Demonstration of judicial dueling

[DdlR]

YouTube - Harnischfechten sparring demonstration

Interesting demo. by the Blossfechten group from Germany, performing a reconstruction of semi-ritualistic c1500 judicial dueling. They're using wooden weapon simulators tipped with rubber pads for safety, with modern protective gear standing in for steel armor.

The demo. fights appear to be genuine sparring matches up to the point one fighter scores a solid hit, at which point the other one "sells" the hit as if wounded, to show the audience how the match might have ended if they were using real weapons. Some nice uneven-weapon sparring, half-swording and standing grappling to be seen.

[jspeedy]

Pretty badass. But where's the wooden mace or halberd?

[DdlR]

Ask and you shall receive:

YouTube - Pollaxe freeplay

[vaquero de las nalgas]

Cool video. It's not hard to imagine a "bad war" between the Swiss and the Germans when watching these.

Also instructive in that one can see the amount of space needed for polearms vs. the spear or pike.

[DdlR]

Cool video. It's not hard to imagine a "bad war" between the Swiss and the Germans when watching these.

Also instructive in that one can see the amount of space needed for polearms vs. the spear or pike.

Yes, although they are demonstrating how the polearms would be used in a duel rather than on the battlefield; obviously, the techniques for fighting en masse are much simpler and more linear.

Also, although it's a good demonstration of using the polearm as a striking weapon, a lot of the art (especially in armored dueling) involved closing and throwing:

YouTube - Mordaxt Demonstration am Dreynevent 2008

[kwoww]

That's a really neat find, thanks for posting.