Maestro di Scherma Giuseppe Radaelli (in Captain Settimo del Frate's 1876 Instruction in Fencing with the Sabre and the Sword - Holzman's translation) and Professor Leopold J. M. P. Van Humbeek (in his 1905 Manual for Fencing with the Sabre - van Noort's translation) describe a set of body and leg movements made in conjunction with the moulinet (French), molinillo (Italian), or omhaalhouw (Dutch). These challenge our interpretation of the moulinet and of attacking footwork, and, therefore, deserve examination.
Holzman's translation of del Frate reads (Chapter VIII):
"In order to power the sword, body movement is made by bending and straightening the legs alternately, while simultaneously tilting the trunk in the direction of the bending leg."
Van Noort's translation of Van Humbeek reads (Chapter II.15):
"... upper body backward by extending the right leg and bending the left. 3. Continuation of the circular arm movement in the same manner, cut to the head, in which the upper body is brought forward …"
Del Frate's volume appears to illustrate the sequence of leg and body movement he describes above in illustrations number 25, 26, and 28, all of which apply to removal of the opponent's blade from the line by expulsion. Van Humbeek provides photographic illustration (figures and 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15) of a technique that involves a wider range of body movement and that can be characterized as:
(1) Starting from a normal guard position.
(2) As the blade in the moulinet (executed from the elbow, not the hand or shoulder) travels in the early part of its circular movement toward the fencer's rear and away from the opponent, the fencer leans backward by fully straightening the front leg and further bending the rear leg. The torso is far enough back to approach forming a straight line with the front leg.
(3) As the blade starts to travel forward toward the opponent, the fencer shifts the body forward eventually ending with the sword arm fully stretched toward the target, non-weapon hand on the rear hip, torso leaning forward approximately 20 degrees from vertical, rear leg fully straightened, front leg bent with the knee directly over the toe of the front foot.
So what was this movement used for? It seems to clash with van Humbeek's stress of balance in both the guard and the lunge. The forward position clearly is not compatible with his photographic depiction of a correct lune. The weight distribution at the forward and rearward limits would clearly interfere with any footwork. It could be combined with a regular or flying parry with a following moulinet riposte. The rearward movement might deceive an attack or a remise … the first time. After that an opponent would make appropriate adjustments of tactics to hit what becomes a very exposed target during the rearwards phase.
The answer may lie in del Frate's phrase "in order to power the sword." Moulinets executed primarily with wrist and fingers are fast and heavy hits unless well controlled. A cheek riposte executed with forearm, wrist, and fingers cost a competitor in a modern veterans event her hearing for a substantial amount of time in a bout. The heavy cut to the head with a modern sabre thus clearly generates an impact that, if repeated chronically, could contribute to the same type of brain injury as a concussion. Throwing the power generated by body weight movement into the impact of the heavier early classical sabre clearly can expel of disarm an opponent's weapon, and has the potential to be physically very dangerous.
The second possibility is that by van Humbeek's time the backwards and forwards movement had become a training device, much as the moulinet survived for training for years after cuts had become the simple direct cut. Although van Humbeek does not say that this is the case, his discussion of the movement is in the description of a technique identified in a section titled "Preparatory exercises" and ends with the statement that (Chapter II.18):
"It is said once more that these preparatory exercises form the basis of fencing with the sabre. All movements of offense and defense are derived from these movements. The more that you have mastered the last, the easier you learn the one mentioned first."
Copyright 2019 by Walter G. Green III.
Forward and Back to Power the Cut by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
No comments:
Post a Comment