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Difference between revisions of "Nicolaüs"

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| <p>'''The second play of the wrathcut text'''</p>
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| <p>[15] '''The second play of the wrathcut text'''</p>
 
{| class="zettel"
 
{| class="zettel"
 
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| <p>'''One more play from the wrathcut text'''</p>
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| <p>[16] '''One more play from the wrathcut text'''</p>
 
{| class="zettel"
 
{| class="zettel"
 
|-  
 
|-  
 
| <small>30</small>
 
| <small>30</small>
| <br/>Cut, thrust, position, soft or hard
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| <ref>Line is omitted from the Vienna</ref><br/>Cut, thrust, position, soft or hard
 
|-  
 
|-  
 
| <small>31</small>
 
| <small>31</small>
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| <p>[17] '''The text of the war'''</p>
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{| class="zettel"
 +
|-
 +
| <small>32</small>
 +
| Whoever hunts the war<br/>Above, will be exposed below.
 +
|}
 +
<p>Note the windings and the work from them with the point to the four openings is called the war. Conduct it like this: When you cut in with the wrathcut, as soon as then they parry, rise up with your arms and twist in your point into the upper opening of their left side high against their sword. Then if they parry<ref>Augsburg II: displace. (Matches the Lew)</ref> the thrust from above, then remain standing like this during the winding and let your point sink down back to their left side. If they then chase your sword with an act of parrying, then seek the lower opening of their right side with your point. If they then chase your sword further with an act of parrying, then rise up with your sword to your right side. In this way they will be exposed above and below, if you conduct it correctly.</p>
 
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| <p>[18] '''This is the text'''</p>
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{| class="zettel"
 +
|-
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| <small>33</small>
 +
| In all windings<br/>Cut, thrust, slice learn to apply
 +
|-
 +
| <small>34</small>
 +
| Also with that you shall<br/>Inspect cut, thrust or slice
 +
|-
 +
| <small>35</small>
 +
| In all encounters<br/>Of the masters, if you wish to dishonor them.
 +
|}
 +
<p>Know that you should be quite polished with all windings on the sword, because each one of the windings has three particular plays, that is, a cut, a thrust and a slice; and when you wind on the sword, you shall quite precisely inspect and note so that you do not conduct the incorrect play that is called for in the winding. Expressly that you do not cut when you should thrust and not slice when you should cut and not and also not thrust when you should slice. And furthermore you should always wind the correct plays that are by rights appropriate to conduct in all engagements and windings on of the sword if you otherwise wish to dishonor and confound the masters that set themselves against you.</p>
 +
 
 +
<p>And the number of windings on the sword and how you shall conduct them, you shall find them in the last chapter of the recital which says, "Whoever hangs well and delivers windings with it…"</p>
 
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| <p><br/></p>
 
| <p><br/></p>
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| <p><br/></p>
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| <p>[19] '''The text of the four openings'''</p>
 
+
{| class="zettel"
<p><br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
+
|-
 +
| <small>36</small>
 +
| Know the four openings<br/>Hunt so that you strike quite wisely
 +
|-
 +
| <small>37</small>
 +
| Without any fear<br/>Without doubt however they are situated.
 +
|}
 +
<p>You shall know the four openings on a person. The first opening is the right side and the second the left above the girdle of the man. the other two, they are also the right and the left sides below the girdle, if you wish to strike or cut<ref>Augsburg II omits: or cut</ref> it surely. When you come upon the opponent with the initiation of fencing, then select one of those openings at that moment and initiate a cut skillfully to that opening and not to the sword and do not pay attention to whatever they against you. Then if they parry your cut, then immediately work in the act of parrying with the point or otherwise high to the nearest opening. And always watch like this for the openings of the body and not of the sword<ref>Vienna omits "not"</ref> with all cuts and thrusts<ref>Vienna omits "with all cuts and thrusts"</ref></p>
  
<p>You shall know the four openings on a person. The first opening is the right side and the second the left above the girdle of the man. the other two, they are also the right and the left sides below the girdle, if you wish to slash or hew it surely.</p>
+
And how you shall hunt the four openings and fence into them will be explained to you hereafter in the play that says there: "Pin the four extremities, remain thereupon to learn winding"<ref>The verse matching this is slightly different further down: "Learn to remain upon them if you wish to finish", but this phrasing does somewhat exist in the version of the zettel without the gloss in the Vienna, on [[Page:MS K5126 105r.jpg|folio 105r]].</ref>.
  
