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By this harsh art, many a courageous hero's life was stolen surreptitiously and from afar, who would otherwise could well have saved and made for himself an immortal name of praise by virtue of his knightly spirit. Plutarch writes [Apoph. fol: 61.], as ''Archidamus'' for the first time set eyes on a catapult, which was first invented in Sicily, he began to lament with a loud voice, by the god Hercules, the courage of men will go to ruin, as if he would say, if more such and alike instruments were to be invented and used in war, there will be no longer any difference between bawdy, slothful and lusty, valiant men-at-arms. And thus will decay all knightly exercise, and in its place all cunning, sloth and vice will grow apace, and such has regretfully happened and is now in full fashion. From this it has truly been shown over time that there is a great scarcity of doughty, brave and strong men who have invented artillery, mortars, catapults or other such implements. ''Socrates'' was asked by the Spartans, where were all the strong heroes and doughty, well-versed warriors. Well, said Socrates, at Troy. By which he wanted to convey that as at Troy was held knightly exercise but that there the very nucleus of Greek knighthood, warring for honour, had over time fallen, so that at the present time there was only left a shadow or spectre of their former praise. What can I say, oftentimes men, and especially the Roman emperor and king, were trying to aid this knightly art, but this has never really taken hold, as we have amply set out above. Finally, the knightly art has come to this, that it developed the Brotherhood known as Saint Mark's, which the most eminent, most mighty Roman emperors of most praiseworthy memory, Frederick, the third of this name, Maximilian, and now the invincible prince, Charles himself all three nobly born of the old and praiseworthy house of Austria,<ref name="Frederick">the successive Habsburg emperors Frederick III, Maximilian I and Charles V, spanning the period since the supposed disestablishment of the knightly tournament and the establishment of the Brotherhood of St. Mark or ''Marxbrüder''. The ''Freifechter'' denounced by Mair seem to represent an early form of the guild later known as ''Federfechter'' (unless the term still has a generic meaning, ''frei'' as in "unincorporated").</ref> so that this knightly exercise may not decay completely, and at this time may once again be aided with privileges and liberties, presented furnished with their best and most gracious sympathy. Namely such that on every autumn's fair in Frankfurt, those who would be or become master of the sword, must first be examined in their masterly test in the iron-run[?] and golden art by ordained and sworn masters of Saint Mark's Brotherhood, and all that is pertinent to the knightly fencing with all virtue they must request and confirm their completion under oath. These [masters of the sword] may then hold schools as far as does extend the Roman Empire of the German Nation and may teach to other men on their request the proper manner of the sword. But for two reasons this exercise is held in low regard, the first, that gamblers, drunkards, usurers and lovers of beautiful women have been given much room in the highest places, such as princely courts and in the chief cities of the empire, and knightly art and exercise may not thrive due to them, but must always stay hidden behind the door, and the second, that numerous masters of the sword and otherwise masters, also Freifechter and numerous other fencers, to their own damage and disadvantage and that of the praiseworthy ancient art, act ineptly and ignominiously, foster envy and hatred in their fencing in schools, such that the young would hold the old in contempt at the fencing-school, and force on them their wantonness, and in addition abuse themselves of too much wine, from which results much frivolous discord, much to the chagrin of the authorities, and causes a considerable decline in the noble art. All this then serves more the extirpation than to the taking root of the noble and ancient knightly art, as pains me at the heart, and I would rather (in the interest of the noble art) hide it by my silence than to report it, especially as these vices are also hardly conductive to civil order. So I would gladly instruct all pious honest fencers to the profit and benefit of the fatherland, in the hope that they should be rewarded for it by everlasting praise.
 
