Elizabethan Mafia

After dealing with Silver’s first general rule in depth I decided I wanted to do a brief overview of his other general rules, delving into them more deeply in later posts. 

In Silver’s second rule he stresses that a fighter should stand comfortably, constantly thinking about his opponent’s stance and attacks. However, a fighter should take care to always maintain his distance from his opponent, keeping his head, arms, hands, body, and legs out of range so that if his opponent wishes to attack he must first advance forward. Once his opponent has advanced forward, a fighter has three options available to him. He may attack his opponent immediately as soon as his opponent has advanced, he may ward first and then attack, being careful to remember his governors, or he may step back, attacking his opponent as he steps out of range. Silver continues to stress that a fighter should take care to step back if his opponent advances on him in order to prevent his opponent from gaining the advantage and to give himself time to prepare to execute any of the options Silver discusses above. 

In his third rule, Silver cautions fighters to maintain distance and not to allow their opponent to place them within his range. Once they are within their opponent’s range they are in danger of being hurt by an attack. A fighter should always know at what range his opponent can attack without having to advance forward. 

He goes on to explain in his fourth rule that when your opponent attacks he is almost always open to an attack on some area of his body or, at the very least, weak in his ward and that you should take care to strike at the nearest opening or weak area. 

Similarly, in his fifth he cautions his readers that when they move to gain an advantage over their opponent that they must always move in guard and remember their governors. If you opponent attacks you and presents you with an advantage then you should attack him as he advances forward. If he attacks you then you should ward his attack and counter with an attack of your own while moving out of his range. 

Silver’s sixth rule concerns fighting an opponent who is standing in the variable ward. If your opponent attacks you from the variable ward, then again you should take care to maintain your distance so that you are out of his range, attack the closest opening, and back up out of range. 

Silver goes on to state that if two fighters are both fighting in the variable fight and both standing within range of the other then those fighters are in imminent danger of being wounded as they don’t have the time and positioning to make the true cross in order to parry their opponent’s weapon. 

In rule eight, Silver continues to caution fighters to take note of how their enemy holds his weapon and when he moves, to position themselves into the ward that best fits their body and hand, and in this ward they should attack their opponent while keeping their governors in mind. 

Rule nine deals with moving your opponent’s attack offline. If a fighter can redirect his opponent’s attack, either by parrying or voiding their body, then they will gain a distinct advantage over their opponent. Their opponent will have to move to bring his attack back online while you can attack immediately and move out of range during the time he is try to bring his attack back online. 

Finally, in rule ten, Silver explains that if you ward an attack made to your right or left side, then you should move your rear foot circularly away from the side that was attacked. This will place you in a better position to make your own attack.

The 4 governors are those that follow

1. The first governor is judgment which is to know when your adversary can reach you, and when not, and when you can do the like to him, and to know by the goodness or badness of his lying, what he can do, and when and how he can perform it.

2. The second governor is measure. Measure is the better to know how to make your space true to defend yourself, or to offend your enemy.

3. 4. The third and forth governors are a twofold mind when you press in on your enemy, for as you have a mind to go forward, so must you have at that instant a mind to fly backward upon any action that shall be offered or done by your adversary.

After Silver discusses the Four Grounds he continues his discussion of the foundation of the Art of defense with the Four Governors. 

The Four Governors seem to be very similar to the Four Grounds and work with them to provide a more in depth foundation for fighting. 

• Judgment is still the most important and the first on the list.  Through Judgment a fighter gains a greater understanding of when your opponent is within your range and vice versa. It also gives a fighter and understanding of the pros and cons of his opponent’s stance, the movements and attacks his opponent can execute, and what he is vulnerable to. 
• The second Governor is Measure so that you can better understand movement and range.  Measure also includes a sense of distance and timing.  Knowledge of Measure helps a fighter to regulate not only the speed and length of his pace but also the time of his attack. 
• The third and forth governors are included together and cover coming in for an attack. Just as you are prepared to come in to attack, you must also be prepared to step out or back if you opponent does the same to you.  This echoes the old adage that a fighter needs to be prepared to attack and defend in the same time. 

In some ways the Governor’s echo the same ideas as the Grounds and in other ways they elaborate on them.  But it is clear that both are vital for a true and sure defense.

In general I am a big believer in starting from the beginning. That is why last week I chose to start my training manual for Silver with his Four Grounds. In retrospect I probably should have had a bit more of an introduction accompanying that post. Ah, well there is also something to be said for jumping right in. I will be setting up a page this week that will have links to all the posts for my training manuals project and I will add my introduction there.

I know that last week I said we would be discussing the Four Governors next but this week I’m inspired to jump a little ahead to one of Silver’s general rules. This pretty much goes against my usual method of starting at the beginning and following through to the end but sometimes you have to go where the inspiration takes you. I’ll just put it all back in order when I set up the page.

After his discussion of the Four Grounds and the Four Governors Silver discusses several general rules “which must be observed in that perfect use of all kind of weapons”. In his first general rule he states:

First when you come into the field to encounter with your enemy, observe well the scope, evenness and unevenness of your ground, put yourself in readiness with your weapon, before your enemy comes within distance, set the sun in his face traverse if possible you can, still remembering your governors.

