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Difference between revisions of "Paulus Hector Mair"

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! <p><includeonly><span style="font-weight:normal; font-size:85%;">&#91;{{edit|Paulus Hector Mair/Jousting|edit}}&#93;</span> &nbsp; </includeonly>Source Images</p>
 
! <p>Images<br/>from the [[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393)|Munich Version]]</p>
 
! <p>{{rating|C}}<br/>by [[Per Magnus Haaland]]</p>
 
! <p>[[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (MSS Dresd.C.93/C.94)|Dresden II Transcription]] (1540s){{edit index|Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (MS Dresd.C.94)}}</p>
 
! <p>[[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10825/10826)|Vienna II Transcription]] [German] (1550s){{edit index|Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10826)}}</p>
 
! <p>[[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393)|Munich II Transcription]] (1540s){{edit index|Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.icon. 393 II)}}</p>
 
! <p>[[Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10825/10826)|Vienna II Transcription]] [Latin] (1550s){{edit index|Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Cod.10826)}}</p>
 
! <p>[[Jörg Breu Draftbook (Cod.I.6.2º.4)|Draftbook Transcription]] (1540s){{edit index|Jörg Breu Draftbook (Cod.I.6.2º.4)}}<br/>by [[Dierk Hagedorn]]</p>
 
 
|-
 
|
 
|
 
| <p>'''The various old and new noble and knightly German forms and Disciplines of jousting or ”tilt”, as they call it nowadays.'''</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|095r|jpg}}
 
|
 
|
 
 
|-
 
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| <p>'''Title and dedication'''</p>
 
 
<p>To the eternal memory of the late Roman Emperor Maximilian, I have here gathered these jousting or tilt games, and put them in order. The late emperor Maximilian himself devoted himself and exercized himself in them, and he even invented many of them as well. Therefore lest this honourable and sportly exercise of the nobility would to perish, I have here given them to posterity, especially for the eternal praise to those who still devote themselves and love it, which can be understood here, how to do that they have before their eyes, so that they be able to reconstruct each and everyone of them.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|095v|jpg}}
 
|
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 01.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[1] Here they both go forth to the jousting field, and descend into the arena in the old armour that the Germans call "high" (in dem alten hohen Teutschen zeug).</p>
 
 
<p>Old jousting, or tilting as it is called today in old high armour (German: Im hohen zeug), where both break their lances, they enter the field (German: auf die pan), or the arena. The rider himself wears a common jousting armour, he has small rings<ref>Coronels?</ref> with a vamplate. He sits on an old high jousting saddle. The horse’s chest guard is stuffed with straw, and padded under the silk caparison. The chanfron is made out of steel, as can be seen in the picture here.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|096r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|097v|jpg}}
 
|
 
|
 
 
|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 02.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[2] Here they both ride towards each other in said old high armour.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|096v|jpg|lbl=096v97r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 03.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[3] Here they both enter into the arena with shields that the Germans call "die geschifften dartschen".</p>
 
 
<p>The commonly practised sportly jousting, that the Germans call "das geschifften Tarschen Rennen", is performed as follows: the rider is clad in field armour, and an old helmet with a steel beard attached to it, that flies off at first contact with the lance. His boots and thighs are covered in armour, and the horse has a caparison. The lance has a large movable vamplate, that covers half the rider’s arm, as can be seen on the picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|098r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|099v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 04.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[4] Then they engage each other in this manner with said shields.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|098v|jpg|lbl=098v99r}}
 
|
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 05.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[5] Here they both proceed to the arena to compete in field jousting with plate armour that the Germans call "das Stechlin geliger".</p>
 
 
<p>In field jousting, where all armour must be plate armour, that the Germans call "den Bund in stechlin geliger", is done thusly: the man himself is completely covered by a full field armour, and an old helmet covers his head, to which a metal beard is attached which flies off at first contact with the lance. The lance has a vamplate. Furthermore the horse is equipped with armour that Germans call "das Creutz geliger", as can be seen in this picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|101v|jpg}}
 
|
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 06.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[6] Here they both engage each other in said jousting with plate armour, as mentioned.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=100v01r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 07.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[7] In this manner the jousters enter the arena.<ref>Illustrations 7 and 8, with their captions, are placed after 12 in the manuscript. In this presentation, they've been moved to their numeric sequence.</ref></p>
 
 
<p>Jousting either in ernest or for sport, is performed thus: the rider wears an armour that in German is called "den geschifften küriss". The lance has a vamplate. The horse is equipped with a caparison made out of leather. The mane and neck of the horse is covered in steel armour, as well as the chanfron, as the picture clearly shows.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|102r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|103v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 08.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[8] Here they engage each other, either for sport or in ernest.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=102v03r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 09.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[9] This way the two combatants proceed to the arena in steel leg armour.</p>
 
 
<p>Jousting in steel leg armour, as well as leather caparison, i.e. horse cover, is this: the rider wears field armour and a metal helmet. On his left side he carries a shield. He sits on a high knight saddle, the lance is made with a vamplate, whereas the horse is covered with a leather caparison, as is shown in the picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|104r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|105v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 10.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[10] Then they run towards and engage each other in metal leg armour.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=104v05r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 11.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[11] Thus they enter the arena, in common German jousting, or tilt.</p>
 
