Just a brief post after this past Saturday working with the Durchtritt from I.33

The Durchtritt is a technique we see in the play of 1st Ward being besieged by Halfshield, and in the play of Schutzen against 2nd Ward. The term means “tread through”. The following is the only illustration of the technique in the manual, Folio 9v, the play of Schutzen against 2nd Ward.

The version on Folio 9v is relatively clear. It tells us that when we do the Schutzen, our opponent binds against us, and we then push his sword down and “durchtritt”. In experimentation, the “push his sword down” is crucial. If you try to step past the opponent and cut him behind his sword without doing it, you will get stabbed in the face. But if you push his sword down before you cut to his face and step through, his sword is then contained and controlled so you are safe.

This past Saturday at the club, we worked through the play of Halfshield against 1st Ward. After the one in 1st Ward has done the Falling Under Sword and Shield, it tells us that when Halfshield goes to bind and enter (taking the overbind and closing distance for a cut or thrust or schiltslac), we can do the durchtreten. Now, how is this similar to the durchtreten on Folio 9v? Well, in experimenting with it, if you try to just step past your opponent and cut with your sword from underneath, again, you will get stabbed in the face. But, courtesy of Craig Shackleton’s interpretation, if you first push your sword out to the left, getting your hilt in front of your buckler in a position that is similar to a bogen, you can then step through and cut the opponent in the head safely because his sword is contained and controlled to the outside.

This makes a nice parallel that links the two versions of the durchtritt together. Their commonality is in the act of using your sword to contain the opponent’s sword to the outside (while maintaining the bind) before you step through and cut the opponent (leaving the bind). This fits with the overall idea of I.33 of only attacking the opponent once you’ve controlled his sword through the bind. Unfortunately we do not have an illustration of this first version of the durchtritt, but I feel like it’s a safe interpretation if it is as close as possible to the version we do have an illustration and a more detailed description for.