By this harsh art, many a courageous hero's life was stolen surreptitiously and from afar, who would otherwise could well have saved and made for himself an immortal name of praise by virtue of his knightly spirit. Plutarch writes [Apoph. fol: 61.], as ''Archidamus'' for the first time set eyes on a catapult, which was first invented in Sicily, he began to lament with a loud voice, by the god Hercules, the courage of men will go to ruin, as if he would say, if more such and alike instruments were to be invented and used in war, there will be no longer any difference between bawdy, slothful and lusty, valiant men-at-arms. And thus will decay all knightly exercise, and in its place all cunning, sloth and vice will grow apace, and such has regretfully happened and is now in full fashion. From this it has truly been shown over time that there is a great scarcity of doughty, brave and strong men who have invented artillery, mortars, catapults or other such implements. ''Socrates'' was asked by the Spartans, where were all the strong heroes and doughty, well-versed warriors. Well, said Socrates, at Troy. By which he wanted to convey that as at Troy was held knightly exercise but that there the very nucleus of Greek knighthood, warring for honour, had over time fallen, so that at the present time there was only left a shadow or spectre of their former praise. What can I say, oftentimes men, and especially the Roman emperor and king, were trying to aid this knightly art, but this has never really taken hold, as we have amply set out above. Finally, the knightly art has come to this, that it developed the Brotherhood known as Saint Mark's, which the most eminent, most mighty Roman emperors of most praiseworthy memory, Frederick, the third of this name, Maximilian, and now the invincible prince, Charles himself all three nobly born of the old and praiseworthy house of Austria,<ref name="Frederick">the successive Habsburg emperors Frederick III, Maximilian I and Charles V, spanning the period since the supposed disestablishment of the knightly tournament and the establishment of the Brotherhood of St. Mark or ''Marxbrüder''. The ''Freifechter'' denounced by Mair seem to represent an early form of the guild later known as ''Federfechter'' (unless the term still has a generic meaning, ''frei'' as in "unincorporated").</ref> so that this knightly exercise may not decay completely, and at this time may once again be aided with privileges and liberties, presented furnished with their best and most gracious sympathy. Namely such that on every autumn's fair in Frankfurt, those who would be or become master of the sword, must first be examined in their masterly test in the iron-run[?] and golden art by ordained and sworn masters of Saint Mark's Brotherhood, and all that is pertinent to the knightly fencing with all virtue they must request and confirm their completion under oath. These [masters of the sword] may then hold schools as far as does extend the Roman Empire of the German Nation and may teach to other men on their request the proper manner of the sword. But for two reasons this exercise is held in low regard, the first, that gamblers, drunkards, usurers and lovers of beautiful women have been given much room in the highest places, such as princely courts and in the chief cities of the empire, and knightly art and exercise may not thrive due to them, but must always stay hidden behind the door, and the second, that numerous masters of the sword and otherwise masters, also Freifechter and numerous other fencers, to their own damage and disadvantage and that of the praiseworthy ancient art, act ineptly and ignominiously, foster envy and hatred in their fencing in schools, such that the young would hold the old in contempt at the fencing-school, and force on them their wantonness, and in addition abuse themselves of too much wine, from which results much frivolous discord, much to the chagrin of the authorities, and causes a considerable decline in the noble art. All this then serves more the extirpation than to the taking root of the noble and ancient knightly art, as pains me at the heart, and I would rather (in the interest of the noble art) hide it by my silence than to report it, especially as these vices are also hardly conductive to civil order. So I would gladly instruct all pious honest fencers to the profit and benefit of the fatherland, in the hope that they should be rewarded for it by everlasting praise.
  
