September 17, 2006

Die Kunst des Fechtens I und II Gesehen bei BibliOdyssey
  • And people say that posting on Monkeyfilter is hard work.
  • Zum Pfosten oder nicht bekanntgeben? Die ist die Frage. Epee am Gruß, großes Chyren. Ausfahrt, stadium gelassen!
  • I ausfahrt in your general direction.
  • Thrust! Thrust!
  • ohhhh, check out the monsters!
  • The Art of Fighting is not fighting.
  • I say, go fetch me some cunt! On with the show!
  • /raises eyebrows
  • Hmm. Nice link, btw. Bibliodyssey is my new favourite bookmark. What are these? Shields?
  • tracicle I think they're shields with 'the works'. Defend and attack with the same piece of equipment. I bet they were heavy.
  • These are Pavises, which were used mainly in one position stuck into the ground by & to protect archers. This is why they have a groove in them, to serve where a stake will notch in and support them in the ground. They are a portable cover for archers. The spike like attachements are, IIRC, something also to help keep it in the ground, but it appears here there is a variant offensive style being used here & knife like blades are also added; perhaps this is training for a situation where the defenses have been breached and archers have to go hand to hand. Pavises were traditionally heavily painted & decorated.
  • I've never heard of pavises until now, but mere ignorance is not going to stop me opining that they would have been too big and clumsy to wave around like this. I will venture to suggest instead that those things are stechschild (?="stick shields"??), used only in judicial combats, ie to resolve legal disputes through a duel. Weird but true. Perhaps.
  • "Some Fechtbücher have sections on judicial duels, where the accused and the accuser had to fight to the death with heavy spiked shields (Stechschild)."
  • "Zum Pfosten oder nicht bekanntgeben? Die ist die Frage. Epee am Gruß, großes Chyren. Ausfahrt, stadium gelassen!" Translation: 'To post or not to post? That is the question. Epee in salute, to great Chyren. Drives out, stage left!' Alternatively, a very interesting post indeed Chyren.
  • I bow to Plegmund's research abilities. They do appear to match the stechschild designs far better than typical Pavises. jeraboam -- I knew that! I was immediately able to translate your terrible German. ;)
  • (& I was so proud of knowing off the top of my head what a Pavise was. Remember the words of a wise old Jedi Master: there's always a bigger fish. Or in this case, always a smarter Pom)
  • Actually, on further investigation, I have found them referred to as "duelling Pavises"...
  • AH HA!!! You're probably just humouring me ;)
  • related: from the association for renaissance martial arts, the codex wallerstein.