In preparation for part 9 in the i33 102 series, I went through i33 and wrote out what I thought were the key lessons on each folio. I've ignored the obvious lessons such as which ward is against which counter ward, so it isn't 100% complete, and because there is so much repetition in i33 I didn't bother trying to assign every page to every lesson. However, this should give you a good basis of you want to understand the contents of i33. These are raw notes.
Lesson | Evidence |
There are 7 ward positions that all people commonly use. | 1r |
The wards determine or set in order various strikes (i.e. all strikes can be derived from the seven wards). | 1r |
The strikes end in longpoint and not another. I wouldn't take this to mean strikes cannot pass through longpoint on their way to another guard. | 1v |
There may be counter ward positions – e.g. halpschilt. However, it is not clear to me whether some or all of these can or do (also) represent attacks. Since the actions used against them can make sense as parries and ocunter attacks, I will also assume that these counter ward positions can also represent parries and attacks. | Throughout, due to named positions. |
Halpschilt is a displacement, i.e. a parry. | 2r |
First ward has two attacks with opposition – longpoint (i.e. a thrust) and halpschilt (i.e. an oberhau), as both of these are attack in opposition to the main attacks made from first ward. Halpschilt is also an attack (or counter ward) against third position. i.e. halpschilt is primarily covers the outside line. | 2r, 13r |
If you are in first ward and someone attacks you with halpschilt (whether this is a direct attack or a counter ward), you will not be able to reach them with an attack above, presumably because halpschilt covers the outside line, and attacking below will be dangerous to your head. Many have taken this to be a general warning never to attack the legs but this is stretching the text to the extreme. | 2r |
Falling under: When someone cuts at your head, or goes into the halpschilt counter ward, fall under your sword and shield – i.e. get your sword and shield out in front of you, buckler somewhat above the head, and get an outside bind. If they attack your head then Stichslach thrust them around the outside, using your buckler to defend. | 2r, 3r, 8v |
Hard outsdie bind (attack): When you perform a hard outside bind, perform a shield knock to control their weapon and then attack them with a Nucken. Alternatively you can also attempt to grapple and grab their arms. | 2r, 2v, 7r |
Hard outside bind (defend): If someone hard outside binds you, you can do 3 things: A step through (probably a separation of your sword and buckler so that you attack with the sword seperately, likely to the belly), disengage out from under their sword and then re-bind over their sword or attack them, or you can attempt to grapple their arms. | 2v, 3v, 18v |
Following a rebind: If someone has a hard overbind on the inside, following a disengage and re-bind, the one who is overbound can densegage and thrust from below towards the face. | 3v, 10r |
When you Nucken, you use your buckler to maintain control of the opponent's sword (or cover), and you seperately attack with the sword. When you do this, the opponent can use their buckler seperately to defend. The defender can even attempt to grapple your sword arm. | 3v, 4r |
There is a counter ward called Krucke that is a sword-pointing-down defence. It opposes first ward. (In my mind, this is clearly an Unterhau performed as a parry or counter ward.) From Krucke, the main attack is a low thrust. | 4r |
If someone overbinds your Krucke, displace this to the left and perform a grapple. If they do not grapple then perform a sheild knock against their Krucke and Nucken. | 4v, 5r |
When two fencers are bound, the one who is bound can flee. The one binding should try to follow them, and attack them, e.g. with a high thrust. | 4r, 20v |
From Krucke, you can perform an oberhau from the left by crossing your buckler hand over your sword hand. | 5v |
If someone underbinds your Krucke, i.e. if you have parried an unterhau with an unterhau, then you should thrust underneath to their belly. | 6r, 23r |
If you are in a Krucke and they attack your head, you defend your head by rotating into a sort of 'right Ochs' type parry or counter thrust. | 6v |
Against longpoint (e.g. a thrust), there are 4 defences: an outside bind, an inside bind, and the bind cab be an overbind or an underbind. There are therefore four binds. | 17v |
If someone is in longpoint, you can also try to grab the end of their blade by first holding your sword and buckler in the same hand. If someone grabs your blade like this, use your buckler to shield knock their hand. If the person whose sword you are grabbing tries to attack your head, you can defend this with the sword and buckler that you are holding together in your hands. | 16r, 16v, |
Left Schutzen is a counter ward, or is it a parry, or is it an attack? Either way, it defends the inside line. | 9r |
Inside bind: When you are in an inside bind with your opponent, you will both be in similar positions and can do more or less the same things. It isn't that different to an outside bind. You can do the following: - Perform a step through attack (this time over their buckler) - Attack on the right side of their sword, likely with a thrust - Go around and attack the left side of their sword. | 9r |
The first to be prepared can perform actions before the other fencer. This is likely about timing of actions. | 9r |
If someone attacks to your left or right, you can oppose this by attacking under the arm to reach the bare hands of the attacker. (Note: I need to work out how to do this). You can also defend using a rebind like we have seen before. | 9v |
From your left Schutzen you can attack them if they fail to defend themselves. It looks like a thrust but it is not explicit since we know that attacks end in longpoint. | 10v |
