A Midsummer Night’s Blog

Four days in the summer of 1569 changed fencing forever…

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The classical dialogue that Jeronimo Sanchez de Carranza created takes place in the summer of 1569 in the house of the duke of Medina-Sidonia.  The characters are making jokes, telling stories, and talking about good fencing, bad fencing, and how to teach fencing.  What Carranza describes is intimately familiar to anyone who fences and by that I mean a collection of friends gather together to share fellowship and talk about swordplay with food and drinks over a friendly weekend.

450 Years of Tradition

Some of the treasured moments of my life take place in a backyard or at a kitchen table with good friends doing exactly this.

When you consider a person like Carranza you need to understand that he was not a fencing master but rather someone in search of the truth of martial arts and he strongly believed that within this truth was a process that human beings could use to grow, seek knowledge, and make the world a better place through learning and training.  Any one of us, regardless of our experience or title, has the potential to be Carrancine when we strive towards the martial truth, when we seek to become better, when we work to improve the world around us.

This year is the 450th anniversary of the summer of 1569 in which La Verdadera Destreza was born.  In conjunction with the Chicago Swordplay Guild the Sacramento Sword School has been planning a grand celebration hosted at the Western Martial Arts Workshop in September of 2019.  I don’t want to spoil the surprises that the CSG team has in store but I will say that if you are a diestro and you love the martial traditions of Iberia, you are welcome and you will find plenty of opportunities to learn, train, and fence.

WMAW 2019 – http://www.wmaw.us/2019/

Call it a birthday party and a ‘thank you’ to the tradition.

Beauty in Destreza: The Golden Medio

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• Previous Article on Medios (a bit dated)

What follows is the basis for the Golden Mean in philosophy and how it relates to Destreza.  (If you want to find the practical application, you can skip to the end.)  First, we should define the Golden Mean and we can start with a simple analogy.

Icarus flies with artificial waxen wings.  If he flies too high the wax melts and he plummets into the sea. If he flies too low, the splashing water will weigh down his wings and he will, again, plummet into the sea. Only by flying the middle path will Icarus be safe.

Icarus falling (Merry-Joseph Blondel)

In the same way, Aristotle’s Golden Mean (or the medios) are virtues which exist as mindfully chosen points between two extremes.  Aristotle lays this theory out in Nicomachean Ethics as a balance between excess and deficiency.  Another key point is that medios are chosen mindfully and with consideration rather than as a habit or a natural response.  (As an example, good manners are considered rather than pro forma.)

The medio pattern for the virtues is:

Between two extremes a virtue can be mindfully chosen

Here are some examples:

Medios choose between too much and too little to find a balance

Maybe you agree with this formation of ethics and maybe you don’t but knowing this will help you understand True School Destreza.  One of the critical phrases you will see in True School Destreza is “not participating in extremes”.  This is an essential clue that we are talking about a medio and the tradition has plenty of them.  (When I use a lowercase ‘m’ I’m referring to a general golden medio and not one of the Named Medios which will be uppercase ‘M’.)

Let’s consider some examples of medios in the tradition:

The Right Angle

Between the obtuse angle (GB) and the acute angle (FB), lies the right angle (AB).

Center-weighting

Rather than resting the weight on the left foot (C) or the right foot (A), center the weight (O).

Hand Position

Between the extremes of fingernails up and fingernails down lies fingernails inside.

The Atajo

~Pacheco’s New Science as translated by Mary Curtis (p.365)

Choosing Medios 

Now we know what medios are but as to choosing well, how do we do that?

For that, I think we should consider Carranza and the role of Eudemio in the Carranza text. He is a young man excited about fencing but his mind is filled with many false notions. Through dialogue the other speakers persuade him into a process of action, an algorithm for true Destreza which Carranza outlines.

Consider this passage of Charilao’s in Carranza’s text:

What the aim of the Destreza is:

~Carranza as translated by Mary Curtis (folio 35r)

If there was ever a purer statement of LVD I have yet to find it.

To summarize:

1. Knowledge – To know you must learn, you must study, understand, gain experience
2. Perception – Understand the potential, see the possibilities, the paths forward
3. Decision – From these possible futures choose the best
4. Action – Bring the decision into reality through action

Carranza directly tells us that his book is intended to improve the young men of Spain. Swordplay is the mechanism he uses to present a method of thoughtful or deliberate action but we shouldn’t be deceived into thinking that he’s only talking about swordplay or even self defense but a path to a beautiful medio or virtue in the Aristotelian sense.

Later, our young protagonist, Eudemio, denounces the false fencing master of the text. At this point in the text he knows the truth because he has learned. He understands the potential paths forward. He makes a decision to tell his friends about the dangers of the false fencing master and he acts.

