A Midsummer Night’s Blog

In La Verdadera Destreza, Movements are vectors which describe the motion of the sword (or sword arm) in a direction. You can read about these movements in my previous article here.

 

To go further we need to classify movements into two groups.

• An Executive Movement is a vector of the weapon with the potential to deliver a wound either by thrust or cut.
• A Dispositive movement is a vector of the weapon which does not deliver the final wound. This may be a preparation strike, a defensive movement, or even wasted movements

Executive Movements:

• Forward
• Natural (downward)
• Aligning Lateral

Dispositive Movements

• Backwards
• Offline Lateral
• Violent (rising)

 

Note: Without too much effort you can imagine instances in which a rising movement might be executive (rising cut) and a natural movement might be dispositive (atajo).  More on this later.

 

Application

By decomposing a fencing phrase into its movements we gain insight into both the fencing tempi and the role of each movement.  Here is an example fencing phrase broken down by movements:

The Master executes Atajo and thrust by detachment:

1.	Violent (rising) mixed with Offline Lateral to cross the opposing sword on the inside line	Dispositive
2.	Natural (downward) to subject the opposing steel	Dispositive
3.	Aligning into presence mixed with Forward to deliver the thrust	Executive

The student parries and ripostes by half reverse:

1.	Natural mixed with Offline to subject the opposing steel downwards on the inside line	Dispositive
2.	Aligning mixed with Forward to deliver the half reverse to the right eye	Executive

Opposing the Enemy’s Movements with Movements

In his book (Treatise 3, Ch.3) on the opposition of Movements Ettenhard plainly describes the tactical solution to each movement committed by the adversary:

Movement	Type	Counter Movement
Violent (rising)	Dispositive	Forward (Right Angle)
Offline Lateral	Dispositive	Forward (Right Angle)
Backward	Dispositive	Forward (Right Angle)
Forward	Executive	Natural (Atajo)
Aligning Lateral	Executive	Natural (Atajo)
Natural	Executive	Natural (Atajo)

The Forward movement which presents right angle or the thrust opposes all the Dispositive movements:

With which I say that this is the one [Forward Movement] that is opposed to all because since it is worked in reason of the Right Angle it has the preeminence of the greatest reach, moving in correspondence to the nearest Point of Contact, where one should constitute the strike in the opponent…

~Ettenhard (translated by Dr. Mary Curtis)

The Natural movement which subjects enemy attacks downward opposes all the executive movements (from which the strikes are composed):

To the Dispositive Movements, the Executives follow, whose opposition is different due to having to make it with an engagement of the Sword and the other of free cause: in a way that the Forward Movement, that of Aligning Lateral and the Natural (which are the ones that by nature form the strikes) are destroyed and opposed to the Natural by its greater speed, strength, and reality…

~Ettenhard (translated by Dr. Mary Curtis)

What Ettenhard describes lines up nicely with Pacheco’s counters to vulgars. Pacheco’s process of analysis decomposes a treta into simple movements and then his counters largely align with Ettenhard’s oppositions described above with additional options and details. With this principle in place you can decompose any technique of the adversary and apply counters movement by movement.

It is also essential in understanding the True School’s usage of timing contexts to describe attacks in first intention, attacks in time, and attacks which transfer the adversary’s attack to you.