A step in which the rear foot swings around behind to the side, turning the whole body off the line of attack and leaving it angled toward the opponent's open side.
Where a step off the line moves the front foot, the triangle step moves the rear foot in an arc so that the fencer ends facing the opponent from a new angle. It voids an attack without retreating and sets up a cut to the side the opponent has just turned away from. Meyer treats triangular stepping at length as a way of changing the line; it is a staple of modern HEMA footwork drills.
Your familiarity
Sources and interpretation
- Joachim Meyer (1570) interpretive Meyer's 1570 book describes stepping in a triangle as part of its footwork; the Liechtenauer glosses do not name it, though their steps out to the side amount to the same idea. Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens (1570), Wiktenauer page