That’s Destreza.  True Destreza, in my opinion, is most correctly the application of this process regardless of the specific system. The books provide us with a traditional system of swordplay that we can try to recreate but behind it all is the pursuit of the truth and the betterment of the world by mindful action.

To paraphrase Carranza each fencer is a musical instrument unique to itself. On each you must tighten some strings and loosen others until the instrument is tuned. Only then will it produce harmony. Fencers have different bodies, different weapons, different spirits, and different contexts. If the causes that form the fight change, the fencing must change as well. That’s expected.

Defensive Medio

More than just a mark on the floor showing distance or measuring swords against each other, the Medio of Proportion (MdP) is a wholistic context in which the diestro gathers up many different causes, processes them using the system above, and then finds the correct place from which he or she can begin to form an offense yet still effectively defend. Balance extremes of offense and defense to find a defensible place to begin forming offense.

Practically Speaking: The simplest advice given here is to set your distance by measuring the swords against each other.  The better advice is to set your distance such that you can still effectively defend yourself.  If you are bouting and you are routinely struck before you can defend, you are setting up too close.  Adjust your distance back until you are able to defend.  As you gain experience and skill, you may find that your defensive medio changes.

Offending Medio

The Proportionate Medio (MPado) does the same but guides us in forming the attack such that we are protected. Balance extremes of offense and defense to find a place to strike while defended.

Practically Speaking: A well-formed attack should control either steel or time.  If you have the adversary’s threat locked down with a bind, a conclusion, or some other physically detaining action then your attack is safe and achieves beauty.  If you control the tempo because your adversary is moving dispositively you may strike in that during tempo of the movement.  That’s also beauty.  If you manage to provoke a defensive movement from the adversary with the right angle and you strike them with the Apropiado consideration that’s personal artistry and great fencing.

In Conclusion

When we fence and train within our context according to the causes then we may choose our medios well. That virtue is artistry and it creates beauty. When our instrument is in harmony with itself we can create music.

The True School of Destreza is not here to provide simple answers, instead it asks you to think about the context and find the answer yourself. By requiring the diestro to process the causes and choose medios, the diestro becomes an intellectual collaborator in the tradition. Suddenly the responsibility isn’t on the tradition to produce results but on the diestro to use science and skill to find them, to adapt knowledge, to challenge bad ideas, and always to strive towards something greater. Find the medio and you’ve found the truth, even if it is only for a moment.

(Credit to Charles Blair for providing me feedback which helped me correct some of my earlier work and arrive at this better understanding.)

The Death Star meets Propio, Apropiado, and Transferido

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In the last article I described the Spanish True School’s Timing Contexts.  (Link)

Here is the table again for reference:

Times and Timings in Spanish True School

We can easily see these concepts in action by considering the actions of the first two Death Stars.

Propio – The Death Star Attacks Alderaan

Alderaan is at rest and the Death Star strikes in the before time, totally blowing it away with a Propio Medio Proporcionado.  It’s evil, but it worked.

Apropiado – The Rebel Fleet Attacks the Death Star at The Battle of Yavin

The Death Star is moving into position to attack and is destroyed while preparing to fire with an Apropiado Medio Proporcionado.  You can’t “fire when ready” when you’re dead.

Transferido – During the Attack on the Second Death Star the Death Star Attacks the Rebel Fleet

The attack is underway and the Death Star counterattacks with a Transferido Medio Proporcionado!  It’s a Trap!!!

Bonus Transferido – During the Death Star’s counterattack, the Rebels counterattack the counterattack

The Rebels have reversed the Emperor’s Transferido with a Transferido of their own.   Yeeee-hawwww!

Spanish True School Timings

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There are three prerequisites you will need to understand this article:

1. Do you know LVD’s movement notation? (Link)
2. Do you know how to classify movements as dispositive and executive and the tactical response to each of these two types of movements? (Link)
3. Do you know the Defensive Medio (ideal defensive place) and the Offending Medio (ideal strike)? (Link)

The temptation on an article of this kind is to present the proof first so that I can explain my reasoning with citations from the texts and an extended discussion about theory.  Only after you have worked your way through the proofs do I present the theory.  In this case, I’m going to present the fencing theory first and if you want the academic argument and research, it’s included afterwards.

