Gregor Erhart

Gregor Erhart
Coat of Arms from Erhart's manual
Born	ca. 1468 (?) Ulm, Germany
Died	1540 Augsburg, Germany
Spouse(s)	Anna Daucher
Occupation	Sculptor
Influenced	Paulus Hector Mair
Genres	Fencing manual Wrestling manual
Language	Early New High German
Archetype(s)	MS E.1939.65.354 (1533) Cod. I.6.2º.4 (1545?)
Manuscript(s)	MS Dresd. C.94 (1542) Cod. 10826 (1550s) Cod.icon. 393 I (1550s)
Concordance by	Michael Chidester

Gregor Erhart (ca.1468? – 1540) was a 16th century German sculptor. He was born at Ulm, the son of sculptor Michel Erhart. No record of his life exists before 1494, when he was already working in Aurgburg, Germany. He married Anna Daucher sometime before he was made a master in 1496, and he continued to live in Augsburg until his death in 1540. Because Erhart never left a signature, his work can only be identified by stylistic analysis or researching the original commission. His greatest artistic achievement was probably the Madonna of Mercy that he sculpted for Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1515; in fact, there are no records of Erhart receiving any commissions after 1525.

HEMA Contributions

Though there are no records of Erhart participating in the fencing guilds, in 1533 he sketched the MS E.1939.65.354. This illustrated fencing manual covers Jörg Wilhalm's longsword and a series of uncaptioned devices of dagger and grappling; he also included copies of a number of unillustrated treatises by masters who stood in the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer. It later passed to Lienhart Sollinger, and subsequently Paulus Hector Mair; both men used it as a source for their respective fencing compendia.

Folio 85v

Folio 86v

Folio 87v

Folio 88v

Folio 89v

Folio 90v

Folio 91v

Folio 92v

Folio 93v

Folio 94v

Folio 95v

Folio 96v

Folio 97v

Folio 98v

Folio 99v

Folio 100v

Folio 101v

Folio 102v

Folio 103v

Folio 104v

Folio 105v

Folio 106v

Folio 107v

Folio 108v

Folio 109v

Folio 110v

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.

• Welle, Rainer (1993). '…und wisse das alle höbischeit kompt von deme ringen'. Der Ringkampf als adelige Kunst im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft. ISBN 3-89085-755-8.