This edition covers the I.33 plays of Underarm vs. Crook.
As I progress, some of my opinions change, so any article is only a snapshot of my current thoughts. To counter this these description can also be found at WikiDot (http://i33.wikidot.com/start).
Crook, as a ward, isn’t described at the start of I.33 with many of the others, so wasn’t covered in my first article about the wards. It is essentially a hanging guard, which I have descrived below, before dealing with the plays. As always, remember that I.33 depicts a clopped stance in which, excepting the arms, the head is the closest part of the body to the opponent, with the body withdrawn.
The Guard
The arms are held almost straight at an upwards angle, such that the top of the buckler is level with the top of the head. The hands are together, with the shield hand just above the sword hand. The buckler is facing the shield side. The sword is hanging straight down, and the sword is inverted to maintain the usual sword grip, such that the thumb is down and the palm outwards to the sword side. This rotation forced the sword elbow to be slightly bent and slightly out to the sword side, nevessitating that the shield arm is also bent at the elbow to keep the hands together. This guard obscures the view directly ahead.
UNDERARM vs CROOK
Plate 7
Text
Here we resume Underarm; the opposition to this guard will be quite rare, because no-one uses it except the Priest or his young proteges, i.e. his students, and this opposition is called the Crook [Krucke]. And I earnestly advise that he who stands in Underarm should bind at once after the opposition, because it is not good to hold back; or that he should do something to protect himself; or else that he at least should adopt the position adopted by the opposer.
Note that the one who adopts the Crook should not delay here, but let him at once deliver a thrust [stich] after the opposition, because then his opponent cannot figure out what he intends. And this should be diligently understood.
Image 1.1
The Priest stands in Underarm, buckler covering the sword arm. The Scholar hangs the Crook.
Plate 8
Text
Here the Priest binds above the Scholar’s opposition, and immediately all the things ensue that you had before, although you did not have the other two subsequent figures where he seizes the sword and shield.
Whenever the one who binds and the one who is bound are wrangling, as here, then the one who is bound can flee wherever he will if he likes; and this is called for in all bindings. But you should be prepared for this, so that wherever the bound one goes, you should be pursuing him.
The one who binds and the one who is bound are contrary and irate;
The one who is bound flees to the side; I seek to pursue.
Image 1.2
The Scholar remains apparently unmoved in Crook. The Priest is in Longpoint, pointing slightly downwards through the Scholar’s knees. The Priest’s sword has the Scholar’s sword on its inside, The Scholar’s sword is bound low, about a third of the length from the tip of the blade by the Priest’s sword about a quarter of the blade from the hilt. To achieve this, the Priest, his sword, or both, must have moved out of the page to some degree.
Notes
Initially this appears a hard position for the Priest to reach from Underarm. However, with the buckler covering the forearm, there is space for the Priest to spin his sword vertically, in effect a moulinet or tramazzone. The buckler is rotated over the top of the sword hand as it moves forwards, ensuring that it now covers the sword hand. This is accompanied by the Priest stepping to his right, such that his sword swaps from the outside to inside line during the tramazzone. The sword hand stays low during this move. This might seem to leave the Priest’s head exposed, but that space will be covered by the blade as it rotates up and over, leading to the bind from above.
Text
Here the Priest teaches his Scholar how, after the actions above, he should seize the sword and shield. And note that the Priest cannot free himself from such a grip without dropping his sword and shield.
Image 1.3
The Priest is in horizontal Longpoint, but not by choice. The Scholar’s shield arm is wrapped underneath both of the Priest’s arms at roughly the Priest’s elbow, and the Scholar’s buckler pointing to the shield side. The Scholar’s sword arm is raised up over his head with knuckles facing forwards and the sword pointing down on the Priest’s sword side, delivering a strike to either, or both, of the Priest’s sword shoulder and head: a scorpion shot.
Notes
The Scholar has some distance to move to achieve this. First, they need to lower his sword hand from the head height of the Crook guard, and second, they need to be in a position to grapple the Priest begind his weapons. Nor can the scorpion be delivered directly from the Crook for reasons of cover and lack of momentum.
The Scholar needs to move in a circular movement to his sword side and forwards. The Crook will guard against the Priest’s tramazzone. As the Priest’s sword reaches the descending part of its loop. the Scholar should start to drop his sword and shield hands in concert.
