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That the Roman people loved the knightly sport to such an extent, and was assiduous to learn and visit it, that they once in such great number came to the ''Theatrum'' and show-houses, that these, in spite of being built with art and strength, could not endure such zest of the population that, as ''Livius'' writes, at ''Fidena'' such a house due to the great weight did collapse and fell to the ground, killing two thousand men.<ref name="Fidena">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.</ref> Even in the current day, in many places such former and collapsed show-houses can be seen in Greece, Italy and Lombardy, especially in Rome and in Verona.
 
That the Roman people loved the knightly sport to such an extent, and was assiduous to learn and visit it, that they once in such great number came to the ''Theatrum'' and show-houses, that these, in spite of being built with art and strength, could not endure such zest of the population that, as ''Livius'' writes, at ''Fidena'' such a house due to the great weight did collapse and fell to the ground, killing two thousand men.<ref name="Fidena">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.</ref> Even in the current day, in many places such former and collapsed show-houses can be seen in Greece, Italy and Lombardy, especially in Rome and in Verona.
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'''Above we have heard''' how this knightly art of manhood was afforded and established by the learned and wise, also by the kings and princes as leaders of lands and kingdoms, which was done for the reason that land and people, widows and orphans would be kept in peace, calm and liberty, protected and saved from tyrants. For this to have its perfect and prosperous success, the highest heads, i.e. kings, princes, consuls and senators, did themselves undertake, learn and practice this knightly art, so as to present an example and motivation for their subjects, and there would be a great number of high potentates, i.e. emperors, kings, princes and noblemen, to be named at this point, which I have foregone, particularly in the case of the Greeks, not to put too much of a burden on the kind reader, and only alone the most notable Romans will I most briefly introduce and describe as a testimonial on the topic.
 
'''Above we have heard''' how this knightly art of manhood was afforded and established by the learned and wise, also by the kings and princes as leaders of lands and kingdoms, which was done for the reason that land and people, widows and orphans would be kept in peace, calm and liberty, protected and saved from tyrants. For this to have its perfect and prosperous success, the highest heads, i.e. kings, princes, consuls and senators, did themselves undertake, learn and practice this knightly art, so as to present an example and motivation for their subjects, and there would be a great number of high potentates, i.e. emperors, kings, princes and noblemen, to be named at this point, which I have foregone, particularly in the case of the Greeks, not to put too much of a burden on the kind reader, and only alone the most notable Romans will I most briefly introduce and describe as a testimonial on the topic.
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Likewise the Roman senator Palustrinus writes on the Roman insurgence and rabblement of Catilinus that the most famous prince of all orators, Cicero, at the time Roman mayor and keeper of the city of Rome, upon whom the entire senate of the city of Rome laid the burden of the Roman public interest so that the city would not take ruinous damage by the impudent rabblement of Catilinus, among other prudent actions did order to assemble all valiant and honest masters of the sword, and their associated families and disciples, who in all weapons had learned, been instructed and exercised in how to use them to full advantage, not just in the city of Rome but also in Capua and other cities of Italy, which thereafter did receive the Roman freedom, so that they in the most dire need of the city of Rome did handsomely perform the most urgent office of the night-watch, which council the worthy Romans took in this and in similar pernicious riots, so that the noble Romans did ever and always hold this knightly art in highest honour so that they might rely on the same in times of acute need, from which their might, power and glory did increase daily.<ref name="missing">The preceding three paragraphs are missing in the Dresden version.</ref>
 
Likewise the Roman senator Palustrinus writes on the Roman insurgence and rabblement of Catilinus that the most famous prince of all orators, Cicero, at the time Roman mayor and keeper of the city of Rome, upon whom the entire senate of the city of Rome laid the burden of the Roman public interest so that the city would not take ruinous damage by the impudent rabblement of Catilinus, among other prudent actions did order to assemble all valiant and honest masters of the sword, and their associated families and disciples, who in all weapons had learned, been instructed and exercised in how to use them to full advantage, not just in the city of Rome but also in Capua and other cities of Italy, which thereafter did receive the Roman freedom, so that they in the most dire need of the city of Rome did handsomely perform the most urgent office of the night-watch, which council the worthy Romans took in this and in similar pernicious riots, so that the noble Romans did ever and always hold this knightly art in highest honour so that they might rely on the same in times of acute need, from which their might, power and glory did increase daily.<ref name="missing">The preceding three paragraphs are missing in the Dresden version.</ref>
 
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'''Julius''', the first Roman emperor, did entrust his life to his body-guard, native Germans and famous fencers, more than four hundred in number, and to no-one else, and in Rome on the field of ''Mars'' he did himself fence, and did donate several treasures and prizes to the fencers shortly before his death. Likewise did emperor Augustus with great delight support and help the fencers, which example of love for the knightly art was freely followed by ''Tiberius'' the third Roman emperor, as is all recorded by ''Suetonius Tranquillus''<ref name="Tranquillus">Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 71 – ca. 135), author of ''De vita Caesarum'' (ca. AD 120).</ref> and by others besides in their accounts.
 
