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{{infobox writer
 
{{infobox writer
| name                 = [[name::Paulus Hector Mair]]
+
| name                   = Pseudo Ibn Akḥī Ḥizām
| image               = File:Mair.png
+
| image                   =  
| imagesize           = 250px
+
| imagesize               =  
| caption             = "Mair", Cod.icon. 312b f 64r
+
| caption                 =  
| birthdate           = 1517
+
| birthdate               = 10th AH/15th CE century
| birthplace           = Augsburg, Germany
+
| birthplace             = Egypt? Syria?
| deathdate            = 10 Dec 1579 (age 62)
+
| occupation             = Mamluk scribe?
| deathplace          = Augsburg, Germany
+
| nationality             = Circassian Period (“Burjī”) Mamluk
| occupation           = {{plainlist | [[occupation::Civil servant]] | [[occupation::Historian]] }}
+
| influences             = {{plainlist
| language             = {{plainlist | [[language::Early New High German]] | [[language::New Latin]] }}
+
   | Mamluk Martial Arts Literature
| genre                = {{plainlist | [[Fencing manual]] | [[Wrestling manual]] }}
+
   | Lāchin b. ʿAbdallāh al-Ṭarablūsī
| notableworks        = ''Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica''
+
   | Ibn Akhī Ḥizām
| manuscript(s)       = {{collapsible list
 
  | title = List of manuscripts
 
  | 1    = [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (MSS Dresd.C.93/C.94)|MSS Dresden C.93/C.94]] (1540s)
 
  | 4    = [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393)|Codex Icon 393 I & II]] (1540s)
 
  | 2    = [[Geschlechterbuch der Stadt Augsburg (Cod.icon. 312b)|Codex Icon 312b]] (1548)
 
  | 3    = [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10825/10826)|Codex 10825/10826]] (1550s)
 
  | 5    = [[Rast Fechtbuch (Reichsstadt "Schätze" Nr. 82)|Reichsstadt "Schätze" Nr. 82]] (1553)
 
}}
 
| wiktenauer compilation by=[[Michael Chidester]]
 
| influences           = {{collapsible list
 
   | title = List of influences
 
   | 1    = [[Fabian von Auerswald]]
 
  | 2    = [[Gregor Erhart]]
 
  | 3    = [[Martin Huntfeltz]]
 
  | 4    = [[Jörg Wilhalm Hutter]]
 
  | 5    = [[Paulus Kal]]
 
  | 6    = [[Johannes Lecküchner]]
 
   | 7    = [[Jud Lew]]
 
  | 8    = [[Johannes Liechtenauer]]
 
  | 9    = [[Andre Liegniczer]]
 
  | 10    = [[Ott Jud]]
 
}}
 
 
}}
 
}}
'''Paulus Hector Mair''' (1517 – 1579) was a [[century::16th century]] German civil servant and fencing enthusiast. He was born in Augsburg in 1517 to a wealthy and influential family in the German middle class (Bürger). In his youth, he likely received training in fencing and grappling from the masters of Augsburg fencing guild, and early on developed a deep fascination with fencing manuals. He began his civil service as a secretary to the Augsburg City Council; by 1541, Mair was the Augsburg City Treasurer, and in 1545 he also took on the duty of Master of Rations.  
+
| genre                  = Military manual
 +
| language                = Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
 +
| notableworks            =
 +
| manuscript(s)          = [[Kitāb al-maḫzūn ğāmi' al-funūn (MS Arabe 2824)|MS Arabe 2824]] (1470)
 +
| wiktenauer compilation by=
 +
}}
 +
'''''Kitāb al-makhzūn: Jāmiʿ al-funūn''''' ("The Treasure: A Work that Gathers Together Combative Arts"; colophon dated 875 AH/1470-1CE) is an Arabic language work in the classical style of Mamluk furūsīya literature. The work is attributed to the famous «father» of Islamicate martial arts literature Ibn Akhī Ḥizām (c. 250 AH/ 864 CE; given as Ibn Akhī Khuzām), yet is clearly the work of a Mamluk author. Agnès Carayon suggests that a grandee of the Circassian Mamluk (''Burjī'') court commissioned the work, potentially for Sultan Qāʾitbay (r. 1468-1496). Composite in nature, the work is most likely a summary of other, more voluminous works—such as ''Nihāyat al-suʾl wa-l-amnīya fī taʿlīm aʿmāl al-furūsīya'' ("The End of Questioning: A Trustworthy Work concerning Instruction in the Deeds of Furūsīya") by Al-Aqsarāʾī (c. 9th cent. AH/14th cent CE). Certain sections begin and then trail off, while others remain incomplete, suggesting that this work is composite in nature and was most likely a summary or copy of other works both extant and lost. The author does not cite other authors within the body of the text itself.
 +
 
