As some of you know, I have been working on a project for over a year, which I affectionately termed “The Great Ringen Concordance of Doom” (GRCoD). The purpose of this project is to document more effectively the ringen techniques found in treatises from the 15th and 16th centuries in the German Tradition.

HEMA practitioners who spend the majority of their time focused on the swordsmanship aspect of the Art have a great advantage in their study, in that the techniques have names and classifications that are, for the vast majority of the time, consistent across treatises. This, sadly, is not the case for Ringen. Rather, more often than not, techniques are called something like “another good technique” which isn’t very useful for comparing and contrasting techniques across manuscripts!

Further, different masters have different words they use to describe steps or arm movements, adding to the confusion. Some treatises are words-only, some are images only, some are images with brief descriptions and others (though too few) have both images and text. It muddles the tactical lessons inherent in the throws and leaves us to work out on our own these important details in the proper use of these throws. This lack of continuity in nomenclature, pedagogical presentation of the techniques, and visual presentation has left many with the impression that there are hundreds, if not thousands of discrete techniques, none of which are named.

I believe otherwise, and suspect that there are in fact only a relatively small number of techniques that can be properly called Ringen techniques. Much more likely, there are probably 70 or less discrete techniques, but that each technique has a variety of possible entries, grips from which it may be performed, and other small differences that can be identified, while the basic throw is unchanged. These techniques can be used often as stand-alone throws, as counter-throws, or as combination techniques.

For those that are familiar with German Swordsmanship, you might consider the Zwerchhau – which can be performed from the right side or the left side, attacking the head, upper body or lower body, can be performed from a variety of guards, and in combination with other strikes, winds, and finally can end with a thrust, cut or slice. So let’s consider two different examples I developed to highlight my purpose:

Zwerchhau Example 1: After adopting the guard Vom Tag on your right shoulder, you enter with a left-foot gathered step followed by a spring to your right side. As you do this, you strike a strong Zwerchhau with your short edge to the left ear of your opponent, landing the cut to the head. Thus he is struck.

Zwerchhau Example 2: Beginning in the guard Ochs on your left side, you enter to just outside of the Zufecten, threatening a thrust to your opponent’s face. When she takes the bait and strikes to displace your sword, strike a Zwerchhau around your head, springing to your left side, and striking her with the long edge to her right hip. Thus she is struck.

And yet, as practitioners of this Art, we all know that both of these things are still Zwerchhau, despite that nearly every detail of the execution is changed. Ringen throws are precisely the same. Let us consider first in the concordance, stances and grips shown by 15th century masters. I will leave 16th century grips for another post, as Ringen (and all of the Art) evolves over time.

Primary Opening Grips

The basic division of wrestling space is three-fold. First, you have the stance as you enter into wrestling, which is often divided into a “high stance” and a “low stance”. Unfortunately not much is written about this, and in fact nothing at all is written in the 15th century to my knowledge as of this date, but Talhoffer shows us his versions of a high and low stance. Auerswald and his glossers in the 16th century have more to say about this. Those who train swordsmanship should consider these positions as being related to dagger guards, each with strengths and weaknesses. (Additionally, this space is the place from which empty-hand strikes can be delivered, but these will be considered in a separate article.)

Next, you have Wrestling at the Arms, which is described with the words “outside” and “inside” when describing the gripping position of your own arms. These appear to be consistent descriptive terms across all treatises when discussing grips at the arms. Because this setup is vitally important, it is often described in great detail, so that the student can recreate the starting position for entering to throws. Throws which are described from these grips often have Fühlen cues regarding the opponent’s grip, weak or strong, which indicate in part why you might choose this throw over another.

Finally, you have Wrestling at the Body, which is the closest you can come to your opponent, gripping his body typically around the back. The grips are always described as with an arm being “above” and the other “below”. Like the grips at the arms, these are described in great detail as the exact orientation of the arms is vital to understanding where the technique comes from, and Fühlen cues are often given.

These literary cues (inside, outside, above, below) tell you the distance at which you should be performing each ringen technique, for often the author neglects to clarify that the technique is “at the arms” or “at the body” presuming that the student understands that each pair of descriptors is related to only one gripping distance. Weak or strong indicates tactical information regarding the throw.

