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Entries in the Ildhafn journal of Fencing

For a list of Ildhafn's upcoming regular practices and meetings, please see our Regular Activities page.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Apr 7th, 2013

Angela and I, with help from Wendy, tried a few of the grappling moves out of Meyer.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Mar 27th, 2013

Lesson: Some cuts.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Mar 6th, 2013

With no beginners present, we ditched the plan and did some reconstruction work.

Rapier and cloak - Meyer presents two options:

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Feb 27th, 2013

Class three in Meyer's rapier.

Now we tackle the lunge (Fliegende Stich): From Eisenport, gather the back foot just a little in preparation. Then thrust, straightening the arm and stepping forward approximately one foot's length, leaning well over the front knee.  Power is generated by pushing with the back foot, being sure to keep it flat on the floor (not rolling the heel).  This simple set of movements need to happen quickly in the right order, which takes considerable practice.  Meyer's usual rule of turning your long edge against the opponent's weapon still holds, so the lunge can take place in first, second, third or fourth.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Feb 20th, 2013

Second class in Meyer's rapier

We did a quick revision of key concepts from last week.  Then practised cutting from posture to posture (right foot forward throughout):

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Feb 13th, 2013

A first class on Meyer's rapier.

Sword terms: The sword has a point, a long edge (knuckle-side, the edge you do most of the hitting with), a short edge (the other edge, the one that faces you in stance) and a flat.  Meyer uses all these surfaces to some extent.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Feb 11th, 2013

I had an enjoyable week's fencing at Canterbury Faire.  Don Emrys, Don William and I participated in the melees, which continued last year's theme of silliness with revivals of Zombie scenarios, and the addition of Space Invaders.  Christine and I were both authorised in Cut and Thrust, which meant I could examine James in his Free Scholar's prize in longsword (which he easily passed), and we -- along with Emrys -- could play in the Cut and Thrust tourney.  I played longsword throughout as it is my new toy.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Jan 11th, 2013

While regular classes are on hiatas over the summer, we're not going to seed.  Matt, David, Chantelle and I got together for some sparring practice on Wednesday, on the spacious lawn outside Chantelle's studio.  We just played "King of the hill" for about 90 minutes, which worked out really well for the four of us: we cycled through quite quickly, so everyone got plenty of fencing, and the mix of abilities was such that everyone spent some time staying in.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Nov 21st, 2012

Matthew continued teaching Spanish rapier from the work of Puck and Mary Curtis.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Oct 17th, 2012

Lesson 2 on Spanish rapier as taught by Matt.

Patrick's notes:

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Oct 10th, 2012

Lesson 1 on Spanish rapier taught by Matt based on the scholarship of Puck and Mary Curtis.  This is derived from 16th and 17th century works by Carranza, Pacheco and Ettenhard.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Aug 1st, 2012

David fought left-handed, Patrick got hit a lot, Patch provided commentary in between reading Giganti (to see how it's supposed to be done).  All were entertained.

Posted by Eleanor Hall to the Fencing journal on Jul 17th, 2012

Capo Ferro Lesson Plan 

Here is an outline of our class on Capo Ferro from last week, for anyone interested I will link in a copy with a description of all the different elements once I finish typing it up.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Jun 20th, 2012

A session on "The Rose".  We welcomed a new fencer, Sam, who after a few minutes tuition was thrown into the Pit of Reconstruction.

Devices from Langort (Longpoint):  We looked at some of these briefly last week.  As well as completing this section, I wanted to revisit the Rose.  Remember that these proceed from the bind.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Jun 13th, 2012

Some longsword devices from Meyer, several featuring "the Rose".

Device from Nebenhut (Side guard), in this case on the right: If your opponent cuts at your opening..., then spring out with right foot to his left and cut with crossed hands above and behind his blade at his head.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on May 23rd, 2012

Warmup: Meyer's six cuts example from the treatise on the Dusack.  With longsword you end on the same foot that you started, so this passage can be mirrored on the other side.

A selection of Meyer's devices from the postures.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on May 20th, 2012

Eleanor, Martuccio and Ludwig played at rapier to their mutual entertainment.  Martuccio over-stepped, leading him to complain later of a sore rear-end, despite that it was Ludwig's getting kicked.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Apr 22nd, 2012

I had great fun fencing at Cluain's Hastilude yesterday.  Attendance was good with myself, Don William, Don Martuccio, Cassia and new scholar Robert all having a play.  For William and me it was really our first chance to try longsword combat at speed.  It was great fun, but it will take a little while for the instincts to adjust to this weapon form.  I'm looking forward to doing a lot more.

In service,

   Ludwig

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Apr 18th, 2012

We've been a bit slack about blog updates, but we've welcomed a couple of new fencers (and welcomed back and old friend), so there's been a bit of repetition.

But this week we moved on to looking at some examples of Handtarbeit (Handwork) from Meyer.

Posted by Ludwig von Regensburg to the Fencing journal on Feb 29th, 2012

Class: A closer look at some of the techniques from Ringeck we've already seen.

Warmup: Start in right Ochs (left foot forwards).  Cut a Zornhau, Mittelhau (left to right) and Unterhau (right to left), each with a pass.  You should now be in left Ochs.  Cut a Zornhau (left to right), Mittelhau (right to left) and Unterhau (left to right).  You are now back where you started (in right Ochs).  Repeat.

A pattern: Zorn, wind into Ochs (as if your opponent had block your initial cut), then cut around with an Oberhau to the otherside.

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