When someone is in halpschilt, the opponent can attack the inside and split your sword and buckler (i.e. your attack will split in between), allowing a thrust or an attack to the arms. The defence against this is to turn your sword and buckler clockwise together and wind into a left thrust. (You could also argue that the defence is to get your buckler on top of your sword had, or even ensure your sword is on the left of your buckler.). Those who know about this are unlikely to attempt to split your sword and shield. | 10v, 10r, 11r |
If you attack first ward (and presumably other wards) with halpshilt and they do not defend (or at least do not bind), then you can turn your attack into a high thrust (or probably other attacks too, such as right mittelhau). | 11v |
There is an unnamed 'position' that is either a left hanging ward, or a horizontal cut from the left, or a counter-ward derived from a mittelhau from the left. I call this right Schutzen. It can be used to attack if they fail to defend. | 12r, 13r |
If someone cuts at you or is in right Schutzen, you should defend with an overbind to your outside. | 12r |
If you are in a high underbind on your inside (your left), e.g. in a hanging type position, as if someone has just overbound your right Schutzen or you have just parried in this position, you can grapple by grappbing their sword arm with your buckler arm, and attack them with your sword. | 12v |
The plays of fourth ward are the same as of third ward, and presumably second ward too. | 14v |
If you are in sixth ward and someone attacks at you in halpschilt, then counter-attack them with a stichslach on the outside of their sword, defending your head with the buckler. You can defend against this in the same way as described elsewhere by binding to the outside, performing a shield-knock and Nucken. | 17r, 17v |
When someone has you in a grapple, like that shown on 18v, you can get out of the grapple by releasing your sword and buckler and kicking your opponent away. However, this will leave you defenceless. | 18v, 19r |
When you have a hard outside overbind, you can also attack without a shield-knock. The person who is underbound will need to defend their head, e.g. with their sword or their buckler. | 19v |
When you are underbound on the outside, then you can free yourself with a disengage and attack from below, e.g. with a thrust. | 20r |
If someone binds you down to your inside so that you are underbound, you can escape this by disengaging and cutting up to the arms or thrusting underneath their buckler. If the opponent flees from this attack, chase and perform a thrust. | 21r, 21v |
If you parry in fiddelbow (a sort of hanging type ward? Or perhaps it is more like a thrust performed over your arm underneath their longpoint), you can grab their sword with your buckler hand and attempt to disarm them. | 22r |
From a parry of fiddelbow, you can also bind them down to the outside. | 22v |
There is a ward called Priest's special longpoint. This is probably held a bit like first ward but the hilt of the sword is held in front of the right hip. It seems to facilitate a thrust around the outside of their sword, i.e. a Stichslach. Otherwise, it seems similar to first ward. | 23v |
If you have an overbind on them on your outside, if their buckler and shield are separated you can thrust them up the middle between their sword and buckler. | 24r |
When you are in the 'falling under' position (outside bind on halpschilt), if your opponent attempts to perform a false edge cut at your head over your shield, you can deal with this like you would normally, i.e. perform a stichslach and use your buckler to defend your head. | 25r |
It is not clear what is being done here. Priest is in second ward, student is in priests special longpoint. In the next scene they are in an inside bind with the priest in the overbind. The only way this seems possible is: 1) if the student performed a sort of hanging parry in response to the priests attack from second ward. 2) The student perofrmed right Schutzen, the priest parried this and then disengaged and re-bound the student's sword. Probably this. | 26r , 26v |
If someone attacks you with a thrust from fifth ward (the thrust is coming from your left side), from Priest Special Longpoint you can perform a low bind to displace this to your left (a sort of low hanging parry). | 27r |
If you are in fifth ward and someone attacks you in halpschilt (or a strike to the head), simultaneously parry with the buckler and thrust underneath between their sword and buckler. Alternatively, thrust them above their buckler between sword and buckler. You could also strike downwards via third ward to seperate sword and buckler. You could also thrust a Stichslach around the outside of their sword. It is unclear which of these is being done. Defend against this thrust with a parry to the outside then perform a high thrust against them. | 27v, 28r |
When you attack someone using halpschilt and they are in second or fifth ward, beware that they attack between your sword and shield, so always turn your attack into a high thrust from your left side. | 28r |
When someone attacks you with a thrust and you are in halpschilt, parry their thrust to the outside with a hanging like position similar to Krucke. Then shield-knock and Nucken. | 28v |
If someone attacks you from first ward with a thrust, you can counter-thrust around the outside of their sword with stichslach, making a diagonal step to the left. If they attack with halpschilt (i.e. a cut from above) then you will fall under as normal. | 29r, 29v |
When you are low and your opponent is high, it is best to first defend your head with a Schutzen (e.g. right Schutzen or hanging ward). E.g. similar to a Zwerchahu. Otherwise, the person who is above e.g. in fourth ward, with attack first. When you are in Priests Special Longpoint you can separately move your sword into a high-thrust position similar to a right Ochs. | 30r, 31v |
There is a position called Priests Special Second ward, which has sword held on the right shoulder but much lower down. It mostly used to make oberhaus, e.g. halpschilt. | 32r |
When someone is in priests special second ward, you should parry with a schutzen, e.g. a sort of hanging cover. The opponent can perform a sheild-knock and make a high thrust over your buckler. | 32v |
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