====== Exploring Cavalcabo’s Caver ====== This session will look at the first half of Cavalcabo's definition of the //caver// which is repeated in Heredia. The second half of the definition is the more familiar disengagement or //cavazzione// -- we will not look at this part. ===== Definition ===== > **Caver**, is equivalent to saying to feint wanting to go high and [going] low or to pretend to give low and [going] high, or else giving under the weapons. --- Cavalcabo > **Caver**, means when one feint to give high and then gives below or one feints low and gives high. --- Heredia Patenostrier does not include a definition of the //caver// although his usage of the term implies his definition is the change of engagement typified by the Italian //cavazzione//. Note in the explicit definitions the idea of the change of line in the vertical plane: feint high to strike low, feint low to strike high. ===== Cavalcabo’s “Universal Play of the Single Sword” ===== We’ll use a part of this section as the jumping off point for exploring Cavalcabo's //caver//. > Wanting to attack, you will commence [with] an estocade in tierce to the enemy’s shoulder so that he has the occasion to parry. If he parries, caver the sword under the arm of his own [sword], and give him an estocade of tierce passing to the right side. Again when he parries, you shall make a revers on his leg, passing to his right side, taking his sword under your arm so that it tumbles from his hands, retiring with yours in tierce, to be able to strike with the point, warning you that when you make a feint (as I have said) so that he makes a pass under your sword, and when he would like to parry the counter you will be alert to cut his sword. And if he parries your feint, you will be able to caver your sword on the point of his, making a quarte to him. –-- Cavalcabo There’s a bunch of actions encoded here. - Start all these actions with a feint (ie: thrust on the firm foot) thrust to the opponent’s forward shoulder. This is consistent between the texts. - Assuming the opponent parries to your inside, you have two options: - Drop your point under the opponent and thrust in tierce stepping out with the rear foot (CV-15 in the table in the [[http://sleech.info/notes/doku.php?id=cavalcabo_start|Cavalcabo Summary]]); or - Cut a //renvers// to the opponent’s front leg and withdraw your sword into a position ready for thrust in tierce while stepping out with the rear foot and wrapping your arm around the opponent’s weapon (CV-16 in the table in the [[http://sleech.info/notes/doku.php?id=cavalcabo_start|Cavalcabo Summary]]). - Assuming the opponent parries to your outside, “caver your sword on the point of his” and thrust in quarte (CV-17 in the table in the [[http://sleech.info/notes/doku.php?id=cavalcabo_start|Cavalcabo Summary]]). - If the opponent does not parry but makes to //caver//, “you will strike his sword” in an action called in Heredia a //garatouçe// (and in Spanish a //garatusa//) (CV-38 in the table in the [[http://sleech.info/notes/doku.php?id=cavalcabo_start|Cavalcabo Summary]]). The //garatouçe// is a complex actions which will be covered in its own session. After the Interpretation/Exploration session (2019-03-23), it seems that withdrawing to maintain distance greatly assists in these actions and that 2a is flashy as hell but simply doesn't work. Was this the public demonstration money shot or are we doing something wrong? Further exploration is needed. ==== Notes / Questions ==== Point 2A does not describe how to protect yourself from a reaction strike or parry-response from the opponent. Is the left hand used for this purpose or is something else at play. I wonder whether point 3 involves lifting the hand but dropping the point of the sword when striking the quarte after being parried. This action seems consistent with blocking any parry-response from the opponent. Also, although not stated, does stepping to your inside with the rear foot assist in this action? Cutting into the sword (or turning the hand from quarte to tierce over the opponent’s blade) is referred to several times in Cavalcabo and Patenostrier but not named as a //garatouçe// as it is in Heredia. ===== Heredia's Lessons ===== ==== Simple Lessons of the Single Sword ==== > 16. If you find the enemy in second guard, you can be placed in third holding the point of your sword raised under the middle of his strong. From there, advance a step with the right foot, allowing the left to follow. Thrust a //brocade// in second on the outside, above the middle of his strong to force him to parry, at which tempo //caver// your point below the elbow of his arm, striking him under the armpit, withdrawing in second. The first thrust is at a high target because it is striking over the middle of the opponent's weapon. Then, it wounds at a lower target, specifically the opponent's flank ("under the armpit"). > 27. The enemy being second and he strikes you with a //brocade// to the outside with the intention that, if you parry his //brocade//, he will redouble with another under your guard. When he does that, parry his first //brocade// with a little retreat and, at the second, following his sword to the inside with the true edge of yours, turning the hand in //estocade//, presenting his with your point to the belt. Thrust him and he will; be struck, and then you should retire promptly in fourth guard. This appears to be a defensive application of the first definition of the //caver//. ==== Plays of the Single Sword in Mathematical Form ==== This section of Heredia's text contains many lessons which are very similar in content around the ideas of the high/low caver and a type of envelopment or //garatouçe//. There is a general principle at work here: * Whenever the opponent attempts to disengage, follow the opponent's movement such that you end up with your hand high and point low and online where the opponent can run onto it or you can drive it forward with a lunge. Perhaps, it is more simply stated as "follow the opponent's point". Could this be why some earlier Italian master talk about keeping your eye on the point of the opponent's sword? (2019-03-23) In this exploration/interpretation session, we found that this is a basic principle that works very well and easily. === Lessons of Offence and Defense of the Said Play === > 1. Being both in high guard, and if the enemy wants to give you an //estocade// under your guard to the right side, let your point fall in the same tempo, thrusting under his guard with an //estocade// or //brocade//. > 2. You can also gain the subjection of the enemy's sword, covering it with the middle of your strong on the middle of his weak to the outside, and, the enemy wanting to give you an //estocade// to the inside, let you point drop under his blade, thrusting him to the inside with an //estocade// under his guard to the right side. > 8. If, being still in the same guard [ie: high third], the enemy comes to cover your sword to subject it with the strong of his own to the inside; in the same tempo that he extends the arm, turn your hand in //brocade//, wounding him with the same to the right side under his guard. > 16. If, being again in the same guard [ie: a high stance], the enemy comes underneath to lift your point, in order to give you a //brocade// under your guard, in the same tempo he comes to lift your sword, //caver// the point thereof below his guard, and thrust him a //brocade// to the right side, lifting the hand to protect the head.