Let my start by saying, Antiquarian, I love your story to death and this is not in anyway intended to be offensive! I just thought this would be a fun idea. Seriously, anyone here who hasn’t, go and read A 14th Century Friar in Celestia's Court. Like, now. Go. You’ll love it.

Oh, also, BEWARE!!! As there are some minor spoilers ahead for the first three chapters of the story.

Anyway, on with this. Whatever it may be.

Okay, for starters, let me say that I know that Antiquarian has stated that he’s not going to be focusing too hard on historical accuracy on Jacques and his time on Earth in the story, not least of which, I imagine, because of how relatively brief that time frame is. That said, as someone who is a HUGE history nut, especially about medieval Europe, and practices and studies HEMA, Historical European Martial Arts, on a semi daily basis, this story was something I jumped on, the minute I saw it.

I found it kinda funny (i find it kinda sad) how, right after reading the first fight scene in the story with Jacques, between him and a Saracen warrior, I offered to send Antiquarian some links to videos and websites where he could learn more about the martial arts of medieval Europe. Skip ahead a few chapters in my reading, on the same day, and we get to see Jacques do battle with a pack of timberwolves and, lo and behold, what should I see but REAL TECHNIQUES! Or, at least, their names. And, no, I’m not saying I inspired that. The fight in question had already been written before I made the offer. It was just a funny, and exciting coinky dink.

Needless to say, in that moment, I had a small nerdgasm.

So, what is this I’m doing, then? Well, I’m gonna say it’ll be two things, and we’ll see how right I am by the end of it. Firstly, it will be a brief (liar) review of the two fight scenes in question, Jacques versus the Saracen and Jacques versus the timberwolves, coming from the perspective of someone who studies real sword fighting.

Secondly, it will be a comparative analysis; Jacques, and more specifically his martial abilities, compared to what he would have more likely been, in actual history. This because while I KNOW Antiquarian said he wasn’t too concerned about that sort of thing, for the sake of the narrative, I just think it’s cool and fun to take a look at. And, yeah, I kinda touch on this, but I might save a more in depth look for another one of these later, if people are interested. This thing wound up going on for a lot longer than I intended.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

So first off, the duel between Brother Jacques de Charette and Karim ad-Din, commander of the Saracen forces at Acre.

Okay, so, for a quick foreword, this fight scene does not include much in the way of actual technique in the description, instead focusing more on describing the movements of the fighters. So, I will do my best, based off of that.

For starters, it describes both men are using sword and shield in this fight. As a side note it describes Jacques as using a Kite shield, when realistically at this time period he should be using a heater type shield, which is the classic knightly shield. There’s not much description of Karim’s shield, but historically the Saracen’s favoured round shields, often with metal facings and a bit smaller than the heater shields used by the Europeans, but not much.

Anyway, back to the fight. It makes a point to describe the men circling each other, watching and looking for an opening. This is good, most sword fights are like this. Not just at the beginning, but for the most part throughout until someone receives an injury. It also takes a moment to mention that, due to the carnage of the battle, the street is littered with corpses, which makes for treacherous footing. It can also be surmised that, where there are no bodies, there would be pools of blood and other bodily fluids. All in all, it’s a difficult area to do battle in.

Now, when the combatants attack each other. . . . this is good writing, and makes for an emotionally charged scene, but it’s not terribly realistic for a duel. Especially between two skilled combatants. Such fighters will rarely charge each other while screaming some war cry. In fact, there’s usually dead silence between swordsmen in these moments, as their attention is fully on their opponent, looking for a way in.

Upon meeting, neither shows any real skill, at least from the description. It mentions how much faster Karim’s scimitar is compared to Jacques’ sword, which I would argue that while technically true, is a relative thing. Yes, a scimitar is lighter than a European arming sword, but only by a matter of ounces, maybe a pound at most. As for the actual fighting, it seems, from the description given, that Karim simply starts bashing away at Jacques’ shield, while Jacques simply stands there and takes it.

Now, I prefer to read more in to the fight than that, to give these men the skill they are due. In reality, if Karim was simply smashing his sword against Jacques shield, then it would be a simple matter for the knight to just bull his way in under cover of his shield and take his opponent out. Which wouldn’t make for a terribly enthralling duel, would it?

In reality, if both men were skilled, they would be trying to draw their opponent out, to get them to leave an opening that they could then take advantage of. Other than moving in close and grappling, that’s pretty much the only way to get around a fighter using a shield.

Now, let’s keep reading, shall we?

Okay, NOW we start seeing some actual skill come into play. Karim starts using his speed to his advantage, attempting to strike around the shield. In this situation, one might be forced to use his sword to guard himself, and that’s pretty much what Jacques does. It says he counters with a “Feinted jab”, which he turns into a a “Heavy cut” meant to take off Karim’s arm. What I read this as is Jacques making a thrust which Karim parries, instigating a bind, at which point, rolling with the pressure, Jacques whips his blade around to take his opponent’s arm.

It says Karim dodges to the side, no easy feat but doable with good footwork, and Jacques follows him attempting to simply bull him into the ground. It says Jacques trusts in his chainmail to keep him safe. This is a good idea, actually. Annnnnd raises a question in my mind. . . . If Karim is using a scimitar, a dedicated slashing weapon, then he realistically couldn’t do ANYTHING to Jacques, who is wearing armour intended to guard against just such a weapon. I think I even mentioned this in a comment on this chapter. Simply put, in a real fight, Jacques could just walk into Karim, take a cut or two against his armour and finish him. But, again, not good story telling, and doesn’t make for a dramatic fight scene, so I get it.