There might be a temptation to wrap the Priest’s arms from above on the way down. However, the Priest’s sword will still be in motion at this point making it dangerous to move over his sword. If the move is done later, then it exposes the armpit to the Priest’s buckler and quillion, even if the Priest makes no active opposition.
By the time the Scholar’s buckler reaches the level of the Priest’s arms, the Scholar must have moved far enough forwards that they can reach behind the Priest’s weapons. The Priest’s momentum will be downwards, and even the hilt or buckler will provide a substantial blow to the Scholar’s wrapping arm.
This move also separates the Scholar’s sword from his buckler, and so the Scholar must be sure the sword hand and arm are safe before proceeding. As the sword drops, it should be rotated outwards and backwards, so that the tip can start to rotate up behind the Scholar. The shiled hand moves down and out, under the Priest’s arms and rising on the far side, creating a V shape, and much as if you are pumping your bicep. The sword arm should continue to rise forcing the Priest’s arms upwards and the elbows to lock. Done near the elbow this allows the Priest’s elbows to be pulled together very uncomfortably. The Priest has no way of pulling his weapons back past this lock.
Meanwhile the Scholar’s sword swings back up and over his head to deliver a scorpion strike. The sword hand and arm should not move away from the vertical drop and rise during this strike.
I think that if the Scholar waits until the Priest has reached the position shown in Image 1.2 before reacting, it will probably be too late to deliver this move safely and is probably better off fleeing the bind.
Obviously this move is illegal under SCA combat rules.
Plate 9
Text
Here the Priest prevents what the Scholar just did.
Image 1.4
The Scholar is apparently still in Crook, but with his hands at belly height, and a shrunken sword. This would indicate that the sword must now be pointing somewhat into the page as the initial movement of the scorpion shot. At this point, though, the sword and buckler are still together.
The Priest has his buckler against the Scholar’s, apparently as a Shield-Strike, whilst the sword arm is bent and the sword strikes the Scholar’s face with the true edge near the tip.
Notes
The Scholar has probably reacted too slowly, to allow the Priest the opportunity to strike upwards from his position in Image 1.2. The Priest will need to move to maintain the distance necessary to counter the Scholar’s attempted attack, either retreating backwards, or stepping further out and around on their sword side to match the Scholar’s own footwork.
Text
Here we resume the First Guard, but all the things that are called for here are in the section on this guard, except for the omission of the bind, which the Scholar omits.
Image 2.1
The Scholar stands in Underarm, buckler covering the sword arm. The Priest hangs the Crook.
Plate 10
Text
Here the Scholar has failed to bind; the Priest has immediately entered, and not unrightly, since wherever the one in the guard omits what he ought to do, the opposer should enter at once, as happens here
Image 2.2
The Scholar has not moved and remains in Underarm. The Priest appears to be in Longpoint, just above the horizontal, but with the buckler rotated over the top of the sword arm covering the sword side of the sword hand. The Priest’s sword is over the shield shoulder of the Scholar. This has lowered the Priest’s hands to be at shoulder height.
Notes
Given the initial Crook guard, there seems to be only one way to ‘enter’ and pass through the position above. The Priest does a moulinet or tramazzone: the rotation of the buckler over the sword arm clears the way for the sword and covers against the Scholar if he does finally attack. The moulinet could also easily be redirected to parry and bind if necessary.
In the image it appears that the Priest’s sword is targeted at the shoulder rather than the head.
One could conceive of attacking with a thrust to the head or body, but that would require rotating the Priest’s sword out to the Priest’s shield side, leaving it unable to counter any threat from the Scholar.
The Scholar could counter by moving his buckler, but that in turn will leave his sword arm exposed to a tweak in the moulinet’s path.
This is clearly intended as a demonstration against being overly set in one ward, and hence leaving your opponent’s guard uncountered and his sword unbound.
Text
The opposition is the same as before, but the play is different
Image 3.1
The Scholar again stands in Underarm, buckler covering the sword arm. The Priest hangs the Crook.
Plate 11
Text
Above the Priest opposed the Scholar; here the Scholar does the same thing as the Priest. But the one who adopts the opposition should enter first if the Scholar fails to act, as happens below. Also the Priest should take care lest the Scholar get his head, which he can.
