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{{:Paulus Hector Mair/Flail}}
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{| class="wikitable floated master"
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|-
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! Source Images
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! Images
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from the [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393)|Munich Version]]
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! {{rating|C}}
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by [[Jason Taylor]]
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! [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (MSS Dresd.C.93/C.94)|Dresden Version I]] (1550s)
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by [[Pierre-Henry Bas]]
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! [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10825/10826)|Vienna Version I]] (1550s) [German]
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! [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10825/10826)|Vienna Version I]] (1550s) [Latin]
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! [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393)|Munich Version I]] (1550s)
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! [[Jörg Breu Sketchbook (Cod.I.6.2º.4)|Jörg Breu's Sketchbook]] (1545)
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by [[Michael Chidester]]
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|-
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| [[File:Mair flail 01.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/441]]
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'''[1] Two over-strikes with the flail'''
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Item: Do like this: in this play, when you come together, stand with your left foot forward and hold your flail with your left hand at the lower end, and your flail-head and staff next to each other in your right hand. In this play, strike him with your flail-head to the right side of his head. If he strikes you in this way, and you are standing also with your left foot stand against him, and hold your flail with your left hand by the back end, and with your flail-head and staff beside each other in your right hand, displace his strike (lit. “take his strike off”) with your flail-head to your left side. Simultaneously exchange your left hand in place of your right and follow with your right leg in and strike him with the back end against his left arm. If he strikes at you in this way, hang with your staff on your right side; displace his strike with that; simultaneously step in a triangle and strike him with your flail-head to his head. With that, step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|219r|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|209r|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 02.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/442]]
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'''[2] An over-strike against a taking away'''
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Item: When you come together, do like this: In this play, stand with your left foot forward and hold your flail with your right hand high on your staff, and your left at the back end. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to the head. If he would strike you from above in this way, and you also stand with your left foot against him and hold your flail with your left hand by the back end, and your right hand in the middle of your staff, then step in with your right leg and displace the strike to the right side. With this, follow with your left leg in and strike him with your flail-head to the right side of his body. If he strikes to you in this way, step with your left foot backward and displace him with your flail-head to your right side. Meanwhile, step nimbly in a triangle and strike him with your flail-head to his right side; with that, step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|219v|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|209v|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 03.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/443]]
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'''[3] Two binds with the flail'''
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Item: Do like this in this play: When you come together, stand with your left foot forward and hold your flail in the bind with your left hand by the back end, and your right hand in the middle of your staff. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to the right side of his head. If strikes you from above in this way, and you stand with your right foot against him and hold your flail also with your right hand in the middle of your staff, your left on the back end, then drive against his strike with your flail and bind him on the staff of his flail. With that, displace his strike away to your left side as you follow with your left leg in and strike him with your flail-head to the right side of his body. If he strikes you in this way to your right side, then displace him with your flail to your left side as you step with your right leg to his left side and strike him with your flail to his head. With that, step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|220r|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|210r|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 04.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/444]]
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'''[4] A strike to the head against a taking-off.'''
