Codex Wallerstein a Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger and Wrestling
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Codex Wallerstein A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger and Wrestling Introduction (revised) by Grzegorz Zabinski REMARKS ON THE MANUSCRIPT1 2 and 3 are blank. This codex is by no means a homogenous source—it seems to consist of two The subject of this edition, one of the best different manuals (for the sake of convenience known late medieval Fechtbuch known as called further A and B), which were put togeth- Codex Wallerstein is preserved in the collection er and later given a common pagination.4 Part of the Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg A (No. 1 recto—No. 75 recto, and No. 108 (I.6.4°.2). The codex is a paper quarto manu- verso; thus consisting of 151 pages) is probably script, written in Middle High German with from the second half of the fifteenth century, on some Bavarian dialect influence, containing 221 account on both the representations of arms pages,2 every odd one numbered in the upper and armour on No. 1 verso (full plate armours right corner, starting from page 4 which is and armets) and No. 2 recto, and costume given No. 1. Page 1 contains a date 1549, the details of costumes on No. 108 verso5. On the supposed manual owner’s name, Vonn other hand, part B (No. 76 recto—No. 108 recto; Baumans,3 and the word Fechtbuch, while pages 66 pages) is probably of much earlier origin, 1 Some observations upon the Codex Wallerstein, incor- Ringbuch (wrestling and dagger). See: Martin Wierschin, porated into the present edition, were already published Meister Johann Liechtenauers Kunst des Fechtens by the author in his paper ”Several Remarks on the (Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur Deutschen Bloßfechten Section of Codex Wallerstein.” (Last Update Literatur des Mittelalters. Kommission für Deutsche 12 March 2001). Available from the author’s homepage Literatur des Mittelalters der Bayerischen Akademie der http://sites.netscape.net/gadjaszczur/. Available from Wissenschaften 13. C.H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuch- the Journal of Western Martial Art http://ejmas.com/ handlung, München 1965), 21; H.-P. Hils, 26-27, divides jmwa/jmwaart_zabinski_401.html. Internet. the manuscript in two basic parts (I: charts 1-74, II: charts 2 According to the numeration of pages, there are 108 76-108), which could be further divided: part I into 2 sub- charts; however, several pages at the beginning are not parts (according to the division into Fechtbuch with long numbered, that is why it seems to be more proper to give sword and Kampfbuch with wrestling and dagger), part an exact number of pages. II into 2 sub-parts as well, according to the same divi- 3 According to H.-P. Hils it is possible to attempt at iden- sion; Friedrich Dörnhöffer, “Quellen zur Geschichte der tifying the owner of the manuscript on account of the tax Kaiserlichen Haussammlungen und der Kunstbestre- registers of Augsburg, which mention persons called bungen des Allerdurchlauchtigsten Erzhauses: Albrecht Michael Baumann (sometimes referred to as Söldner, i.e., Dürers Fechtbuch,” Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen a mercenary) in the second half of the fifteenth and the Sammlungen des Allerhöchstes Kaiserhauses 27.6 (1909), IX- first half of the sixteenth century. As it was quite com- XIII, XXXIII, divides the manuscript into three parts: the mon in the Middle Ages to give father’s name to male first one is a Fechtbuch (principle of division see above), children, one may suppose that these mentions concern the second one a Ringbuch, and the third one a mixture of a family, in which the codex was inherited. See: Hans- various scenes and ways of fighting. This author point Peter Hils, Meister Johann Liechtenauers Kunst des langen rightly to the fact that the two first parts were put togeth- Schwertes (Europäische Hochschulschriften 3. Geschichte er in the fifteenth century, while the present form of the und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 257. Frankfurt am Main: codex, with the addition of the third part, is the matter of Peter Lang, 1985), 28. the sixteenth century; F. Dörnhoffer and H.-P. Hils 4 Regretfully, the author had a microfilm and not the attempt at dating the manuscript, referring it in general actual manuscript at his disposal while writing this con- to the fifteenth century: F. Dörnhoffer claims that the tribution. As a thorough inspection of the codex would third, mixed part is the oldest, originating in the mid-fif- surely reveal much more than a mere view of a microfilm teenth century, while the two first parts are dated at reproduction, the remarks on the manuscript and its ori- about 1470; H.