Paulus Hector Mair Exotica

[fabioeoch]

I had no idea such shields existed!

[DeathWishMonkey]

Those longswords at 2:27 are very interesting. Are you aware of any historical longsword specimen that had spiked hilt and quillions?

[apt95]

sickle, but no hammer? how sad.

[eacortes]

I've never before seen or heard of dueling shields. Those things look very nasty and practical for close melee combat.

[obermegalutschoar]

Medieval illustrations of dudes in pyjamas beating each other with farming equipment. Now I've seen everything.

[1NX9]

Nice!

[kaindrg]

random black guy 0:17

[TheGekkjevel]

The one at 0:49 looks kind of painfull..

[Djemps]

@TheGekkjevel Only 'kind of' painful? LOL

[TheGekkjevel]

@Djemps alright, very painfull.. I once dropped my longsword on my balls, that was painfull

[kaindrg]

@Djemps sickle sodomy

[Giagantus]

@ArkoudoROMANTIC

Assuming what you said is true what's to say that Buddhist monks (or just asians in general) didn't have martial arts prior to this monk befriending the greeks ? And how do you which parts are european (or Greek to be frank about it). I don't doubt that martial exchange occurred, but really boxing/kicking/what have you has existed in many places and not necessarily due to being introduced by another culture

[anAngryHamster]

Can you really classify a cudgel as exotic? It's a stick, a universal weapon.

[Djemps]

@anAngryHamster I goofed up with the name. It was called a 'Peasant Staff', and was an uprooted sapling. Still pretty basic, but certainly not the first thing you would grab to settle a fight.

[MrMeineNamen]

the rennasiance shields were rare to be like that

[Okaruwazashi]

@ArkoudoROMANTIC I think it's more likely that martial arts just develop on their own, than that they all come from some original system. People try to kill each other, some things work and some don't, the winners pass on and refine their techniques, and so on and so on.

[ThegnThrand]

This is Thrand!!!

Love the weapons it shows the diversity of the European martial artist.

[ThegnThrand]

@ThegnThrand Also shows the Asians are not the only ones to use exotic type of weapons.

[schizoidboy]

The interesting thing is in the ancient times people would have gone to war using such weapons because swords were outlawed to commoners. Many so-called martial arts weapons are in fact farm impliments, so it should come as no surprise that people developed fighting styles around such tools.

[mojothemigo]

@schizoidboy Sometimes, at some places. They were usually so expensive, knights didn't have to worry as much about them. You might have a lower class person with a sword, but a knight has armor, a horse, etc. This is what I have read, and I give it a high chance of being off. I also read that peasents with crossbows and guns were a much bigger concern and more likely to be banned, as they could take down an armored knight on horseback.

[pochazet]

its funny that people say one cant learn to fight just from reading a book but fechtbucher are all we have to study and that entirely depends on the person as far as if he truly understand the techniques.

[pochazet]

though ive studied asian martial arts for some time and still do, european martial arts are really catching my eye.

[pochazet]

what book is this from?

[pochazet]

are these pictures in his polearms book?

[Djemps]

@pochazet Sadly, no.

[dontcommentmehoe]

Go look up weapons that made britain the shield and watch the 8th part. It shows those dueling shields in action.

[Djemps]

@dontcommentmehoe Thanks! I've been trying to find that clip forever!

[NewZealfighter]

it is so hard to find information on the deuling shields

I want to learn more about them.

[PaterFrog]

0:48 hurts from watching.

[FrisianDude]

Haha, nice outfits. :P Some of those attacks are plain hilarious, though I'd certainly hate for them to happen to me.

[300warrior300]

1:51 smack on bottom! that's gotta hurt

[MrUdsmykke]

i don't like to fight. The song is wonderful

[drstrangeman]

thankyou for posting this vid. the real galdeators just do swords but none of the "odd" weapons. which i would like to learn more about. could you post more in depth videos on each weapon?

[Djemps]

Thanks for the comment. Check out my channel and you will find lots of in depth videos about the flail, a few on the sickle and a small bit on the peasant staff. :-)

[punhada]

western knights had all the skills god and even better as oriental warriors arts.Just never had Bruce Lee and afins to make it popular and general pratice.