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Item: When you come together, do like this in this play: stand with your right foot forward. Hold the flail with both hands on the rear end of your staff. Meanwhile, strike him to the right side with the flail-head. If he strikes you from above in this way and you stand with your left foot against him and hold your flail with your right hand in the middle of your staff, your left by the back end, and stand truly in the Scales, so step back with your left leg and displace his strike away with the staff of your flail toward your left side. Simultaneously step nimbly with your left leg in again and strike him to the right side of his head. If he strikes at you in this way from above, displace him to the right side; meanwhile, follow in with your left leg and strike him on the right side of his head. If he strikes you in this way, then displace him to your right side. Meanwhile, follow with your left leg behind, and strike him to the left side of his head, and step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|220v|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|210v|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 05.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/445]]
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'''[5] An over-strike with the flail'''
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Item: Do like this: In this play, when you come together, stand with your right foot forward and hold your flail with your right hand in the middle of your staff, your left hand at the back end. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to his extended left leg. If he strikes you below in this way, then withdraw your foot; meanwhile, step nimbly in again with the aforementioned leg upon his flail. So is his strike in vain. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to his head or shoulder on his right side so that you bring the arms crosswise over each other. If he strikes at you in this way from above, and has stepped with his left foot upon your flail, then again seize your staff with your right hand. Meanwhile, step with your right leg back and pull your flail hard to you. So you escape the strike. Meanwhile, step nimbly with your right foot again and strike him with your staff to his arm. With that, withdraw yourself back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|221r|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|211r|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 06.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/446]]
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'''[6] An over-strike against a middle'''
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Item: When you come together, do like this: In this play stand with your left foot forward and hold your flail with both hands on your staff against the man on the right side. Meanwhile, strike him a middle blow with your flail-head to his body, in and around from his left side to his right. If he strikes you to your body in this way, and you stand with your right foot against him and hold your flail in the high guard against the man with both hands on the staff, then drive under with the staff, and with that displace his staff to your right side. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to his head. If he strikes you also from above in this way, then step with your left leg back and drive over with your flail, and displace his strike out and away to your left side. Meanwhile, step in again with the aforementioned leg and strike with your flail to the left side of his neck; with that , step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|221v|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|211v|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 07.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/447]]
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'''[7] An over-strike against an under-strike'''
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Item: Do like this: With this play, when you come together, stand against the man with your left foot forward truly in the Scales and hold your flail so that the staff is in both hands on the ground. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to his left extended foot. If he strikes you below in this way, then withdraw your left leg back, step with that out of his strike; instantly step with the aforementioned foot nimbly in again and strike him with your flail-head to his back. If he then stands in the Scales against you, and strikes you in this way from above, then step with your left leg back and displace his strike away with your flail to your right side. Instantly step with your left foot in again and strike him with your flail-head to the right side of his body. If he displaces that, then step in the triangle and strike him with your flail-head to his head. With that, step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|222r|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|212r|jpg}}
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| [[File:Mair flail 08.jpg|300x300px|center|link=http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn275428508/448]]
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'''[8] Two more over strikes'''
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Item: When you come together, so hold yourself like this: With this play stand with your right foot forward and hold your flail with your right hand in the middle of your staff, your left hand by the back end. Meanwhile, strike him with your flail-head to his left arm. If he strikes you in this way from above, and you also stand against him with your right foot and hold your flail with your right hand on the flail-head, your left on the lower end by the chest, then displace him with your staff to your left side and, with that, strike him to his neck on his left side. If he strikes you from above in this way, then displace him with the staff of your flail to the left side, simultaneously step with your left leg twice on the triangle and strike him with your flail-head to the right side of his body. If he sets that aside, then strike him with the lower end (of your staff) to the left side of his head; with that, step back from him.
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| {{paget|Page:MS Dresd.C.93|222v|png}}
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 I|212v|jpg}}
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Revision as of 03:12, 9 March 2014

