Abnemen

In the Zornhau plays, Liechtenauer says when your thrust from below (phlug position) is pushed away with strength, to “Take off high without driving.”

Ringeck comments on this, “... pull your sword upwards, away from his.  And then strike to the head from the other side, along his blade.”

In the Goliath text, the commentary says, “then wrench off from his sword (note in margin: take off high) high above you with your sword on his sword's blade, and strike one to his other side, still again on his sword's blade, to his head, this is called taking off high.”

Christian Tobler, on Ringeck, interprets this as more of a zucken (twitch).  He shows1 pulling up and away to the right, stepping left, and arcing the sword around to the left side of the foe’s sword to strike on the left side of the head at a fairly horizontal angle.

David Lindholm, on Ringeck, shows2 a much more vertical lifting of the sword, followed by an immediate step left, and a vertical cut right back down onto his head.

In the Ochs video3, a strike much like the Lindholm technique is shown clearly.

Having experimented with this technique at speed, and examining the various texts over and over, I tend to think that Linholm and Ochs have it right.  Ringeck and Goliath both mention staying on,  or along his blade on the vertical down strike.  In his book Tobler pulls completely away from the foe’s blade when he swings in an arc to the side of the foe’s head.  I have no quarrel that Tobler’s technique also works very well, but I now argue his interpretation in light of the text.

Further Research: April 29, 2006: Christian Tobler does have another sequence of plates4 later on that shows ‘taking off’ a little better, but he still does not bring his strike quickly and vertically down.  He has another sequence that fits better with Lindholm and Ochs interpretations in his book: Fighting with the German Longsword5.  I have to wonder whether he revised, or added to his thinking on this.  Perhaps the photos in the Secrets book were merely incomplete as this does seem to be a rather simple, straight forward interpretation.

To counter this technique, Ringeck writes, “When you engage at the sword with strength and your adversary pulls his sword upwards and strikes at your head from the other side then bind strongly with the true edge and strike him on the head.”

I have interpreted this as follows.  As he lifts his sword high- “takes off”- turn your knuckles out toward his left side, and drive hard into the flat side of his blade as he comes back down- stepping in as you do so.  You should bind against/gather his blade as close to you quillons as possible.  The force of your blow to the flat of his blade will drive it out of the way, and your blade will drive into the side of his head.


Footnotes:
1. p24-25, Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship, 2001, Chivalry Bookshelf.
2. p36-37, Sigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Art of the Longsword, 2003, Paladin Press.
3. Abnehmen Chapter, The Longsword of Johannes Liechtenauer: Part 1, DVD by Hans Heim and Alex Kiermeyer, 2005, Agilitas.tv and Chivalry Bookshelf
4. Plates 3.22-3.24, p33, Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship, 2001, Chivalry Bookshelf.
5. Illustration 9.3, page 99, Fighting with the German Longsword, 2004, Chivalry Bookshelf.