The MS U860.F46 1450 is a German fencing manual probably created in the 1430s.[1] The original currently rests in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Paul Mellon Bequest) of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. The MS U860.F46 1450 is part of the Gladiatoria group, a series of several German manuscripts from the 15th century that share the same art style and cover the same material, and it seems to be the oldest member of the group.
The core of the Gladiatoria group is a series of armored fencing pieces following the traditional progression of a knightly duel: beginning with spears and small shields called ecranches, moving to swords, then employing daggers on foot and on the ground. (Dueling would often begin on horseback before going to foot combat, and the ecranche is designed for mounted fighting, but Gladiatoria seems to skip that stage entirely.) The Gladiatoria manuals are interesting texts in that they seem to be contemporary with the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, but not directly influenced by it.[citation needed]
Unfortunately, parts of the manuscript are lost due to clipping and cropping of the pages. This makes the text occasionally difficult to read or to decipher at all. Comparison to the MS KK5012 (GW), the manuscript whose contents are most similar, makes it clear that several centimeters are missing from the leaves; in some places even the arms or legs of the figures have been cut off, and other parts of the drawings are missing as well. Furthermore, the text passages at the bottom of ff 3, 4, and 7 have been cut out entirely, and an unknown number of complete leaves were lost when it was cut up and sold at auction in the 20th century.
Provenance
The known provenance of the MS U860.F46 1450 is:
- Created in the 1440s, probably using the same scribe as the MS KK5013.
- before 1700 – possibly owned by Pedro de Egnrca.
- before 1792 – owned by August, hereditary prince of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, and bound together with a 17th century fragment of El testimonio vengado by Lope Felix de Vega Carpio (donated 1792).
- 1792-1940s – held by the Forschungsbibliothek Schloß Friedenstein in Gotha, Germany, and listed as "MS Memb II 109" (looted during or after World War II).
- 1940s-1960 – missing; unbound at some point and scattered.
- 1960-1964 – several fragments acquired by AB Sandbergs Bokhandel in Stockholm, Sweden; one fragment listed as "MS T." (sold Stockholm, 1960-1964).
- 1960-1999 – owned by Paul Mellon (1907-1999), who purchased each fragment that surfaced at auction (28 leaves in 1960, 11 leaves in 1961, 2 leaves in 1962, and 2 leaves in 1963-64) and then had the reconstituted manuscript rebound.
- 1999-present – held by the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, in the Paul Mellon Bequest.
(El testimonio vengado resurfaced sooner, having been acquired by Hauswedell & Nolte of Hamburg, Germany in 1953. Identified as a war loss, it was taken into custody by the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, and finally identified and returned to Gotha in 1997.)
Contents
| Cover
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Draft Translation 
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Transcription
by Michael Chidester
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GYMASTIC ARTS
X V s .
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[Spn] ARS PALAESTRA
X V s .
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[P. M. Bequest sticker with the words "Oak Spring" and "Paul Mellon" around a picture of a wheat sheaf.]
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[Cvr] [P. M. Bequest sticker with the words "Oak Spring" and "Paul Mellon" around a picture of a wheat sheaf.]
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| 1r - 5r
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Spear in armor from Gladiatoria
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| 5v - 29v
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Sword in armor from Gladiatoria
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| 30r - 40v
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Dagger in armor from Gladiatoria
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| 41r - 43v
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Wrestling from Gladiatoria
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| 43v - 44v
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Draft Translation
|
Transcription
by Michael Chidester
|
[Several Spanish names in a cursive handwriting from the 18th or 19th century that have no connection to Gladiatoria, but rather belonged to El testimonio vengado, which was previously bound together with it.]
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[43v]
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[Blank parchment leaf]
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[Glued in insert with the YCBA logo and the following in pencil]
U860
.F46
1450
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[Cvr] [Glued in insert with the YCBA logo and the following in pencil]
U860
.F46
1450
|
|
Gallery
Images hosted on Wiktenauer with permission from the Yale Center for British Art.
Additional Resources
The following is a list of publications containing scans, transcriptions, and translations relevant to this article, as well as published peer-reviewed research.
References
- ↑ The proposed date of the manuscript is based on the style of armor used in the illustrations.
Copyright and License Summary
For further information, including transcription and translation notes, see the discussion page.
