Longsword

1. Krumphau - I now strike the Krump with my hands held higher and with more of a deep angled step, rather than the more outward one shown in the book. Also, I now perform the Krump absetzen technique by striking over the opponent's blade to drive it down. (This last is one I've gone back and forth on over the years).

2. Vier Leger - I now hold the Ochs with the blade more toward horizontal, presenting the edge outward, per von Danzig. This is data I simply didn't have at the time.

3. Nebenhut - I hold the left Nebenhut with the short edge forward now...after all, all of Ringeck's techniques start with the short edge striking upward, so why hold the wrong edge forward?

Sword & Buckler

I remain happy with the techniques for the Oberhau, Unterhau, and Half Sword (ie., the 1st, 2nd and 6th).

For the Wechselhau...I'm still rethinking this one, as its wording is tricky. Currently, my best guess is that one strikes using the buckler to clear his sword aside from the lower left (this all happens *after* you've delivered your Wechselhau) and then follows with the sword strike from the lower left up to the head. You then wind apart (ie, separating s&b) to threaten with the thrust and, that failing, strike down to the leg.

For the Mittelhau, I now strike the Zwerch to the left first, then the right, then the Schietelhau and thrust. The flow is much better than it is in the book.

For the Sturzhau, I am now striking this like it is a Schielhau but targeted to his upper left opening.

Wrestling

There are a lot of little, and not so little tweaks here. Some of them are due to my own knowledge expanding, other from finding scribal errors in the Ott-derived material in this particular manuscript. The most important change however is the in the third of the Drei Ringen (Three Wrestlings). Here, you should encircle his arm with your own, bring your other hand to help (by grabbing your own arm) and then taking him down with the pivoting step. This change sounds simple enough but is in fact HUGE, as it affects how the three techniques work with and against each other. With the way it is in Secrets, one cannot realize what a compact and useful sub-system it is.

There are also several techniques in the chapter "Other Wrestling Techniques" that have a word wrong. However, these derive from the manuscript and appear to be scribeal errors (not mine this time!) and I uncovered them while studying the von Danzig fechtbuch, which contains a larger entry for Ott's Wrestling (of which this part of Ringeck draws from the second half thereof).

You should find these all improve the viability of the technique in each case.

Page 251: Use the *left* foot instead of the right.

Page 257: It's your right *knee*, not your right arm that you should employ in raising his left knee.

Page 258: You should grab his *right* arm to start the technique, not the left.

Page 260: You start with your arms *below*, not above.

Armoured Combat

There's a translation error on p. 296 that really affects what the intended meaning is. Here's the original German:

Mörck, daß ist, daß du wol lernen solt, daß du also zuckest. Vnnd vernym daß also: wann du im vß der vndern hüt zu stichst, versetzt er mitt dem sper, das sin ort besytz neben dir vß gat, so zuck durch vnd stich im zu der anderen sytten. Oder pleibt er dir mitt der andern versatzüng mitt dem ort vor dem gesicht, so zucke nicht. Vnd pleyb mitt dem sper an dem synen, vnd arbait mitt dem winden zu der nechsten bloß, die dir werden mag.

And how it should read:

Note, that is, that you should learn well that you pull (or twitch) thusly. And do this in thus: when you thrust to him from the lower guard, and he parries your spear so that his point goes beside and near you, then pull through and thrust to his other side. Or if he stays to you with the other displacement with the point before your face, then do not pull. And remains with the spear on his and work with the winding to the next opening that becomes available.

What's key here is that he's telling us when it is appropriate to leave the bind - advice that we see in the von Danzig longsword gloss as well. You can pull out when he's overcommited and his point is no threat, but you should wind when you dare not leave the bind as his point is before you.

Last Updated January 9, 2004