Stances, high and low

Here we can clearly see the stances that Talhoffer illustrates for Luithold von Königsegg (as mentioned in the text). Unfortunately the text offers no further information about the stances and their use, and this is our only 15th c. example. That said, we can look to the dagger treatises for examples of how one might enter with strikes from these positions. The high position allows for a quick hammer-fist to the temple, or a grip high on the collar or upper shoulder. A taller man might use this position to overwhelm a shorter opponent, reaching over his shoulders to a suppressive body grip with both arms outside the shorter man’s arms. Or a shorter man might use the upper stance to protect from his head begin gripped. Conversely, the lower stance could provide quick entries for a shorter man to a taller opponent’s lower openings or legs. There are many possibilities, but they must be developed intuitively from exhaustive knowledge of the possible grips and strikes as further explanation from the masters isn’t provided.

Grips at the arms, in words and illustrations

My personal favorite description of the optimal grip at the arms comes from Master Ott, who says:

This is a lesson When you want to wrestle with an opponent by the arms, then be mindful always to grasp him with your left hand by his right bicep, and with your right hand grasp him outside his left arm… Codex 44 A 8, Folio 100v, Translation from In St. George’s Name by Christian Tobler, page 186. See more about this technique in Medieval Wrestling, Finley 2014.

This grip Ott describes is clearly (from the follow-on techniques described as well as from intuition and experimentation) a right-side dominant grip. The left leg with typically lead in this setup, allowing the left arm to reach it’s maximum extension. It is common in the medieval sources to describe everything from the right side, but following up with the admonition to work from the other side if you’re a left-hander. I would provide the same instruction to a left-hander, but at the same time, I would encourage all people to work techniques from both grips, as becoming too side-reliant can spell trouble for the well-rounded wrestler. The basic grip, then, is left hand inside, right hand outside, both gripping at the biceps or above the elbow.

Ott continues with an admonition about the grip, which I would call a setup – it leads to his “wrestlings from the first stance/hold”:

… And with your left hand that you have on his bicep, press sharply backwards, and with the right hand grasp his left hand in front and pull it hard to you. And when you have seized him thus, then use whichever of the following described wrestling techniques you think best. Codex 44 A 8, Folio 100v, Translation from In St. George’s Name by Christian Tobler, page 186. See more about this technique in Medieval Wrestling, Finley 2014.

So after the basic grip description of left-inside and right-outside, Ott gives us a push-pull which will invite a reaction from the opponent. At this point you can follow, as he says, with whichever you think is best, though he gives six possibilities that are obvious techniques to follow with, three throws and two arm wrenches (bent arm bars, in modern parlance) and an arm break.

Master Lignitzer begins his treatise, much like Ott, by admonishing you as follows:

Item: The first wrestling technique If he has grasped you by the arms and you him, then see that you have your left hand inside his right arm and your right hand outside his left… Codex 44 A 8, folio 81r, Translation from In St. George’s Name by Christian Tobler, page 167.

Lignitzer however, doesn’t follow with the admonition to give an impulse to the opponent to jolt a reaction from him, instead he simply dictates the Fühlen of the grip, and expects you to be able to analyze the opponent’s pressure. From that analysis of the opponent’s feeling and intent you determine which technique you should use. In other words, these are taught as Vor (before) attacks wherein you will wrestle directly from the grip.

His treatise lists counters for most of his seventeen wrestling techniques, and these counters teach Nach (after) throws which are done after the opponent has begun his attack. While he is not explicit about this, his pairing of techniques from some grips imply combination attacks, which I would term Indes (simultaneous), when the techniques are used in this manner. I will discuss combination throws in much greater detail when we analyze those throws which appear to have them.

Lignitzer also interestingly breaks with the tradition of showing every technique from a right-dominant grip, and in fact details three throws from the left side, though I have not yet discerned the specific reason for doing so, especially as he indicates for one of these that the technique works on both sides. Perhaps he, like myself, only wanted to create well-rounded fighters. However I suspect there is a pedagogical or tactical reason for his choice which will become clear with more study into this peculiarity of his.

Interestingly, Lignitzer’s Sixteenth Wrestling shows a brief moment where you will be in Ott’s push/pull position, though left-side dominant, and while he doesn’t indicate for this technique that you need push/pull, it would be a lovely setup for the complete wrestling technique:

The Sixteenth Wrestling Technique When you have each other by the arms, see that you get your right hand inside his left arm and your left hand outside his right arm. Then let your left hand slide along his right arm and grasp with it beneath his right hand by the arm…. Codex 44 A 8, folio 84r, Translation from In St. George’s Name by Christian Tobler, page 169.

