“The Thwart Stroke takes

whatever comes from the Roof.

Thwart with the strong,

note your work with this.

Thwart to the Plow;

to the Ox hard together.

He who Thwarts well,

with springing endangers the head"

In these words the Grandmaster Johannes Liechtenauer instructed how to use the Zwerchau or "Thwart Stroke", one of the five Master Strokes of the sword at the center of his art. Through these mnemonic verses, and hundres like them recorded the secrets of the sword, leaving it to later masters to expand on his words with both pen and brush, such as the written commentaries in the Von Danzig Fechtbuch, or the beautifully rendered cuts, thrusts, parries and disarms portrayed in the painted miniatures of Peter Falkner.