• June 25, 2022

Teaching Historical Fencing – The Flourish

Is it possible to train on complex sword moves without having an opponent or exercise partner to work with? If so, is there any value to this training? Did shooters do this in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance? The answer to all three questions is “yes”, and such exercises should be a regular part of your historical fencing training.

For more than 100 years, Japanese martial artists have used kata, a series of steps, kicks, punches, or weapon actions, as a traditional part of their training. Such kata often include 50 or more different movements. Among the founders of modern karate, one or two kata formed the basis for lifelong study, although the number of kata has proliferated and their quality arguably declined with the widespread commercialization of the martial arts.

In Europe, 400 to 500 years before the development of karate kata, swordsmen used a number of moves to thrive, a term found in both German and English longsword texts, with footwork moves in solo and sword actions very similar to kata. Lindholm and Hull’s translations of Dobringer’s gloss of Liechtenauer’s teaching verse for the longsword include a flourish beginning with the gate or barrier guard, includes scrolling, and ends with the blade attack work. This flourish appears to be a pre-fight display of skill to the amusement of onlookers and the intimidation of opponents.

The surviving English texts performed by Heslop and Bradak include flourishes as well as a variety of other exercises that can be done without an opponent. They see them as training tools suitable for solo practice. In fact, the more complicated sequences may actually be best practiced without a partner to avoid training the partner to excel in the target role (something he wouldn’t want in a real sword fight).

Therefore, there are actual historical flourishes that can be used for training. However, you can build flourishes for your students by following the guidelines below:

The first rule is don’t do anything that doesn’t make sense in a real fight. That seems obvious, but it can be easy to forget that these weapons were designed to kill people and that the people who used them had no interest in training in techniques that would result in their own death or serious injury. Flourish does not mean that you have a license to do non-historical or extravagant gun twists.

Second, decide what combination of techniques you will use. You can focus solely on attacks. However, incorporating guard changes and defensive actions helps develop a broader range of abilities. At the same time, you need to decide what distances the flourish simulates. A flourish with a focus on close-range attack renewals is a very different drill from one in which the offense relies on passing steps and full-arm actions.

Third, restrict your flourish to a series of steps that can be easily remembered. Fifty Steps becomes as much an exercise in memory as it is in fighting. The Dobringer flourish in its most basic form is eight actions; the flourishes of Additional English Manuscript 39564 are longer, but still less than two dozen movements (depending on how you count them).

Fourth, make the movement flow back and forth. This is a practical consideration that will allow you to tailor your flourish to your available training area. However, German practice technique is based on movement with accompanying footwork to hits; English practice includes actions executed apparently without footwork.

Fifth, make your actions end in the right place. Each movement of the racket and foot must flow seamlessly from the movement immediately before. If students have to stop and reposition out of sequence for the flourish to work, each repositioning would create opportunities to get hit in a real fight.

Sixth, write a description, let it sit overnight, and then see if you can run it as written. Revise it if necessary, and then give it to your students to try.

Finally, go back and make sure what you’ve designed makes tactical sense. Is it something a medieval or renaissance fencer would do if he was facing an armed opponent who wished his harm or death on him? Only after making these checks can he be sure that he can be assigned for practice.

The flourish can become a great tool for warm-ups, solo practice, and skill demonstrations during open houses or other recruiting activities. It offers your students a challenge that they take full responsibility for meeting, which helps them feel proud of their performance. And it connects them even more with the history of fencing and with the importance of fighting spirit in swordplay.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *