Vier Leger

Hut ("guard" or "ward", plural Huten) in the German tradition is the term for "fighting postures" or "ready positions" taken immediately before engagement. The term of hut "guard", or equivalently Latin custodia in I.33, expresses a stance of "protective vigilance" (hut in origin simply means "cover, protection"; the English cognate is hood, with an original meaning of "covering").

The term leger is explicitly said to be a synonym of hut in the Liechtenauer tradition specifically, but the word expresses another focus, that one of being static, of "lying in wait" before taking action (MHG lëger "camp", hence also "siege", lit. "place or state, of lying (in wait, preparation etc.)"; thence Modern German Lager "camp; store, storage").

The Liechtenauer tradition has the concept of the Vier Leger ("four guards"), viz. Ochs (high, point forward), Pflug (low, lateral), Vom Tag (high, point upward), and Alber (low, central) as the only ones to be considered. The relevant passage in GNM 3227a is on fol. 32v. The verses from the zettel themselves read:

VIer leger alleyne • do von halt vnd flewg dy gemeyne / Ochse • pflug • alber • vom tage nicht sy dir vemmer

(approximate translation) "Four guards only, and leave the common ones alone. The ox, plough, fool, from above/the roof, these should not be unknown to you."

The explanatory gloss by the anonymous author of GNM 3227a reads:

Hie nent her vier leger ader vier hute~ / do võ etzwas czu halde~ ist / Doch vor allen sache~ / zo sal ey~ mã io nicht czu / lãge doryñe lege~ / We~ lichtnaw° hat eyn sölch sprichwort / wer do leit der ist tot / wer sich rüret der lebt noch / vnd das get of dy leger das sich ey~n mã sal liber rure~ mit gefechten de~ das her / der hute~ wart / mit dem her vorslosse~ möcht dy schancze

"Here he mentions four liers or guards that are valuable. But before all things, one should not remain too long in one guard. Liechtenauer has a saying “He who lies still, is dead, he who moves is still alive”. ANd this applies to the guards inasmuch as one should rather keep moving with offensive actions than to wait in a guard and thus waste his opportunity."