At 02:28 PM 2/25/04 -0600, Neil Gilmore wrote:
... According to many period sources, sword combat between fully (plate) armored persons devolves into wrestling with crowbars for leverage. Specifically, de Libieri tells the student to not bother swinging a longsword (with 2 hands, even) at someone in armor, but to half-sword (move the left hand from the pommel to halfway up the blade), and wrestle. Of course, medieval wrestling was more concerned with breaking bones and joints, but you get the idea. Even poll axe play was considered to be just vigorous exercise.
Interesting. You've not found authors with different opinions, though? I've been picking away at Anglo's "The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe", which is fascinating, and has many neat and interesting anecdotes and opinions, but so far the greatest impression I've had is that there were many strongly-argued opinions which are often contradictory or over-stated.
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