−
[Apoph. fol: .7.] '''''Plutarch''''' writes in his courtly aphorisms that the excellent scholar ''Carillus'' was asked, which were the most praiseworthy cities, and he answered to this effect, that those cities were the best and safest, in which the citizens do not quarrel for ambition or authority, but one desires to excel the other by means of manly virtue (but without rioting) and would gladly be the foremost in the furtherance of communal benefit. For this the gods of the Spartans were all conceived as wearing armour and carrying arms, as if they wanted to convey that even the gods themselves had enmity and hatred for sloth and idleness. But [now] all would defend lust and sloth and pretend that one could still rule and sustain a land and people, even though the knightly sport of fencing is no longer as much in fashion as it used to be in the beginning, because this art would also produce insolent, proud and foolhardy men, and for this reason should be closely supervised. To these I know no short answer, then it is true, that a regrettably large number of men who undertake to learn the knightly art within their own insolent wantonness, and that for this reason, they use their force to commit outrage and in anger cause injury to other men, as happened in Rome at one time as two fencing-masters did attach to themselves a great number of fencers and rioted in Italy causing so much damage to the common man that the mayors of Rome led the whole army against them, fought them, and had to exterminate them. Those, who are such men, I do not deem worthy of being named honest fencers, nor are they in no way worthy of any praise, and I do not wish to publish this work of honour to their praise, but to impel them to good virtue. Such reckless fencers to not consort with honourable men, but with lions, bears, leopards, tigers, wild cattle, and buffaloes, or with bad, outlawed, evil men as was the custom of the Romans. For their use of fencing and foolhardiness they shall receive no praise whatsoever from my part.
+
[Apoph. fol: .7.] ''Plutarch'' writes in his courtly aphorisms that the excellent scholar ''Carillus'' was asked, which were the most praiseworthy cities, and he answered to this effect, that those cities were the best and safest, in which the citizens do not quarrel for ambition or authority, but one desires to excel the other by means of manly virtue (but without rioting) and would gladly be the foremost in the furtherance of communal benefit. For this the gods of the Spartans were all conceived as wearing armour and carrying arms, as if they wanted to convey that even the gods themselves had enmity and hatred for sloth and idleness. But [now] all would defend lust and sloth and pretend that one could still rule and sustain a land and people, even though the knightly sport of fencing is no longer as much in fashion as it used to be in the beginning, because this art would also produce insolent, proud and foolhardy men, and for this reason should be closely supervised. To these I know no short answer, then it is true, that a regrettably large number of men who undertake to learn the knightly art within their own insolent wantonness, and that for this reason, they use their force to commit outrage and in anger cause injury to other men, as happened in Rome at one time as two fencing-masters did attach to themselves a great number of fencers and rioted in Italy causing so much damage to the common man that the mayors of Rome led the whole army against them, fought them, and had to exterminate them. Those, who are such men, I do not deem worthy of being named honest fencers, nor are they in no way worthy of any praise, and I do not wish to publish this work of honour to their praise, but to impel them to good virtue. Such reckless fencers to not consort with honourable men, but with lions, bears, leopards, tigers, wild cattle, and buffaloes, or with bad, outlawed, evil men as was the custom of the Romans. For their use of fencing and foolhardiness they shall receive no praise whatsoever from my part.
  
 
'''But there is found no''' faculty in all the world which does not share in such danger and worry, for a man may study whatever he likes, be he a ''theologian, jurist, medicus'' or some other besides, if his heart is not honest, pious and his spirit not upright, then all that which he is capable of and which he studied will only serve to the detriment and damage of himself and of others. Therefore no-one who desires to learn the knightly art should be dismayed by such lazy insinuations, and it does seem to me that such lazy insinuation does exclusively emanate from lazy and ignominious men who as the Epicureans put their attention only on all laziness and bodily lust, and that they have good and lazy days, a calm life, the best dainties, the best wine and drink according to all their whims and pleasure, may God provide for honest manhood and knightly sport by which land and people are sustained, and if these would utterly decay, they would not care much. Yea they would not care to have their garment wrinkled[?] for the sake of the common good, and that much less would they risk the smallest part of their pleasure. These are the right fellows born in the kingdom of Cockaigne. The ancients have composed a fable of the land of Cockaigne as a determent for the young, where the houses are built from gingerbread, with fences made from wattled sausages, and hail and rain of sugar, the streams and fountains are filled with tasty wine, and all fowls are roasted, and do not have to be caught but roasted they fly into the mouth of anyone who so desires. Also, who can sleep and keep lazy for the longest time, and can hold himself with superfluous eating and drinking in a way that goes against nature, these are supported by a liberal yearly provision, and other similar things besides, such is contained in the order and statutes of this land of Cockaigne.<ref name="Schlaraffen">''Schlaraffenland'' is the German adaptation of ''Coquaigne'' (''Cucania''), first encountered in the 15th century (as ''schlauraff'', ''schluderaffe'') and popularised by Hans Sachs (1558). The name seems to originate as an (unattested) medieval slur meaning "lazy idler", ''schlu(de)r-affe'', lit. "drooping ape".</ref> But while the ancients had the opposite intent in this, and wanted to incite the lazy men to prowess by means of mockery, these fellows are so much opposed to it as if they would want to own the land of Cockaigne, and take a position of government and authority therein, and all good arts they disdain, besmirch and even try to extirpate by their lazy insinuation just to gloss over their slothfulness and their inert, godless lives.
 
