Benjamin H. Abbott wrote: | ||
Where does Silver say this? Paradox 19 strongly suggests that the back hand was held right at the butt: "A foot of the staffe being behind the backmost hand hand doth no harme." Even with a heavier butt spike I doubt the point of balance could be less than three feet from the butt, and having three feet (or more) between the hands sounds like a bit much to me. Also, if that's the length to add to one's height + raised arm (Silver's measurement), then I should be using an 10+ ft staff... Swetnam's illustrations certainly show the back hand at the butt and the front hand about a third or fourth of the way up, but that's not Silver... |
I don't know. I'm quoting what was quoted in Spada 1 on page 99. It gives the following in it's reference section.
Silver, George "brief instructions upon my paradoxs of defence" ed. Matthey, Col. Cyril 1898 Cap. 11 Pt. 8 --See also Brown, Terry, "English Martial Arts" 1997, p. 156.
(I don't have a copy of English Martial Arts YET.)
I looked up the reference , and I do not see the information on griping the weapon.
In truth, I must defer the point, as I have not enough information to labor the point. I am quoting only Paul Wagner's interpretation of the material, and I have not got his background in the material. If you have a copy of Spada, look at page 99.