'''Julius''', the first Roman emperor, did entrust his life to his body-guard, native Germans and famous fencers, more than four hundred in number, and to no-one else, and in Rome on the field of ''Mars'' he did himself fence, and did donate several treasures and prizes to the fencers shortly before his death. Likewise did emperor Augustus with great delight support and help the fencers, which example of love for the knightly art was freely followed by ''Tiberius'' the third Roman emperor, as is all recorded by ''Suetonius Tranquillus''<ref name="Tranquillus">Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 71 – ca. 135), author of ''De vita Caesarum'' (ca. AD 120).</ref> and by others besides in their accounts.
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'''In addition, the ancients''', and especially the Greeks, did have such desire and love for the knightly exercise, that they did forego any kind of sweet food or drink several days before they would fence, likewise the lust of women besides all else that weakens the body and makes for heavy breathing, and did peruse such foods, as meat and other kinds, as do strengthen the body. On this matter did the learned ''medici'', and especially the most famous ''Galen'',<ref name="Galenus">Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (AD 131 – 201)</ref> repeatedly and artfully discuss, whether austerity and abstinence or the practice of fencing would profit more for the life of man. Also Saint Paul does report such an example in his epistle where he says, you see that those who would fence and fight over a transient honour or treasure are wont to forego all lust, as if he would say, why do not you the same, as pious Christians who are fighting not for an earthly but for a heavenly honour in this world.<ref name="Paulus">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'').</ref> And therefore all those who love this knightly art do well to consider that in those times there were no drunken and immodest but sober, apt and most artful fencers. Also, it is rarely found in writing that among the ancients fencing was undertaken out of envy or hatred, as in our times regrettably occurs often, but out of love and artfulness. After the ancients did chastise themselves as they were expecting the day of fencing, they and the weapons with which they would fence were transported in all honesty on wagons to the fencing place or ''Theatrum'', and for them the prizes and treasures were painted in fine likeness and carried before them, and also beforehand publicly posted on the market-place, and thus made known to the common man. This custom is attributed by the historiographers with great praise to ''Terentius Lucanus'', who on three consecutive days did permanently have thirty naked fencers on the field, and when the fencers, masters and disciples entered the fencing place they put down their weapons in proper order (as is still the custom today); then the names of all fencers were written on pieces of paper and then with great assiduity the lot was drawn arbitrarily, and those two who were drawn by the lot then did have to fight most artfully and honourably for the treasure. For this, each of the fencers did most assiduously invoke their god, one ''Hercules'', the other ''Mercury'', yet others ''Pollux'' and ''Castor'', and so forth, and pray that the lot would pair them with good and artful fencers, and not immodest ones who were not well experienced in the art. All of this does illustrate that the ancients did fence above all for art and knightly virtue and honour than for any other things, for which reason, for the later generations of fencers and for the honour of the knightly art, the fight-schools as they were held and the promenading houses and halls of the rich were painted in their likeness, and those who held them, and those who won the prize were finely depicted, and the highest prize in this was retained by the freedman of emperor ''Nero'' who at ''Antium'' at the great imperial palace and promenade did most artfully and gracefully depict the likeness of the fencing-schools and fencers.<ref name="Antium">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."</ref>
 