[qube0]

Last week I went to a Shaolin performance. getting lifted up on 5 spears, breaking metal on their heads ... They spend their life on martial arts (from meditative soft to metal breaking hard). How do you figure western knights are better then these hermits who dedicated their life to it?

On topic: Nice Vid.

[Djemps]

@qube0

Don't believe the hype.

[winged789]

Most shaolin will admit that actions you saw in the performance where just that, performance,. if you have never watched shaolin kickboxing you will be stunned at how much of it is the same as every other compitition fight, nothing fancy or special. While exotic skills showcased to amaze onlookers are great, much of the broken metal, is not that strong, and the spears not sharp or ridged. Why wouldn't a western knight who dedicated his life be equal?

[qube0]

@winged789

oh, I agree that western knights who dedicate their life would be equal (don't get me wrong, I'm not some brainless fanboy). However, were there (many) knights who did?

I would recon most western knights were noblemen, and thus not spend their entire life training.

[Ranziel1]

It depends on the era, but knights were proclaimed nobles and granted feuds in exchange for military service. They lived by war, if they'd not be good warriors, they wouldn't be wanted as vassals. In the age of chivalry, knights were trained from the age of 7, in all types of combat, from sword fencing on foot to mounted combat with a lance.

[qube0]

I did not know that.

Then all that is left, is too compare how efficient/... those combat trainings are ...

[winged789]

I am no expert, but I will say that mounted troops have a distinct advantage (read up on how spanish conquestidors dominated the mayans in various battles). At the end of the day, would you rather fight a very talented monk with a staff or sword, or a possibly equaly talented man runing you down with a lance/sword and sheild, armored over the vitles, atop a giant mamalian wreckingball.

[qube0]

I'dd rather fight a mounted charger. Living in Belgium, the "Battle of the Golden Spurs" is part of my history (knights vs pesents. the knights charged in way too soon). Much like the movie The 13th Warrior, they planted a pike in the earth to dismount a knight; after that they used a spiked club to finish the job)

Cavalry seems great, because of the rules of warfare, which the flemish pesents didn't follow: they attacked the horses, killed dismounted knights, ...

[winged789]

Easyer said than done. I beleive the context of the situation is one on one, and the battle you speak of was one where lines of spears and superior numbers where used to take away the advantages of cavelry. Also you assume prior knoledge of the knights tactics, with the average shoalin would not have the way the flemish would.

And remember you need a very long spear to be sure the horse does not ram into you anyway and you get traped behind a dead horse.

[qube0]

OK, but some notes

- infantry ALWAYS has superior numbers over cavalry (as infantry are mostly pesents, while cavalry are nobles (owning a horse/armor/...)

- knowledge of tactics was irrelevant: I was using the battle as an example of cavalery vs infantry, not pitting cavalery vs shaolin. (I'dd rather face a horsed knight then a shaolin monk - cavalry is easly beaten by anti-cavalry weapons with minimal training)

- not "very long spear", but normal pike (a common (anti-cavalry) weapon)

[drav1dan]

Because we are westerners. So everything we do and everything we have is the greatestest, or at least equal to what other cultures have. It is simple logic.

[winged789]

Now now, you know that is not fair. N o one is saying westerners are better at everything, for example the shoalin where almost certainly living longer due to healthy lifestly than their western counterparts. All I'm saying is to give the knight some credit before declairing the shaolin superior.

[drav1dan]

Of course, the knights do deserve credit. And it is really good that people are reviving European martial arts. The reason that western martial arts declined until now, whereas eastern martial arts did not decline as much is because, western people saw martial arts merely as a means to an end - to defeat enemies. So, when firearms arrived, martial arts declined. In the east, people realized the potential for spiritual development with martial arts. So, it did not decline as much.

[MEMAG]

The spiritual benefits of Western Martial Arts were realized as well, but many of them still fell by the way side.

