Why are Meyer’s Longsword Guards so Exaggerated

Relevant excerpts from Meyer’s 1570: “... stances are used, which are intrinsically nothing more than tarrying or holding the weapon at the outermost point to which you have arrived when pulling up to strike, where you still have space to consider in the middle of the same before you have completed the cut, whether to complete the same cut according to your first intention, or whether it would be more useful to turn to a different point.“ - Foreword “I do not want you to tarry long in any one of them because they were not invented nor provided for this reason ... “ “... you should tarry for a small while—and virtually only a blink of an eye at that same outermost point—to further consider whether it is useful to complete your previously-considered strike or whether a better opportunity might have occurred ...“ - Sword: Fencing From the Stances “I really do not want you to wait in the stances for the opponent’s attack.“ “However, it occurs rather often that you cannot begin your sequence in the Before, nor even carry it out usefully, without receiving injury from an opponent who fences against you. Therefore, it necessarily follows that you position yourself, cautiously and yet with grace and serious demeanor, into that stance in which they cannot cut at you without their own injury and disadvantage. Secure in your stance, you can thus observe and attack them to your advantage or wait for their cuts.“ “... always change from one stance into another, and not solely because you mislead them in this way, but rather to confuse them [to the extent] that they cannot know what kind of sequence will be fenced at them or [what kind of sequence] they should fence at you.“ - Dussack: About the Stances or Guards and their use Translated by Rebecca Garber #sword #hema #fencing #martialarts #shorts