Likewise, this can be a bit much to wrap your head around so the next article will try to lay this out with a very simple (and hopefully amusing) example.  (Link)

Striking Times for the Offending Medio (Medio Proporcionado)

First, we need to know there are three times in La Verdadera Destreza:

1. Before – The adversary has not moved
2. During – The adversary is within a dispositive movement
3. After – The adversary is within an executive movement or has just stopped moving

Because terms like “Before” and “After” are relative, they can also be used ambiguously in the same way that big and small are used.  This provides them more utility but can be confusing unless you know what they are specifically being related with.  For example, I am big compared to a mouse but small when compared to my car.  The terms gain meaning depending on what you compare them with and this is most often movements of the sword and footwork.

• You may see Before, During, and After used in relation to a complete technique like a beat to the sword. (Before the beat, after the beat…)
• You may see Before, During, and After used to describe movements inside a technique which has been decomposed into its pieces. (During the adversary’s offline movement which prepares the beat, before the final movement of the thrust which follows.)

Timings for the Offending Medio

Pacheco describes these timings as ways to describe your Offending Medio (Proportionate Medio or Medio Proporcionado [MPado]).  The Offending Medio is achieved when you offend successfully while defending.

1. Propio – In the before tempo the deistro gets an opportunity for himself. (To strike in the adversary’s stillness.)
2. Apropiado – In the during tempo the adversary gives, by movements of the sword or by footwork, an opportunity for the diestro. (The adversary gives, by their movement, an opportunity.)
3. Transferido – In the after tempo, the adversary attempts to seize an opportunity, but it is taken from him and transferred to the diestro. (To take the outcome the adversary sought, and transfer it to yourself.)

Times and Timings in Spanish True School

Examples:

Propio : The adversary is at rest.  Before he moves, the diestro strikes him in first intention.  The diestro gets the opportunity (disposition) to strike before any movement occurs.

1. The diestro covers the blade with an atajo, moves forward and strikes with a thrust.
2. Seeing the adversary’s resting guard places his blade is out of line, the diestro strikes immediately before the adversary can move.

Apropiado : The adversary is in motion carrying the weapon off the path to the target.  During the motion, the diestro stikes him in the same time.  The diestro was given an opportunity to strike by the adversary’s dispositive movement.

1. The adversary attempts to elude an atajo by lifting the point. During the violent movement (rising) the diestro strikes with a thrust in the same time.  (in time)
2. The adversary attempts to parry a thrust with an atajo on the inside line. During the offline movement of the atajo the diestro redirects the thrust to the chest into a clockwise circular thrust to the flank.  (half circular thrust in second intention)

Transferido: The adversary was attempting to strike and during the final movement of the attack was defeated and struck.  The diestro has stolen the enemy’s opportunity and transferred it to himself.

1. The adversary executes a thrust. The diestro defeats the thrust with an atajo and responds with a thrust to the chest. (parry-riposte)
2. The adversary executes a thrust. The diestro defeats the thrust by stepping offline, presenting the right angle, and the adversary is struck in the same time.  (counterattack)

But wait… there’s more!

Ettenhard expands the scope to more than just attacks.  He applies these relative timings to more contexts such as finding Medio de Proporcion (Defensive Medio) and gaining strength in the bind.  That liberates the concept of attack, attack in time, parry-riposte from solely the attacking realm into broader conceptual space.

• We can speak now of taking good measure, being given good measure, and stealing good measure with counter-footwork.
• We can take the bind, be given the bind, or steal the bind with counter-bladework.

Citations

All translations are the work of Dr. Mary Curtis.

Definition

Pacheco’s New Science pp.287-288

Applied to striking in time (Medio Proporcionado):

~Ettenhard’s Compendium folio 146-147

(The act of taking atajo requires taking your point off the line which is a dispositive movement that can grant the adversary the opportunity to strike.  Or restated, the Offline Lateral movement of the atajo can grant Medio Proporcionado Apropriado… the attack executed in a during time.)

Applied to footwork\place:

~Ettenhard’s Compendium folio 71

Applied to degrees of strength in the bind:

~Ettenhard’s Compendium folio 120-121

By taking a degree of strength in the bind in first intention (Propio) you also give weakness to the adversary (Apropiado).  If you weaken yourself in the bind (Propio) you strengthen your adversary (Apropiado).

Movements and Tactics in Spanish True School

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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.

The Weapon can move in 3 dimensions

 

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

The forward movement of the weapon is an attacking movement, or an Executive movement

Dispositive Movements

• Backwards
• Offline Lateral
• Violent (rising)

Chambering a cut may prepare an attack but it is not the final movement of an attack.  A non-attacking movement (even a preparation) is a Dispositive movement

 

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)

Simplest Form:

• Adversary presents Dispositive Movement, Right Angle
• Adversary presents Executive Movement, Atajo

When the adversary presents a dispositive movement, the defender answers with a thrust in time.