Talhoffer’s Poleaxe: Part 6

Part six of our series on Hans Talhoffer’s poleaxe plays from the 1467 “Württemberg“ edition (Cod. icon. 394.a). This video looks at counters to neck hooks similar to what we’ve seen in previous videos (47v - 48v). As I was editing this, I did notice our setup with the thrust at the beginning ends up with the opposite leg leading compared to the illustration. The text in the manuscript only gives a little commentary; “Here has he displaced the stab and hit him around the neck and will wrench. He has stabbed.“ The counter disarm would then release some of the pressure from the neck hook with a passing step forward with the rear leg, however we found that the breaking of the hook and disarm worked quite well without any additional footwork. I hope to shoot an addendum video for this in the future. You can see the manuscript online here: ürttemberg