<p>When you come upon him with the onset, then select one of those openings at that moment and initiate a hew skillfully to that opening and not to the sword and do not pay attention to whatever he fences against you. If he then parries your hew, then immediately work in the displacement with the point or otherwise high to the nearest opening. And always watch like this for the openings of the body and of the sword and how you shall hunt the four openings and fence into them will be explained to you hereafter in the play that says there: "Set upon four ends, remain thereupon to learn winding".</p>
 
 
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| <p><br/></p>
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| <p>[20] '''The text of the breaking of the four openings'''</p>
 
+
{| class="zettel"
<p><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
+
|-
 
+
| <small>38</small>
<p>This is when one cleaves you in earnestly. If you wish to then wreak yourself onto him and take-on and break his opening with art so that he must allow himself to be slain without his thought, then drive the doubling against the strong of his sword and the mutating against the weak, for I say to you truthfully that he can not situate nor defend himself before blows and may therefore not come to strike.</p>
+
| If you wish estimate how<br/>To artfully break the four openings
 +
|-
 +
| <small>39</small>
 +
| Double above<br/>Mutate right below
 +
|-
 +
| <small>40</small>
 +
| I say to you truthfully<br/>No one defends themselves without danger
 +
|-
 +
| <small>41</small>
 +
| If you have understood this,<br/>They can barely come to strike, etc.
 +
|}
 +
<p>This is for when the opponent cuts in earnestly. If you wish to then set yourself up against them to break and win the openings with artfulness so that they must allow themselves to be hit without their permission, then conduct the doubling against the strong of their sword and the mutating against the weak. For I say to you truthfully that they cannot protect themselves from strikes and therefore cannot come to blows.</p>
 
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| <p>[21] '''Here note how you shall conduct the doubling on both sides.'''</p>
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 +
<p>When the opponent initiates a cut from above from their right shoulder, cut in from above with<ref>Vienna omits with</ref> them with<ref>Augsburg II omits with</ref> strength at their head with your right as well. If they parry and stay strong against their sword, then Indes, rise up with your arms and thrust your pommel under your right arm with your left hand and strike them with the long edge from crossed arms from behind their sword's blade with the short edge<ref>Augsburg II omits: with the short edge</ref> to their head.</p>
 
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| <p>[22] Item. If you cut in from above from your left side with your long edge to their head, if they parry and remain strong in the sword, then immediately rise up with your arms and strike them from behind their sword's blade with the short edge upon their head.</p>
 
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| <p>[23] '''Note how you shall conduct the mutating from both sides'''</p>
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 +
<p>Item. When you cut in strongly from above from your right shoulder to the opponent's head, if they parry and are soft against the sword, then wind your short edge against their sword to your left side and rise sufficiently up with your arms and hang your point over their sword from above and with that, drop back down with your arms<ref>Vienna omits: and with that, drop back down with your arms</ref> and thrust into their lower opening.</p>
 
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| <p>[24] When you initiate a cut from your left side to the opponent's head<ref>Vienna: pommel</ref>, then if they parry and is soft against the sword, then rise up with your atms and keep your long edge against their sword and hang your point over their sword from above into their lower opening. You can conduct these two plays in this way from all cuts from the point after which you sense weakness or strength at the sword.</p>
 
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| <p>[25] '''The crooked cut with the text of it's play'''</p>
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{| class="zettel"
 +
|-
 +
| <small>42</small>
 +
| Crook up swiftly<br/>Throw the point onto the hands
 +
|-
 +
| <small>43</small>
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| Crook. Whoever parries well<br/>Disrupts many cuts with stepping.
 +
|}
 +
<p>Know that the crooked cut is one of the four parries against the four guards because with them one wars the ox and also the descending and the rising cut. Execute it like this. When you come to the opponent with the initiation of fencing, if they subsequently stand against you and hold their sword in front of their head in the guard of the ox on their left side, then advance your left foot and hold your sword in guard at your right shoulder dart with the right, well to your right side, and strike them across their hands with the long edge from crossed arms.</p>
 
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| <p>[26] Likewise. You also also conduct the crooked cut from the barrier guard from both sides. Send yourself into the guard like this. When you come to the opponent with the initiation of fencing, then advance your left foot and hold<ref>Augsburg II omits holding</ref> your sword upon the ground with the point next to your right side such that the long edge of the sword is turned and present yourself open like this with your left side. If they then cut in high into your opening, then dart away from the cut well to the right side, with your right foot facing them and strike them with crossed hands with the point of the long edge upon their hand.</p>
 
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| <p>[27] Send yourself to your left side with the barrier guard like this: When you come to the opponent with the initiation of fencing, advance your right foot and hold your sword upon the ground with the point by your left side with crossed hands such that the short edge of the sword is up and present yourself open with your right side. Then if they strike at the opening, then dart to your left side with your left foot well away from the cut and strike them while darting over their hands with the short edge.</p>
 