'''In addition, the ancients''', and especially the Greeks, did have such desire and love for the knightly exercise, that they did forego any kind of sweet food or drink several days before they would fence, likewise the lust of women besides all else that weakens the body and makes for heavy breathing, and did peruse such foods, as meat and other kinds, as do strengthen the body. On this matter did the learned ''medici'', and especially the most famous ''Galen'',<ref name="Galenus">Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (AD 131 – 201)</ref> repeatedly and artfully discuss, whether austerity and abstinence or the practice of fencing would profit more for the life of man. Also Saint Paul does report such an example in his epistle where he says, you see that those who would fence and fight over a transient honour or treasure are wont to forego all lust, as if he would say, why do not you the same, as pious Christians who are fighting not for an earthly but for a heavenly honour in this world.<ref name="Paulus">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'').</ref> And therefore all those who love this knightly art do well to consider that in those times there were no drunken and immodest but sober, apt and most artful fencers. Also, it is rarely found in writing that among the ancients fencing was undertaken out of envy or hatred, as in our times regrettably occurs often, but out of love and artfulness. After the ancients did chastise themselves as they were expecting the day of fencing, they and the weapons with which they would fence were transported in all honesty on wagons to the fencing place or ''Theatrum'', and for them the prizes and treasures were painted in fine likeness and carried before them, and also beforehand publicly posted on the market-place, and thus made known to the common man. This custom is attributed by the historiographers with great praise to ''Terentius Lucanus'', who on three consecutive days did permanently have thirty naked fencers on the field, and when the fencers, masters and disciples entered the fencing place they put down their weapons in proper order (as is still the custom today); then the names of all fencers were written on pieces of paper and then with great assiduity the lot was drawn arbitrarily, and those two who were drawn by the lot then did have to fight most artfully and honourably for the treasure. For this, each of the fencers did most assiduously invoke their god, one ''Hercules'', the other ''Mercury'', yet others ''Pollux'' and ''Castor'', and so forth, and pray that the lot would pair them with good and artful fencers, and not immodest ones who were not well experienced in the art. All of this does illustrate that the ancients did fence above all for art and knightly virtue and honour than for any other things, for which reason, for the later generations of fencers and for the honour of the knightly art, the fight-schools as they were held and the promenading houses and halls of the rich were painted in their likeness, and those who held them, and those who won the prize were finely depicted, and the highest prize in this was retained by the freedman of emperor ''Nero'' who at ''Antium'' at the great imperial palace and promenade did most artfully and gracefully depict the likeness of the fencing-schools and fencers.<ref name="Antium">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."</ref>
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'''So did also the learned''' philosophers write about this knightly art, and the same were not ashamed to learn its, and among them ''Pythagoras'', who was held a good fencer, was the foremost, as he did win the prize with his artful fencing at the celebration of the 48th ''Olympiad''. Likewise did do many other excellent philosophers, without necessarily naming them all. So does ''Marcus Tullius Cicero'', the Roman mayor and eventually administrator of the entire Roman empire write on the praise of fencing [T. q. folio.125.] I consider and trust entirely that nobody at all can be counted among the number of the learned orators who were not well versed and experienced in all arts that are knightly and even if we do not employ them in speaking, nor is it possible to discern this in us, if we are exercised in knightly sports, but the agility and the bearing of the body does concord and correspond with the agility of the voice, both in cheerful and in lamentable topics, such that it appears all the more agreeable to the listener. This is confirmed by the most learned orator ''Quintilianus'' who says that the persons who are given to praise and do not have contempt for the knightly sport of fencing and takes this as the cause that the same have great advantage and furtherance in the art of being well-spoken due to their agility ''Anacharsis''<ref name="Anacharsis">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.</ref> who lived at the time of king ''Croesus'' in Lydia, at the time when Rome had stood for 194 years, wrote that he did greatly marvel at how the Greeks were such stern judges while the fencers did bear themselves so heartily and well with[?] open spaces, houses, prizes, treasures and highest praise, as if he would say that the Greeks do well uphold the law and give to each man his due, to one his due praise and to the other his due punishment. Many more similar pronouncements furthering the honour of fencing could be mentioned, but as I feel that no amount would suffice for those who disparage this art, it should suffice for the present time.
 
'''So did also the learned''' philosophers write about this knightly art, and the same were not ashamed to learn its, and among them ''Pythagoras'', who was held a good fencer, was the foremost, as he did win the prize with his artful fencing at the celebration of the 48th ''Olympiad''. Likewise did do many other excellent philosophers, without necessarily naming them all. So does ''Marcus Tullius Cicero'', the Roman mayor and eventually administrator of the entire Roman empire write on the praise of fencing [T. q. folio.125.] I consider and trust entirely that nobody at all can be counted among the number of the learned orators who were not well versed and experienced in all arts that are knightly and even if we do not employ them in speaking, nor is it possible to discern this in us, if we are exercised in knightly sports, but the agility and the bearing of the body does concord and correspond with the agility of the voice, both in cheerful and in lamentable topics, such that it appears all the more agreeable to the listener. This is confirmed by the most learned orator ''Quintilianus'' who says that the persons who are given to praise and do not have contempt for the knightly sport of fencing and takes this as the cause that the same have great advantage and furtherance in the art of being well-spoken due to their agility ''Anacharsis''<ref name="Anacharsis">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.</ref> who lived at the time of king ''Croesus'' in Lydia, at the time when Rome had stood for 194 years, wrote that he did greatly marvel at how the Greeks were such stern judges while the fencers did bear themselves so heartily and well with[?] open spaces, houses, prizes, treasures and highest praise, as if he would say that the Greeks do well uphold the law and give to each man his due, to one his due praise and to the other his due punishment. Many more similar pronouncements furthering the honour of fencing could be mentioned, but as I feel that no amount would suffice for those who disparage this art, it should suffice for the present time.
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'''Likewise did also''' the royal prophet ''David'' honourably defeat the great duellist and giant ''Goliath''. [Lib i. Regnum.] Also ''Ancheor'' not without extraordinary agility did lay low ''Turnus'' in a duel, and after the Albanians did set their ancestry, glory and reign against the Romans and three strong duellists of Albanian family known as the ''Cruciati'' were chosen to duel three Romans with the name of ''Horace'' the ''Horacii'' on the Roman side with extraordinary agility won the upper hand and slew the ''Cruciati'' and thus subjugating all of Italy. Likewise the German who challenged ''Valerius Corvinus'' to a duel was slain in a knightly deed. ''Manlius Torquatus'' also did kill a German prince in a duel and took off his neck-ring, by this winning great honour for himself and the name of Rome. I will be silent on the duels that were held everywhere in Germany from oldest times. In ancient German writings, kept in Schäbisch Hall, in Kochen[?] and in Würzburg, there are separate duelling rules and many duels were held there. Likewise in Munich on the Iser, Seitz von Althaim and Diepolt Gess in the year 1370 did hold a knightly duel on horseback, in which Seitz von Althaim gained a knightly victory. Likewise in the year 1409, a knightly duel on foot and in linen shirts behind two shields was held in Augsburg on the Lech on the wine-market between Dieterich Hachsenacker and Wigleo Marschalk, in which duel Marschalk did bravely slay Hachsenacker.<ref name="Year 1409">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.</ref> The duel did have separate laws and statutes in laws, and their ordering and how they should be held is described and clearly set out in city-books everywhere, treatment of which topic, however, in the interest of brevity I will omit here and will describe and explain it elsewhere.
 
