Harnischfechten sparring demonstration

Blossfechter Alexander Neppl and Thomas Howe showed in a live demonstration how knights of the 15th century fought against each other in full harness.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• sparring
• historical
• european
• martial
• arts
• harness
• harnischfechten
• sword
• spear
• dagg

[DownWithThePlague]

Damn, that was very good indeed! Was that in England ("in Saint George's name")?

[qyark]

@themadelf I don't know what these two were using specifically, but in my group we used basically a mix of hockey and lacrosse armor, since both games involve getting smacked with sticks they are both good options.

[themadelf]

Gentlemen, aside from the fencing masks what kind of body armor/padding are you wearing in this video?

[VikingWannaBe51887]

awesome demo! Do you guys plan to get harnesses in the near future? 14th century armour isn't that difficult to do...and would make your demos look even better :)

[TheUsrper1]

Do you think this same concept of gripping the spear and longsword together could also apply to a poleaxe or halberd? I'm sure it might work because they're both staff weapons, but the poleaxe and halberd can be so darn heavy... I bought a book about Ringeck's techniques this morning and I'm waiting for it to arrive. Anyway, any thoughts about the halberd/longsword combination?

[pappyDApirate]

any books on this 4 sale?(besides the ones by hugh knight), also, what web sight would one reccomend for the armor/ spears, and are there any good schools neer california?

[MikkoKuusirati]

Striking with the hilt of a reversed sword, basically turning the sword into a warhammer, is called a "mordhau" (murderstroke) in historical fencing manuals; you can also use it to hook the opponent's leg from underneath him, for example. Grabbing the blade is "half-swording", and is done to increase point control and leverage, and to shorten the effective reach of your weapon for use up close. It's a very important technique in armoured combat. :)

[BigDummy23]

The swords are shinai, like in Kendo. The techniuqes, including the half-swording (gripping the blade) are historical techniques from old fencing manuals. So isw the duel using spear and longsword. Look up "German school of Fencing" on wikipedia to learn more, lots of links on the bottom of that page.

[lvcsslacker]

what I find unique is they use the sword like a club, instead of a sword. Gripping it by the blade's a new concept to me... Very interesting to watch, and amazingly brutal.... I'm impressed as hell!

[animematt]

seem to be wood, with rubber on the tips