'''But there is found no''' faculty in all the world which does not share in such danger and worry, for a man may study whatever he likes, be he a ''theologian, jurist, medicus'' or some other besides, if his heart is not honest, pious and his spirit not upright, then all that which he is capable of and which he studied will only serve to the detriment and damage of himself and of others. Therefore no-one who desires to learn the knightly art should be dismayed by such lazy insinuations, and it does seem to me that such lazy insinuation does exclusively emanate from lazy and ignominious men who as the Epicureans put their attention only on all laziness and bodily lust, and that they have good and lazy days, a calm life, the best dainties, the best wine and drink according to all their whims and pleasure, may God provide for honest manhood and knightly sport by which land and people are sustained, and if these would utterly decay, they would not care much. Yea they would not care to have their garment wrinkled[?] for the sake of the common good, and that much less would they risk the smallest part of their pleasure. These are the right fellows born in the kingdom of Cockaigne. The ancients have composed a fable of the land of Cockaigne as a determent for the young, where the houses are built from gingerbread, with fences made from wattled sausages, and hail and rain of sugar, the streams and fountains are filled with tasty wine, and all fowls are roasted, and do not have to be caught but roasted they fly into the mouth of anyone who so desires. Also, who can sleep and keep lazy for the longest time, and can hold himself with superfluous eating and drinking in a way that goes against nature, these are supported by a liberal yearly provision, and other similar things besides, such is contained in the order and statutes of this land of Cockaigne.<ref name="Schlaraffen">''Schlaraffenland'' is the German adaptation of ''Coquaigne'' (''Cucania''), first encountered in the 15th century (as ''schlauraff'', ''schluderaffe'') and popularised by Hans Sachs (1558). The name seems to originate as an (unattested) medieval slur meaning "lazy idler", ''schlu(de)r-affe'', lit. "drooping ape".</ref> But while the ancients had the opposite intent in this, and wanted to incite the lazy men to prowess by means of mockery, these fellows are so much opposed to it as if they would want to own the land of Cockaigne, and take a position of government and authority therein, and all good arts they disdain, besmirch and even try to extirpate by their lazy insinuation just to gloss over their slothfulness and their inert, godless lives.
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| <p>'''The six vulnerabilities of the human body'''</p>
 
| <p>'''The six vulnerabilities of the human body'''</p>
  
−
<p>There are six vulnerabilities with every person, which every fencer shall have in good practice, memory and knowledge, that is one vulnerability on the tip of your chin, one in the front of your throat, one behind each elbow, one in front at the fist, one in the middle of the arm and in the back of each knee. So these are the six vulnerabilities of each human, which a practiced [fencer] '''can exploit from one advantage to the next, and can work from as he pleases.</p>
+
<p>There are six vulnerabilities with every person, which every fencer shall have in good practice, memory and knowledge, that is one vulnerability on the tip of your chin, one in the front of your throat, one behind each elbow, one in front at the fist, one in the middle of the arm and in the back of each knee. So these are the six vulnerabilities of each human, which a practiced [fencer] can exploit from one advantage to the next, and can work from as he pleases.</p>
 
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{{section|Page:MS Dresd.C.93 019r.png|2|lbl=-|p=1}} {{section|Page:MS Dresd.C.93 019v.png|1|lbl=019v|p=1}}
 