'''Likewise did also''' the royal prophet ''David'' honourably defeat the great duellist and giant ''Goliath''. [Lib i. Regnum.] Also ''Ancheor'' not without extraordinary agility did lay low ''Turnus'' in a duel, and after the Albanians did set their ancestry, glory and reign against the Romans and three strong duellists of Albanian family known as the ''Cruciati'' were chosen to duel three Romans with the name of ''Horace'' the ''Horacii'' on the Roman side with extraordinary agility won the upper hand and slew the ''Cruciati'' and thus subjugating all of Italy. Likewise the German who challenged ''Valerius Corvinus'' to a duel was slain in a knightly deed. ''Manlius Torquatus'' also did kill a German prince in a duel and took off his neck-ring, by this winning great honour for himself and the name of Rome. I will be silent on the duels that were held everywhere in Germany from oldest times. In ancient German writings, kept in Schäbisch Hall, in Kochen[?] and in Würzburg, there are separate duelling rules and many duels were held there. Likewise in Munich on the Iser, Seitz von Althaim and Diepolt Gess in the year 1370 did hold a knightly duel on horseback, in which Seitz von Althaim gained a knightly victory. Likewise in the year 1409, a knightly duel on foot and in linen shirts behind two shields was held in Augsburg on the Lech on the wine-market between Dieterich Hachsenacker and Wigleo Marschalk, in which duel Marschalk did bravely slay Hachsenacker.<ref name="Year 1409">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.</ref> The duel did have separate laws and statutes in laws, and their ordering and how they should be held is described and clearly set out in city-books everywhere, treatment of which topic, however, in the interest of brevity I will omit here and will describe and explain it elsewhere.
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Of these and comparable deeds of honour that have their origin and source in the knightly exercises, as have occurred both among the Greeks and the Romans, there would be much more to tell. But it would seem to me to become over-much and so as to not displease the reader I will forbear.
 
Of these and comparable deeds of honour that have their origin and source in the knightly exercises, as have occurred both among the Greeks and the Romans, there would be much more to tell. But it would seem to me to become over-much and so as to not displease the reader I will forbear.
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Such testimony would he who would carry arms need to present at the following assembly and diet. Then the authorities or his closest friends would gird him with his weapon and on his neck hang a shield, congratulate him, and henceforth he would be declared [a free man] of his province. In warfare and battle they had this custom, that they would take with them their wives and children, even those still in the cradle, and they must prepare and serve food and drink for the men, oil, try, bandage and treat their wounds and they then showed their wounds to their mothers and wives, who felt no abhorrence therefrom, but gave much praise for them. And when they fought a battle against their enemies, the wives and children must keep nearby, so that the men could hear the weeping of their little children, and the wives would shout and admonish their men to be brave and keen and not to flee, fighting not just for their country and people but also for their wives and children. This did often contribute to their victory, as ''Tacitus'' reports. For this reason they conducted their marriage according to the following manner. None could take a wife other than he was of grown age, and likewise the virgins must be of proper age, resulting in great, tall, strong people, and as they were joined, they practiced the custom that the wife would bring no dowry to the man, neither money nor property, but for a sword, which she gave to him for the purpose that he must use it to protect her, her children, and the fatherland. The man on the other hand must have a certain property, which however did not include money, or silken garment or clothes, with which he might adorn and bedeck the bride, but he must own two heads of cattle and an ox, joined in a yoke, a saddled horse a pavise or shield, a hewing-knife and a thrusting-spear. If he had these, the bride was given in his hand. This was all her marriage-portion, dowry, morning-gift, wreath and ring, hand-fasting and wedding-feast, church-going and consecration. The closest friends would inspect all the mentioned pieces, and if they were good, they were satisfied and wished them happiness and fertility in birth, and they were joined in that hour and the marriage was concluded. But the significance and meaning of these pieces was that just as the cattle under the yoke the couple must never part, in joy or sorrow, in war or otherwise, but they must live and lie together, journey and travel, and keenly dare all things, which was signified by the saddled horse. Also, the sword, shield, knife and spear must be kept by the wife in the event of the man's death, so that she might pass to her sons and children their father's marriage-portion at the proper time, and it would be kept and passed on even to the third generation.
 