 +
The text of ''Jāmiʿ al-funūn'' is by and large more classical in nature with a great deal of dialectal, Egyptian Arabic of the period. This pertains both to vocabulary (ex: ''bāṭ'' for ''ibāṭ'' "armpit" throughout; ''jawwān'' as a preposition) as well as to grammar (verbs not in gender alignment, plurality disagreements, grammatical inconsistencies of adverbial phrases etc.). An introductory phrase in Ottoman Turkish in the beginning of the text has it that on «The seventh night of Muharram, 975 AH (1567CE)” a certain “Ṣilāhdār Aǧa” Dervish (unknown) petitioned God to be among those counted as Muhammad’s companions. Likewise, the intricate title page has “The owner of this work is Derviş Ağa” crossed out in black ink. Whether or not this was a higher ranking “Arms-Bearer” of the Sultan cannot be confirmed. The version from which the following translation stems is Bibliothèque Nationale MS 2824 (another version can be found in the same collection: MS 2826). Scholars have yet to produce a critical edition of this work.
  
Mair lead a lavish lifestyle and maintained his political influence with expensive parties and other entertainments for the burghers and city officials of Augsburg. Despite his personal wealth and ample income, Mair spent decades living far beyond his means and taking money from the Augsburg city coffers to cover his expenses. This embezzlement was not discovered until 1579, when a disgruntled assistant reported him to the Augsburg City Council and provoked an audit of his books. Mair was arrested and tried for his crimes, and hanged as a thief at the age of 62.
+
Despite its brevity in comparison to other works of the Mamluk furūsīya tradition, Jāmiʿ al-funūn provides a great deal of insight into the ways in which the Mamluks trained their troops. The illustrations featured in the work are some of the best examples of the medium. Distinct from other works in the genre with lengthy introductions, Jāmiʿ al-funūn begins with only minor benedictions, then jumps straight into a description of how to establish the training area for cavalry exercises – the nāwārd. From there, the author displays 72 bunūd or paired lance exercises – most likely inspired by al-Ṭarāblūsī’s famous 72 forms (c . 738 AH / 1337-8 CE). Following this, the author then treats issues deemed relevant to the development of a cavalier, without a particular logic to the ordering of the sections.
  
While Mair is not known to have ever certified as a fencing master, he was an avid collector of fencing manuals and other literature on military history, and some portion of his embezzlement was used to fund this hobby. Perhaps most significant of all of his acquisitions was the partially-completed manual of [[Antonius Rast]], a Master of the Longsword and one-time captain of the [[Marxbrüder]] fencing guild. The venerable master died in 1549 without completing it, and Mair ultimately was able to produce the [[Rast Fechtbuch (Reichsstadt "Schätze" Nr. 82)|Reichsstadt "Schätze" Nr. 82]] based on his notes. In sum, he purchased over a dozen fencing manuscripts over the course of his life, many of them from fellow collector [[Lienhart Sollinger]] (a [[Freifechter]] who lived in Augsburg for many years). After Mair's death, this collection was sold at auction as part of an attempt to recoup some of the funds Mair had appropriated.
+
Unlike other works of furūsīya, ''Jāmiʿ al-funūn'' contains several sections detailing the ways in which soldiers can train for combat on foot. Most notably, the author presents a system for training swordsmanship. The work begins with instruction on the ways in which one can execute paired exercises with cane fighting, dagger fighting, and cane and shield fighting on foot. The author details the proper ways to feint and hit, the ways in which one can parry and riposte (and disarm), and where to target with a sword. In the author’s system, training with the cane was a safe means to perfect one’s technique before moving on to using sharp swords in battle. After training with the cane, the author recommends perfecting test cutting on clay mounds as a way to develop arm strength and ensure proper edge alignment. Following  both of these methods of training, a potential cavalier would be ready to pursue test cutting on horseback.
  