It seems so simple but I hardly ever see fighters do it. By inspecting the field beforehand a fighter is able to note potential hazards and determine which areas of the field would provide him the greatest advantage and help him to control the fight.

Rarely is the field as flat as we think it is. There is nearly always a slight slope, a rut, some clump of crab grass that makes this weird, slightly higher lump than the surrounding grass. All of these things provide both advantages and disadvantages. The crabgrass or a rut could cause you to stumble. A slope and both place you at an advantage or a disadvantage depending on whether you have the high ground or the low ground. Sometimes even the low ground can offer you a more advantageous line to your opponent’s lower targets depending on the situation but you will have to remember to guard a slightly higher line depending on your opponent’s placement relative to yourself. More often the higher ground provides the advantage over your opponent, often opening holes that he may not be aware exist from a higher position.

Two weeks ago a War of the Wings I was watching two fencers spar in the few minutes between the end of the scenarios and the beginning of court. One of the fighters was significantly shorter than his opponent. The ground had a slight slope to it if you looked at it and the shorter fighter started out on the higher ground. This placed him in a better position relative to his opponent because it took away some of height difference between him and his opponent. But once the bout started the shorter fighter, who seemingly had not noticed the slope, quickly circled around his opponent and positioned himself on the low ground, giving his opponent the higher ground. This not only reinstated the original height difference but also increased it by a couple of inches. This took away the advantage the shorter fighter had gained by taking the higher ground. After several passes this was pointed out and discussed.

The second part of Silver’s rule, positioning the fight so the sun is in your opponent’s face, is also hardly ever used. More often I’ve seen fighters move so that the sun is not in their face but they do not intentionally try to position their opponent toward the sun. Using the sun can be an excellent way to gain advantage over your opponent. If his ability to see is reduced by the glare of the sun he’s going to have a much harder time attacking you than he would under normal conditions. It’s not nice, but this is the Art of Defense not the Art of Being Nice.

Silver’s first rule is simple and straight forward but covers ground that is often overlooked by fighters. Next time you face an opponent take a few minutes to note the ground you’ll be fighting on so that you can take up a position that offers you the most advantage possible. Why give up a perfectly good advantage to you opponent?

The four grounds or principals of that true fight at all manner of weapons are these four, viz. 1. judgment, 2. distance, 3. time, 4. place.

The reason whereof these 4 grounds or principals be the first and chief, are the following, because through judgment, you keep your distance, through distance you take your time, through time you safely win or gain the place of your adversary, the place being won or gained you have time safely either to strike, thrust, ward, close, grip, slip or go back, in which time your enemy is disappointed to hurt you, or to defend himself, by reason that he has lost his place, the reason that he has lost his true place is by the length of time through the numbering of his feet, to which he is out of necessity driven to that will be agent.

For Silver there are Four Grounds, or principles, that are the foundation of all true fighting. These four principles are judgment, distance, time, and place and without them no one can hope to safely engage in combat.

Judgment

It’s no coincidence that the very first principal Silver mentions as he begins his Brief Instructions is judgment.  A fighter’s judgment is quite possibly his greatest asset.  Born out of the sum of his experiences judgment is what a fighter uses to gauge every aspect of the fight.  His judgment tells him when he’s too close to his opponent or too far, when he should lie in the open fight or when the Stocata would be more advantageous.  It’s how he gauges the best time to attack and when it’s more beneficial to let his opponent make the first move.  Through judgment a fighter makes every single decision about the fight.  It’s the experience he bases this decisions on. 

Distance

Closely behind judgment follows distance.  Most often when Silver discusses distance he refers to the distance between a fighter and his opponent, the range at which a fighter can attack his opponent and vice versa.  But distance also refers to the stride of a fighter’s footwork and the measure of distance he travels when he makes his pace.  It can also refer to the distance your sword has to travel in order to strike your opponent or parry their attack.  A big part of protecting oneself in combat is knowing how close your opponent is to you and being able to asses not just your range but also that of your opponent.  Without a sound knowledge of distance and range a fighter can’t make that assessment.

Time

Timing is a crucial concept to fighting and yet it’s one of the most nebulous and difficult to really understand. Distance is easier. You can measure distance very easily with any ruler but the tempo of a fight is harder to measure.

Time and timing refer to many parts of the bout.  Here, time first refers to the Four Times (which Silver discusses later in Bref Instructions and we will be discussing after the Four Governors).  Time also refers to the rhythm of the fight and to the rhythm of each individual fighter. It refers to the speed of attacks and parries and it refers to the rhythm of the fighters’ footwork. It can also be used as a verb: to time your opponent. When you time you opponent you gather enough information about their rhythm that you can predict and exploit the timing of their attacks and the speed of their fighting.  Understanding timing is about understanding that rhythm. It’s about understanding distance relative to time.

Place

Place is probably the most simple concept of the four.  What Silver means when he discusses the principal of place is the position in which you have an advantage over your opponent.  Thus, gaining the place of your opponent means positioning yourself in the fight so that you have the advantage over your opponent.  Usually this means placing yourself so that you are able to strike your opponent without having to worry that they could strike you as well.

The Four Gounds are Silver’s most basic principles.  Along with the Four Governors (which we will discuss next) they form the foundation of combat.