Such testimony would he who would carry arms need to present at the following assembly and diet. Then the authorities or his closest friends would gird him with his weapon and on his neck hang a shield, congratulate him, and henceforth he would be declared [a free man] of his province. In warfare and battle they had this custom, that they would take with them their wives and children, even those still in the cradle, and they must prepare and serve food and drink for the men, oil, try, bandage and treat their wounds and they then showed their wounds to their mothers and wives, who felt no abhorrence therefrom, but gave much praise for them. And when they fought a battle against their enemies, the wives and children must keep nearby, so that the men could hear the weeping of their little children, and the wives would shout and admonish their men to be brave and keen and not to flee, fighting not just for their country and people but also for their wives and children. This did often contribute to their victory, as ''Tacitus'' reports. For this reason they conducted their marriage according to the following manner. None could take a wife other than he was of grown age, and likewise the virgins must be of proper age, resulting in great, tall, strong people, and as they were joined, they practiced the custom that the wife would bring no dowry to the man, neither money nor property, but for a sword, which she gave to him for the purpose that he must use it to protect her, her children, and the fatherland. The man on the other hand must have a certain property, which however did not include money, or silken garment or clothes, with which he might adorn and bedeck the bride, but he must own two heads of cattle and an ox, joined in a yoke, a saddled horse a pavise or shield, a hewing-knife and a thrusting-spear. If he had these, the bride was given in his hand. This was all her marriage-portion, dowry, morning-gift, wreath and ring, hand-fasting and wedding-feast, church-going and consecration. The closest friends would inspect all the mentioned pieces, and if they were good, they were satisfied and wished them happiness and fertility in birth, and they were joined in that hour and the marriage was concluded. But the significance and meaning of these pieces was that just as the cattle under the yoke the couple must never part, in joy or sorrow, in war or otherwise, but they must live and lie together, journey and travel, and keenly dare all things, which was signified by the saddled horse. Also, the sword, shield, knife and spear must be kept by the wife in the event of the man's death, so that she might pass to her sons and children their father's marriage-portion at the proper time, and it would be kept and passed on even to the third generation.
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'''From the above''', kind fencer and reader, you may deduce to what extent this hard knightly exercise, kept so firmly by our ancient Germans, gave to Germany great liberty, honour and everlasting praise, and if things were still the same (concerning knightly and manly exercise) in German lands, and the knightly exercise were still held in such esteem, if vices such as usury, games, excessive eating and drinking, blaspheming, and disdain of all good arts besides other frivolity would be avoided and punished, what great profit, praise and honour for all of Germany would arise from this still in the present day. But instead all vices have taken such a terrible hold, primarily at the princely courts but also in cities and villages, that the abuses have grown to the point that aberration and lack of virtue out of old and evil habit are now adhered to as if it were a law, which is evident and in plain daylight so that anyone can see the pitiful state of affairs.
 
'''From the above''', kind fencer and reader, you may deduce to what extent this hard knightly exercise, kept so firmly by our ancient Germans, gave to Germany great liberty, honour and everlasting praise, and if things were still the same (concerning knightly and manly exercise) in German lands, and the knightly exercise were still held in such esteem, if vices such as usury, games, excessive eating and drinking, blaspheming, and disdain of all good arts besides other frivolity would be avoided and punished, what great profit, praise and honour for all of Germany would arise from this still in the present day. But instead all vices have taken such a terrible hold, primarily at the princely courts but also in cities and villages, that the abuses have grown to the point that aberration and lack of virtue out of old and evil habit are now adhered to as if it were a law, which is evident and in plain daylight so that anyone can see the pitiful state of affairs.
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[Apoph: fol.312.] Likewise with Alexander the Great in his youth, at one time after he had been drinking wine and came back home to court, and his father Philip was told that his son Alexander had been drinking wine and had been singing very well, king Philipp was much displeased and chided him with these words, saying, are you not ashamed of yourself that you are so apt in drinking and singing, as if he would say, are you not a king's son, why are you dealing with such disdainful practice, are you proposing to support your kingdom by such frivolity after my death, or do you have such modest and childlike neighbours in the cities of Athens, Corinth, Argis, Corcica and others, so turn your mind to knightly arts, which serve for the development of your realm, honour and prosperity. At this instruction and scolding Alexander was so dismayed that he fast dedicated himself to knightly exercises, for which he gained later reward on many duelling-fields, and finally culminated in this, that within twelve years he subjugated and conquered the entire world with his knightly disposition. And truly, as I see it, if such knightly exercise according to the ancient manner and custom, in place of frivolous exercise, which over time have become so ubiquitous not just at royal or princely courts but also in the cities and everywhere and have displaced the exercise of good virtue, should again become well-established with both high and lower government, it would surely be highly profitable and useful for Germany and its degenerated prestige and dodgy reputation.
 
