“Fighting with the German Longsword” by Christian Henry Tobler
Reviewed by Benjamin McCracken

In May of 2003 I re-began my love affair with the sword. From the beginning of this revival I started looking for texts from which to study. Of course everyone directed me to classical sources available on the internet. However, I was not ready to begin any sort of interpretation of old plates and I could not understand most of the text. So I turned to my trusty friend amazon.com. Based on the reviews available I purchased “Medieval Swordsmanship” by John Clements. This was a great book for me to begin my sojourn into western martial arts. “Medieval Swordsmanship” is a great reference to historical terms and ideas as well as general use of sword and shield and Longsword combat but, the text offers little in regards to training. With my appetite wetted I purchased my first modern Longsword manual, “The Swordsman’s Companion a Modern Training Manual for Medieval Longsword” by Guy Windsor. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the Italian masters. Since this book was already reviewed by Bill Grandy I will refrain from further discussion, except to say that it does help in some areas that are not covered in “Fighting with the German Longsword” like balance training.

About two days into my Christmas vacation I found out that I was the winner of the “Fighting with the German Longsword” contest. I was honored to receive this wonderful training manual and that is one reason why I feel like reviewing it now. My other reason is that this is just plainly one of the best books available on western martial arts. I am half German. This book has helped me to connect with those roots in ways that I never thought possible. For that I owe many thanks to the great people at myArmoury.com and the author. So with no further ado let me present to you “Fighting with the German Longsword” by Christian Henry Tobler.

“Fighting with the German Longsword” by Christian Henry Tobler is fetchbuch. A fetchbuch is a German word meaning fight book. In this fetchbucher Christian Henry Tobler introduces the German fighting system created by Johannes Liechtenauer. Liechtenauer is credited with developing this system, but others including Peter von Danzig, Jud Lew, and Sigmund Ringeck contributed to the original system and explained some of its more difficult concepts. Tobler brings in these other masters to help explain Liechtenauer methods.

The book explains everything from basic footwork to armoured combat. More specifically the text includes sections on:
- Footwork
- Guards
- Secondary guards
- Drei wunder (Three Wounders)
- Initiative
- Defending with Attacks
- The Master Strokes
- Wrestling Techniques
- The Sprenchfenster
- Winding
- Armoured combat
- Fencing with the spear
- Fencing with the half-sword
The author includes text explanations and step by step plates with captions. Where the text has difficulty in fully explaining a certain move, the pictures fill in the gap and make understanding very easy. In every chapter there are drills that allow the reader to work through what is explained in the text. Some chapters have only one drill while others have several. The drills are great for those readers (like myself) that read the text and look at the pictures and say, “yup, yup, I got it.” I forced my self to go through the drills as I read the book. This worked well until I got to the drills requiring a partner. The one draw back of this book is that it does not have many drills that can be done without a partner.

There are many concepts introduced by Tobler that were not thoroughly discussed in the books I mentioned above. These include Abschneiden (slicing with the sword). Of course most people know that a sword can slice, but Tobler does an excellent job of showing just how important it is to remember this when fighting at the sword. Other books that I have read do not go into the detail about slicing that Tobler does in his book. Another concept alluded to in other works that gets a lot of attention is binding. There are several different binding concepts that Tobler explains such as Zucken, Schnappen and Durchwechseln (Pulling, Snapping and Sliding out of a bind). These are just two examples of the types of concepts that Tobler explains.
“Fighting with the German Longsword” is an excellent introduction into the art of fighting with the Longsword. The explanation given by the author is top notch. He explains several concepts that other books of this type either do not mention or give only passing importance. The drills offer the read the chance to practice what the author is teaching in a meaningful way. The step by step plates show the reader exactly how the concepts explained in the text should be executed. After about two months of study, I feel that I have been able to gain new insights into obscure concepts that I only dreamed about before. I highly recommend this book and hope that many more people will have the experience that I have had while studying from it.

“Fighting with the German Longsword” by Christian Henry Tobler is available at http://www.revival.us/index.asp?PageAction=VI...ProdID=178

Nice general review! Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it!

Thanks for the review; that's what I was hoping the book would be. My birthday's coming up and this book is high up on my want list.

Benjamin;

Thanks also for the review, this book is on my short list of things to buy and now it is even more difficult to wait until mid march to buy: The date where my credit card start a new billing month.

Sort of went crazy buying stuff this month: I blame all you guys ......... LOL.

Since it is available on the same site I will buy a Gambison, this book and a few others you mentionned at the same time.

There is a two for one sale on M. Tobler's books were you can get the one you reviewed and a previous book on a related subject by him.

No problem. I just wanted to let everyone know about this book. I also have "Medieval Sword and Shield" by Paul Wagner and Stephen Hand. I'm planning a similar review after I've had a chance to really read it through, but with the Bar exam coming up, it will be quite a while before I'll get the chance. :( Then hopefully I will be able to go crazy and buy stuff too, before the loans kick and crush me.:eek:


Ben McCracken

Hey Ben,
Yeah, it's a great book, isn't it? I only wish it had been available several years back: Would have saved me a lot of mistakes! :) Christian's done a great thing by making this book.

FYI, fechtbucher is plural, fechtbuch is singular. :)

Thanks Bill. I made the necessary edits. :D

Ben McCracken

Thought I would use this thread as a chance to remind folks that Christian Tobler is scheduled to teach at Gallowglass Academy on June 11-12, 2005.

Go to www.GallowglassAcademy.org for details.

Allen

I have to agree it is an excellent resource for the beginner and mid-level student as well. The pictures and drills come in very handy. The addition of a decision tree after each 2 person drill chapter is extremelly helpfull for the beginner. This book pushed me into take the step of getting into a longsword class in my area. It's a Fiore class,(Schola St. George, taught by Brian Price), but the lessons of one translate well to the other. Now I just have to find a pratice partner in my immediate area to work some of these drill with on off days!