[reaperonlineIAM]

@winged789 like give credit on them for getting their ass kicked in some desert in some muslim country. nice, knights should be given credit. oh, we should also not forget how the mongols thrashed their sorry asses.

[Djemps]

Reaper, you don't know what you are talking about. The crusaders had just as many decisive victories over the Turks and Arabs as losses. Saladin had his ass handed to him many times. I can quickly site the Battle of Montgisard as well as the epic Battle of Arsuf where the marching crusader column looked like a group of porcupines because their armor worked so well against Arab archery. It's easy to claim total Arab domination since they still occupy the area, but it was never a sustainable goal.

[winged789]

The mongols i beleive where from a totaly different period of history. That said you A) have tryed to make an arguement about the value of individual combatants (the context of the entire conversation so far) with large scale battles where tactics/technology/numbers/ton­s of other factors totaly change the game. and B) ignore plenty of victories on the parts of said knights.

[reaperonlineIAM]

greatest... (no wonder why westerners import something to the east, reverse engineer them and steal them... what plagiarist)

[Magicyogi]

man where can i buy some of these cool tunes? man. they make me so happy listening to them...

[Djemps]

The music is by a group callee Saltarello. I found their CD on Lark In The Morning's website.

[arcoetxea]

amazing.

[FreakyGremlinDK]

thats sure some special weapon choices, and i never seen such shields before

[schizoidboy]

I can see why they were banned, where those scythes and sickles could cut... Whoa!

[myshirtgoeswtf]

the dueling shields are awesome alone.

if only there were more illustrations.

plus, what album and artists did you get this from?

[SirJabsAlot]

I say old chap! heyaaa!@ have at you!@

[Djemps]

Wrong Century! LOL

[SirJabsAlot]

:P just goofing off nice vid. I'm a martial artist, i find it interesting.

[JohnRaptor]

I wasn't aware of any dueling shields like that outside of Talhoffer. Very cool to see them from another source.

[Entheobotany]

Also in Codex Wallerstein. Those shields are brutal!

[Djemps]

Yes, tons of sources have the Duelling Shield included in them. I'm disappointed that there has not been a lot of serious study dedicated to them since they crop up in just about every manual. I always thought Mair was the only source with Armoured Stechschild but recently I found out that "Anonymous Cl. 23842" also includes armoured shields.

[Entheobotany]

I think the main thing is cost, in both funding and time. You can buy wooden wasters or blunt steel for not too much money, and you can easily find them online. With those dueling shields I imagine you and your fighting partner would have to make them yourselves or pay a lot to get them custom made.

[Djemps]

@Entheobotany Yeah, I agree. I've considered making some myself but got overwhelmed with picking the right material, thinking about how to put everything together, and the final cost.

[Kelvarra]

@Entheobotany sir could you tell me where i could find scythes or sickles?

[Entheobotany]

@Kelvarra Best bet for new ones is to go online. Older ones can be found in antique stores, rural garage sales, and places like ebay. The old ones usually work if you put some WD40 and a new edge on it.

[Djemps]

@Entheobotany .. Sorry I didn't put 2 and 2 together. It completely went over my head that you were referring to the fact that Wallerstein has the same exact shield plays as Mair. Now I don't know why Mair would switch the fighters to Armor. Another interesting thing is that Wallerstein and Mair have shields with a complicated T shaped inner beam that allows you to hold the weapon in unique ways. I don't know of any other manual that has this type of construction.

[UhhWhut]

Lol @ .50

[Djemps]

Everybody loves that one!

[JohnRaptor]

I loled at 1:51

[Kortoso]

Only a fool brings a weedwhacker to a sickle fight. :)

[Jebbis]

I dunno you can get a good one on sale at the home depot, they would not expect a 1.5 hp weed whacker in the face.

[pyrohomunculus]

Yes, they would. Too much noise, and let us not forget you have to spend the excess of thirty seconds to even start the 'wacker of the weeds'.

[whatzupa]

If you come away from a sickle fight without a scratch you'd be doing well.

[redkittyspaw]

OUCH!

[Leeroy002]

it would have truly sucked to have done melee combat back then. I think I would have picked up the bow.

