Dussack fencing
Fencing with a curved weapon called the dussack, often wooden, which Joachim Meyer described in 1570 as preparing pupils for rapier. Some HEMA groups practise it today.
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About Dussack fencing
The dussack is both a weapon and a separate fencing discipline of the early modern period. Deutsches Wörterbuch, in its new revision, describes the dussack as a weapon similar to a sword without a guard and basket, used mainly by itinerant fencers (klopffechter), and calls the word a loan from a Slavic language. For comparison it gives the Czech tesák and the Polish tasak and tesak. The older Grimm dictionary refers directly to the Czech tesák. The earliest attestation the new dictionary gives dates from 1522.
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The dussack could also be wooden. The Grimm dictionary quotes older lexicographers, according to whom it was a wooden and blunt sword, a wooden weapon for fencing. Green (2001) writes that a wooden practice sword called the dussack was a popular weapon of craftsmen in the late Middle Ages. According to the Grimm dictionary it was common in fencing schools, as an Ulm ordinance of 1613 states. Joachim Meyer devoted the whole second book of his print of 1570 to the dussack. Its title states that it contains many manly and quick techniques with which beginning pupils are trained in dexterity and then in fencing with the rapier. In Meyer's Munich manuscript of 1561 the dussack forms a separate section with 23 illustrations, the most of any weapon. Today the dussack is practised in the HEMA movement. A count in the journal Acta Periodica Duellatorum recorded it in 2021 at 33 of 124 locations in Germany.
History
The new revision of Deutsches Wörterbuch calls the word dussack a loan from a Slavic language and, for comparison, gives the Czech tesák and the Polish tasak and tesak. According to it, the word is attested in many spelling and sound variants, including with an initial t-, and in the older sense denotes a weapon similar to a sword without a guard and basket, above all a weapon of itinerant fencers, also a hirschfänger. The first attestation given dates from 1522. The Grimm dictionary of 1857 gives the forms thiesak, dussacken, tiessacken, duseck, dusek, dusecke, dusak and desek and refers to the Czech tesák, a short broad sword curved like a sabre. Green (2001) writes that a wooden practice sword called the dussack was a popular weapon of craftsmen in the late Middle Ages. The English Wikipedia states that the Czech word came into German during the Hussite Wars after the sidearm of the Hussites, but it does not cite a source. Joachim Meyer treated the dussack as a separate part of instruction. In the Munich manuscript of 1561 it occupies, according to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2021), folios 25r to 51r with 23 illustrations, and in the print of 1570 the whole second book.
Technique
The title of the second book of Meyer's print of 1570 reads Ordenliche Beschreibung und Anweisung des Fechtens im Dusacken. It states that it contains many manly and quick techniques with which beginning pupils are trained in dexterity and then in fencing with the rapier. In the Munich manuscript of 1561 the section on the dussack has, according to Dupuis (2021), the most illustrations of all weapons. The English Wikipedia states that Meyer in 1570 depicts the dussack as a practice weapon with a broad curved blade and a simple oval grip. Deutsches Wörterbuch defines the dussack as a weapon similar to a sword without a guard and basket.
Training
The Grimm dictionary quotes older lexicographers. Stieler explains the dussack as a wooden and blunt sword (ensis ligneus et obtusus), Steinbach as a wooden weapon for fencing. Fischart, according to the dictionary, mentions leather dussacks (lederen tusacken). The English Wikipedia states that no wooden or leather practice dussack has survived.
Competition
Grimm's Dictionary states that, under an Ulm ordinance of 1613, the dussack was common in fencing schools, and Schönsleder translates fencing with dussacks into Latin as rudibus depugnare. According to Keller's dissertation from Regensburg (2017), the Augsburg city council ordinance of 1568 required masters from elsewhere to pass a test with the longsword, dussack and staff. Today, according to Gassmann et al. (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2017), besides the longsword, HEMA tournaments are also held in other weapons, among them the dussack.
Today
The HEMA census in the journal Acta Periodica Duellatorum (Fürgut, 2021) records the dussack as a separate weapon discipline. In Germany in 2021 it was practised at 33 of 124 venues (26.61 percent), in 2019 at 20 of 141 venues. In Austria it was practised at 4 of 34 venues.
Did you know
According to Frisch, cited by Grimm's Dictionary, the dussack was a broad, usually wooden sword without a handle, with a hole in the blade like a needle's eye instead, big enough for a hand. The dictionary says the description matches the illustration in Comenius's Orbis pictus. According to the dictionary, Simplicissimus mentions dussacks as a lowly regarded weapon, and Abraham a Sancta Clara writes that Samson's dussack was the jawbone of an ass.
Frequently asked questions
Does the word dussack come from Czech?
Deutsches Wörterbuch describes it as a loan from a Slavic language and, for comparison, gives the Czech tesák and the Polish tasak. The older Grimm's Dictionary refers directly to the Czech tesák.
Why did Meyer teach fencing with the dussack?
The heading of the second book of his 1570 print says dussack techniques train beginners in dexterity and then for rapier fencing.
Was the dussack made of wood?
It could be. Grimm's Dictionary cites older lexicographers who call it a wooden, blunt fencing sword, and Fischart also mentions leather dussacks. Green (2001) writes of a wooden practice sword popular with craftsmen.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.