Quarterstaff
Encyclopedia
A quarterstaff also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European pole weapon
and a technique of stick fighting
, especially as in use in England
during the Early Modern period
.
The term is generally accepted to refer to a shaft of hardwood
from 6 to 9 ft (1.8 to 2.7 m) long, sometimes with a metal tip, ferrule
, or spike at one or both ends.
The term "short staff" compares this to the "long staff" based on the pike
with a length in excess of 11 to 12 ft (3.4 to 3.7 m).
.
The "quarter" probably refers to the means of production, the staff being made from hardwood
of a tree split or sawed into quarters (as opposed to a staff of lower quality made from a tree branch).
The suggestion that the name derives from the way the staff is held, the right hand grasping it one-quarter of the distance from the lower end is suggested in Encyclopædia Britannica
,
While this interpretation may have given rise to such positions in 19th-century manuals,
it probably arose by popular etymology. The OED in support of its explanation of the "quarter" in origin referring to the way the staff was made points to an early attestation of the term, dated to 1590,
Plodding through Aldersgate, all armed as I was, with a quarter Ashe staffe on my shoulder.
George Silver
, an English fencer who wrote two books (1599, 1605) including lengthy sections on staff fighting does not use the term "quarterstaff", but instead calls it a "short staff" (as opposed to the "long staff"). Joseph Swetnam
, writing in 1615, distinguishes between the "quarterstaff" of 7 or in length and the "long staff" of 12 feet (3.7 m).
was, of course, prevalent throughout historical European martial arts
and indeed worldwide. The oldest systematic descriptions of stick-fighting methods in Europe date to the 15th century.
The oldest surviving English work giving technical information on staff combat dates from the 15th century - it is a brief listing of "strokes of the 2-hand staff", which shares terminology with the preceding "strokes of the 2-hand sword" in the same manuscript.
George Silver
(1599) explains techniques of short staff combat, and states that the use of other polearms and the two-handed sword
are based on the same method. Later authors on the subject included Joseph Swetnam
, Zachary Wylde, and Donald McBane. Silver, Swetnam, and Wylde all agreed that the staff was among the best, if not the very best, of all hand weapons.
During the 16th century quarterstaves were favoured as weapons by the London Masters of Defence
.
Richard Peeke, in 1625, and Zachary Wylde, in 1711, refer to the quarterstaff as a national English weapon.
By the 18th century the weapon became popularly associated with gladiatorial prize playing
. A modified version of quarterstaff fencing, employing bamboo or ash staves and protective equipment adapted from fencing
, boxing
and cricket
was revived as a sport in some London
fencing schools and at the Aldershot
Military Training School during the later 19th century. Works on this style were published by Thomas McCarthy and by Allanson-Winn and Phillips-Wolley.
A simplified form of quarterstaff fencing and training was practised by members of the international Boy Scouts
during the early decades of the 20th century; this was a tradition passed down to them from the military activities in the Victorian army. However, the Quarterstaff section was omitted from the Boy Scout Handbook in the 21st century due to health risks and reluctance to promote violence.
in his martial arts compendium (1540s) details techniques of fighting with the staff in the German school of fencing
of the Renaissance
(chapter 3).
According to the 16th to 18th century writings of Silver, Swetnam and Wylde, the quarterstaff is held with the back hand at the butt end of the staff and the other hand about a foot to a foot and a half (30 to 45 cm) above it.
The body is turned so the forward hand and forward foot are both facing the opponent, the feet taking the same stance as is used in sword or rapier
fighting. This basic position, according to Swetnam and Wylde, is known as the low guard.
Assuming the butt is gripped with the left hand, moving the staff slightly to the right to defend blows is called the outside guard. Moving it slightly to the left is called the inside guard. Raising the butt end up and pointing the point of the staff at the opponent's face to parry a blow to the head is called the middle guard. Raising the staff directly back over the head letting the tip point back at the ground behind oneself and looking under the butt end of the staff in front of oneself is called the high or hanging guard. The level guard, according to Wylde, is formed by grasping the staff at the thirds and raising it horizontally overhead to ward a direct overhead downward blow.