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| <p>[28] '''Text'''</p>
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{| class="zettel"
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|-
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| <small>44</small>
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| Cut crooked to the flats<br/>Of the masters if you wish to weaken them
 +
|-
 +
| <small>45</small>
 +
| When it clatters above<br/>Then dismount, that I will praise
 +
|}
 +
<p>Gloss: Note you shall conduct this play against the masters from the bind of the sword. Execute it like this. When you come to the opponent with the initiation of fencing, position your sword in the barrier guard to the right side or hold it at your right shoulder. Then if they cut at the opening from above, cut across theirs with your long edge from criss-crossed arms, 'Indes', cut to their head or to their body with your short edge.<ref>Abridged from pPvD</ref></p>
 
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| <p>[29] '''The text from one of the plays of the crooked cut'''</p>
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{| class="zettel"
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|-
 +
| <small>46</small>
 +
| Don't crook, cut short<br/>Change through and with that expose them
 +
|}
 +
<p>This is a break against the guard of the ox. Execute it like this: when you come to the opponent with the initiation of fencing, if they subsequently stay in that guard and hold their sword in front of their head on their left side, then throw your sword at you right shoulder and act as if you want to bind against their sword via the crooked cut and cut short and during that changing through below and shoot your point in long under their sword to the other side, so that they must parry. With this you come to blows and to other work with your sword.</p>
 
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| <p>[30] '''Text'''</p>
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|-
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| <small>47</small>
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| Crook whoever misleads you<br/>The noble war baffles them
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|-
 +
| <small>48</small>
 +
| Such that they do not truthfully know<br/>Where they are without danger.
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|}
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<p>Note whenever you conduct the crooked cut, you'll always make yourself open with it. Understand it like this, when you cut in or bind up their sword with the crooked cut from your right side, you are open on the left side during this. If they are also crafty and will cut from the sword to your opening and mislead you with swiftness, then keep your sword against theirs and track their sword from there onward and wind your point into their face and continue to work with the war, that is, with the windings to the openings so that they become so baffled that they truthfully will not know which spots they should shield themself from your cuts and your thrusts.</p>
 
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Revision as of 01:23, 22 February 2020

Nicolaüs Augsburger
Died after 1489
Occupation Fencing master
Citizenship Augsburg, Germany
Movement Augsburg tradition
Influences Johannes Liechtenauer
Influenced Jörg Wilhalm Hutter
Genres Fencing manual
Language Early New High German
Archetype(s) Currently lost
Manuscript(s)
Concordance by Michael Chidester

Nicolaüs was a 15th century German fencing master, presumably from Augsburg.[1] Nothing is known about this master outside of his treatise, but he seems to have been an initiate of the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer (his treatise always appears coupled with a repetition of the grand master's Record). On or around 2 July 1489,[2] he seems to have completed some version of a gloss on fencing with the long sword, apparently based on a the anonymous pseudo-Peter von Danzig gloss of Liechtenauer's Recital.

Stemma

Early on in its history, the Pseudo-Peter von Danzig gloss seems to have split into at least three branches, and no definite copies of the unaltered original are known to survive. The gloss of Sigmund ain Ringeck also seems to be related to this work, due to the considerable overlap in text and contents, but it is currently unclear if Ringeck's gloss is based on that of pseudo-Danzig or if they both derive from an even earlier original gloss (or even if Ringeck and pseudo-Danzig are the same author and the "Ringeck" gloss should be considered a fourth branch).

Branch A, first attested in the Augsburg version (1450s) and comprising the majority of extant copies, has more plays overall than Branch B but generally shorter descriptions in areas of overlap. It also glosses only Liechtenauer's Recital on long sword and mounted fencing; in lieu of a gloss of Liechtenauer's short sword, it is generally accompanied by the short sword teachings of Andre Liegniczer and Martin Huntfeltz (or, in the case of the 1512 Vienna II, Ringeck's short sword gloss). Branch A is sometimes called the Jud Lew gloss, based on a potential attribution at the end of the mounted gloss in a few copies. Apart from the Augsburg, the other principal text in Branch A is the Salzburg version (1491), which was copied independently[3] and also incorporates twelve paragraphs from Ringeck's gloss and nineteen paragraphs from an unidentified third source. Branch A was redacted by Paulus Hector Mair (three mss., 1540s), Lienhart Sollinger (1556), and Joachim Meyer (1570), which despite being the latest is the cleanest extant version and was likely either copied directly from the original or created by comparing multiple versions to correct their errors. It was also one of the bases for Johannes Lecküchner's gloss on the Messer in the late 1470s.