 
<p>Common German jousting is done thus: the rider wears a common jousting armour, and in the lance he has coronells and a vamplate. He sits on a cushion, without saddle. The horse has covered eyes, as well as ears. The caparison is wholly made out of silk. Furthermore, the rider has large enough bundles of straw on the chest under the caparison, as is illustrated on the picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|106r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|107v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 12.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[12] Thus they run at each other in said common German jousting.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=106v07r}}
 
|
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 13.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[13] Here the combatants enter the arena to compete with linen bindles, or "in Wulsten" as Germans use to call it.</p>
 
 
<p>Jousting with linen bindles, that Germans call "das rennen mit dem Wulst", is performed thus: the rider has a large linen bindle on his head, and apart from that completely without armour. He carries a metal beard hanging from his neck, with a large hook that supports the lance, and this hook is the only thing aimed at by the lance hit. Furthermore, he has armour plate protection over his knees. The lance has a vamplate, that covers half the man’s arm. He sits on a pillow. The horse is covered and blindfolded by a silk caparison, as you can see in the picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|108r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|109v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 14.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[14] Here they ride together with said linen bindles.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=108v09r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 15.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[15] This way they enter the arena to compete over the tilt barrier.</p>
 
 
<p>Italian jousting over the tilt barrier is done thus: the rider is equipped with a field armour that we in German call "ain geschifften feldküriss". He wears a helmet suitable for this sort of jousting, and on his left side he carries a shield with a grill. He sits on a high knight's saddle. The hit, or strike is on the shield. The horse is covered with a silk caparison, and its forehead is protected by a steel chanfron, as the picture shows.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|110r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|111v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 16.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[16] This is the way jousting over the tilt barrier is done the Italian way.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=110v11r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 17.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[17] Thus they enter the arena to compete with discs, that the Germans call "die geschifften scheuben".</p>
 
 
<p>Jousting in articulated armour, in German called "das geschifft scheuben rennen", ie with movable discs, is done thus: the rider is fully covered in armour, and an old helmet. Furthermore he has a disc, and a steel beard attached, that by the contact or hit of the lance, flies off. He sits on a knight saddle. The lance has vamplate, that covers half the man’s arm. The horse is blindfolded and covered by a silk caparison, and its forehead is protected by a steel chanfron as shown in this picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|112r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|113v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 18.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[18] Here they engage each other with said discs.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=112v13r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 19.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[19] Thus the combatants enter the arena to compete in Italian Armentin.</p>
 
 
<p>Italian jousting in armentin, as they call it, is done thus: the rider wears an articulatedly-attached field armour, and a has a sleeve/shirt in a knightly fashion. Furthermore, he sits on a high saddle. The lance has vamplates. The horse is blindfolded and covered with a silk caparison, and wears a steel chanfron, as you see in the picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|114r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|115v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 20.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[20] Then they ride towards each other in said Italian armentin.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=114v15r}}
 
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|-
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 21.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[21] Thus they enter the arena to compete in strifing jousting, called "der schwaiff" in German.</p>
 
 
<p>The common strifing joust or tilt called "der schwaiff"<ref>Schweiff means to strife, drift or to sweep by. So, in a sense, horse drifting. Or maybe not.</ref> by the Germans, is to be performed as follows: the rider wears shoulder and chest armour that must be equipped with a large hook. On his head he wears an old helmet with a long steel beard hanging from it, that immediately flies off at lance contact. The arms are unprotected, and on his knees he is protected by the armour called "streiffteschen" in German. The lances have moveable vamplates that cover half the man’s arm. The horse is blindfolded by his silk caparison, as you may discern from this picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|116r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|117v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 22.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[22] Then they ride towards each other in said strifing jousting.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=116v17r}}
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 23.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[23] In this manner they enter the arena to the joust in what the Germans call "den bund".</p>
 
 
<p>Jousting called ”den Bund” in German is performed thus: the rider himself wears a helmet that we in German call "ain Rennhuet", and a harness equipped with a large hook. Furthermore he wears a metal beard, that flies off at first contact with the lance. On the arms there is no armour, but on the other hand his knees must be protected with what is called "die straiffteschen". No saddle is to be used. The lance has a movable vamplate, that covers half the man’s arm. The horse is covered in a silk caparison, and blindfolded by it, as you may understand from this picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|118r|jpg}}
 
 
{{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|119v|jpg}}
 
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|-
 
| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 24.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[24] Here they ride at each other, in said sportly joust.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=118v19r}}
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 25.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>[25] Thus they enter the arena to compete in jousting with pans, called "in der pfannen" in German.<ref>Curious little bugger, ain't ya?</ref></p>
 
 
<p>Pan jousting, or in German "das pfannen rennen", is performed in this manner: the rider has no armour at all, on his chest he has a large shield with a steel grill, in which the lance is stuck, and must keep it there. He sits on the horse without any saddle. The horse itself is covered and blindfolded by a silk caparison, as is clearly displayed in this picture.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|120r|jpg}}
 
 
{{section|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II 121v.jpg|1|lbl=121v}}
 
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| colspan="2" | [[File:Mair's tournament 26.png|800px|center]]
 
| <p>[26] Then they run at each other in said pan joust.</p>
 
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| {{paget|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II|100v|jpg|lbl=120v21r}}
 
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| [[File:Mair's tournament 27.png|400x400px|center]]
 
| <p>The end.</p>
 
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| {{section|Page:Cod.icon. 393 II 121v.jpg|2|lbl=-}}
 
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Revision as of 15:23, 14 January 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.

Temporary Division