Of these the low guard is considered the central guard. Blows were primarily delivered downwards either directly or at angles. Parries of blows to the legs were done either by lifting the leg away from the line of attack or by thrusting one end of the staff into the ground and releasing the foremost hand which was in danger of being struck. Thrusts (called "darts" by Wylde) were often performed with the release of the forward hand and a step with the forward leg like a fencing lunge, stretching forward the back hand as far as possible. Longer thrusts were delivered with a full step forward with the back leg accompanying the back hand. It was recommended that when delivering a blow that at the end of it the back leg and foot should be compassed about so as to fall roughly into a line with the front foot and the point of the weapon. The same circling round of the back leg was applied to parries also. Singularly among the three authors, Swetnam recommends preference of thrusting over striking. Silver and Wylde describe striking and thrusting as equally valid attacks.
The position with one hand held at the quarter and the other at the middle of the staff is not found in these early modern manuals, but it is described in the quarterstaff manuals published in the late 19th century, e.g. McCarthy (1883): "both hands should be 2 feet 6 inches [76 cm] apart, and the same distance from each end".
Pole weapon
A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range. Spears, glaives, poleaxes, halberds, and bardiches are all varieties of polearms...
and a technique of stick fighting
Stick fighting
Stick fighting is a generic term for martial arts which use simple long slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden 'sticks' for fighting such as a staff, cane, walking stick, baton or similar....
, especially as in use in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the Early Modern period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
.
The term is generally accepted to refer to a shaft of hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
from 6 to 9 ft (1.8 to 2.7 m) long, sometimes with a metal tip, ferrule
Ferrule
A ferrule is a name for types of metal objects, generally used for fastening, joining, or reinforcement...
, or spike at one or both ends.
The term "short staff" compares this to the "long staff" based on the pike
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
with a length in excess of 11 to 12 ft (3.4 to 3.7 m).
Etymology
The name "quarterstaff" is first attested in the mid-16th century16th century
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 to 1600. It is regarded by historians as the century in which the rise of the West occurred....
.
The "quarter" probably refers to the means of production, the staff being made from hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
of a tree split or sawed into quarters (as opposed to a staff of lower quality made from a tree branch).
The suggestion that the name derives from the way the staff is held, the right hand grasping it one-quarter of the distance from the lower end is suggested in Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
,
While this interpretation may have given rise to such positions in 19th-century manuals,
it probably arose by popular etymology. The OED in support of its explanation of the "quarter" in origin referring to the way the staff was made points to an early attestation of the term, dated to 1590,
Plodding through Aldersgate, all armed as I was, with a quarter Ashe staffe on my shoulder.
George Silver
George Silver
George Silver was a gentleman of England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, who is known for his writings on fencing. He is thought to have been the eldest of four brothers , and eleventh in descent from Sir Bartholomew Silver, who was knighted by Edward II...
, an English fencer who wrote two books (1599, 1605) including lengthy sections on staff fighting does not use the term "quarterstaff", but instead calls it a "short staff" (as opposed to the "long staff"). Joseph Swetnam
Joseph Swetnam
Joseph Swetnam was a Renaissance author and Jacobean fencing master, author of the first complete English fencing treatise.- The Pamphlet Wars :...
, writing in 1615, distinguishes between the "quarterstaff" of 7 or in length and the "long staff" of 12 feet (3.7 m).
History
Stick fightingStick fighting
Stick fighting is a generic term for martial arts which use simple long slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden 'sticks' for fighting such as a staff, cane, walking stick, baton or similar....
was, of course, prevalent throughout historical European martial arts
Historical European martial arts
Historical European martial arts is a neologism describing martial arts of European origin, used particularly to refer to arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms...
and indeed worldwide. The oldest systematic descriptions of stick-fighting methods in Europe date to the 15th century.
The oldest surviving English work giving technical information on staff combat dates from the 15th century - it is a brief listing of "strokes of the 2-hand staff", which shares terminology with the preceding "strokes of the 2-hand sword" in the same manuscript.
George Silver
George Silver
George Silver was a gentleman of England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, who is known for his writings on fencing. He is thought to have been the eldest of four brothers , and eleventh in descent from Sir Bartholomew Silver, who was knighted by Edward II...
(1599) explains techniques of short staff combat, and states that the use of other polearms and the two-handed sword
Two-handed sword
A two-handed sword, used as a general term, is any large sword designed to be used primarily with two hands:* the European longsword, popular in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance....
are based on the same method. Later authors on the subject included Joseph Swetnam
Joseph Swetnam
Joseph Swetnam was a Renaissance author and Jacobean fencing master, author of the first complete English fencing treatise.- The Pamphlet Wars :...