Branch B, attested first in the Rome version (1452), is found in only four manuscripts; it tends to feature slightly longer descriptions than Branch A, but includes fewer plays overall. Branch B glosses Liechtenauer's entire Recital, including the short sword section, and may therefore be considered more complete than Branch A; it also differs from Branch A in that three of the four known copies are illustrated to some extent, where none in the other branch are. The Krakow version (1535-40) seems to be an incomplete (though extensively illustrated) copy taken from the Rome,[4] while Augsburg II (1564) collects only the six illustrated wrestling plays from the Krakow. Even more anomalous is the Glasgow version (1508), consisting solely of a nearly complete redaction of the short sword gloss (assigning it to Branch B), which is appended to the opening paragraphs of Ringeck's gloss of the same section; since it accompanies Ringeck's long sword and mounted fencing glosses, a possible explanation is that the scribe lacked a complete copy of Ringeck and tried to fill in the deficit with another similar text.

Branch C is first attested in the Vienna version (1480s). It is unclear whether it was derived independently from the original, represents an intermediate evolutionary step between Branches A and B, or was created by simply merging copies of the other branches together. The structure and contents of this branch very closely align with Branch B, lacking most of the unique plays of Branch A and including the gloss of the short sword, but the actual text is more consistent with that of Branch A (though not identical). The other substantial copy of Branch C is the Augsburg version II (1553), which was created by Paulus Hector Mair based on the writings of Antonius Rast, and which segues into the text of Ringeck's gloss for the final eighteen paragraphs. A substantial fragment of Branch C is present in five additional 16th century manuscripts alongside the illustrated treatise of Jörg Wilhalm Hutter; one of these, Glasgow II (1533) assigns the text a much earlier origin, stating that it was devised by one Nicolaüs in 1489. This branch has received the least attention and is currently the least understood.

Treatise

While all branches were originally presented in a single concordance in the pseudo-Peter von Danzig article, the differences between them are extensive enough that they merit separate consideration. Thus, Branch A has been placed on the page of Jud Lew, Branch B has been retained on the main pseudo-Danzig page, and branch C is presented here.

To allow easier comparison between the two complete versions, Augsburg II is presented in the column next to Vienna, before the earlier fragmentary versions.

Additional Resources

References

  1. His work is only associated with treatises by Aurgsubrg residents.
  2. The date of the Visitation of Mary, the feast day mentioned in the Glasgow version of his treatise.
  3. Both Augsburg and Salzburg contain significant scribal errors of omission that allow us to identify manuscripts copied from them.
  4. Zabinski, pp 82-83
  5. 5.0 5.1 In Hutter, there is no demarcation between the verse and the gloss, and these two paragraphs appear to belong to the verse.
  6. Vienna: cleave closely behind
  7. Vienna: completely wrong
  8. Written "with before" in the text, which marks indicating that the words should be reversed.
  9. Augsburg: "Gloss: When you arrive at the opponent, then whatever you wish to fence, drive that with your entire strength. Strike them to the head and to the body from close proximity and remain with your point in front of their face or chest, so that they cannot change through in front of your point. And then if they bind strongly against your sword and rise up high with their sword, then strike below to their body or give them a flesh wound upon their arm before they come to their senses and immediately dart back from that."
  10. Könnte auch als »thun« gelesen werden.
  11. Augsburg terminates here.
  12. Vienna: threats
  13. Augsburg II: You will learn about this hereafter
  14. Augsburg II: "Gloss: Note here the correct chief components of the recital of the long sword have been named and is seventeen side by side."
  15. Vienna: "those will be clarified.
  16. Augsburg II: descending cut
  17. sic. The next line reads: "then you cut from above from your right side as well" It is from their right side. The Augsburg II conserves this mistake
  18. Augsburg II: when the opponent strikes for your head from your right side from above
  19. Line is omitted from the Vienna
  20. Augsburg II: displace. (Matches the Lew)
  21. Augsburg II omits: or cut
  22. Vienna omits "not"
  23. Vienna omits "with all cuts and thrusts"
  24. The verse matching this is slightly different further down: "Learn to remain upon them if you wish to finish", but this phrasing does somewhat exist in the version of the zettel without the gloss in the Vienna, on folio 105r.
  25. Vienna omits with
  26. Augsburg II omits with
  27. Augsburg II omits: with the short edge
  28. Vienna omits: and with that, drop back down with your arms
  29. Vienna: pommel
  30. Augsburg II omits holding
  31. Abridged from pPvD
  32. Here the Vienna version is similar to Pseudo-Peter von Danzig, whereas the Augsberg version resembles Jud Lew.
  33. leer, scowl, make a secret or subtle glance.
  34. Leer at
  35. Leer
  36. Obviously the writer left out a part here because it starts with the right Plfug and ends with the left.
  37. Versetzen. To parry, transpose.
  38. Ansetzen. to plant or position something in a specific place.
  39. Here the Vienna version is similar to Jud Lew, whereas the Augsberg version resembles Pseudo-Peter von Danzig.
  40. kainer
  41. Korrigiert aus »das«.
  42. closing-in
  43. shifting
  44. curved, hollow, empty, concave, bowed, arched