Codex Wallerstein - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Codex Wallerstein is a 16th century fechtbuch

Fechtbuch

Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, detailing specific techniques of martial arts.Prose descriptions of martial arts techniques appear late within the history of literature, due to the inherent difficulties of describing a technique rather than just demonstrating...

. The title
Vom Baumans Fechtbuch appears on the first page, together with the date 1549. The Codex came in the possession of Paulus Hector Mair

Paulus Hector Mair

Paulus Hector Mair was an Augsburg civil servant, and active in the martial arts of his time. He collected Fechtbücher and undertook to compile all knowledge of the art of fencing in a compendium surpassing all earlier books...

in 1556. It consists of 221 pages, illustrating techniques of fighting with the longsword

Longsword

The longsword is a type of European sword designed for two-handed use, current during the late medieval and Renaissance periods, approximately 1350 to 1550 .Longswords have long cruciform hilts with grips over 10 to 15 cm length The longsword (of which stems the variation called the bastard...

, messer, and dagger

Dagger

A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...

, armored

Plate armour

Plate armour is a historical type of personal armour made from iron or steel plates.While there are early predecessors such the Roman-era lorica segmentata, full plate armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, especially in the context of the Hundred Years' War, from the coat of...

and unarmored, stechschild, as well a system of grappling

Grappling

Grappling refers to techniques, maneuvers, and counters applied to an opponent in order to gain a physical advantage, such as improving relative position, escaping, submitting, or injury to the opponent. Grappling is a general term that covers techniques used in many disciplines, styles and martial...

.

The manuscript is a convolution of three parts, clearly separable by three different styles of illustration. The part A treats longsword, dagger and messer. The part B is inserted in two parts, interrupting the first part, treating grappling. The part C treats longsword, armoured combat, stechschild and grappling.

The swords depicted are of a tapering longsword

Longsword

style. The fighting style is predominantly in Liechtenauer's tradition, but includes several close-quarter techniques from Fiore dei Liberi

Fiore dei Liberi

Fiore Furlano de Civida d'Austria delli Liberi da Premariacco was a Medieval master of arms and the earliest Italian master from whom we have an martial arts manual...

's tradition as well.

Part A is considered a source for the fechtbuch of Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...

of 1512. A note on fol. 56v indicates that part B post-dates part A. Part C is probably the oldest, dating to the mid-15th century, the illustrations possibly by a professional draftsman of playing-cards, while parts A and B may date to the 1470s, possibly by one Michael Baumann, listed as a mercenary

Mercenary

A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...

by profession in the tax registers of Augsburg between 1471 and 1495. The present confused sequence of the pages is the result of a binding in the 16th century.

1r drawing of a fencer with various arms
1v-2r drawing of a fighting arena with spectators
Part A
- 3r-14v, 21r, 21v longsword techniques
- 22r-28v dagger
- 29r-32v messer
Part B
- 15r-20v, 33r-74r grappling
- 74v drawing of an armed robbery (with instructions for the robber to draw blood from the victim's neck for intimidation)
Part C
- 76r-80v, 101r-102v longsword
- 81r-95v, 103r-107r armoured combat
- 96r-96v, 98v judicial combat, Swabian law
- 97r-98r judicial combat, Franconian law
- 98v-100v grappling
108v four figures dressed in the style of the 13th century
109r register, in the hand of Paulus Hector Mair
Paulus Hector Mair
Paulus Hector Mair was an Augsburg civil servant, and active in the martial arts of his time. He collected Fechtbücher and undertook to compile all knowledge of the art of fencing in a compendium surpassing all earlier books...

Literature

G. Zabinski, with B. Walczak, Codex Wallerstein, A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling, Paladin Press, (2002), ISBN 1-58160-339-8. http://www.paladin-press.com/detail.aspx?ID=173

External links

Codex Wallerstein transcription
http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/CodexW.htm
Book Review by David M. Cvet on "Codex Wallerstein: A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling"
http://ejmas.com/jwma/articles/2001/jwmaart_zabinski_0401.html
http://www.guerriers-avalon.org/messer/wallerstein_messer.html

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Contents

See also

Literature

External links