, Zachary Wylde, and Donald McBane. Silver, Swetnam, and Wylde all agreed that the staff was among the best, if not the very best, of all hand weapons.
During the 16th century quarterstaves were favoured as weapons by the London Masters of Defence
Company of Masters
The Company of Maisters of the Science of Defence was an organisation formed in England during the reign of Henry VIII to regulate the teaching of the Arte of Defense or fencing, using a range of weapons, including the rapier, quarterstaff, and, most notably, the broadsword.This school of fencing...
.
Richard Peeke, in 1625, and Zachary Wylde, in 1711, refer to the quarterstaff as a national English weapon.
By the 18th century the weapon became popularly associated with gladiatorial prize playing
Prize Playing
A Prize Playing was a test of martial skill popular in Renaissance England with the London-based Corporation of Masters of the Noble Science of Defence....
. A modified version of quarterstaff fencing, employing bamboo or ash staves and protective equipment adapted from fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
was revived as a sport in some London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
fencing schools and at the Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
Military Training School during the later 19th century. Works on this style were published by Thomas McCarthy and by Allanson-Winn and Phillips-Wolley.
A simplified form of quarterstaff fencing and training was practised by members of the international Boy Scouts
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
during the early decades of the 20th century; this was a tradition passed down to them from the military activities in the Victorian army. However, the Quarterstaff section was omitted from the Boy Scout Handbook in the 21st century due to health risks and reluctance to promote violence.
Historical practice
Paulus Hector MairPaulus Hector Mair
Paulus Hector Mair was an Augsburg civil servant, and active in the martial arts of his time. He collected Fechtbücher and undertook to compile all knowledge of the art of fencing in a compendium surpassing all earlier books...
in his martial arts compendium (1540s) details techniques of fighting with the staff in the German school of fencing
German school of fencing
The German school of fencing is the historical system of combat taught in the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern periods , as described in the Fechtbücher written at the time...
of the Renaissance
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which originated from the Italian Renaissance in Italy...
(chapter 3).
According to the 16th to 18th century writings of Silver, Swetnam and Wylde, the quarterstaff is held with the back hand at the butt end of the staff and the other hand about a foot to a foot and a half (30 to 45 cm) above it.
The body is turned so the forward hand and forward foot are both facing the opponent, the feet taking the same stance as is used in sword or rapier
Rapier
A rapier is a slender, sharply pointed sword, ideally used for thrusting attacks, used mainly in Early Modern Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.-Description:...
fighting. This basic position, according to Swetnam and Wylde, is known as the low guard.
Assuming the butt is gripped with the left hand, moving the staff slightly to the right to defend blows is called the outside guard. Moving it slightly to the left is called the inside guard. Raising the butt end up and pointing the point of the staff at the opponent's face to parry a blow to the head is called the middle guard. Raising the staff directly back over the head letting the tip point back at the ground behind oneself and looking under the butt end of the staff in front of oneself is called the high or hanging guard. The level guard, according to Wylde, is formed by grasping the staff at the thirds and raising it horizontally overhead to ward a direct overhead downward blow.
Of these the low guard is considered the central guard. Blows were primarily delivered downwards either directly or at angles. Parries of blows to the legs were done either by lifting the leg away from the line of attack or by thrusting one end of the staff into the ground and releasing the foremost hand which was in danger of being struck. Thrusts (called "darts" by Wylde) were often performed with the release of the forward hand and a step with the forward leg like a fencing lunge, stretching forward the back hand as far as possible. Longer thrusts were delivered with a full step forward with the back leg accompanying the back hand. It was recommended that when delivering a blow that at the end of it the back leg and foot should be compassed about so as to fall roughly into a line with the front foot and the point of the weapon. The same circling round of the back leg was applied to parries also. Singularly among the three authors, Swetnam recommends preference of thrusting over striking. Silver and Wylde describe striking and thrusting as equally valid attacks.
The position with one hand held at the quarter and the other at the middle of the staff is not found in these early modern manuals, but it is described in the quarterstaff manuals published in the late 19th century, e.g. McCarthy (1883): "both hands should be 2 feet 6 inches [76 cm] apart, and the same distance from each end".