Illustration of Dussack Guards from Meyer’s fechtbuch beside Folio 1r of MS.I.33 showing the first 4 Wards

Today on the bus I decided to read through Roger Norling’s brief intro/summary of Meyer’s Dussack again (found here: http://www.hroarr.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/10/Norling-Roger-Meyer-dussack-article-v1-2-2014.pdf). It’s a great little 28-page guide that gives a good intro to Dussack and I’d highly recommend it.

The point of this post is that reading his quotations of Meyer’s descriptions of his Guards made me realize that it’s a good way to illustrate how the Wards of I.33 really are subtly different.

So to start, let’s see what Meyer has to say about it (I will only quote brief sentences, the full quotes can be found in Mr. Norling’s work, the originals are from Forgeng’s translation):

1.31R: “I would not have you remain long in any of them, since they are not invented or devised for this purpose, but so that when you draw up your sword for a stroke, and it is time for you to cut in the middle of pulling up as you gather your joints, ….even experienced fighters sometimes linger in a guard, namely that you not only should undertake no cut or stroke thoughtlessly, ….you shall linger in that furthermost point for just a bit, almost only for the blink of an eye, to reconsider whether it is worth completing your intended stroke”

2.18R-2.20R: “And you shall well note here (as I have also said previously) that the postures must be understood….as a beginning or end of the cuts and parrying….”

Nonetheless you shall tarry no longer in any posture than as long as it takes to gather for the stroke, but always change off from one posture into another, until you perceive opportunity to cut.”

Now, Meyer makes it pretty clear what he’s describing, especially in the full quotes. The Guards (or “postures”) Meyer describes are for the purpose of flowing through while making attacks, and positions where you can pause for a “blink of an eye” to see if you should still complete your attack, if you should change your attack to a different one, or if you need to switch to parrying your opponent’s attack. This is of course an effective system that allows you to move around and make attacks while always being prepared to change your intentions and counter any attacks your opponent might make. Most people seem to be of the general consensus that this is representative of how Guards are treated in the entire Liechtenauer system, but that’s probably a totally different discussion topic.

So, how does this compare to the Wards of I.33? Well, I.33 never has the same advice to use the Wards in this same way. The Wards in I.33 are described as the “seven parts” in which we divide the art of fencing, the art of fencing which consists of ordering diverse strikes. We’re never told that the Wards are positions to pass through when making our attacks, or positions to draw ourselves up in and pause for an instant to perceive what our opponent does before launching our attack. Rather, this is more similar to the way we see the Obsessio used. The Obsessio are used to enter distance, besieging one of the Wards, and from that position we then observe what the opponent does, where we can then launch an attack as we see fit (for example if our opponent does nothing, we enter with a thrust, if he binds, we counter with the proper technique, etc.). The 7 Wards are only ever treated as either things to beat if our opponent is in one, or positions we get caught in with our opponent besieging us where we then need to bind in order to have any chance to survive. It is the Obsessio that are positions where we draw ourselves up to prepare to make an attack at the opponent, pause in that position for a blink of an eye, observe what the opponent does, then see what action we need to take from that point to launch an attack.

Many people will talk about the 7 Wards of I.33 and, in response to the statement that they are not positions we are supposed to hold or stand in, will say “yes, but that’s the same as the Guards in other systems, because they also tell us not to linger in them”. But as I hope I have shown, there is a clear difference between the purpose of the Guards in Meyer’s system vs the Wards in I.33. So in conclusion, this is just one example of a direct comparison that maybe helps illustrate further what the 7 Wards are and how they are different.