The complete dagger section of Meyer's 1570 printed work — all five rules, defence against an armed opponent when you carry nothing yourself, and a closing series of wrestling techniques. The video-book combines an e-book of Meyer's complete treatise with a playlist of 73 videos. Remember that the book was written at a time when the word sport did not exist.
The dagger section stands slightly apart from the rest of Meyer's work, and that is exactly why it deserves attention. The longsword, the dusack and the rapier belonged to the fencing hall and the tournament ground. The dagger was what every man in the sixteenth century carried at his belt — tool and weapon at once. Meyer's instruction on it is therefore not an exercise for the Fechtschule but what we would now call self-defence: what to do when someone at arm's length reaches for a blade.
Everything else follows from that. At this distance there is no time to trade blows. What decides it is the first movement, the grip, the work of the off hand and the placement of the body. A dagger fight turns into wrestling faster than you can take a guard.
What the chapter teaches
Meyer builds his instruction on five rules. They are not techniques but drills through which the dagger itself is mastered; whoever has them can follow everything Meyer derives from them afterwards. On that footing he then covers dagger fighting into every last corner of it.
A substantial part is defending unarmed against an armed opponent. Meyer gives a whole series of plays to the situation where only the other man has a dagger — which is precisely the situation a sixteenth-century townsman was most likely to find himself in.
The chapter closes with a series of highly effective wrestling techniques. They are not there to fill space: they serve both for training and for understanding the principles, and for real defence. The book was written when the word sport did not exist, and it shows.
How the video-book works
The video-book is two separate products and the link between them: a PDF e-book and a playlist of 73 videos on our streaming platform. The e-book is not an extract — you get Meyer's complete 1570 treatise in your language. The videos cover the dagger section and follow the written form page by page and move by move.
Seventy-three recordings make this the fullest playlist we offer. That is no accident: with the dagger everything happens in detail, and detail is what words describe worst of all. Exactly where the off hand goes, how the wrist turns, where your body is at that instant — no text conveys that, however precise. This is the part of the range where filmed instruction changes the most.
What the video-book contains
Who it is for
For fencers who want to know Meyer's system whole, not only the longsword part. For anyone drawn to historical self-defence and work at close quarters. And for instructors looking for material for a course that needs neither a fencing hall nor expensive kit — the dagger can be trained almost anywhere.
Presented by Fencer's Guild sword master Petr Turya together with his colleague, sword master Ondrej Drtil.
The video-book is not a substitute for training or for an instructor's guidance. The performances follow Meyer's text and keep to its reading.
J. Meyer 1570 Dagger — complete playlist · Video-book
74,00 €
