3 ms·

> Having said that, period texts discussing fighting with sharps acknowledge the problem of double hits, which were apparently quite common in duels with rapier

by maga 10y ago

> Having said that, period texts discussing fighting with sharps acknowledge the problem of double hits, which were apparently quite common in duels with rapiers and smallswords, so the effect of tournament fighting is presumably to exaggerate an existing problem rather than introducing a completely new one. I've mistakenly thought that by "the same thing" you meant the actual medieval combat, not tournaments. Imitating tournaments is indeed a more achievable goal.

gvurrdon 10y ago
What I meant was that in contests with blunts, such as competitions or bouts in class, both fencers will sometimes hit each other simultaneously. I perceive a lot of this as being due to a lack of caution because the participants know they are not really in danger of death. Indeed, some people will simply rush forward to attack, with no thought of defending themselves, in an attempt to hit first and win. However, in actual fights where the participants' life was at stake such double hits also occurred as well; many period authors were concerned about it and discussed tactics and techniques to minimise occurrences. So, I suggest that the effect of the lack of fear is to make an occurrence from "real combat" more likely rather than to introduce a new factor. As an example, here's a book which discussed the matter (here called a "contretemps"). The same author wrote a different book discussing what to do in competitive school play; this one relates only to self-defence, duels and other deadly combat: http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Hope/VadeMecum/VadeMecumMSS.php http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Hope/VadeMecum/VadeMecumMS... George Silver's "Paradoxes of Defence" complains of the same issue with rapiers: http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Silver/Silver.php http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Silver/Silver.php N.B. these texts are later than the mediaeval period - I have no knowledge of mediaeval fighting arts.

by maga 10y ago

gvurrdon 10y ago

What I meant was that in contests with blunts, such as competitions or bouts in class, both fencers will sometimes hit each other simultaneously. I perceive a lot of this as being due to a lack of caution because the participants know they are not really in danger of death. Indeed, some people will simply rush forward to attack, with no thought of defending themselves, in an attempt to hit first and win. However, in actual fights where the participants' life was at stake such double hits also occurred as well; many period authors were concerned about it and discussed tactics and techniques to minimise occurrences. So, I suggest that the effect of the lack of fear is to make an occurrence from "real combat" more likely rather than to introduce a new factor. As an example, here's a book which discussed the matter (here called a "contretemps"). The same author wrote a different book discussing what to do in competitive school play; this one relates only to self-defence, duels and other deadly combat: http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Hope/VadeMecum/VadeMecumMSS.php http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Hope/VadeMecum/VadeMecumMS... George Silver's "Paradoxes of Defence" complains of the same issue with rapiers: http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Silver/Silver.php http://sirwilliamhope.org/Library/Silver/Silver.php N.B. these texts are later than the mediaeval period - I have no knowledge of mediaeval fighting arts.