[Apoph: fol.312.] Likewise with Alexander the Great in his youth, at one time after he had been drinking wine and came back home to court, and his father Philip was told that his son Alexander had been drinking wine and had been singing very well, king Philipp was much displeased and chided him with these words, saying, are you not ashamed of yourself that you are so apt in drinking and singing, as if he would say, are you not a king's son, why are you dealing with such disdainful practice, are you proposing to support your kingdom by such frivolity after my death, or do you have such modest and childlike neighbours in the cities of Athens, Corinth, Argis, Corcica and others, so turn your mind to knightly arts, which serve for the development of your realm, honour and prosperity. At this instruction and scolding Alexander was so dismayed that he fast dedicated himself to knightly exercises, for which he gained later reward on many duelling-fields, and finally culminated in this, that within twelve years he subjugated and conquered the entire world with his knightly disposition. And truly, as I see it, if such knightly exercise according to the ancient manner and custom, in place of frivolous exercise, which over time have become so ubiquitous not just at royal or princely courts but also in the cities and everywhere and have displaced the exercise of good virtue, should again become well-established with both high and lower government, it would surely be highly profitable and useful for Germany and its degenerated prestige and dodgy reputation.
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'''To the''' honour-loving custom of the knightly sport did the Roman emperor ''Henry'', the first of this name, wish to dedicate himself and lend support with all his appetite and desire, so that it would not decay, with the good and timely counsel of his princes and other lords. And he did establish the praiseworthy knightly sport of the tourney in the year 938 with the counsel of his princes and lords, adorned with twelve praiseworthy, honourable and Christian articles, so as to conserve honour, virtue and honesty in the Holy Empire of the German Nation. In this manner that none among the nobility, princes or counts, might participate in the knightly sport of the tourney if they violated the said twelve articles. Whoever did so was made the mockery of all princes, lords and ladies, put on the barriers, denuded of horse, weapons and armour, and publicly proclaimed a villain by the heralds, so that the princes, lords and noblemen were incited to good virtues and avoided many great vices.
 
'''To the''' honour-loving custom of the knightly sport did the Roman emperor ''Henry'', the first of this name, wish to dedicate himself and lend support with all his appetite and desire, so that it would not decay, with the good and timely counsel of his princes and other lords. And he did establish the praiseworthy knightly sport of the tourney in the year 938 with the counsel of his princes and lords, adorned with twelve praiseworthy, honourable and Christian articles, so as to conserve honour, virtue and honesty in the Holy Empire of the German Nation. In this manner that none among the nobility, princes or counts, might participate in the knightly sport of the tourney if they violated the said twelve articles. Whoever did so was made the mockery of all princes, lords and ladies, put on the barriers, denuded of horse, weapons and armour, and publicly proclaimed a villain by the heralds, so that the princes, lords and noblemen were incited to good virtues and avoided many great vices.
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| <p>'''The''' said twelve articles were set down in great earnest by the emperor and the princes of the holy empire, and recited orally. The first was recited by the emperor himself, [i.e.] whoso blasphemes the Christian faith and the holy Trinity or despoils and weakens the church of Christ. [The second by] the count Palatine: whoso treacherously acts against any proscription or prohibition of the emperor's. [The third by] the duke of Swabia: whoso dishonours or weakens ladies or virgins. [The fourth by] the duke of Bavaria: whoso is recognized as in breach of treaty, in perjury or dishonour. [The fifth by] the duke of Franconia, whoso betrays his own lord and deserts him. And so on by other lords beside: [6th] whoso slays his bed-fellow or instigates manslaughter; [7th] whoso despoils churches or hermitages, widows or orphans by threat of violence; [8th] whoso harries, pillages or feuds with another without declaration or proper claim. [9th] whoso would change or alter the law and order of the empire and cause unrest in the streets; [10th] whoso breaches his own or another's honour. [11th] Whoso is of noble birth but does not maintain his noble state by his pensions, revenue and liege's guerdon but instead involves himself with merchant's trade and usury. [12th] that none [may participate] unless he is of right noble birth on the part of [all] his four grandfathers and grandmothers. All these, blemished by such vices, must avoid the highly honourable knightly sport of the tourney and fully excluded on pains of severe penalty. At all times at each tourney, of which the first was held in the year 938 in Magdeburg and the last in the year 1487 in Worms, numbering thirty-six,<ref name="Ruxner">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.</ref> there attended the highest-born and most noble princesses, countesses and baronesses, in the state of wife, virgin or widow, who helped inspect helmets and coats-of-arms, observe[?], present treasures and prizes, gave thanks and honour[?] and held dances, all of this invented and performed for the preservation of honour and virtue.</p>
 