[LBSBandit]

All I have to say is 2:20....BONNNG!

[Djemps]

*Fog Horn Sound*

[fabhau]

this is awesome, but at 0:50 how the hell does that happen?

[fabhau]

sorry, at 1:50

[Djemps]

Yeah, this is probably the most hilarious illustration in the entire book. The text says to strike your opponent on the back, so apparently this is what happens when you get cracked on the back with a spiked flail!

[fabhau]

i had one of these books, but i forget what it was called. anyways, i swrdfight often, and this book actually helped me. thnx for posting

[spleegulence]

ouch at 0:49

[tsafa1]

Thanks for posting this guys. I did not think the sickle was every used for anything other then harvesting. I know it has been used in a few horror movies but I thought that was Hollywood fantasy.

[Mannanann]

Thank you for posting this, I found you because I was looking for "Paulus kal" videos.

I never figured so much off traditional european martial art survived.

I recently started training Pencak silat

because it had sickle ( celurit) techniques an now I've found this, the martial art of my ancestors...

[Galaktia]

The Cudgel work reminds me heavily of Kobudo-Jo Shukokai.

Especially the over head block and the foreward to the face thrust.

[Djemps]

Thanks for the fascinating observation. I was wrong in translating this particular weapon as Cudgel. The correct term is Bauren Stangen, or Peasant's Staff. I've only learned this because a translation of the Peasant Staff and Flail just came out. I'm working through the translation with a fellow WMA practitioner in another state. He mentioned that the Peasant Staff works very similar to the Portugese traditon of Jogo Do Pau. I searched Youtube for Kobudo-Jo and definetly see the connections.

[Galaktia]

But then the similarity only brings to mind what my sensei says from time to time.

There are only so many ways that the body works best, if you go to any martial art sooner or later you will do the same things you do anywhere else, whatever is focused on and what they call it may change. Little details might be diffrent.

But a humans a human, we all work the same.

[JohnRaptor]

Smart sensei.

[tallswede80]

@Galaktia

Horseshit. Races work completely differently. It's what you don't see that makes all the difference, i.e. how the brain works, and the soul.

[tiamat9989]

very nice!

[jacobbenmichael]

How come this video was taken down?

[Djemps]

Hi. What was it taken down from?

[superiorsantateresa]

Excellent job! *****

[Methodios]

epic

[darkfiete]

@Methodios flail

[Djemps]

*** ATTENTION *** I put links to Mair's online volumes at the bottom of the video description. Click 'more info' and check them out!

[suzerain01]

beautiful, not just from a WMA perspective but also for the clothing for reenactors' clothing. Any idea if the original fechtbuch is now available in any modern reprint?

[Djemps]

Thanks for the compliment. When I first found these books I spent hours just looking through all the magnificent illustrations. Mair has at least two enormous volumes illustrated in this quality. There was recently a book printed titled: "The Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair" that obviously only deals with polearms and it is still huge. It's also in black and white. I imagine the price of reprinting everything in color would cost a ton!

[ArmeAntica]

Very cool stuff. This is a very good thing to put up a video on. The western martial arts are often looked at in a way that is grossly oversimplified by the vast majority, and glimpses like this do a great deal to help dispell these misconceptions. Very nice video, cool music, and it gives a great lesson. Thanks!

[MBlongsword]

Hey this is fantastic. There is one guy in plate 14 I think his day was reined in the worst possible way! Is from a this a book? Also great tunes.

[Djemps]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. These plates are taken from the 1st of two enormous volumes held at the Munich library in Bavaria.

[Sakuntu]

Fre Djemps, nice stuff...is this from a book? and by the way, I'm digging the 6/8!

[poopwadmcgee]

thats fascinating

[memphadon]

no matter how i look at it, a scythe just doesn't seem like an effective weapon. i'd rather just make a spearhead out of the metal and make a spear.

but the rest of the weapons were very interesting, as well as the short history of Paulus Hector Mair

[VikingWannaBe51887]

wow! Cool stuff. Thanks for posting.