-P. Hils, accepting the date 1470 for the gin are by no means as decisive. For more data about the two first parts, maintains that the third part is older, codex consult the works quoted below. Previous litera- originating from the mid-or even early fifteenth centu- ture dealing with the codex divides the manuscript into ry—his division seems to be more justified. three parts: two Fechtbücher and one Ring-or Kampfbuch 5 See: Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and (i.e., concerning wrestling and dagger fighting), which France: the 13th, 14th, and 15th Centuries (New York: Dover corresponds to the division applied here: part A could be Publications, Inc., 1996), 158-185. further divided into a Fechtbuch (long sword) and 2 which, on account of the details of armour This part consists of images provided with (basinets without visors or basinets with early relevant comments. types of visors; mail aventails; cloth worn on PART B the breast-and backplates cuirasses) can be dated to late fourteenth—early fifteenth century. c long sword (Bloßfechten), No. 76 recto—No. It is worth noticing that this Fechtbuch 80 verso; No. 101 recto—No.102 verso, belonged once to one of the most famous six- c armoured combat (Harneschfechten) with teenth-century authors of combat manuals, long swords, shields, lances and daggers, Paulus Hector Mair;6 and it was him who was No. 81 recto—No. 95 verso; No. 103 recto— the author of the contents of the manuscript No. 108 recto, (No. 109 recto), and several minor remarks on c judicial duel with judicial shields, maces, the number of pages for particular sections of and swords, No. 96 recto—No. 98 verso, the manual, which were inserted in some c wrestling (Ringen), No. 98 verso—No. 100 places in the codex. verso. Codex Wallerstein, like many other This part consists of images only, without medieval and Renaissance Fechtbücher, contains any comments or explanations. On No. 109 a wide range of sections devoted to particular recto there is a summary of the manuscript’s weapons and kinds of fighting: contents, written in sixteenth-century Neo- Gothic script. Apart from sections mentioned PART A above, there are several blank pages in this c a representation of a man-at-arms, No. 1 recto, codex: No. 2 verso, No. 34 verso, No. 75 recto c judicial duel scenes, No. 1 verso—No. 2 recto, (with an unfinished sentence), No. 75 verso, c long sword unarmoured combat (Bloß- No. 92 recto, and No. 92 verso. Both parts, as fechten), No. 3 recto—No. 14 verso; No. 21 already remarked in previous scholarship, recto—No. 21 verso, were put together in the sixteenth century. c wrestling (Ringen), No. 15 recto—No. 20 According to H.-P. Hils, both parts were writ- verso; No. 33 recto—No. 74 recto, ten by several different scribes and illumina- c unarmoured dagger combat (Degen), No. 22 tors, which can be seen in the style of script and recto—No. 28 verso, images. Moreover, he maintains that part B c unarmoured falchion combat (Messer), No. belongs to the so-called “Gladiatoria” group, 29 recto—No. 32 verso, which cannot be linked to the teaching of c advice on how to rob a peasant with a knife, Liechtenauer.7 No. 74 verso, This manual, as many other fighting manu- c a represantation of persons in courtly cos- als,8 puts considerable stress on judicial duels, tumes, No. 108 verso. which is attested to by several elements typical 6 A note on No. 1 recto: Uber ii Khumben Im / 1556 Jar am Codex Wallerstein served as a source for the Fechtbuch / 26 Januari / paulus hector / mair zugehorig. Mair was a of Albrecht Dürer (1512), see: F. Dörnhöffer, IX-XIII, notary of the town of Augsburg and was executed in XXXIII; H.-P. Hils, 27. The section on wrestling from 1579 on account of theft, H.-P. Hils, “Hans Talhoffer: Codex Wallerstein, supplemented with techniques from Fechtbuch,” in Rudolf Frankenberger, and Paul Berthold Dürer’s Fechtbuch, and provided with the images of the Rupp, eds., Wertvolle Handschriften und Einbände aus der latter, was already a subject of the work of Karl ehemaligen Oettingen-Wallersteinschen Bibliothek Wassmannsdorff, Die Ringkunst des deutschen Mittelalters (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 1987), 96; id., Meister (Lepizig: M.G. Prieber, 1870). Moreover, it would be of Johann, 198. See also: F. Dörnhoffer, XXXIII; H.-P. Hils, extreme interest to research the relationship between Meister Johann, 28. It is worth noticing that Augsburg Codex Wallerstein and Mair’s works; On Mair and his was an important centre of martial arts teaching in the manuals see Sydney Anglo, The Martial Arts of sixteenth century and the Universitätsbibliothek Renaissance Europe (New Haven and London: Yale Augsburg has several fencing manuals in its collection— University Press, 2000). see: H.-P. Hils, 21-40, 189-201. It is also remarkable that 7 Hils, 26-28, 135, 201-202. 3 for such kind of fighting. For example, No. 1 Of interest is the fact that in the first seven verso and No.