| <p>'''The''' said twelve articles were set down in great earnest by the emperor and the princes of the holy empire, and recited orally. The first was recited by the emperor himself, [i.e.] whoso blasphemes the Christian faith and the holy Trinity or despoils and weakens the church of Christ. [The second by] the count Palatine: whoso treacherously acts against any proscription or prohibition of the emperor's. [The third by] the duke of Swabia: whoso dishonours or weakens ladies or virgins. [The fourth by] the duke of Bavaria: whoso is recognized as in breach of treaty, in perjury or dishonour. [The fifth by] the duke of Franconia, whoso betrays his own lord and deserts him. And so on by other lords beside: [6th] whoso slays his bed-fellow or instigates manslaughter; [7th] whoso despoils churches or hermitages, widows or orphans by threat of violence; [8th] whoso harries, pillages or feuds with another without declaration or proper claim. [9th] whoso would change or alter the law and order of the empire and cause unrest in the streets; [10th] whoso breaches his own or another's honour. [11th] Whoso is of noble birth but does not maintain his noble state by his pensions, revenue and liege's guerdon but instead involves himself with merchant's trade and usury. [12th] that none [may participate] unless he is of right noble birth on the part of [all] his four grandfathers and grandmothers. All these, blemished by such vices, must avoid the highly honourable knightly sport of the tourney and fully excluded on pains of severe penalty. At all times at each tourney, of which the first was held in the year 938 in Magdeburg and the last in the year 1487 in Worms, numbering thirty-six,<ref name="Ruxner">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.</ref> there attended the highest-born and most noble princesses, countesses and baronesses, in the state of wife, virgin or widow, who helped inspect helmets and coats-of-arms, observe[?], present treasures and prizes, gave thanks and honour[?] and held dances, all of this invented and performed for the preservation of honour and virtue.</p>
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'''All kinds of examples''' of honesty are found in the histories, which indicate clearly that the empires, countries and cities are sustained by honesty of spirit and prowess of the fist, but that they dissolve and are undone by lazy inertia. The Assyrian Empire, which was the first empire in this world, did take its origin with king ''Ninus'' and by thirty-six kings was ruled in full honesty during one thousand two hundred and forty years. But on his accession their final king, ''Sardanapolus''<ref name="Assyria">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.</ref> ruled in such a way that under his rule sloth, lust of women, excessive eating and drinking, and gambling, became so rife that he drowned in these said vices, while honesty was in such low esteem that his own people grew disobedient and deserted him, and was divided in gangs and parties, and he was finally chased and exiled from his own empire, and thus by his negligent laziness, disrespect of knightly exercise and bad government, the Assyrian Empire came to its end with him. This king was often found in his women's quarters when he should have been dedicating himself to knighthood, and to please them he used to work the spindle. He had made costly preparation of his tomb before his death, and on it he ordered the following inscription [folio. 46.] ''Sardanapolus Anecendarases. Ede, bibe, lude.'' which in German means this, Sardanapolus of Anecendarasis, eat, drink, play. In this the kind reader may well perceive what difference in success and failure there is between slothful and valiant lords. As Xerxes, king in Persia, re-conquered and brought into his power the city of Babylon after it had seceded from him, he considered how he could keep the great city of Babylon so that it would not secede from him again, and to this end he ordered that all Babylonian citizens and inhabitants may not carry any weapon, and may no longer exercise knightly sport, but he allowed them to visit the taverns and drink wine every night, to sing and whistle and also that they might have beautiful women, and might wear plaited dresses. All this he did with the intent of turning honest men into soft women, which indeed then did come to pass as they became used to pleasures, so that their manhood declined and thence he might rein them as with a bridle, which also did come to pass.
 
'''All kinds of examples''' of honesty are found in the histories, which indicate clearly that the empires, countries and cities are sustained by honesty of spirit and prowess of the fist, but that they dissolve and are undone by lazy inertia. The Assyrian Empire, which was the first empire in this world, did take its origin with king ''Ninus'' and by thirty-six kings was ruled in full honesty during one thousand two hundred and forty years. But on his accession their final king, ''Sardanapolus''<ref name="Assyria">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.</ref> ruled in such a way that under his rule sloth, lust of women, excessive eating and drinking, and gambling, became so rife that he drowned in these said vices, while honesty was in such low esteem that his own people grew disobedient and deserted him, and was divided in gangs and parties, and he was finally chased and exiled from his own empire, and thus by his negligent laziness, disrespect of knightly exercise and bad government, the Assyrian Empire came to its end with him. This king was often found in his women's quarters when he should have been dedicating himself to knighthood, and to please them he used to work the spindle. He had made costly preparation of his tomb before his death, and on it he ordered the following inscription [folio. 46.] ''Sardanapolus Anecendarases. Ede, bibe, lude.'' which in German means this, Sardanapolus of Anecendarasis, eat, drink, play. In this the kind reader may well perceive what difference in success and failure there is between slothful and valiant lords. As Xerxes, king in Persia, re-conquered and brought into his power the city of Babylon after it had seceded from him, he considered how he could keep the great city of Babylon so that it would not secede from him again, and to this end he ordered that all Babylonian citizens and inhabitants may not carry any weapon, and may no longer exercise knightly sport, but he allowed them to visit the taverns and drink wine every night, to sing and whistle and also that they might have beautiful women, and might wear plaited dresses. All this he did with the intent of turning honest men into soft women, which indeed then did come to pass as they became used to pleasures, so that their manhood declined and thence he might rein them as with a bridle, which also did come to pass.
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Revision as of 16:13, 11 February 2019

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 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 rougher third 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 it 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, alongside the translation.

