Beginner's Guide to Fencing with the Longsword
This has been developed for an 8 week beginners course on longsword that I am teaching. It is designed to introduce a beginner to the...
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HEMA 101
HEMA 101 admin
May 127 min read
The 5 Words re-visited: using tempo to understand Vor, Nach, Indes
I recently wrote an article about tempo: Using tempo/timing to fence better (hema101.com). This article is a continuation of that. I...
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HEMA 101 admin
Mar 154 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - Part 12: Zwerchau (lateral strike or thwart strike)
The lateral strike is made usually with a thumb grip, i.e. with thumb on the flat of the blade. It is made from the right shoulder, and...
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HEMA 101 admin
Mar 154 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - Part 11: Zornhau (Wrath strike)
The Zornhau is described as a 'peasant's strike', and in Meyer is described as a diagonal Oberhau from the right to the left ear of the...
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HEMA 101 admin
Mar 155 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 10: Secret strikes revisited
Joachim Meyer called them the 'Master strikes' and this is how they are mostly known in modern parlance. However, in the LL glosses they...
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HEMA 101 admin
Feb 45 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 9: Binds and Winds
The bind is simply when fencer A's and fencer B's blades are touching, likely because Fencer A has parried Fencer B, or vice versa. The...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 293 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 8: Embracing Nach
In simple terms, the Nach means 'after' and refers to the defensive actions. It also designates the status of the fencer who is being...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 2810 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 7: Seizing the Vor
Vor means 'before'. In my last post I talked about exactly what this means, but in summary it refers to attacking actions. It can...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 289 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - Part 6: The five words
The five words describe, in a nutshell, good fencing in the LL system. They are: Vor, Nach, Weak, Strong, and Indes. The RDL Glosses do...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 246 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 5: Parries
Parries in LL system can be broken down into: Common parries: not used if you can help it, but probably necessary to train against in...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 216 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 4: Attacks
Basic attacks Attacks can be divided into thrusts, cuts and slices, depending on how close the opponent is. Thrusts are made with the...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 215 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 3: Guards
'Guards' is such a poor name for these. They are better described as 'noteworthy positions'. You will use the guards a lot, but really...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 217 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 2: Overview of the system
These are the core elements of LL's system. To test myself, this was mostly written from memory, but I have referred to the Zettel and...
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HEMA 101 admin
Jan 193 min read
Liechtenauer's longsword 101 - part 1: Introduction
I've been studying Meyer's longsword on and off for about 2 years, and I've moved on to Liechtenauer's longsword (LL for short) recently....
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