Hat (fencing)

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The hat (also camp or layer ) is a basic or starting position in medieval fencing . The hats are associated with the tradition of the art of fencing (German = hat or casual; Italian = posta etc.). Together with the blows , the hats form the two pillars of sword fighting.

The phrase "to be on your guard" probably originated from the term hats.

Hats in I.33

In manuscript I.33 (also Tower Manuscript ), a medieval textbook, 7 hats are listed:

  • Sub broke; "Under the arm"
  • Humero dextrali; "right shoulder"
  • Humero sinistro; "Left shoulder"
  • Capiti; "Head"
  • Dextrose; "right side"
  • Pectori; "Chest"
  • Langort; "Straight tip"

There are also common hats that are only mentioned in passing : The vidilpoge (nhd. Fiedelbogen) and the “Spezial-Langort”.

Hats at Liechtenauer

The masters in the Liechtenauer tradition knew 4 basic hats : the hat from the day , the hat Alber , the plow , the ox . They can be subdivided as hats held up and down with the hands, each holding the sword ready to stab or strike.

Four casual allain da von halt; and curse the common. Ochs ,pflůg, alber, from the day sy dir nit vnmer. [MS Dresd. C 487, SLUB Dresden]

Furthermore, various “side hats” were known, but they did not belong to the core system of the school. Some of them seem to have been taken over from the Italian fencing school, which traditionally used a variety of hats.

In long sword fencing , the pick or blow is defined as a movement from one hat to another. Joachim Meyer expands this definition even further in his fencing book, published in 1570, by adding an expanded nomenclature to the transitional positions mentioned only marginally in his predecessors. For example, hats like the unicorn, the key or the change were added.

The hats not only served as a defensive position, but also offered the fencer a variety of attack options. Just because two of these basic hats (ox and plow ) threaten the opponent directly with the tip of the sword (also called place ), he has to react accordingly and defend himself against this threat. The relevance of the right hats and the corresponding break against them can only be seen from the fact that the "breaking" of the hats is given a lot of attention in the historical documents. A separate chapter is always dedicated to them.

By breaking a hat is meant that you attack it in such a way that you have maximum cover from the possible counterattacks from this hat and hit the opponent in the best possible way or at least get into an advantageous binding position. In general, the following classification applies in the German school of the 15th century:

  • Hut Ochs = break through Krumphau
  • Hat of the day = break through Zwerchhau
  • Hut plow = break through Schielhau
  • Hut Alber = fracture due to toppling

The first haw is the Krumphaw. He breaks the ox's hat. / The other is the zwerhaw. / He breaks the hutt from the day. / The third is the schyllhaw. He breaks the hat deßpflůgs. / The Vierdt is the Schaittler. He breaks the hůt alber.

The hats, however, must not be viewed as a purely static pause in one position. The frequent changing of the starting position before the first blade contact (the so-called tying ) is an important criterion in fencing in the German school (heyday in the 15th century). This prevents the opponent from being able to adjust to you, and you can very easily work your way to possible weaknesses (openings in the opponent's defense) in order to then take advantage of the moment and strike a blow or stab.

Hats with Johannes Lecküchner

In the fencing theory with the long knife by Johannes Leckküchner there are also four hats that largely correspond to those of the long sword. Their assignment is as follows:

  • Hut Ochs = Hut Stir
  • Hat of the day = hat lies in the country
  • Hat plow = hat boar
  • Hut Alber = hat bastion

swell

  • Siegmund Ringeck: The knightly art of the long sword , fencing book from 1440
  • Joachim Meyer: Thorough description, the free knightly and noble art of fencing. Thiebolt Berger, Strasbourg 1570 ( digitized version of the 1600 edition in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Digital Library).
  • Hans Talhoffer : Talhoffers Fechtbuch: Judicial and other duels representing. VS-Books, Herne 2006, ISBN 3-932077-03-2 .
  • Jeffrey L. Forgeng: The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship: A Facsimile & Translation of Europe's Oldest Personal Combat Treatise, Royal Armories MS I.33 . Chivalry Bookshelf, Union City 2003, ISBN 1-891448-38-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The seven hats of I.33. (No longer available online.) Freywild.ch, September 29, 2008, archived from the original on October 21, 2012 ; Retrieved March 26, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / freywild.ch