{{section|Page:MS Dresd.C.93 019r.png|2|lbl=-|p=1}} {{section|Page:MS Dresd.C.93 019v.png|1|lbl=019v|p=1}}
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| <p>Assume one [fencer] '''not familiar with these six vulnerabilities, he will not achieve much, whereas otherwise he is able to artfully defeat an attacker by taking advantage of these six vulnerabilities.  These six vulnerabilities are to be sought on the right and on the left side of every person.</p>
+
| <p>Assume one [fencer] not familiar with these six vulnerabilities, he will not achieve much, whereas otherwise he is able to artfully defeat an attacker by taking advantage of these six vulnerabilities.  These six vulnerabilities are to be sought on the right and on the left side of every person.</p>
 
| {{section|Page:MS Dresd.C.93 019v.png|2|lbl=-}}
 
| {{section|Page:MS Dresd.C.93 019v.png|2|lbl=-}}
 
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Revision as of 23:56, 28 August 2017

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
Movement
Influences
Genres
Language
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 (Paulsen Hektor Mair, Paulus Hector Meyer; 1517 – 1579) was a 16th century German aristocrat, civil servant, and fencer. He was born in 1517 to a wealthy and influential Augsburg patrician family. 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 treatises. He began his civil service as a secretary to the Augsburg City Council; by 1541, Mair was the City Treasurer, and in 1545 he also took on the office of Master of Rations.

Mair's martial background is unknown, but as a citizen of a free city he would have had military obligations whenever the city went to war, and as a member of a patrician family he likely served in the cavalry. He was also an avid collector of fencing treatises and other literature on military history. Like his contemporary Joachim Meÿer, Mair believed that the Medieval martial arts were being forgotten, and he saw this as a tragedy, idealizing the arts of fencing as a civilizing and character-building influence on men. Where Meÿer sought to update the traditional fencing systems and apply them to contemporary weapons of war and defense, Mair was more interested in preserving historical teachings intact. Thus, some time in the latter part of the 1540s he commissioned what would become the most extensive compendium of German fencing treatises ever made, a massive two-volume manuscript compiling virtually every fencing treatise he could access. He retained famed artist Jörg Breu the Younger to create the illustrations for the text,[1] and hired two Augsburg fencers to pose for the illustrations.[2] This project was extraordinarily expensive and took at least four years to complete. Ultimately, three copies of this compendium were produced, each more extensive than the last; the first (MSS Dresden C.93/C.94) was written in Early New High German, the second and most artistically ambitious (Cod.icon. 393) in New Latin, and the third and final version (Cod. 10825/10826) incorporated both languages.

Beginning in the 1540s, Mair began purchasing older fencing manuscripts, some from fellow collector Lienhart Sollinger (a Freifechter who lived in Augsburg for many years) and others from auctions. Perhaps most significant of all of his acquisitions was the partially-completed treatise of Antonius Rast, a Master of the Long Sword and three-time captain of the Marxbrüder fencing guild. The venerable master left in incomplete when he died in 1549, and Mair ultimately produced a complete fencing manual (Reichsstadt "Schätze" Nr. 82) based on his notes. Ultimately, he owned over a dozen fencing manuscripts over the course of his life, including the following:

He also used several printed books as source material for his compendia, and presumably owned copies, including Der Altenn Fechter anfengliche kunst (compiled by Christian Egenolff), Opera Nova by Achille Marozzo, and Ringer Kunst by Fabian von Auerswald.

Mair not only spent incredible sums of money on his fencing interests, but generally lead a lavish lifestyle and maintained his political influence with expensive parties and other entertainments for the burghers and patricians of Augsburg. This habit of living far beyond his means for decades exhausted his family's wealth, eventually leading him to sell the Latin version of his fencing manuscript (netting the princely sum of 800 florins) and finally to begin embezzling money from the Augsburg city coffers. This embezzlement was not discovered for many years (or perhaps was overlooked due to the favor his parties garnered), until finally in 1579 a disgruntled assistant reported him to the Augsburg City Council and provoked an audit of his books. Mair was arrested, tried, and hanged as a thief at the age of 62. After Mair's death, his effects (including his library) were sold at auction to recoup some of the funds he had embezzled.

