User:Peterstrempel/Talhoffer-draft

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Portrait of Talhoffer (pictured left), and his coat of arms, from the 1459 Fechtbuch

Depiction of a judicial duel between a man (standing in a pit) and a woman, (Thott 1459, fol. 80r).

plate 25 of Talhoffer's Fechtbuch of 1467, showing two longsword fencers "standing in the ward ("Stand beid in der Hut")

plate 170 of Talhoffer's Fechtbuch of 1467, showing rondel dagger combat

Hans Talhoffer (c. 1420 - c. 1490) was a Fechtmeister (literally 'fencing master' or 'fight master'), employed as 'master of arms' to the Swabian knight Leutold von Konigsegg, a feudatory of Count Eberhardt the Bearded of Württemberg in southern Germany. He is the author of 'at least six' Fechtbücher, illustrated treatises describing methods of fighting with bare hands, dagger, long sword, short sword, pole weapons, shields, maces, and on horseback.

Overview

Talhoffer was a contemporary of fencing master Paulus Kal, an exponent of the German school of fencing, and 'probably a follower of the Grand Fechtmeister Hans Liechtenauer.'

One of the few pieces of documentary evidence about Talhoffer's life appears in the records of Zürich (Switzerland), documenting that he was teaching near the Rathaus (city hall) in 1454, where a fight broke out among his students, resulting in various fines.

John Clements, Director of the Historical Armed Combat Association proposed in a foreword to a 2000 edition of the 1467 Talhoffer Fechtbuch that modern use of the term 'martial arts' is incorrectly associated primarily with Asian practices, and that Talhoffer's work exemplified 'hundreds' of similar fighting manuals in Medieval Europe that 'present to us a portrait of highly developed and innovative European martial arts based on sophisticated, systematic and effective skills.'

Mark Rector notes in his introduction to his 2000 translation of the 1467 Talhoffer Fechtbuch that medieval swords were quite light, weighing between two and four pounds (roughly one to two kg) and were well balanced. Medieval European martial arts used nimble footwork and a 'primary tactical principle' of 'single time' so that 'every attack contains a defence and every defence contains a counter-attack'.

Techniques illustrated by Talhoffer include unusual handling of swords, such as half-swording (handling a long or broadsword at grip and on the blade simultaneous), handling swords at the tip to use the guard or cross hilt as a bludgeon or hook, and the use of cello-shaped shields that featured spiked ends for hooking and impaling opponents. Illustrations depicting a judicial duel between a man and a woman suggest duelling was not the sole preserve of men.

Works

Talhoffer's work is among the most widely known of the 15th century German Fechtmeister. There are six surviving illustrated Fechtbücher, documenting a span of three decades of his activity.

A list of the Fechtbücher by Hans Talhoffer:

• (1) MS Chart. A 558, Gotha, 151 folia, 178 drawings, 41 pages of text, 1443.
• (2) HS XIX. 17-3, Königsegg, 73 folia, ca. 1450.
• (3) P 5342 B (Cod. Nr. 55 Ambras). Copy of (2)
• (4) 78 A 15, Berlin, 77 folia., before 1459.
• (5) Thott 290 2, Kongelige Bibliothek, Copenhagen, Hans Talhoffers Alte Armatur und Ringkunst, 150 folia, 1459
• (6) Cod. icon. 394, 137 folia, 1467.
• (7) Cod. Vindob. Ser. Nov. 2978 276 folia, 16th century copy of (6).

Of these, (1), (3) and (6) have been edited by Gustav Hergsell. (5) is available online as full facsimile at the website of the Kongelige Bibliotek. So that ignoring copies, (4) is the only known manuscript that remains unpublished as of 2006. The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts website also has a complete English translation and analysis of the 1459 Thott Manuscript(5) by Jeffrey Hull.

Bibliography

• Sydney Anglo, The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe, Yale University Press (2000) ISBN 0-300-08352-1, p. 24.
• Clements, John (2000). "Foreword". In Hans Talhoffer (ed.). Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat. Edited and translated by Mark Rector. London: Greenhill Books. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-1853674181.
• Gustav Hergsell, Talhoffers Fechtbuch von 1467, Prague 1887; English language edition: Marc Rector, Medieval Combat, Greenhill Books, 2000.
• Gustav Hergsell, Talhoffers Fechtbuch von 1443, Prague 1889 ([French translation 1893)
• Gustav Hergsell, Ambraser Codex, Prague 1901 [3] [4] .
• Hans-Peter Hils, Meister Johann Liechtenauers Kunst des langen Schwertes, Frankfurt am Main / New York (1985).
• Rector, Mark (2000). "Introduction". In Hans Talhoffer (ed.). Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat. Edited and translated by Mark Rector. London: Greenhill Books. pp. 9–19. ISBN 978-1853674181.
• Schulze, A. and Fortner, S. (eds.), Mittelalterliche Kampfesweisen Zabern, Mainz (edition of the 1467 ms.)
  • vol. 1 Das Lange Schwert (2006), ISBN 3-8053-3652-7.
  • vol. 2 Der Kriegshammer, Schild und Kolben (2007), ISBN 3-8053-3736-1.
  • vol. 3 Scheibendolch und Stechschild (2007), ISBN 3-8053-3750-7.
• Talhoffer, Hans (2000). Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat. Edited and translated by Mark Rector. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1853674181.

See also

• German school of swordsmanship
• Historical European Martial Arts
• Martial arts manual

External links

• Fight Earnestly – the Fight-Book from 1459 AD by Hans Talhoffer by Jeffrey Hull
• Dagger Techniques From Hans Talhoffer by Eli Steenput
• Hans Thalhofer: Alte Armatur und Ringkunst at the Royal Danish Library