Exhibition fight
An exhibition fight is a fight that is used to entertain an audience.
In politics, it is used to describe a fight that is not waged for the sake of one thing, but (possibly previously agreed by the opponents) serves other purposes, for example
- Profiling the counterparty
- Distraction from another topic
Political exhibition fights can take place between parties or within parties.
history
Exhibition fighting is almost as old as fighting itself. Even in ancient Egyptian art there are scenes in which athletes are admired by an audience while fighting. The Olympic Games of antiquity included the disciplines of wrestling and fistfighting as well as the combined exhibition fight pankration . The gladiators then gained increasing importance in ancient Rome . Some, such as B. Sergiolus , described by the Roman satirist Juvenal , even obtained their release from slavery .
From late antiquity and the early Middle Ages and their legends ( Edda , Rolandslied , etc.) one can see that even after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the kings and princes took pleasure in the artistic “attempt at killing”. The actual exhibition fights then begin in the early Middle Ages. One of the main purposes of these demonstrations was that the Jarls or other warlords became aware of fighters in order to hire them as mercenaries or possibly even bodyguards.
On the aristocratic side, there was probably the premier class in terms of exhibition matches, jousting and booing . Initially anything but a pastime, the joust developed more and more into an aristocratic leisure activity. Especially from the 16th century, when heavy racing gear (a special form of armor ) was worn for combat , the joystick also achieved adequate security for the participants. Injuries were still common, but deaths were the exception. The Buhurt, initially intended to train the cavalry in closed formation, quickly found its way to pure pleasure. But unlike the Tjost, where only two opponents met, 20 or more knights or other equestrian warriors ran into the bar at the Buhurt . Every now and then there were unfortunate deaths, occasionally deliberate ones.
In the late Middle Ages , with the beginning of the vagabond fencing schools, the exhibition fight, as it is still practiced today, has its origins. In so-called knocking , two students of the fencing master faced each other and showed their skills to both the master and the audience. These fights were mostly fought without choreography , but with blunt swords . In some fencing books such as B. by Meister Lecküchner and Talhoffer , special techniques are described that should only be shown in knocking, as they are too cumbersome and therefore too dangerous for serious combat.
This tradition of knocking has changed little over the centuries. Only the weapons went with the fashion of the time and went through all eras.
Exhibition fight today
Nowadays we find exhibition fights in all areas, be it in film and television or theater ( stage fight ), wrestling , at martial arts events , at medieval markets, and various belt tests in Far Eastern martial arts can also be described as exhibition combat.
The main difference between the exhibition fights back then and today's is the professionalism. The gladiators and knock-out fighters and all the others made a living from fighting, but they accepted injuries and even death as an unfortunate event, but today almost every step is either choreographed or carried out with fixed rules in order to avoid injuries as far as possible .
These rules apply internationally and are used at living history and reenactment events with up to several thousand participants, since choreography can no longer be rehearsed from a certain number of actors. There are different control systems, but almost all of them mostly use so-called hit zones on the body, which must be touched with the weapon. Participation in such combat displays requires years of training in order not to injure the opponent.
As Huscarl the bodyguard of the Danish king was originally Knut the Great called, who conquered England in the 11th century. Nowadays Huscarl stands for a style for the revival of historical European martial arts and war techniques. Hits on the entire body are allowed, which of course requires appropriate protective equipment.