Whether viewed as an unwise scholar who paid the ultimate price for his art or an ignoble thief who violated his city's trust, 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; his own works are impressive on both an artistic and practical level, and his extensive commentary on the uncaptioned treatises in his collection serves to make potentially useful training aids out of what would otherwise be mere curiosities. Finally, in purchasing so many important fencing treatises he succeeded in preserving them for future generations; they were purchased by the fabulously wealthy Fugger family after his death and ultimately passed to the Augsburg University Library, where they remain to this day.

Treatise

Much of Mair's content represents his revision and expansion of the older treatises listed above, including adding descriptive content to uncaptioned images. Where available, these images are displayed in the left-most column, labeled "Source Images", for comparison purposes. Mair's own illustrations appear in the second image column.

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. ↑ Breu is not listed in the Augsburg tax records in 1542-3; given Mair's youth, he most likely hired Breu between his return in 1544 and his death in 1547.
  2. ↑ Hils 1985, pp 197-201.
  3. ↑ Further, incidentally.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chronicon Abbatis Urspergensis, the Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg (13th century), printed in Augsburg 1515.
  5. ↑ The amphitheatre of Fidenae (the modern Borgata Fidena, a suburb of Rome), endowed by a freed slave named Atilius, collapsed in 27 BC under the weight of a large crowd of spectators, apparently due to faults in construction. According to the (likely exaggerated) account by Tacitus (Annales, 4.63), a total of 50,000 people died in the collapse.
  6. ↑ wohl Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus (starb 47 n. Chr.)
  7. ↑ The preceding three paragraphs are missing in the Dresden version.
  8. ↑ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 71 – ca. 135), author of De vita Caesarum (ca. AD 120).
  9. ↑ Dresden version: four hundred.
  10. ↑ Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius (225 – 244), Marcus Iulius Philippus (ca. 204 - 249)
  11. ↑ Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (AD 131 – 201)
  12. ↑ This may be in reference to 2 Timothy 2:4, rendered by Luther (1522) as: Niemant streyttet vnnd flicht sich ynn der narung geschefft, auff das er gefalle dem, der yhn zum streytter auffgenomen hat "None who would fight does meddle in the business of sustenance, so that he may please him who employed him as a fighter". Now Luthers narung "sustenance, nutrition, food" offers itself to an interpretation of "gluttony; carnal pleasure", but it translates pragmateiai biou, meaning "the pragmatics of life", i.e. "everyday business". c.f. Tyndale (1526), who has "No man that warreth, entangleth himself with worldly business, and that because he would please him that hath chosen him to be a soldier"; Dresden has "temporal" (zeitlich) rather than "transient" (zergenglich).
  13. ↑ This is a reference to Pliny, Nat. Hist. 30.32: "When a freedman of Nero was giving a gladiatorial show at Antium, the public porticoes were covered with paintings, so we are told, containing life-like portraits of all the gladiators and assistants. This portraiture of gladiators has been the highest interest in art for many centuries now, but it was Gaius Terentius who began the practice of having pictures made of gladiatorial shows and exhibited in public; in honour of his grandfather who had adopted him he provided thirty pairs of Gladiators in the Forum for three consecutive days, and exhibited a picture of the matches in the Grove of Diana."
  14. ↑ Anacharsis the Scythian, according to Herodotus (4.46, 76 f.) brother of the Scythian king Saulinos; attributed to him are inventions such as the anchor, bellows and pottery wheel. He was slain by his brother after he returned from a journey to Greece and began to advocate Greek culture to his countrymen. He is sometimes counted as one of the Seven Sages of Athens. Among a number of letters attributed to him is one addressed to the Lydian king Croesus.
