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Martin Huntsfeld

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Martin Huntsfeld
Born date of birth unknown
Died before 1452
Occupation Fencing master
Nationality German
Movement Fellowship of Liechtenauer
Genres
Language Early New High German
Notable work(s)
Manuscript(s)
First printed
english edition
Tobler, 2010
Concordance by Michael Chidester
Translations

Martin Huntsfeld (Martein Hündsfelder, Huntfelt[1]) was an early 15th century German fencing master. Based on his surname, his family likely comes from the village of Hundsfeld, about 20 km east of Würzburg (alternatively, he might be from Psie Pole, a district of present-day Wrocław). While Huntsfeld's precise lifetime is uncertain, he seems to have died some time before the creation of the Starhemberg Fechtbuch in 1452.[2] The only other thing that can be determined about his life is that his renown as a master was sufficient for Paulus Kal to include him in the list of members of the Fellowship of Liechtenauer in 1470.[3]

Huntsfeld authored treatises on armored fencing (both with the short sword and unarmed), dagger, and mounted fencing; some manuscripts (including the Augsburg Ⅰ, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Graz, Munich, and Rostock versions) erroneously credit to his armored teachings to Lew, while ascribing the armored fencing treatise of Andre Lignitzer to Huntsfeld instead.[4]

The poem that begins Huntsfeld's mounted teachings appears at the very end of the Augsburg manuscript, after the mounted gloss attributed to Lew. It seems likely that the manuscript was intended to include Huntsfeld's entire mounted fencing treatise, but it was either never completed or, since the poem falls at the end of a quire, that the final quire containing it was later lost from the manuscript. This poem also appears after most subsequent copies of Lew's gloss. Further complicating the matter, the Vienna Ⅱ and Rostock versions include the poem separate from either mounted teaching. Stranger still, the statement of Liechtenauer's Recital in Nuremberg Version Ⅰ includes most of the lines of Huntsfeld's poem, but out of order and mixed into the Recital (along with four of Liechtenauer's Figures, an armored fencing couplet, and 10 couplets of unknown origin). The fact that this poem circulated separately suggests the possibility that it wasn't the work of Huntsfeld at all, but lacking a better attribution, the independent copies of the poem are included in this article.

Textual History

Provisional stemma codicum expanded from Jaquet and Walczak

It's difficult to say when Huntsfeld's treatise was written, and the original is certainly lost at present.

The oldest extant copy of any of Huntsfeld's works is the Rome version (1452); this is also the only manuscript to include substantially-complete versions of all three treatises with their correct attributions. The Kraków version (1535-40) was probably based on this manuscript,[5] though it shows occasional expansions by a later author; the scribe also adds two references to illustrations in the short sword, but these were never executed.

The second-oldest extant copy is Augsburg version Ⅰ, dated to the 1460s, which is based on an earlier manuscript possibly commissioned by Lew.[6] and only includes the armored fencing, which it attributes to Andre Lignitzer, and the mounted fencing poem, which it leaves unattributed. The Salzburg (1491), Nuremberg (ca. 1500), Vienna Ⅱ (ca. 1505), Graz (1539), Munich (1556), and Rostock (1565-70) versions also descend from this lost Lew manuscript in some way, but their relationships to each other aren't always clear[7]—Munich's armored and mounted sections are based on Augsburg and Vienna Ⅱ is based on Nuremberg, but the others seem to descend independently from earlier lost versions.

The Vienna Ⅰ (1480s) and Ortenburg (late 1400s) versions only include Huntsfeld's treatises on armored and mounted fencing, but with correct attributions for both. Glasgow version Ⅱ, a fragment of the dagger text embedded in a longer compilation of dagger techniques, also seems to descend from this branch, and this was copied into Munich along with the Hundsfeld material from Augsburg Ⅰ.[8]

Glasgow version Ⅰ represents yet another branch, including the short sword treatise, which it attributes to Huntsfeld, and the dagger treatise, which it leaves unattributed. The fragment of the armored treatise in Augsburg version Ⅱ is quite similar to Glasgow Ⅰ and they probably descend from the same earlier manuscript.

