Italian Rapier

Giganti Lesson 12 – Cuts and Their Counters

​Lesson 12

Warmups

  1. Weight exercise
  2. Translate & Turn
  3. Lunge with resistance
  4. Footwork drills
  5. Lunge drills

Review Lesson 11 – Inquartata

  1. Invite the opponent to gain on the outside. As he begins the glide, cavazione to the inside, stepping with inquartata, hitting to the face.
  2. Invite the opponent to gain on the outside. As he begins the glide, cavazione to the inside, stepping with inquartata, hitting to the chest with sword hilt raised (point under their hilt).
  3. Invite the opponent to gain on the inside. Cavazione to the outside and push against the opponent's sword. If they push back, cavazione to the inside and perform inquartata.

Cuts and Their Counters

Cuts as afencing action actually consists of two actions, a percussive element and a slicing element. Each of these elments are needed to deliver an effective cut, otherwise you just have an impact blow with the edge that doesn't do any real damage to the opponent. Cuts with a rapier are far less forgiving of poor technique due to the relatively thinner blade profile that has less mass behind the blow.

Mandritto to the Head

From Guardia Terza, we need to perform a charging action to take the point offline so that the edge is now in line for the cut. This charging action is centered around a rotation action from the elbow. The mandritto to the head is performed on the lunge, with the actions coordinating during the lunge as follows:

  1. Starting from Guardia Terza, the sword hand lifts from the elbow pulliing the hand back to charge the blow. Some people may find it easier if they allow the thumb to turn to the 11 o'clock position as they do this. The action of the hand lifting should also be accompanied by a slight hand movement that moves the pommel from in line with the wrist to in line with the heel of the hand.
  2. When the hand reaches about temple height, rotate the forearm to turn the thumb to the 2 o'clock position and begin extending the arm forward, keeping the pommel in line with the heel of the hand.
  3. As the arm reaches the extended position the legs drive the body forward into the lunge position. The sword hand continues moving until it is aligned in front of the the left shoulder. (Right handed fencer assumed)
  4. Initial impact to the opponent's head occurs as the front foot lands on the heel during the lunge. The sword should be forming a line across the line of engagement from in front of your left shoulder to the left temple of the opponent. The sword edge should be impacting just in front of the blade's percussion point.
  5. Complete the lunge with the weight rolling forward onto the front foot. As you do so, push the thumb of the sword hand forward, transitioning the pommel to in line with the wrist to provide a forward slicing action. The hand should stay in front of the left shoulder as this maintains the pressure of the slicing cut.
  6. Recover as per usual, making sure the arm withdraws last.

Note: The mandritto to the head can be made from the chest to the head.

Counter to the Mandritto to the Head

The charging action for the mandritto presents the perfect tempo for a counterattack against the cut. The key to the counterattack is to perform it in such a mannner that it simultaneously parries the mandritto as you hit the opponent.

  1. The opponent begins the mandritto on the lunge as described above.
  2. As the opponent's arm starts to extend forward to deliver the cut, turn the true edge of the sword upwards to between 10-11 o'clock and extend a counterthrust to the face. The sword hand should be at about the height of your left cheek, to ensure that the head is covered against the mandritto by the forte of the sword.

Note: One of the key problems that will result in double hits is the failure to turn up the hand first to cover the head. This is typically a result of the fencer rushing to hit with the counterthrust, neglecting the simultaneous defence.

Mandritto to the Leg

The mandritto to the leg is performed in the same manner as the mandritto to the head.

  1. Starting from Guardia Terza, the sword hand lifts slightly from the elbow pulliing the hand back to charge the blow. Some people may find it easier if they allow the thumb to turn to the 11 o'clock position as they do this. The action of the hand lifting should also be accompanied by a slight hand movement that moves the pommel from in line with the wrist to in line with the heel of the hand.
  2. When the hand reaches about shoulder height, rotate the forearm to turn the thumb to the 2 o'clock position and begin extending the arm forward, keeping the pommel in line with the heel of the hand.
  3. As the arm reaches the extended position the legs drive the body forward into the lunge position. The sword hand continues moving until it is aligned in front of the the left side of the chest. (Right handed fencer assumed)
  4. Initial impact to the opponent's leg (usually the thigh) occurs as the front foot lands on the heel during the lunge. The sword should be forming a line across the line of engagement from in left side of your chest to the inside of the thigh of the opponent's leading leg. The sword edge should be impacting just in front of the blade's percussion point.
  5. Complete the lunge with the weight rolling forward onto the front foot. As you do so, push the thumb of the sword hand forward, transitioning the pommel to in line with the wrist to provide a forward slicing action. The hand should stay in line with the left side of the chest as this maintains the pressure of the slicing cut.
  6. Recover as per usual, making sure the arm withdraws last.

Note: The mandritto to the leg can also be made from the flank down to the knee.