Paulus Hector Mair

"Mair", Cod.icon. 312b f 64r
Born 1517
Augsburg, Germany
Died 10 Dec 1579 (age 62)
Augsburg, Germany
Occupation
  • Civil servant
  • Historian
Nationality German
Movement
Influences
Genres
Language
Notable work(s) Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica
Manuscript(s)
First printed
english edition		 Knight and Hunt, 2008
Concordance by Michael Chidester
Translations Traduction française
Signature Paulus Hector Mair Sig.png

Paulus Hector Mair (1517 – 1579) was a 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.

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.

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 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 David 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.

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 the Younger to create the art for the text, and according to Hils Mair also hired two fencing masters to pose for the illustrations.[citation needed] 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.

Whether viewed as a noble scholar who made the ultimate sacrifice for his art or an ignoble thief who robbed the city that trusted him, Mair remains one of the most influential figures in the history of Kunst des Fechtens. By completing the fencing manual of Antonius Rast, Mair gave us valuable insight into the Nuremberg fencing tradition, and his extensive commentary on the uncaptioned treatises in his collection serves to make useful training aids out of what would otherwise be mere curiosities. Finally, while his collection of manuscripts was dispersed after his death, most been preserved to this day instead of disappearing as did so many others, significantly expanding the corpus of historical European martial arts literature.

Mair's Collection

The following are the fencing manuals that Mair is known to have owned during his life:

Manuscripts

Books

Treatise

Additional Resources

  • Hunt, Brian. "Paulus Hector Mair: Peasant Staff and Flail." Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts. Ed. Jeffrey Hull. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58160-668-3
  • Knight, David James, and Hunt, Brian. The Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58160-644-7

References

  1. ↑ 'Long edge' is not listed in ty.
  2. ↑ sic : beide
  3. ↑ Marginalie unleserlich
  4. ↑ ”streck dein leyb und deine armen wol”
  5. ↑ sic : seinem ?
  6. ↑ The words are marked with numbers above. Probably it is to keep track of word order.
  7. ↑ sic : hinndersich
  8. ↑ sic : widerumb
  9. ↑ sic : seinem
  10. ↑ sic : schniten
  11. ↑ sic : seinnen ?
  12. ↑ 21r
  13. ↑ Literally: put
  14. ↑ Literally: pull back the left foot
  15. ↑ German: his
  16. ↑ German: grab with your left hand from below outside over his right arm
  17. ↑ rechten
  18. ↑ Barred, or bolted.
  19. ↑ Pliers, or fire-tongs.
  20. ↑ Wrestlers wear a leather collar? Hmmm...
  21. ↑ Comb, carder?
  22. ↑ A variant on the o-goshi in judo.
  23. ↑ sic : Im mit
  24. ↑ »sst« oberhalb der Zeile korrigiert aus »fft«
  25. ↑ Which is what?
  26. ↑ Note: Change of grip required, or the illustration does not match.
  27. ↑ Dagger transfer necessary at this point.
  28. ↑ Note: person on left side starts with the dagger in the left hand according to the illustration.
  29. ↑ Note: push down, not out
  30. ↑ Arbait - technical term: work, force, struggle
  31. ↑ Vienna and Munich MS Latin: right.
  32. ↑ read: locitur
  33. ↑ Latin: snatch up.
  34. ↑ Note: the illustration shows ice-pick grip.
  35. ↑ "You will lick it!" Not pleasant if the dagger is lying on it. Especially in cold weather.
  36. ↑ May not represent the changing though described.
  37. ↑ Note illustration shows ice-pick grip.
  38. ↑ Note: left is corrected from a right. Left is correct.
  39. ↑ This seems to imply both parallel action and simultaneity.
  40. ↑ Reib - strong twisting, bending, rotating motion.
  41. ↑ Image shows left.
  42. ↑ From the inner side.
  43. ↑ From the Latin text
  44. ↑ Correct from underich.
  45. ↑ Could also mean immediately
  46. ↑ Only in the Latin.
  47. ↑ Inn - unclear whether directional or locational.
  48. ↑ The one in the left hand?
  49. ↑ Only in the Latin.
  50. ↑ Possible abbreviation of gegen – geg.
  51. ↑ Odd squiggle in the middle—f from previous line?
  52. ↑ Scribal error for pungito?
  53. ↑ Strange squiggle above the c.
  54. ↑ Squiggle – looks like the Munich MS symbol for us?
  55. ↑ Error for interim?
  56. ↑ Written as “in Clinando”
  57. ↑ NB, likely scribal error for “laevam”
  58. ↑ Second u has three dots almost like ǜ.
  59. ↑ Error for dextrum?
  60. ↑ sic : verborgnen
Early Germanic Traditions
Common Fencing Johannes Liechtenauer reversed.jpg
Wrestling
Liechtenauer
Tradition
Beringer Verse
Augsburg Tradition
Other Works
Fabris Tradition
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