  15. ↑ Johannes Aventinus (Johann Georg Turmair von Abensberg, 1477–1534), historiographer at the Bavarian court.
  16. ↑ Gampar is the seventh king in the (fictional) genealogy of the kings of the ancient Germans going back to the Great Flood in Aventinus' Annales (1522). Aventinus gives Gampar's regnal years as 1711–1667 BC.
  17. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 275 – 339)
  18. ↑ Pittakos of Mitylene (Lesbos), 7th c. BC, one of the Seven Sages. He led the Mitylenians against the Athenians and arranged a duel with Phrynon, an Olympic champion in pankration, by which to settle the war. He defeated Phrynon by trapping him in a net. The greater Ajay met Hector in place of Achilles (Iliad 7.181), the fight lasted the entire day and Hector was lightly wounded, and the heroes then parted with mutual respect. Porus, "king of India" was defeated by Alexander in the battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC. I have so far failed to identify Pyrechmen and Degmemnus.
  19. ↑ Mair gives more detail on this judicial duel of 1409 in the second volume. According to this account, the combatants were Wilhelm Marschalk von Dornsberg and Theodor Haschenacker, and the shields of the combatants were preserved in St. Leonard's church outside of the city until the tower of this church was demolished on 3 November 1542.
  20. ↑ Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata ("Sayings of kings and emperors") in Plutarch's Moralia.
  21. ↑ Vienna: mit schaden "with damage", Dresden: mit schanden "with dishonour/ignominy".
  22. ↑ Tacitus' Germania was unknown during the medieval period; rediscovered in 1455, the text was popularized in German humanism only from c. 1500; it is summarized by Aventinus, who is Mair's source, in his Annales ducum Boiariae (1522), the German-language edition of which (Bairische Chronik 1533) was just about ten years old when Mair wrote his text.
  23. ↑ pafese read for gafese (i.e. pavese, the infantry shields comparable to the Roman rectangular shields of the early imperial period)
  24. ↑ Tuisto is the primeval god of the Germanic peoples according to Tacitus. Aventinus euhemerizes him as the grandson of Noah and first king of the Germans (r. 2214–2038 BC). Herman here is not the historical Arminius, but the fifth king in Aventinus' list (r. 1820–1757 BC), founder of the Herminones or continental Germans.
  25. ↑ Mair's source is the Turnierbuch of Georg Rüxner (c. 1490), edited in Augsburg by Marx Würsung (1518). Rüxner describes a series of 36 "imperial tournaments" (Reichs-Turniere) between 938 and 1487, beginning with a legendary tournament held in Magdeburg during what Rüxner makes out as the reign of Henry I the Fowler.
  26. ↑ the successive Habsburg emperors Frederick III, Maximilian I and Charles V, spanning the period since the supposed disestablishment of the knightly tournament and the establishment of the Brotherhood of St. Mark or Marxbrüder. The Freifechter denounced by Mair seem to represent an early form of the guild later known as Federfechter (unless the term still has a generic meaning, frei as in "unincorporated").
  27. ↑ Schlaraffenland is the German adaptation of Coquaigne (Cucania), first encountered in the 15th century (as schlauraff, schluderaffe) and popularised by Hans Sachs (1558). The name seems to originate as an (unattested) medieval slur meaning "lazy idler", schlu(de)r-affe, lit. "drooping ape".
  28. ↑ Ligatura non sequitur.
  29. ↑ Non sequitur.
  30. ↑ Ninus: the legendary founder of Nineveh according to Ctesias (Persica, ca. 400 BC); Ctesias' Sardanapolus corresponds to Ashurbanipal (669 - 627 BC); Ctesias is a rather unreliable source by comparison with Herodotus and the Ptolemaic king list; but in any case knowledge on the Assyrian empire was very limited before the decipherment of cuneiform in the 1850s.
  31. ↑ Gideon: Judges 7:4-7; David: Psalm 144:1: "Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight" (KJV).
