The complete halberd chapter of Meyer's 1570 printed work — every play and drill the master sets out for it. It begins with the so-called Treiben, the forms through which the weapon itself is mastered; then come the blocks, strikes and thrusts, the luring and the dodging. The video-book combines an e-book of Meyer's complete treatise with a playlist of 32 videos.
The halberd is little practised in HEMA today, yet in the sixteenth century it was an entirely ordinary weapon — carried by town watch and infantry alike, and given chapters of its own by the masters. Meyer's is among the most complete that survive.
It is a weapon with a logic of its own. It is not simply a longer sword: what decides matters is leverage, reach, the work of both hands along the haft, and the fact that the weapon has three different ends and each does something different. A longsword fencer does not start from nothing here, but he is a long way from knowing the halberd.
What the chapter teaches
Meyer begins with the so-called Treiben — the instructions and forms through which the handling of the weapon is mastered. Before you can fence with a halberd, the halberd has to learn to obey. This is the part most modern attempts at pole weapons skip, which is why they look the way they do.
On that footing rests the fighting itself: blocks, strikes and thrusts, together with the elements that make it fencing rather than swinging — luring and dodging. The playlist is a complete list of everything Meyer teaches and uses with the halberd.
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 32 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 halberd chapter and follow the written form page by page and move by move.
With pole weapons, filmed instruction earns its keep. The text says where each end of the weapon should be, but not how it gets there — and with a two-metre haft it is precisely the transition between positions that is hardest to guess at and easiest to show.
What the video-book contains
Who it is for
For fencers who want to know Meyer's system whole. For clubs and groups looking to widen the repertoire beyond the sword — the halberd is a weapon few get their hands on, and one that makes an immediate impression at events and demonstrations. And for instructors who need material on it that is hard to find elsewhere.
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 Halberd · Video-book
32,00 €
