Einlaufen
— running in
Talhoffer's plate-by-plate script for closing the distance. The bind on the cut becomes a passing step, a seize, and a throw.
Talhoffer's longsword section opens with a four-plate sequence that runs from the initial approach straight through to a wrestling hold. Where the Liechtenauer glossators describe winding and thrusts, Talhoffer simply draws — each plate the next moment. The play is the canonical entrance to Ringen am Schwert: when the cut is caught, the fight changes shape.
The play, step by step
1 / 4
Zufechten
— the approach
The two fencers come into measure from Vom Tag, each waiting to provoke the other's first cut. Talhoffer's opening plate shows them on the verge of contact.
Next → Receive the Oberhau on your blade · step 2: Versetzen
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From the manuals
- ⅠHans Talhoffer— Cod.icon. 394a, plates 1–4 (1467)
Talhoffer's plates are almost wordless: each picture is the next instant. The sequence is reconstructed by reading the plates as a strip — approach, bind, pass, throw.
Read on Wiktenauer ↗ - ⅡHans Talhoffer (Thott)— MS Thott.290.2º, 1459
The 1459 Copenhagen manuscript preserves the same entering sequence in a more economical form, suggesting Talhoffer regarded this as the natural resolution of any bind he could not immediately win with the blade.
Read on Wiktenauer ↗
Notes are paraphrased summaries of how each source treats this play, not translations. Follow the Wiktenauer links for the original verses, gloss texts and high-resolution scans.