Evidence for Thrusting in Meyer Longsword and other weapons.
Mike Cartier August 2007
Hence the proverb has arisen: "A true combatant doesn't parry, but when the opponent cuts, then he cuts too; when the opponent steps, then he steps too; when the opponent thrusts, then he thrusts too."
This article seeks to address misinformation concerning the thrusting in Meyer's Fechtbuch , which is considered by many to be non-existent and therefore not a true combat art.
Despite his description of the Fechtschule environment Meyer, where he describes the lack of thrusting in German arts of the time and Despite the rules of the Fechtschule which forbade thrusting these arts were for a civilian or military use or Ernstfechten. Thrusting elements are sprinkled throughout Meyers descriptions of combat with all his weapons. If we look at the evidence of thrusting just in the longsword book we can get almost everything we need right there to perform powerful thrusts.
Its important to note that while Fechtschule rules forbade it and generally it was downplayed as we see meyer himself do several times in his book. He gives us a picture of Germans who did not thrust at each other in play or duel. Meyer comments that once Germans did thrust but not in his day. Its easy to take these comments and build a theoretical fechtschule environment where there was no concept of the thrust but this would not be accurate. Downplaying the use of the thrust is entirely a different thing than not knowing of, not understanding it or not training it. As we shall see Meyer gives us plenty of instruction on Thrusting and even mentions his own down playing of thrusting, perhaps to more closely adhere to Fechtschule bouting rules or perhaps to simply to create much more focus on the cuts which are considered the true base of the art. Either way Meyer mentions thrusting in his book well over 1200 times and as a resepcted master at Arms for men who fielded armies Meyer clearly must have understood the value of the thrust with all weapons. As we shall see if we look at his Rappier and Polearms sections of his book we can see alot of thrusting instruction as well as the implicit instruction of the guards themselves in longsword, many of which serve the purpose of thrusting, if not its primary purpose at least as a secondary purpose.
Thrusting is a very deadly element of weapons combat that was clearly well understood by the German martial masters. The very need to limit the thrust in rules tells us how understood it was. In addition War held no such limits in the rules so in preparing for war the Germans understood the difference between fighting amongst themselves and fighting the enemy. Masters at arms like Joachim Meyer were hired to prepare soldiers for combat, it is doubtful that a man accustomed to instructing men in the arts of war would have left out thrusting in the longsword system entirely.
Evidence for Thrusting provided in the longsword section of the Meyer book.
The most important evidence is undoubtably the guards themselves, several of which lend themselves very nicely to delivering powerful thrusts.
Each of these guards has a purpose that includes cutting and thrusting like most guards, however the setup is clearly suited to a thrust and with several of them the threat of the thrust is unmistakable. Schlussel and Pflug in particular are tailor made to deliver a quick decisive thrust. Langort is the completion of all thrusts. It is no exxageration to say that to thrust from any longsword guard or indeed any position you find yourself in, simply transition into Langort. These five guards alone are enough to give us the methods of delivering a thrust, even without the rest of his comments in longsword and the use of thrusts in Devices and the use of the thrust in the rest of the book and the hand positions seen all over his plates, but it never hurts to provide overkill in your evidence. lets move onto some of the words Meyer himself used and see how they effect the idea of thrusting in Meyer's martial art, and lets begin with the very evidence used as the primary source for this idea that Meyer longsword does not have thrusting.
In his first chapter Concerning the Combatant and His Division Meyer says: "Now the combatant is divided into four quarters or parts; the upper and the lower, and each into the right and left. I do not need to to describe more extensivley what these things are since the very act of looking shows a person what the upper and lower , left and right parts are. Yet for the better understanding of what I mean by these, see the figure in the pervious image (A)"
"And although these four parts of the combatant would be enough, according to the use of German combatants of former days, who allowed thrusting as well as cutting, nonetheless since with us Germans nowadays, and especially in the handwork with the winding, attacks are made mostly and cheifly to the head, I will also divide it like the whole person in general, into the same four parts"
He describes here that earlier German combatants included the thrust presumably in practice as well as war, which makes sense. if you stand to face the thrust in war you had best prepare well for it rather than learn the hard way. So the German combatants of earlier days did use the thrust but not so much in his day, or at least the rules of the Fechtschule disallowed or limted the thrust, presumably for saftey reasons. This however is not the same as banning its use entirely or not knowing how to use it. As we can see from the longsword guards the positions of the thrust are still retained from the earlier period , it takes no large measure of genius to construct a thrusting method from these 5 guards as they essentially represent every possibly thrusting position anyway. I think what Meyer is telling us here is that in the Fight schools of his day and especially in tournaments, thrusting was limited for safety but not unkown to advanced students, indeed Meyer relates Winding very closely to Thrusting (something immediatly obvious to anyone who had used Winding with a steel sword. It seems he is letting us know of its limitation in use in his time but also that they still understood its use from earlier times and really Meyer was at the forefront of this reintroduction of the thrust back into the German fight school as he was one of the first german Rapier Masters.
Meyer also goes on to say later at the end of the guards Chapter (3):
The best evidence for thrusting in Meyer's longsword is the other weapons shown in the book. Not all elements of the weapons are covered in their respective areas. Thrusting is primarily instructed in the Rapier section, Footwork and handworks in the longsword and Rappier, striking in longsword and Dussack and wrestling is shown both in its own area and in the other areas. Dussack thrusting is hardly mentioned however as Meyer says several time the Rappier will be handled in the manner of the Dussack, if you apply the Thrusting strategies and concepts it opens up the thrusting utility in the Dussack signifcantly.
At the begining of chapter 4 meyer says...
"Now we come to the art and noble knightly practice itself, namely to the cuts, which are the true chief element in combat, as I said in the beginning. It is necessary to say something here of how many there are, what each of them is, and how it shall be executed and carried out. But I will here remind the friendly reader at the outset, since there is a great difference between sword combat in our time and how it was practised by our predecessors and the combat masters of old, that this account of the cuts will only cover what is currently in use and pertinent to the sword. And as to the practice of former days, when they fought dangerously both with cuts and thrusts, I will discuss it in its proper and separate place."
Here he mentions that the longsword fencing of old included thrusting as well as the primary element of combat with the sword, CUTS, then goes on to say he will discuss this in a proper and separate place. (Rappier book)
"Everyone thinks differently from everyone else, so he behaves differently
in combat" -Joachim Meyer, Kunst des Fechten, 1570
"For as we are not all of a single nature, so we also cannot have a single style in combat, yet all must nonetheless arise and be derived from a single basis." -Joachim Meyer, Kunst des Fechten, 1570
"Who despises me and my praiseworthy craft,
I'll hit on the head that it resounds in his heart."
--Augustin Staidt, Federfechter
"The Truth in Combat is different for each individual.... Truth lies outside of All Fixed Patterns." -Bruce Lee
