And Now for Something Completely Different - The Hands Have It, Part Two ©

 

Author’s Note – I’m in the process of opening a fencing academy and I’m writing a syllabus and text to complement the lessons.  Time is, unfortunately, limited and sometimes I don’t have time to get all the writing I want done, to meet deadlines.  Hopefully, even though this is not part of my core focus for this blog, you will find it at least amusing, if not interesting.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Hand Positions One, Five and Six

Positions One and Positions Five and Six are used in making parries, although Position One is also used to form the Hanging Guard.

 

  

The First Position was called “Prime”, or “prima”, because it is the first natural position the sword hand assumes after pulling the sword from its scabbard with the tip pointing towards the opponent.  This position’s main drawback is the fact that it tends to tire the arm.

 

Intermediate positions exist between any two adjacent of the four main hand positions.  Both Agrippa and Barbasetti taught two in between positions, called ‘second in third’  and ‘third in fourth’.  Agrippa in 1553 identified them as  “mista” (mixed) or “bastarda” (bastard) positions. 

 

 

Once you know how to position our hands you can begin to make effective cuts, thrusts, guards, parries and molinets, something we will discuss in future articles.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Ten Essentials of Winter Camping ©”, where we will talk about how to camp in the winter wilderness and stay warm and safe.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Barbasetti, Luigi; La Scherma di Spada, [Milano, Tipografia Alessandro Gattinoni, 1902], https://drive.google.com/file/d/16bQcbQ1jND0EDbKTS1jSPpaLK0UEth1H/view, accessed October 11, 2025

 

Barbasetti, Luigi; The Art of the Sabre and Épeé, [Ithaca, New York, The Cayuga Press, 1936], https://medievalswordmanship.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/the-art-of-the-sabre-and-the-epee.pdf, accessed October 11, 2025

 

Leoni, Tom; “A Brief Glossary of Italian Rapier Concepts”, [©2002], https://www.thearma.org/rapierglossary.htm#:~:text=%E2%80%9Cperspective%E2%80%9D).-,Prima%20(First).,is%20particularly%20effective%20against%20cuts, accessed October 11, 2025