The Dresden version contains the fewest devices and artwork most reminiscent of Breu's style, and appears therefore to be the original copy. The Munich adds additional plays and sections on top of the Dresden's contents, and the Vienna likewise augments the Munich, suggesting that this is likely order of creation; conversely, the Dresden has no unique content, and the only unique plays in the Munich are in the section on jousting. To give a visual sense of this evolution of the work, the Dresden illustrations are used wherever possible; the Munich illustrations appear only in those plays that are omitted from the Dresden, and the Vienna in those that are unique to that work.

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

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.
  34. German rappier, Latin ensibus Hispanis
  35. 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”).
  36. 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.
  37. 'Long edge' is not listed in ty.
  38. sic : beide
  39. Marginalie unleserlich
  40. ”streck dein leyb und deine armen wol”
  41. sic : seinem ?
  42. The words are marked with numbers above. Probably it is to keep track of word order.
  43. sic : hinndersich
  44. sic : widerumb
  45. sic : seinem
  46. sic : schniten
  47. sic : seinnen ?
  48. 21r
  49. The illustration suggests that this action should be done to your left side, rather than to your right.
  50. Literally: put
  51. Literally: pull back the left foot
  52. German: his
  53. German: grab with your left hand from below outside over his right arm
  54. rechten
  55. Note: Change of grip required, or the illustration does not match.
  56. Dagger transfer necessary at this point.
  57. Note: person on left side starts with the dagger in the left hand according to the illustration.
  58. Note: push down, not out
  59. Arbait - technical term: work, force, struggle
  60. Vienna and Munich MS Latin: right.
  61. read: locitur
  62. Latin: snatch up.
  63. Note: the illustration shows ice-pick grip.
  64. "You will lick it!" Not pleasant if the dagger is lying on it. Especially in cold weather.
  65. May not represent the changing though described.
  66. Note illustration shows ice-pick grip.
  67. Note: left is corrected from a right. Left is correct.
  68. This seems to imply both parallel action and simultaneity.
  69. Reib - strong twisting, bending, rotating motion.
  70. Image shows left.
  71. From the inner side.
  72. From the Latin text
  73. Correct from underich.
  74. Could also mean immediately
  75. zucken; Latin – to withdraw
  76. Only in the Latin.
  77. Inn - unclear whether directional or locational.
  78. The one in the left hand?
  79. Only in the Latin.
  80. ge..nen/ge..ch?; tibia in Latin
  81. weakness, hardship, trouble, difficulty, vulnerability, out of balance
  82. Possible abbreviation of gegen – geg.
  83. Odd squiggle in the middle—f from previous line?
  84. Scribal error for pungito?
  85. Strange squiggle above the c.
  86. Squiggle – looks like the Munich MS symbol for us?
  87. Error for interim?
  88. Written as “in Clinando”
  89. NB, likely scribal error for “laevam”
  90. Second u has three dots almost like ǜ.
  91. Error for dextrum?
  92. Barred, or bolted.
  93. Pliers, or fire-tongs.
  94. Wrestlers wear a leather collar? Hmmm...
  95. Comb, carder?
  96. A variant on the o-goshi in judo.
  97. sic : Im mit
  98. »sst« oberhalb der Zeile korrigiert aus »fft«
  99. A technique for putting the opponent down head first with his feet in the air.
  100. 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”.
  101. 101.0 101.1 Choosing to read this as equivalent to modern German einengen. “Trapped” as a translation for eineinden follows from this choice. Buyer beware.
  102. Corrections indicate it should be zu Im hinein
  103. "Not the lower point". Why the awkward construction here? Why not say superiorem mucronem (or proper Latin equivalent)?
  104. sic : verborgnen
  105. Latin text says “footman's”, which is probably just a miss on the scribe's behalf.
  106. Latin: How to use lance against an opponent with a sword.
  107. Latin: Another defence with sword against lance.
  108. Latin: A technique where you lower the lance over the right shoulder and thus fell the opponent's horse.
  109. Latin: A way of stopping the opponent from turning the horse.
  110. Latin: A technique where you grab hold of the chest of the opponent with both hands and abduct him.
  111. Latin: A throwing technique by inserting a hook, by which insert without him knowing.
  112. How to pull the bridle off a horse.
  113. Latin: Horses.
  114. While the text is identical, the illustration in the Dresden version is different from that of Munich and Vienna versions.
  115. The text is a bit ambiguous on how this is done, but judging from the picture it seems as the you are already having the pommel on your right side and the strike to the face and the parry is done in the same motion.
  116. In both Latin and German, foot and leg can be the same word.
  117. Tong hold – see wrestling chapter.
  118. One knee on the ground.
  119. "With" is crossed over and replaced with a smaller text "against" in the Latin text. It is most probably "against", as the text reads in the German text.