Steel Marginalia
[30]

Mandritto to the head against Third

De lo Schermo, overo Scienza d'Arme
Salvator Fabris · Book I · Mandritto fendente to the head.

Plate

Fencers bound outside in Third; striker yields to pressure, turns wrist, and delivers mandritto fendente to the head
Fencers bound outside in Third; striker yields to pressure, turns wrist, and delivers mandritto fendente to the head De lo Schermo, overo Scienza d'Arme · Copenhagen, 1606 · Plate 30

Translation

The wound of mandritto at the head, seen here against a Third, may have come about because one went to find the sword of the other, who did not move; and the swords having come together on the outside, the one who is wounded wished to force against the enemy blade. The other, feeling that force, yielded, turning with the wrist and keeping the hilt near the enemy sword, and so wounded as is seen. The wounded man could not parry because, in the yielding of the striker, his sword fell a little lower, so that the strong of the striker oppressed it and thus hindered him from raising it.

Likewise it may be that, both being in Third on the inside, the striker went to find the enemy blade and the other disengaged in Third, carrying himself forward in order to wound on the outside. The striker then let the point fall that had gone to the sword, turned with the wrist, mounted the hilt above the enemy blade, and thus made the descending mandritto; nevertheless the hand, as is seen, has fallen into Third.

Analysis

Initial guards Outside bind in Third; alternate version from inside Third.
Wound Mandritto fendente to the head.
Version 1
  1. You go to find the enemy blade.
  2. He does not move off, but presses strongly in the bind.
  3. Feeling the force, you yield (cedere).
  4. You turn with the wrist (voltando di nodo di mano).
  5. Keeping the hilt close to his sword, you cut mandritto to the head.
Version 2
  1. Both are in terza on the inside.
  2. You go to find his blade.
  3. He disengages in terza and goes forward to hit outside.
  4. You let your point drop, turn with the wrist, bring the hilt over his blade, and cut mandritto.

Translation note

Johnson is basically good here, but Fabris is explicitly teaching: yielding to pressure is preferable to resisting force with force.
The Steel Marginalia · HEMA Study Group Notes in the margins. Truth in the bind.