It says here that Karim sidesteps the charge, barely, but loses his shield when the knight’s sword breaks it. Which wouldn’t happen. For one thing, as I’ve already said, many Saracen shields had a metal facing or cover which would make this impossible, and a warrior of Karim’s standing could be expected to have the best equipment money could buy. But, even if his shield DIDN’T have that, it still wouldn’t be shattered by the sword. European swords weren’t that heavy. An arming sword, like what Jacques would be using here, that is to say a single-handed sword, that most often is referred to nowadays as a “Broadsword”, (which I won’t get started on how inaccurate that is) only weighs about 2 - 2.5lbs. It’s not that heavy, really. More likely, what would happen, if Karim was smart, was he would catch Jacques’ blade with the edge of his shield, the sword would bite in and get stuck, at which point Karim could move in. But, again, story telling, not reality!

And, here’s where all realism goes away, but again, it’s for the story. It describes Jacques realizing he’s been injured and that Karim is using a Damascus steel sword which allowed it, somehow, to cut through Jacques’ chainmail. This wouldn’t happen, in real life. First of all, at this time period, I would be shocked to find a knight like Jacques using a sword that WASN’T Damascus, or pattern welded, steel, and secondly, even if the links were only made of iron, there’s no way a cut, especially from a light weight, slender blade like a scimitar, would be able to get through chainmail. Realistically, it takes a thrust, or some other penetrating attack to get past the links of a chainmail shirt, which is why European swords grew to favour narrow tapered, double-edged blades over time, and why bows and crossbows, shooting sharply pointed bodkin heads, were so prominent on European battlefields at the time.

I’m going to leave that fight there. It’ll leave the ending unspoiled, for those who haven’t read it, and makes a good stopping point. SO! Next fight scene!

Jacques versus the timberwolves.

Okay, this fight is the one where Antiquarian got more technical, using actual terms and techniques from HEMA, specifically German Longsword . . . which is interesting, considering that longswords were a pretty new thing at the time that Jacques goes to Equestria, and considering how old he is at that time, it’s very unlikely he would have trained with one, ever. However, I can only surmise that Antiq, looking up how medieval knights actually fought, stumbled across HEMA and, obviously, the longsword.

I say “Obviously”, because, while it was never commonly used for either self-defense or war, the longsword (which is the classical knightly two handed sword, by the way. Think Aragorn’s swords, from LOTR) was quite popular for dueling during the late 14th, all the way through to the early 17th centuries, especially in Germany. Now, Germany was also the birth place of the printing press, during the 14th (15th?) century. As such, there are literally dozens of printed manuscripts from Germany showing multiple different takes on the skills and techniques of fighting with the longsword. Which means, it is the most common and most popular weapon in HEMA.

So, on to the fight!

I’ll keep this one a bit more brief than the last, as it ran on a bit longer than I meant for it to. For starters, it mentions that, upon facing off with his opponents, five timberwolves, Jacques enters a nebenhut guard. This is an interesting choice, given the situation. Nebenhut, or the Close Ward, in German, is sometimes referred to as the Tail Guard, for those who study the Italian sources. It is a low guard, intended to hide the length of your weapon from your opponent, while suckering him in close by offering your head and upper body as an apparently open target.

At this point, one of the wolves charges, and the story mentions something interesting. It says that Jacques was never one to let his opponent set the pace of the fight, and he steals it back by charging in with an “Upward strike that clove it’s(the wolf’s) right leg from it’s body”. Firstly, this is a good use of the unterhau, or under strike, one of two basic cuts that ALL fencers should learn as par for the course. Secondly, it’s also interesting, because it shows an understanding of one of the fundamental aspects of German fencing of this period.

The concept of the Vor and the Nach, or the “Before” and the “After”.

When the wolf leaped, taking the initiative, it was moving in the Vor, meaning it was moving first, which left Jacques in the Nach, literally “Moving After” his opponent. This is a position that the German masters tell us to avoid whenever possible, and many of their techniques are intended to help a fencer reclaim the Vor in a fight. Against another swordsman, this can be complicated, and sometimes requires some fancier moves to pull off. But against a relatively unready and undefended timberwolf, all it takes is a simple unterhau and Jacques is once more in the Vor and has control of the situation.

Now, it goes on to say that, following his unterhau, Jacques transitions into Vom Tag. This is excellent form, carrying the cut all the way through and ending in another guard position. Specifically, Vom Tag is the Day Guard, or in the Italian school Posta de Falcone, or the Falcon’s Guard. It is a high guard, with the sword held either above the head or over the shoulder. Personally, I prefer to use the term Vom Tag to refer to the stance over the head, and use other terms to described the shoulder guards.

At this point, Jacques finishes the wolf off with a “Downward swipe”, or an oberhau, Over Strike, or, given the low nature of the target and the force that is implied in the writing, possibly a zornhau, a Wrath Strike.

Distracted momentarily, Jacques is attacked by several of the wolves at once, which manage to land several injuries on his person. At this point, trying once more to reclaim the Vor, Jacques drops into Pflug, which, as the story says, is the “Plow” guard. It’s a low guard, used traditionally to defend against oberhau/zornhau, or, as Jacques uses it, offensively to make a thrust, which slays yet another of the timberwolves.

I think I shall leave this here. Needless to say, I was MUCH more impressed with the second fight than the first, and it shows what even a relatively small amount of research can do, to make a fight scene more believable, and make it more apparent that your fighter actually knows what he’s doing.

Again, Antiquarian, if you’re reading this, I freakin’ LOVE your story, and can’t wait to read more of it!

For everyone else, until next we meet, ponies!
Harmonia Aeternum!

Nice review.

I may not be super into this particular story but I can appreciate the care effort that is put into it. Also you did a great review! :)