The oldest fencing book in Europe begins with a list. Before any fighting at all, the anonymous author of Royal Armouries MS I.33 tells us that everyone who holds a sword uses seven wards, whether they have studied the art or not. Then he names them, in a little Latin verse, and the whole book grows out of that list.
The Latin runs: Septem custodie sunt sub brach incipiende. "There are seven wards, beginning with Under the Arm." Here they are, in the book's own order.
I. Sub Brach, Under the Arm
The sword is tucked under the left arm, point behind you, with the buckler held in front over the sword hand. It looks odd the first time you see it. It is also the ward the book returns to more than any other, and the one it builds its main teaching around.
From sub brach the sword comes out in a rising cut or thrust, and the buckler is already covering the hand as it does. It is a coiled position, and the book treats it as the natural starting point.
II. Humero Dextrali, the Right Shoulder
The sword rests on or above the right shoulder, ready to cut down. Anyone who picks up a sword and wants to hit hard ends up somewhere near here.
III. Humero Sinistro, the Left Shoulder
The mirror of the second: the sword over the left shoulder, ready for a cut from the other side.
IV. Capiti, the Head
The sword is raised above the head. The book's verse gives this one simply as "the head". It threatens a blow straight down.
V. Latere Dextro, the Right Side
The sword hangs low at the right side, point back. From here the attack comes up and forward.
VI. Pectori, the Breast
The sword is held at the chest, point towards the opponent, with the buckler close over the hand.
VII. Langort, the Long Point
The last ward is the sword extended straight at the opponent. The German word langort means "long point". It is both a ward and the end of many actions: most attacks in the book pass through something like langort as they arrive.
Wards and Besiegings
The clever part of I.33 is what comes next. For each ward there is an obsessio, a "besieging": a position you take in front of your opponent's ward that shuts down the blow it wants to make and forces them into something else.
The most famous besieging is halpschilt, the half-shield, with sword and buckler held together in front of you. We have written about it on its own in our post on halpschilt. From the besieging, the fight usually runs to a bind, a trap of the sword hand with the buckler, and a cut or thrust home.
The result reads like a flowchart. If he stands here, you do this; if he answers so, you do that. It is a system, written down seven centuries ago, and it still works in sparring.
A Comparison With Fiore
Fiore dei Liberi, a century later, also builds his longsword around guards, his poste, and he names twelve of them. His postas and I.33's wards are not the same positions, and the weapons are different, but the thinking is familiar: learn where a fighter can stand, learn what each place is good for, and learn the answer to each one. If you know Fiore's twelve guards, the seven wards will feel like meeting a distant relative.
Try the Wards
The wards are easy to learn and hard to master, which makes them a good place to begin. Our sword and buckler page has the seven wards set out with the book's verse. If you would like to stand in them with a sword and buckler in your hands, come along on a Tuesday. Your first lesson is free.