The German Student Sword Tradition That Cut Faces On Purpose for Four Centuries
The Mensur is a German academic-fraternity fencing tradition in which two combatants stand at fixed distance and exchange controlled blade strokes aimed at the face. The cut — the *Schmiss* — was the substantive point of the exercise. The tradition descends substantially from the 16th-century university dueling culture that cost Tycho Brahe his nose.
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