Sickle, Tactile Blade Trainer
Our synthetic sickle was designed to be sturdy enough for hooking the
arms, legs or body as depicted in Mair’s compendium, yet be flexible
enough for safe sparring (with adequate protective gear).
History of the Weapon
The sickle is one of the unconventional weapons detailed in
the massive mid 16th century Opus
Amplissimum de Arte Athetica compiled by Paulus Hector Mair (1517-1579). Three versions of this multi-volume
compendium have been preserved: the BSB Cod.icon. 393(1/2) in Latin, Mscr.
Dred. C 93/94 in Early New High German and Codex Vindobensis 10825/26 in both
Latin and German. Mair lived in
Augsburg and was a civil servant and fencing enthusiast, though there is no
evidence that he ever certified as a fencing master.
There has been some debate on whether the techniques of the
sickle and the other “peasant weapons” depicted in the compendium were based on
actual observation of contemporary peasants or speculation by Mair, but in
either case the 16 illustrated pages devoted to the sickle depict and describe
a variety of attacks and counters that include strikes, parries, hooks, disarms
and grapples.
Although Mair believed that fencing in its various forms was
instrumental in building character, he apparently didn’t do enough of it
to keep him from embezzling money from the Augsburg city coffers so
that he could live well beyond his means. He was ultimately hanged as a
thief at the age of 62. Don’t make his mistake! Order our sickles and
train hard!
Download a FREE training manual here from Noorderwind:
http://www.noorderwind.org/documents/PHMair_Sickle...
See Sizing tab for more information.
Sickle 
