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farter than anie Englishman...
means of extending the fencer's reach. This might be true for the
foil. But if you consider True Reach as the distance between the
utmost extremity of your offensive (vulgo, the point) and the
nearest potential target for a counter-attack of the opposing blade
(the wrist or lower arm), you can't but admit that, given weapons
of equal length, the lunge does nothing to increase True Reach: No
matter if lunge or straight thrust, an epee, saber, or rapier point
becomes dangerous only after passing the opposing guard, at
which moment the opposing point poses the same threat to your
own lower arm that your point poses to his.
Hope angrily prohibited his students from gripping the pommel of their weapons to obtain the unfair advantage
of a few inches in True Reach. And I have seen some modern saber fencers establish something resembling a
pistol grip by pressing the pommel into their palm for the additional inch or two. The combative backgrounds
of the Medieval and Renaissance masters of arms, however, was very diverse indeed. The repertoire of any
provost or master would include edged weapons, as well as staff and pole arms. And it is exactly in this area
that we can find historical precedent for the lunge executed with extension of True Reach in mind.
The German Joachim Meyer's sections on staff, pike, and halberd are some of the most erudite instructions
in the usage of these weapons of the period. Staff weapons, due to their considerable weight, are typically
managed using two hands. This in fact reduces their True Reach to the two thirds of their total length that
projects out from the leading hand. Meyer, however, in one of his plates entitled "Fechten mit der Helleparten"
("Fencing with the Halbert") depicts two fencers engaged in one-handed defensive and offensive actions with
the staff. (fig. 4) Note that the fencer to the upper left has achieved the final extension of the lunge, adding at
least three feet to his True reach by grasping the staff at the butt end with is right hand.
reach is for the right-hand fencer to escape to the rear
with what could have been a backward lunge, also
grasps his weapon at the butt end, and placing his
weapon diagonally between him and the opponent, point
on the floor.
This, of course, puts enormous strain on the right arm
of the lunging fighter. And unless the actual speed of the
lunge was considerable enough to stay the point in the
process, point control was as good as impossible. This
was probably not an action that would have been
performed with any kind of frequency in practice bouts.
could lead us to assume that his offer to stout-hearted Bart Bramble, "to teach him how to thrust twoo
foote farther the anie Englishman..." may not have been all that later authors have come to accept.
In which case, the above anecdote of Vincentio's trip to Wells, Somersetshire, leaves us with probably the
most important guideline of how to establish and maintain a reputation of undefeated fencing prowess: Don't
engage in challenges that could be bad for you. *
Gaugler, William. (1998). The History of Fencing: Foundations of Modern European Swordplay. Bangor, ME Laureate Press, p28.
J. Christoph Amberger is the author of Secret History of the Sword (MultiMedia Books, 1999), publisher of "Hammerterz Forum", a
prolific writer, and a member of two of Germany's most prestigious schlager dueling fraternities.
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