to fence Pedro as my very last bout of the weekend. 😊

[@Brokenlance]

@@SchildwachePotsdam Understandable, I have a Rotella and have trained with it a little bit and can understand how tiring on the arm it can be, I didn’t realize you had already done a lot of fencing up to this point. Either way it was a fantastic video!

[@jasonjames9836]

Lovely fencing. Thanks for posting as I couldn't stay for Sunday and I really enjoyed Pedro's classes.

[@palestrita]

It was a privilege to share fencing with you.

[@diegofernandezrodriguez4548]

Where did you find such a fine rotella? I love the heart shape

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

The heart-shaped shield was made by Pedro himself 😊