Paulus Hector Mair's three manuscripts—Vienna (1540s), Munich (1550s), and Vienna (1550s)—are unique in a few ways. They are also descended from the original Lew manuscript, though Jaquet and Walczak suggest that Mair may have accessed multiple different copies and attempted to unify them.[9] Mair's initial compilation manuscript (Dresden) was subsequently translated into Latin, and this text is found in Munich and Vienna (which has both languages), marking the first time Liechtenauer texts were translated into Latin.

Treatises

The text of the Kraków version of the short sword includes two references to illustrations that were never added to the manuscript. The appropriate blank pages are included in the illustration column as placeholders. It's possible that some version of these intended illustrations still exist somewhere; if they ever surface, the blank pages will be replaced. It also includes two illustrations of mounted fencing.

Select one or more fencing styles using the checkboxes below to view the associated treatises.

The number in brackets at the beginning of each translation box is a paragraph number assigned by Wiktenauer; clicking it will take you to the translation page. The numbers in brackets in the transcriptions with an "r" or "v" are manuscript folio numbers; clicking them will take you to original page scan with the transcription alongside for comparison. If you want to sort a column by number, click the black triangles in the table headers.

Short sword

Dagger

Mounted fencing

Short Sword

Dagger

Mounted Fencing

Additional Resources

The following is a list of publications containing scans, transcriptions, and translations relevant to this article, as well as published peer-reviewed research.

References

  1. The spelling "Huntfeltz", the possessive form of the spelling "Huntfelt", is sometimes mistakenly used in the literature.
  2. His name is accompanied by the traditional blessing on the dead on folio 87r.
  3. The Fellowship of Liechtenauer is recorded in three versions of Paulus Kal's treatise: MS 1825 (1460s), Cgm 1507 (ca. 1470), and MS KK5126 (1480s).
  4. Jaquet and Walczak 2014.
  5. Welle (2017), p. 45.
  6. Jaquet and Walczak (2014), p. 121.
  7. Jaquet and Walczak (2014), p. 122.
  8. Walczak and Starko (2018), p. 142.
  9. Jaquet and Walczak (2014), pp. 118-120.
  10. Das Initial ist ausgespart und nur durch einen kleinen provisorischen Buchstaben kenntlich gemacht. The initial is left out and is only marked by a small provisional letter.
  11. Corrected from »im«.
  12. Marginal note partially illegible due to clipping (completion following Codex 44 A 8)
  13. Marginal note partially illegible due to clipping (completion following Codex 44 A 8)
  14. Über dem „a“ ein etwas dickerer Punkt. Meint vielleicht „ä“
  15. „Drossel“ (throat) is spelled in different ways by others, i.e. Gurgel, Schlund, Kehle (DWB).
  16. The text ends here abruptly.
  17. o corrected from d.
  18. e corrected from d.
  19. Written "die In", with marks indicating the correct order
  20. Korrigiert aus »an«.
  21. Placed between "die hant", with marks indicating the correct placement
  22. Note: this is a pure guess.
  23. Die beiden Worte »ÿm« und »mit« sind vertauscht, was durch entsprechende Einfügezeichen kenntlich gemacht ist.
  24. n corrected from o.
  25. Unleserliches Wort von anderer Hand neben der der Zeile. Illegible word from another hand next to the line.
  26. »mag« von anderer Hand neben der der Zeile. “mag” from another hand next to the line.
  27. Note: another guess.
  28. U corrected from O.
  29. Note: würg literally translates to "choke" or "strangle".
  30. choke
  31. das »b« war ursprünglich ein »g«
  32. Note: Schlos/schloss can mean castle/fort as well as lock. In either case it is something that is strongly closed.
  33. Written "glaffenn der", with marks indicating the correct order
  34. m corrected from n.
  35. Korrigiert aus »rechtenn.