The 4 Grounds listed are;
Judgement;
Distance;
Time;
Place;
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......The grounds or Principles of true fight with all manner of weapons. First judgement, lyings, distance, direction, pace, space, place, time, indirection, motion, action, general and continual motion, progression, regression, traversing, and treading of ground, blows, thrusts, falses, doubles, slips, wards, breaking of thrusts, closings, grips, & wrestlings, guardant fight, open fight, variable fight, and close fight, and four governors.........
(G.Silver Paradoxes of Defense pg 46, S.Hick modernization.)
.......Brief Instructions upon my Paradoxes of Defence for the true handling of all manner of weapons together with the four grounds and the four governors which governors are left out in my paradoxes without the knowledge of which no man can fight safe. Cap. I. The four grounds or principals of that true fight at all manner of weapons are these four, viz. judgment, distance, time, place.......
(G.Silver Brief Instructions pg 8, S.Hick modernization.)
Judgment refers to a general sense of the area, your current self and your opponent.
Distance refers to the physical distance both of you to your opponent or your weapons to each other.
Time refers to both the time of actions and the response reaction upon understanding an action is happening.
Place is the sweet spot of fencing, where you are able to hit your opponent without being hit yourself.
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The Grounds are more open in their descriptions and coverage of concepts than the latter Governors. The first quote is quite general, detailing almost every principle needed for fencing, however for this essay and for subsequent mentions of the Grounds we will be discussing the second quote.
The second quote from Brief Instructions details the 4 main grounds, that being Judgment, Distance, Time, Place;
Silver continues with;
......The reason whereof these 4 grounds or principals be the first and chief, are the following, because through judgment, you keep your distance, through distance you take your time, through time you safely win or gain the place of your adversary, the place being won or gained you have time safely either to strike, thrust, ward, close, grip, slip or go back, in which time your enemy is disappointed to hurt you, or to defend himself, by reason that he has lost his place, the reason that he has lost his true place is by the length of time through the numbering of his feet, to which he is out of necessity driven to that will be agent.......
(G.Silver Brief Instructions pg 8, S.Hick modernization.)
Each ground feeds into the next;
Judgment allows you to control the Distance by making decisions to achieve it. Distance gives you more Time to react to incoming threats or Time to create a planned action to win the Place and strike the opponent without being struck yourself.
The latter Governors spoken in another tab of this essay is more of an evolution/build off of from these Grounds.
An easy way to wrap your head around these, is all of these are working to give you time to react, whether to block or strike. This is more than just speeding a sword around as fast as you can. Athleticism is an important trait, but accurately using these principles will give you a better chance even if your opponent is physically faster.
You win the battles in the weeks, days, and moments before. Rarely do you in the moment. Putting yourself in the Place, stepping into a lying/guard that is prepared for an enemy, structured footing and alert attention, your distance far enough they have to step to attack, and prepared to Fly Out with a step if needed. This is the result of the Grounds and Governors.
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The Grounds are more open in their descriptions and coverage of concepts than the latter Governors. The first quote is quite general, detailing almost every principle needed for fencing, however for this essay and for subsequent mentions of the Grounds we will be discussing the second quote.
The second quote from Brief Instructions details the 4 main grounds, that being Judgment, Distance, Time, Place;
Silver continues with;
......The reason whereof these 4 grounds or principals be the first and chief, are the following, because through judgment, you keep your distance, through distance you take your time, through time you safely win or gain the place of your adversary, the place being won or gained you have time safely either to strike, thrust, ward, close, grip, slip or go back, in which time your enemy is disappointed to hurt you, or to defend himself, by reason that he has lost his place, the reason that he has lost his true place is by the length of time through the numbering of his feet, to which he is out of necessity driven to that will be agent.......
(G.Silver Brief Instructions pg 8, S.Hick modernization.)
Each ground feeds into the next;
Judgment allows you to control the Distance by making decisions to achieve it. Distance gives you more Time to react to incoming threats or Time to create a planned action to win the Place and strike the opponent without being struck yourself.
The latter Governors spoken in another tab of this essay is more of an evolution/build off of from these Grounds.
An easy way to wrap your head around these, is all of these are working to give you time to react, whether to block or strike. This is more than just speeding a sword around as fast as you can. Athleticism is an important trait, but accurately using these principles will give you a better chance even if your opponent is physically faster.
You win the battles in the weeks, days, and moments before. Rarely do you in the moment. Putting yourself in the Place, stepping into a lying/guard that is prepared for an enemy, structured footing and alert attention, your distance far enough they have to step to attack, and prepared to Fly Out with a step if needed. This is the result of the Grounds and Governors.
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