The Poleaxe (sample technique)

This video is an excerpt from volume one of the German Medieval Martial Arts series from the plays from the guard Nebenhut.

The medieval knight was a well-trained fighting man, expert in the use of many weapons. One of his premiere weapons was the poleaxe, which combined aspects of a spear, hammer and sword into one, deadly form. Well-balanced and surprisingly agile, even the knights armour was no sure defense against its swift thrusts and heavy blows.

German Medieval Martial Arts, Vol 1: The Poleaxe provides a complete overview and training curriculum for this fearsome weapon. Guards, blows, disarms and throws taken from the writing of Medieval masters-at-arms are meticulously depicted and broken down with step-bystep instructions for the individual student or training group. But more than just drills and techniques, you will learn the history of the poleaxes evolution and its role in the tournament, judicial duel and on the battlefield.

Including interviews with leading experts on medieval weapons and combat, and featuring a soundtrack by the renowned Paul Butler Consort, join medieval combat expert Christian Henry Tobler on a journey into the lost world of chivalric fighting arts.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• poleaxe
• pollaxe
• axe
• halberd
• chivalry
• historic fighting
• armor
• wma
• hema
• western martial arts
• armour
• christian
• tobler
• sample
• dvd
• martial
• arts
• fighting
• longsword
• german
• streitaxe
• mordaxe
• technique
• training
• fechtbuch
• combat
• medieval
• knight
• knightly
• duel

[siremeric]

The problem I see here is that the attacker in black is striking directly at the defender's queue, and not at him directly. The defender does nothing to take himself off-line, the attacker simply strikes off-line. Look at the freeze-frame at 0:17, and espescially at 0:36, and you can see that the blow is aimed at the defender's haft, not at him. I see this kind of thing in stage combat all the time. The untrained will tend to thrust off line, for fear of injuring their partner.

[FreelanceAcademy]

@siremeric If both opponents were beginning the technique in vom Tag, then yes, the attacker could simply target the defender's head. However, since the defender is in Nebenhut (and also Pflug since the poleaxe is a two-sided weapon) the attacker must perform some action to address the dangerous thrusting point.

This being one specific scenario, the attacker is attempting to knock the tip out of the center and close distance and the defender is responding accordingly.

[siremeric]

@FreelanceAcademy My only thing here is, if it is a beat attack, then the attacker should not over-extend himself as much as he does. Or is it your take that the defender is "allowing himself to be beaten, similar to a deception?

[FreelanceAcademy]

@siremeric don't forget, this is a training video meant to demonstrate specific techniques and scenarios, not a free sparring video. The attacker does have options here, however we are teaching the viewer how to defend against this type of attack. If he tries to follow on with more technique, well, we wouldn't be able to clearly see the one we are trying to demonstrate ;-)

[Soviless99]

now ill know what to do when i'm walking down town with my poleaxe and some poleaxe wielding hoodlums mess with me

[berner]

I find it hard to find the chink in the armor when it's nippy out

[airnt]

this defense with the cue can be done with a footwork across to the defenders left, but i agree this strike falls past the defender, and in practice beats to deflect the weapon are never done this large and slowly.

Also notice the three different examples given here all have the same measure... the front foot of the defender ends up in the same place, and more importantly especially his knee.

This might be down to camera angles that had to be considered

[airnt]

what passages are these based on?

I must say that generally people train pollaxe far too close. A pollaxe can be used over a distance of 2+ meters from the front foot, without overcommiting.

[siremeric]

@FreelanceAcademy Ah, I get it now. It's what one would call a beat attack in fencing, attempting to clear the line, it's just that the defender responds with an attack and beatrs his time. So , in that case Hugh's objection (at least in this one instance) is moot. I do not have the full DVD, so I will not comment on any others.