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Details
TALHOFFER, Hans (fl. 1435-1482), Fechtbuch, in German, ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER
[Germany, ?Schwabia, first half 16th century]
Oblong 4° (198 x 322mm). 268 leaves, foliated in an 18th-century hand, with drawings in black lead, pen and grey ink, grey, yellow and red wash. Captions in a German gothic hand of the first half of the 16th century, 18th-century translations into French on ff.240-248 (judicial combat between a man and woman). Watermarks: horn or stag (most leaves); crowned CFH, ship (fos. 147-192). (Some spotting, light browning at end, f.69 shaved at bottom edge.) 18th-century marbled calf gilt, red sprinkled edges (a few minor abrasions).
PROVENANCE:
Rudolf Gutman: his ex-libris inside upper cover, Ms 742.
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek; their library stamp and shelfmark -- Ser. no. 2978 -- on endleaves and included in their catalogue, p.446. Their de-accession stamp at foot of final endleaf.
Talhoffer was the best known and most experienced fighting-master of his day, and his Fechtbuch provides the most comprehensive programme of medieval combat available: "one of the most influential and lavishly drawn fencing manuals of the 15th-century" (Medieval Combat). Its more than 400 illustrations depict armed and unarmed combat to settle judicial disputes, as well as personal disputes. It was intended as a professional field manual to be understood by those already experienced in combat. Among the types of fighting and the weapons used are: long sword, pole-axe, shield and sword, shield and club, rondel dagger, mounted combat, and wrestling. The Fechtbuch is an invaluable record not only of combat techniques, but of medieval arms and armour. A Frankish style of shield, a dueling pavise, is depicted which served not only as protection but as a weapon, with sharpened ends for stabbing, and combatants are shown wearing the leather suits into which they were stitched and greased in some types of fighting. Some of the more curious episodes are those illustrating a judicial duel between a man and a woman. The man, handicapped by standing in a hole in the ground, fights with a sword, while the woman fights with a stone wrapped in a cloth; both wear leather suits. Interestingly, only the captions for these scenes in the present manuscript were translated into French in the 18th century.
Talhoffer's Fechtbuch is also valuable as it records unarmed combat techniques drawn from Ott, an earlier Jewish fighting-master to the Habsburg Dukes of Austria. Ott left behind no Fechtbuch of his own, so that his wrestling techniques have been transmitted only through the work of others, such as Talhoffer.
Six manuscripts representing 3 editions (1443, 1459, 1467) survive from Talhoffer's lifetime and whose production he oversaw. The 1467 manuscript (Munich, Cod.icon.394a) was made for one of Talhoffer's patrons, Count Eberhardt of Württemburg, and portrays Talhoffer at the end holding a banderole declaring "Das Buch hat angeben Hans Talhoffer und gestanden zu Mallen". The present manuscript is an exact copy of that 1467 manuscript, reproducing Count Eberhardt's coat-of-arms and the date 1467 on p. 30, and the figure of Talhoffer and his banderole at the end. Five other copies from the 3 editions are known, all but one significantly later, dating from the late 17th to 19th centuries; one copy (Augsburg UB, deriving from the 1443 edition) was written not after 1561. Talhoffer's Fechtbuch did not appear in print until the end of the 19th century, when Hergsell printed near-facsimiles of the 1443, 1459 and 1467 manuscripts.
[Germany, ?Schwabia, first half 16th century]
Oblong 4° (198 x 322mm). 268 leaves, foliated in an 18th-century hand, with drawings in black lead, pen and grey ink, grey, yellow and red wash. Captions in a German gothic hand of the first half of the 16th century, 18th-century translations into French on ff.240-248 (judicial combat between a man and woman). Watermarks: horn or stag (most leaves); crowned CFH, ship (fos. 147-192). (Some spotting, light browning at end, f.69 shaved at bottom edge.) 18th-century marbled calf gilt, red sprinkled edges (a few minor abrasions).
PROVENANCE:
Rudolf Gutman: his ex-libris inside upper cover, Ms 742.
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek; their library stamp and shelfmark -- Ser. no. 2978 -- on endleaves and included in their catalogue, p.446. Their de-accession stamp at foot of final endleaf.
Talhoffer was the best known and most experienced fighting-master of his day, and his Fechtbuch provides the most comprehensive programme of medieval combat available: "one of the most influential and lavishly drawn fencing manuals of the 15th-century" (Medieval Combat). Its more than 400 illustrations depict armed and unarmed combat to settle judicial disputes, as well as personal disputes. It was intended as a professional field manual to be understood by those already experienced in combat. Among the types of fighting and the weapons used are: long sword, pole-axe, shield and sword, shield and club, rondel dagger, mounted combat, and wrestling. The Fechtbuch is an invaluable record not only of combat techniques, but of medieval arms and armour. A Frankish style of shield, a dueling pavise, is depicted which served not only as protection but as a weapon, with sharpened ends for stabbing, and combatants are shown wearing the leather suits into which they were stitched and greased in some types of fighting. Some of the more curious episodes are those illustrating a judicial duel between a man and a woman. The man, handicapped by standing in a hole in the ground, fights with a sword, while the woman fights with a stone wrapped in a cloth; both wear leather suits. Interestingly, only the captions for these scenes in the present manuscript were translated into French in the 18th century.
Talhoffer's Fechtbuch is also valuable as it records unarmed combat techniques drawn from Ott, an earlier Jewish fighting-master to the Habsburg Dukes of Austria. Ott left behind no Fechtbuch of his own, so that his wrestling techniques have been transmitted only through the work of others, such as Talhoffer.
Six manuscripts representing 3 editions (1443, 1459, 1467) survive from Talhoffer's lifetime and whose production he oversaw. The 1467 manuscript (Munich, Cod.icon.394a) was made for one of Talhoffer's patrons, Count Eberhardt of Württemburg, and portrays Talhoffer at the end holding a banderole declaring "Das Buch hat angeben Hans Talhoffer und gestanden zu Mallen". The present manuscript is an exact copy of that 1467 manuscript, reproducing Count Eberhardt's coat-of-arms and the date 1467 on p. 30, and the figure of Talhoffer and his banderole at the end. Five other copies from the 3 editions are known, all but one significantly later, dating from the late 17th to 19th centuries; one copy (Augsburg UB, deriving from the 1443 edition) was written not after 1561. Talhoffer's Fechtbuch did not appear in print until the end of the 19th century, when Hergsell printed near-facsimiles of the 1443, 1459 and 1467 manuscripts.
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