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 opponent. This suggests that the Zornhau in Meyer's time was considered a simultaneous parry and strike: it defends against an incoming Oberhau/Zornhau and simultaneously strikes the opponent.
However, in the RDL glosses, the Zornhau is clearly (well, fairly clearly) described as a diagonal strike made to the sword of the opponent, and it ends with the hilt offline to the right, but the point online at the opponent. This is sometimes called the Zornort (wrath thrust) in modern usage, although I'm not sure what source this comes from. It does differentiate it from the Zornhau made directly to the head of the opponent.
The instructions tell us:
When he hews in at you from the right shoulder to your head, you also hew in at him from the right shoulder with anger, without any deflection, on top of his sword. (This 'without any deflection' line is the main point of contention, but it probably means without making a conscious effort to deflect the sword away offline).
If he is weak in the bind - i.e. if your point is online - then thrust the point in at the face.
There are a few ways to do the Zorn. One is to cut straight to a shortened Plough position and then shoot the point in. The other is to cut to a longer Plough position.
Note that in RDL, the Zornhau is mostly described as a parry, and not an attack and it is not one of the Vier Versetzen. However, there are a few lines in the Glosses that suggest it can be used as an attack: "when you hew in with the Wrath-hew, as quickly as he then parries...".
Personally, when attacking with a Zorn (or a diagonal Oberhau), I've occasionally been hit hard on the thumb. Especially when wearing HEMA gloves, the thumb does tend to stick up over the crossguard, right where the opponent's blade goes. I haven't figured out exactly how and why this happened, but my current theory is that, back when I was trying to Zorn to the side of the head, my hilt probably wasn't crossing the line enough, meaning my hilt (and my thumb) was directly in the path of the opponent's blade. Now I try to make sure my hilt is on the left side of where their strike is likely to go (or is going, if I am using it in defense). You can also bring your hand a little lower on your hilt so it isn't jammed up against the crossguard, but I find this hard to maintain. Perhaps adding a riser just under the crossguard is a good idea, but I've not seen anyone do that.
I've also noticed that if you Zorn at their right shoulder (the shoulder they are striking from), their blade should knock yours inline a little more, directly towards their face. This is basically the same principle as the Schielhau.
Plays
The Zornhau sections of the glosses describe several plays teaching some fundamental principles:
Play 1:
O: Opponent strikes to your head with an Oberhau.
Y: You parry the strike with a Zornhau.
Y: If your opponent is soft in the bind, and you are hard (meaning you have an overbind and your point is online or crossing the line), shoot your point in - i.e. thrust them in the face. You can also do this with a wind up to left Ox as you thrust.
Y: If your opponent parries your thrust by directing your point off to your right - i.e. they go hard in the bind - then pull your blade off over his and come down on the left side of his blade, or strike to the arm, or strike to the head.
O: The opponent can defend against 4 by 'binding strongly towards the head with the long edge'. I currently take this to mean you quickly strike to his head from the left side, perhaps with a Zwerchau.
This play is teaching the fundamentals of the bind - that of being hard or soft in the bind. When you are hard in the bind you can try to thrust the opponent, when you are soft you can disengage over (or under) their blade.
Play 2:
O: Opponent strikes to your head with an Oberhau.
Y: You parry the strike with a Zornhau.
Y: If your opponent is soft in the bind, and you are hard (meaning you have an overbind and your point is online or crossing the line), shoot your point in - i.e. thrust them in the face. You can also do this with a wind up to left Ox as you thrust.
Y: If your opponent parries your thrust by directing your point off to your right - i.e. they go hard in the bind - then push back hard against them, and then quickly raise your hands into a right Ox position and thrust them to the face.
Y: If the opponent sees this and also rises up into Ox, redirect your point downwards and stab the lower opening.
This is teaching the duplieren (duplication, doubling) and the mutilieren (mutation). The duplieren is essentially where you go weak in the bind against an opponent who is hard. This redirects their point offline and allows you to 'bend' your point around their sword and stab them. It is identical to the Stitchslach in I.33. The mutilieren is basically where you change from stabbing a high opening to a low one. When I've seen it, it usually involves you winding your hilt from the upper right side to the lower left, but this isn't described in the RDL glosses.
Play 3:
Y: You attack with a Zornhau.
O: Your opponent parries.
Y: Wind up into left Ox and stab them in the face.
O: If they push you offline by going hard in the bind...
Y: You redirect the point low and stab to the lower openings.
This is about countering the strength of your opponent's parry by winding into Ox.
Video from SuperiorHEMA:
Video from Keith Farrel and SDF:
Comments