Moving on to illustrated treatises, we can have a look at Kal’s grip at the arms:

Interestingly for me, Kal is the only illustration I am currently aware of that appears to show Ott’s push/pull with the arms. As you can see, Kal has a right-side grip, with his left hand inside at the bicep and his right hand at the wrist. He appears to be more inside with his right hand than outside, but what is clear is that he is on top of the wrist, in a dominant position. It may be that this is what Ott means when he says, “grasp his left hand in front”.

Kal maintains a left-leg lead, while his opponent appears to have stepped in with the right foot. Kal doesn’t immediately follow this illustration with a throw, rather he shows two possible escapes from a grip, one with both hands and the other with a single hand. Thus he gives us the full range of possibilities from the grip: Push/pull (together or separate) to create an opportunity to attack while maintaining a grip, an escape if you’re unhappy with the grip, and an escape with one arm (in fact what Auerswald calls a wind with one arm, which will be discussed at length later) which sets up a logical opportunity to attack with Kal’s first wrestling technique.

Talhoffer shows the grip at the arms in all four of his treatises, albeit with some very slight differences:

With this image we see a presentation of both arms inside by the acting wrestler. This certainly can have some advantages for a wrestler that wants to attack in Vor rather than waiting for a cue from their opponent. Because of the orientation of the legs, I would interpret this folio to show that the wrestler on the right entered distance (perhaps from the upper stance) with a passing step with the right foot, and the wrestler on the left deflected the incoming arms, ending up with a double-inside grip.

Much like the previous Talhoffer manuscript we see that the wrestlers are in an unequal grip, with one wrestler double-inside, and the other double-outside. Again, I would presume that the wrestler on the inside is the winner, and while this would seem to break his tendency in other manuscripts of having the “winner” drawn on the left side, this particular manuscript appears to draw the “winner” primarily on the right. Here both legs are left-leg leading, which makes movement difficult to ascertain, if indeed it was intended to be shown.

Figure 4: “The running in, wrestling from the arms” MS Thott.290.2 º, Folio 49r, 1459

With this manuscript, Talhoffer takes a slightly different presentation, and the wrestler to the left is in the winning position. He has a left-dominant grip, with his right hand inside on the bicep and his left hand outside on the triceps. Both wrestlers again have a left leg lead, but the better artistry is able to show the fuhlen of the grip with the wrestler to the right pulling his hips away from the wrestler on the left. This impulse would lead logically to the following technique presented in this particular manuscript (an arm break and backward throw over the leg, see Figure 6).

Not coincidentally this is the same order of techniques presented by Ott in his treatise: the grip, followed by the opponent pulling away, and an arm wrench to the opponents right arm. This similarity (and the differences) will be analyzed further in a following article.

The final Talhoffer treatise shows the left-dominant grip again, with the same pulling body posture of the opponent. Interestingly in this treatise, Talhoffer follows this technique with a dagger play. The previous section was focused on dagger work so it could be interpreted that this is a left-over plate and that it was just tucked in here to save valuable manuscript space. However, I think there is a more nuanced reading of this placement and that Talhoffer was trying to make a larger point.

The dagger technique shown involves a grip at the forearm and the ‘winner’ is rotating the opponent’s arm away while stabbing his opponent in the upper right chest. As he does this, he steps behind the opponent to throw him to the ground. This is shown as an unarmed throw in the 1459 treatise as the aforementioned arm break and throw over the leg by pressing at the shoulder and upper right chest:

Indeed, with the insertion of a dagger play in the 1467 copy Talhoffer is giving us a clue to his pedagogical method: Dagger is wrestling. If we look to a copy of Talhoffer’s 1443 treatise (MS 78.A.15), this is explicitly called out in the folio that ends the dagger section and begins the wrestling section with the statement “from each technique with the dagger comes all wrestling and the dagger holds all wrestling within it”. These two pieces of information let us know that Talhoffer, at least, intended those interested in learning wrestling to also study his dagger material. As I work through the GRCoD, I intend to include dagger material as much as possible, though this does greatly increase the scope of the work, I also feel that Talhoffer’s clarification should not be ignored.