Counter to the Mandritto to the Leg

The counter to the leg relies on geometry and body positioning to counterattack the opponent as they throw a mandritto to the leg. The counter is performed as follows:

  1. Opponent throws the mandritto ot the leg as described above.
  2. As the opponent extends the arm beginning their lunge, slip back the front foot to your rear foot and extend a straight thrust at the opponent's face. The leg should be clear of the incoming cut, and the opponent should lunge into your extended point.
  3. Opponent takes the hit.
  4. Recover backwards out of distance.

In this particular case, our safety derives from the geometrical advantage we achieve through the slipping action. Our counterthrust is on the side of the right angle triangle formed by our body and the 2 sword arms, however the opponent's sword and arm is on the hypotenuse and therefore needs to be proportionately much longer to reach the leg.

Riverso to the Leg

Surprisingly, Giganti doesn't discuss the way to throw the riverso at all in his manual.  The method for throwing the riverso is from Capo Ferro, and is in concordance with how Giganti describes the throwing of the mandritto.

  1. The action begins with the opponent gaining the student's sword to the high inside line.
  2. In response to the opponent's gaining action, the student disengages clockwise, and as the sword hand passes under the opponent's sword tip allow the thumb to turn to the 11 o'clock position presenting the true edge towards the opponent's leg. The disengage should also be accompanied by a slight hand movement that moves the pommel from in line with the wrist to in line with the heel of the hand.
  3. When the hand reaches about the middle of the chest,  begin extending the arm forward, keeping the pommel in line with the heel of the hand.
  4. As the arm reaches the extended position the legs drive the body forward into the lunge position. The sword hand continues moving until it is aligned in front of the right side of the chest. (Right handed fencer assumed)
  5. Initial impact to the opponent's leg (usually the thigh) occurs as the front foot lands on the heel during the lunge. The sword should be forming a line across the line of engagement from in right side of your chest to the outside of the thigh of the opponent's leading leg. The sword edge should be impacting just in front of the blade's percussion point.
  6. Complete the lunge with the weight rolling forward onto the front foot. As you do so, push the thumb of the sword hand forward, transitioning the pommel to in line with the wrist to provide a forward slicing action. The hand should stay in line with the right side of the chest as this maintains the pressure of the slicing cut.
  7. Recover as per usual, making sure the arm withdraws last.

Note: The riverso to the leg can also be made from the flank down to the knee.

Counter to the Riverso to the Leg

The counter to the riverso to the leg is described by Giganti, and we are told is made using the same counter we use against the mandritto to the leg. In other words, this is a universal defence for attacks to the leg. The counter is performed as follows:

  1. Student gains the opponent's sword in the high inside line.
  2. Opponent throws the riverso ot the leg as described above.
  3. As the opponent extends the arm beginning their lunge, slip back the front foot to your rear foot and extend a straight thrust at the opponent's face. The leg should be clear of the incoming cut, and the opponent should lunge into your extended point.
  4. Opponent takes the hit.
  5. Recover backwards out of distance.

Capoferro also states that as we slip back the right leg we can also throw a stramazzone to the opponent's sword arm. This is performed using an anti-clockwise cavazione action, to cut to the outside of the opponent's sword arm.

Riverso to the Head

Again Capoferro provides us with an explanation of how to throw the riverso to the head, this time as a forced glide action against the gain by the opponent.

  1. Opponent gains the student's sword on the high inside line.
  2. In response to the gain the student lifts their sword tip up and placing it over the opponent's sword so that the forte is closing the inside line, whilst turning the sword hand into 4th. This will move the opponent's sword tip to be in line with just outside the left side of the student's chest.
  3. Student then glides down the oppoent's sword beginning their lunge sequence, keeping the forte in contact with the sword. As they reach the medole of the opponent's sword, turn the hand over into 2nd, cutting with riverso to the opponent's right temple. The cut finishes with the pushing action used with the completion of our lunge.
  4. Opponent takes the hit.
  5. Allow the tip to lift up and turn the sword hand into 3rd, and cut downwards with mandritto fendente, using the lunge recovery to make the slicing action. The student should return to Guardia Terza.

Counter to the Riverso to the Head

This counter is from Capoferro, and is interesting in that it's nearly identical to the counter against the mandritto to the face given by Giganti.

  1. The student gains the opponent's sword to the high inside line.
  2. Opponent begins the riverso to the face as described above.
  3. As the opponent lifts their tip up to engage the student's debole in 4th, the student will cavazione clockwise lifting their sword hand up and turning the true edge upwards to between 10-11 o'clock, and immediately lunges to hit to the chest. The sword hand must stay high to prevent the opponent from being able to make their riverso, and should be ideally in line with the right shoulder.
  4. Opponent takes the hit.
  5. Recover back to Guardia Terza.

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