Already in Mair's lifetime some of his people's Medieval martial arts were being forgotten; this was tragic to Mair, who viewed the arts of fencing as a civilizing and character-building influence on men. In order to preserve as much of the art as possible, Mair commissioned a massive fencing compendium titled ''Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica'' ("The Greatest Work on the Athletic Arts"), and in it he compiled all of the fencing lore that he could access. He retained famed Augsburg painter [[Jörg Breu|Jörg Breu the Younger]] to create the art for the text, and according to Hils Mair also hired two fencing masters to pose for the illustrations.{{cn}} This project was extraordinarily expensive and took at least four years to complete. Ultimately, three copies of the massive fencing manual—six volumes in all—were produced, the first entirely in [[Early New High German]], another entirely in [[New Latin]], and a third including both languages. ([[Paulus Hector Mair|Read more]]...)
+
([[Pseudo-Ibn Akḥī Ḥizām|Read more]])
  
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Latest revision as of 02:46, 11 March 2025

Pseudo Ibn Akḥī Ḥizām
Born 10th AH/15th CE century
Egypt? Syria?
Occupation Mamluk scribe?
Nationality Circassian Period (“Burjī”) Mamluk
Influences
  • Mamluk Martial Arts Literature
  • Lāchin b. ʿAbdallāh al-Ṭarablūsī
  • Ibn Akhī Ḥizām
Genres Military manual
Language Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
Manuscript(s) MS Arabe 2824 (1470)

Kitāb al-makhzūn: Jāmiʿ al-funūn ("The Treasure: A Work that Gathers Together Combative Arts"; colophon dated 875 AH/1470-1CE) is an Arabic language work in the classical style of Mamluk furūsīya literature. The work is attributed to the famous «father» of Islamicate martial arts literature Ibn Akhī Ḥizām (c. 250 AH/ 864 CE; given as Ibn Akhī Khuzām), yet is clearly the work of a Mamluk author. Agnès Carayon suggests that a grandee of the Circassian Mamluk (Burjī) court commissioned the work, potentially for Sultan Qāʾitbay (r. 1468-1496). Composite in nature, the work is most likely a summary of other, more voluminous works—such as Nihāyat al-suʾl wa-l-amnīya fī taʿlīm aʿmāl al-furūsīya ("The End of Questioning: A Trustworthy Work concerning Instruction in the Deeds of Furūsīya") by Al-Aqsarāʾī (c. 9th cent. AH/14th cent CE). Certain sections begin and then trail off, while others remain incomplete, suggesting that this work is composite in nature and was most likely a summary or copy of other works both extant and lost. The author does not cite other authors within the body of the text itself.

The text of Jāmiʿ al-funūn is by and large more classical in nature with a great deal of dialectal, Egyptian Arabic of the period. This pertains both to vocabulary (ex: bāṭ for ibāṭ "armpit" throughout; jawwān as a preposition) as well as to grammar (verbs not in gender alignment, plurality disagreements, grammatical inconsistencies of adverbial phrases etc.). An introductory phrase in Ottoman Turkish in the beginning of the text has it that on «The seventh night of Muharram, 975 AH (1567CE)” a certain “Ṣilāhdār Aǧa” Dervish (unknown) petitioned God to be among those counted as Muhammad’s companions. Likewise, the intricate title page has “The owner of this work is Derviş Ağa” crossed out in black ink. Whether or not this was a higher ranking “Arms-Bearer” of the Sultan cannot be confirmed. The version from which the following translation stems is Bibliothèque Nationale MS 2824 (another version can be found in the same collection: MS 2826). Scholars have yet to produce a critical edition of this work.

Despite its brevity in comparison to other works of the Mamluk furūsīya tradition, Jāmiʿ al-funūn provides a great deal of insight into the ways in which the Mamluks trained their troops. The illustrations featured in the work are some of the best examples of the medium. Distinct from other works in the genre with lengthy introductions, Jāmiʿ al-funūn begins with only minor benedictions, then jumps straight into a description of how to establish the training area for cavalry exercises – the nāwārd. From there, the author displays 72 bunūd or paired lance exercises – most likely inspired by al-Ṭarāblūsī’s famous 72 forms (c . 738 AH / 1337-8 CE). Following this, the author then treats issues deemed relevant to the development of a cavalier, without a particular logic to the ordering of the sections.

Unlike other works of furūsīya, Jāmiʿ al-funūn contains several sections detailing the ways in which soldiers can train for combat on foot. Most notably, the author presents a system for training swordsmanship. The work begins with instruction on the ways in which one can execute paired exercises with cane fighting, dagger fighting, and cane and shield fighting on foot. The author details the proper ways to feint and hit, the ways in which one can parry and riposte (and disarm), and where to target with a sword. In the author’s system, training with the cane was a safe means to perfect one’s technique before moving on to using sharp swords in battle. After training with the cane, the author recommends perfecting test cutting on clay mounds as a way to develop arm strength and ensure proper edge alignment. Following both of these methods of training, a potential cavalier would be ready to pursue test cutting on horseback.

(Read more…)

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