Half-swording with a cut & thrust

[John Harmston]

Yesterday I was trying to remember if I have ever seen a fechtbuch
with cut & thrust half-swording.

Obviously, in the 16th century, the cut & thrust (or "field" sword)
was a common knightly sidearm. With the ubiquity of plate harness,
one would presume half-swording would have been a common technique
with the C&T, but all the manuals I recall show longswords. Anyone?

John H

[Stewart Feil]

In a battle-field, a C&T would be used with a dagger or buckler. When using it singly, the off hand would be used in grappling, deflecting and other motions. That doesn't preclude half-swording. I don't know of any images depicting it. Halfswording is present in Rapier manuals such as Gigante, suggesting that it did not go out of style with the longsword.

--
Stewart Feil
Spokane, WA


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[Michael Chidester]

Fabris also demonstrates it with a rapier, against a spear.


Michael Chidester
Senior Instructor
Provo WMA Study Group


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