A final thought regarding the grips at the arms before we move on to grips at the body. Many people see these arm grips and see them as sportive, however, I would argue that the grips at the arms directly arise from a martial, self-defense application: look to Talhoffer’s admonition that wrestling and dagger are, for all intents and purposes, indivisible. When we consider the possible covers from a dagger attack, we will find that the arms will come into contact at a wide distance. Sometimes this will result in a grip to the wrist, or sometimes a forearm/forearm bind will occur. Either way, the easiest way to come to wrestling at the arms is to have both opponents stab with their daggers, and both respond by deflecting and catching the incoming dagger arm with their off-hand. Suddenly – an equal grip at the arms has been formed. The ability to set off attacks and redouble to throw the opponent is taught in dagger and is, in fact, a basic tenant of wrestling.

Special Grips at the Arms

There are a few special grips that get called out to set up particular throws. While I feel that these will make more sense when discussed in context of the throws, they should be mentioned here briefly and their tactical important can be reiterated in their relevant technical article.

Let us begin again with Ott’s treatise. If you remember, he opens with a push/pull of the arms, with left hand at the opponent’s bicep and right hand in front of the opponent’s left hand. From here, Ott offers this grip shift to set up particular throws:

Another wrestling from the first hold Item: hold his right hand fast with your left hand and grasp with your left hand to help your right. And hold his arm fast with both hands…. —– Another Item: hold his left hand fast with both hands…. Codex 44 A 8, Folio 101v, Translation from In St. George’s Name by Christian Tobler, page 186. See more about this technique in Medieval Wrestling, Finley 2014.

This text is quite clear on our grip, and it is clearly illustrated (again on the opposite side) by Talhoffer in his 1443 treatise, though it appears to be performed from a right-side grip against the opponent’s right arm.

Lignitzer isn’t clear on which side is dominant, but attacks the opponent’s left arm. Perhaps his ambiguity is deliberate here, as you can perform the ‘Turning Through’ from either side against either arm. That said, it may be easier to shift to both hands on the opponent’s left arm from a right-dominant double-arm grip, as you will not have to break free with your left arm to grip his left hand:

“The Seventh Wrestling Technique When he has seized you by the arms, then let your right hand slide and grasp behind his left hand. And bring your left hand to help your right, and hold fast….” “The Eighth Wrestling Technique Let your arm slide again, and come with your left hand to help your right hand…” “The Ninth Wrestling Technique Let your right hand once again slide along his left arm, and come with your left hand to help your right….” Codex 44 A 8, folios 82v , Translation from In St. George’s Name by Christian Tobler, page 168.

Talhoffer illustrates a grip against one arm, but rather than having both hands on the arm, there is only a single-arm grip:

Here we can see that the opponent on the right appears to have stepped into distance with a passing step of his right foot, while the “winner” on the left has remained with his left leg leading, gripping with his left arm to the inside. This position can be easily gained from a strike from above with a dagger or hammer fist.

The 1459 copy is more explicit about what this grip is used for:

These two throws, the “going through” and the “stepping behind” will be discussed at much greater length in future articles. In the case of this illustration, the footwork is less obvious, but it appears to me that Talhoffer is highlighting a circling motion of the opponent on the right. Note the foot and off-hand positions, in particular that the leftmost opponent is prepared to enter, as he’s springing in with his left foot and his right hand is low and ready to attack in an upwards motion. The right opponent is making a warding motion with his off-hand and appears to be stepping off-line to his left side, perhaps to try to avoid these two obvious throws from this grip.

Finally, the 1467 treatise shows this grip yet again, and a very similar position to the 1459 treatise:

Here Talhoffer pairs his grip with the “going through” (though it is shown on the opposite side, perhaps this is Talhoffer’s shorthand for “this too works on both sides”). It is important to note at this time that this throw has a variety of names in German which all describe the same throw. Durchgän seems to be Talhoffer’s preferred name, and the others will be discussed in greater detail in the article on this particular throw.

In conclusion

There may be more examples to add to the grips at the arms as I continue my work on the GRCoD, but for now, these must suffice. I hope this article has shown how these simple illustrations and descriptions provide evidence for tactical uses of grips as a response to attacks, as well as how they flow directly into throws.

Grips at the Body will be discussed in the next article, as there is greater variety in the grips and many more details to be analyzed.