  32. ↑ Mair writes “Kunstfechtbuch”; “art of fencing” would be “Fechtkunst”. It is not clear whether this is just a question of usage or a deliberate difference.
  33. ↑ “Welsch” refers to neighbouring peoples speaking a romance language, so it could mean French, Italian, Spanish or Romansh. The Cod. icon. 393 text translates to “Fencing on foot, in which we use round shields and Spanish swords, in the fashion of the Italians, is 56 plays”).
  34. ↑ Mair here uses “die Wag” (pl. “Wagen”), which I am assuming refers to “balance scale” (die Waage, pl. Waagen), and by extension the structure providing for the balance. It could also be derived from “wagen” (to dare), but the derivation is not convincing. A derivation from “der Wagen” (cart, carriage) is linguistically not supported. The other two MS do not contain this passage, so a comparison is not possible.
  35. ↑ 'Long edge' is not listed in ty.
  36. ↑ sic : beide
  37. ↑ Marginalie unleserlich
  38. ↑ ”streck dein leyb und deine armen wol”
  39. ↑ sic : seinem ?
  40. ↑ The words are marked with numbers above. Probably it is to keep track of word order.
  41. ↑ sic : hinndersich
  42. ↑ sic : widerumb
  43. ↑ sic : seinem
  44. ↑ sic : schniten
  45. ↑ sic : seinnen ?
  46. ↑ 21r
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Choosing to read this as equivalent to modern German einengen. “Trapped” as a translation for eineinden follows from this choice. Buyer beware.
  48. ↑ Corrections indicate it should be zu Im hinein
  49. ↑ The illustration suggests that this action should be done to your left side, rather than to your right.
  50. ↑ "Not the lower point". Why the awkward construction here? Why not say superiorem mucronem (or proper Latin equivalent)?
  51. ↑ Literally: put
  52. ↑ Literally: pull back the left foot
  53. ↑ German: his
  54. ↑ German: grab with your left hand from below outside over his right arm
  55. ↑ rechten
  56. ↑ Barred, or bolted.
  57. ↑ Pliers, or fire-tongs.
  58. ↑ Wrestlers wear a leather collar? Hmmm...
  59. ↑ Comb, carder?
  60. ↑ A variant on the o-goshi in judo.
  61. ↑ sic : Im mit
  62. ↑ »sst« oberhalb der Zeile korrigiert aus »fft«
  63. ↑ A technique for putting the opponent down head first with his feet in the air.
  64. ↑ Dagger pommel?! I have actually no idea what he is thinking here. My only guess is that it was late on Friday afternoon, and must have mistaken ”kopff” with ”knopff”.
  65. ↑ Which is what?
  66. ↑ Note: Change of grip required, or the illustration does not match.
  67. ↑ Dagger transfer necessary at this point.
  68. ↑ Note: person on left side starts with the dagger in the left hand according to the illustration.
  69. ↑ Note: push down, not out
  70. ↑ Arbait - technical term: work, force, struggle
  71. ↑ Vienna and Munich MS Latin: right.
  72. ↑ read: locitur
  73. ↑ Latin: snatch up.
  74. ↑ Note: the illustration shows ice-pick grip.
  75. ↑ "You will lick it!" Not pleasant if the dagger is lying on it. Especially in cold weather.
  76. ↑ May not represent the changing though described.
  77. ↑ Note illustration shows ice-pick grip.
  78. ↑ Note: left is corrected from a right. Left is correct.
  79. ↑ This seems to imply both parallel action and simultaneity.
  80. ↑ Reib - strong twisting, bending, rotating motion.
  81. ↑ Image shows left.
  82. ↑ From the inner side.
  83. ↑ From the Latin text
  84. ↑ Correct from underich.
  85. ↑ Could also mean immediately
  86. ↑ Only in the Latin.
  87. ↑ Inn - unclear whether directional or locational.
  88. ↑ The one in the left hand?
  89. ↑ Only in the Latin.
  90. ↑ Possible abbreviation of gegen – geg.
  91. ↑ Odd squiggle in the middle—f from previous line?
  92. ↑ Scribal error for pungito?
  93. ↑ Strange squiggle above the c.
  94. ↑ Squiggle – looks like the Munich MS symbol for us?
  95. ↑ Error for interim?
  96. ↑ Written as “in Clinando”
  97. ↑ NB, likely scribal error for “laevam”
  98. ↑ Second u has three dots almost like ǜ.
  99. ↑ Error for dextrum?
  100. ↑ 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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