Image 3.2
The Priest and the Scholar are in the same pose. The pose is essentially that of Crook except with the sword tips forwards so that they are at an angle of approximately 30° from the vertical, true edges bound about a third of the way from the tips. The Scholar’s hand is a touch lower relative to his buckler than that of the Priest, probably reflecting that they have had to make an upward stroke from Underarm to reach this bind.
Notes
The Scholar’s attack is clearly intended to bind the Priest’s sword, as such a strike soon reaches mechanical limitations within the arm much past this point. For both combatants this places the buckler on their shield side, away from their opponent’s sword.
It is not a natural line for the Scholar’s sword to be vertical side-to-side, and it is a smoother movement if the sword tip is angled slightly to the shield side.
Text
After the previous actions, the Priest enters, as I just said; therefore beware the head!.
Image 3.3
The Scholar is as above, in the position of the initial bind. The Priest is in a Longpoint, fractionally below the horizontal, with his point apparently entering the Scholar just below the sternum. The bucklers are still on the shield side of the sword hands. The swords are now bound adjacent to both hilts.
Notes
The Priest has reacted quickly and slid his sword up his opponent’s whilst moving forwards to thrust. In theory, this could be done without rotation, but that is extremely uncomfortable and arguably gives mechanical advantage to the Scholar.
The image would imply that the Priest has done a full 180° rotation of his blade during the thrust, such that his false edge, or even the flat edge, is now in the bind. Rotating this far seems disadvantageous. A quarter rotation, or thereabouts, leaving the Priest’s blade in or near the horizontal plane would give the full advantage of the true edge against the Scholar’s blade, whilst making for a comfortable thrust.
This also gives a good position for countering the warning given twice: beware a strike to the head. The thrust leaves the Scholar’s sword free to manoeuvre outside the Priest’s sword, allowing various potential strikes to the head, as the most forward, and now unprotected, part of the Priest.
The best way to counteract this threat is probably for the Priest to step to his sword side as he thrusts. This cuts down the room for manoeuvre the Scholar has, and will make it harder for the bind to be broken, and keeping some control of the Scholar’s sword, especially if the Scholar is slow to react. It would also prevent the Scholar from attempting the same entry and thrust as the Priest, by pre-emptively diverting any such attempt away from the Priest’s body.
Plate 12
Image 3.4
The Scholar has reversed his position. His sword points vertically upwards and the buckler is now on his sword side facing outwards on that side, the shield arm rotated over the sword arm. The buckler covers the sword hand. The arms are extended at shoulder height and consequently the vertical sword extends well above the Scholar’s head. The Priest’s sword is pointing at about 30° above the horizontal, over the Scholar’s head, apparently with the true edge facing upwards. The buckler has been rotated to face out to, and be on, the Priest’s sword side of the sword, under the Priest’s sword arm. Unusually, the bucler and sword are not entirely in sync. The buckler’s height matches the Scholar, being held extended at shoulder height, but the sword arm is at the same angle as the sword, and hence the sword hand rises above the top edge of the buckler.
The Priest’s sword binds close to the hilt, the Scholar’s about a third of the way down the blade from the hilt.
Notes
There is no text to accompany this image, but it appears to show the situation warned about previously, with the Scholar striking at the Priest’s head. The Scholar appears to be in the process of a moulinet to the Priest’s head. Moving the buckler under the sword arm would cover the sword hand and open up the space for reeling the sword. Further, a step to the shield side would break free or loosen the Priest’s bind, and move the Scholar off the line of the thrust, whilst moving to an open line to strike the Priest’s head. The sloped stance means that the Scholar’s head is covered whilst the rest of the body remains behind.
With the incoming strike, and the Scholar moving off the line of the thrust, the Priest must now alter his attack into a defence. The Priest needs to use his rotation for the thrust into a rising cut across the line of the incoming strike. He could conceivably strike to the Scholar’s head, but with the Scholar’s buckler properly positioned, the strike would be intercepted before it reaches the target, whilst the Scholar’s attack remains unanswered.
Thus, the Priest cuts above the Scholar’s buckler to intercept the incoming strike at the peak of its rotation, either knocking it aside or catching it and binding. The Priest would also do well to step to his shield side to counter the change in line of the Scholar. It may be that the image is trying to show that the Priest should also Shield-Strike with his buckler.