Brotherhood of Saint Mark (Marxbrüder)
Bruderschaft unserer lieben Frauen und reinen Jungfrauen Marien und des heiligen und gewaltigen Himmelsfürsten Sanct MarxenGerman fencing brotherhood of sword masters that received a privilege from Emperor Friedrich III in 1487. It held public Fechtschulen and competed with the Federfechter.
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Training
Organisation & Competition
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About Brotherhood of Saint Mark (Marxbrüder)
The Marxbrüder, or Brotherhood of St Mark, was a German fencing brotherhood. According to Keller's dissertation from Regensburg (2017), they called themselves Bruderschaft unnser lieben Frawen der reynen Jungfrawen Marien und des heiligen und gewaltsamen Hyemelsfürsten sanct Marxen. Jaquet (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2015) says the records of the Nuremberg guild go back to 1477. Chandler (2015) calls it the first fencing guild in the Holy Roman Empire.
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On 10 August 1487, the fencers known as the Marxbrüder received from Emperor Friedrich III a privilege to call themselves masters of the sword, to teach for money and to hold a school. According to Jaquet, it also gave them exclusive rights to the profession, to choose members, to have their own regulations and to punish offenders. According to Keller, the brotherhood existed before the privilege, and we do not know the exact date of its founding. Whether master Hans Talhoffer belonged to it or helped found it is, according to Keller, unknown. Members were mainly craftsmen from cities like Nuremberg, Augsburg and Frankfurt am Main, and nobility was expressly excluded. The most important date was the annual autumn fair in Frankfurt, where new masters were dubbed under the supervision of captains. The brotherhood held public Fechtschulen and from the end of the 16th century competed with the Federfechter, who, according to a complaint from 1576, had split from it. According to Keller, fencing brotherhoods lost importance until they died out in the 18th century.
History
Keller's dissertation from Regensburg (2017) states that in the mid-15th century there are mentions in southern Germany of the brothers of Saint George and the brothers of the Virgin Mary, from whom the so-called Marxbrüder may have emerged later in the 15th century. Jaquet (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2015) writes that the Nuremberg guild's records go back to 1477 and that historiography wrongly considers Nuremberg the first city with a Fechtschule.
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The privilege of Emperor Friedrich III of 10 August 1487 gave the fencers known as Marxbrüder the right to call themselves masters of the sword, to teach for money and to keep a school. According to Keller, from 1541 the brotherhood was allowed to use a coat of arms, which was expanded in 1670. Records of the rules of the masters of the sword, of newly elected captains and of persons dubbed masters survive for the period 1490 to 1566. In codex I.6.2.5 the captains are partly recorded with their place of origin, and between 1492 and 1563 Bern, Herborn, Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Ravensburg are given. Keller believes that the Frankfurt fair may have been one of the reasons why the seat of the brotherhood moved from Nuremberg to Frankfurt. In a complaint of 1576, the Frankfurt Marxbrüder write that a few years earlier some of them had split off and called themselves Freye oder Federfechter. Their petition to the city of Frankfurt of 6 September 1575 shows that for some time they could not hold Fechtschulen, because there were too few masters on the spot. On 7 March 1607 the federfechter received a privilege from Emperor Rudolf II making them equal to the Marxbrüder. According to Keller, the importance of the fencing brotherhoods declined in favour of other associations, for example shooting societies, until they disappeared in the 18th century.
How it differs
According to Keller's dissertation (2017), the rivalry between the Marxbrüder and the federfechter was the main element of Fechtschulen from the end of the 16th century. The Marxbrüder claimed the tradition of fencing according to Liechtenauer. Unlike Liechtenauer's society, the Marxbrüder called themselves a brotherhood with reference to the Virgin Mary and Saint Mark. According to Keller, the federfechter did without a saint in their name Freifechter von der Feder zum Greifenfels, whereas Chandler (2015) links them with Saint Vitus. Fencers who competed at a Fechtschule against both the Marxbrüder and the federfechter were called Lucasbrüder or Luxbrüder, but according to Keller they were not a separate society. Green (2001) lists them as a society of Saint Luke.
Training
According to Keller's dissertation (2017), the fencing brotherhoods were versatile in weapons. Weapons at Fechtschulen range from the one-handed sword with buckler to the rapier and dagger of the 17th century. Green (2001) states that the Marxbrüder and the federfechter specialized in many weapons, including two-handed swords and later rapiers. An Augsburg city council ordinance of 1568 determined that for each year one master and one freifechter were responsible for the Fechtschulen. Masters from elsewhere could accept new pupils only with permission.
Ranks and progression
According to Keller's dissertation (2017), new masters were dubbed at the annual autumn fair in Frankfurt under the supervision of the captains. Under the brotherhood's rules, a master approved at the fair still had to wait two years before he could become a full master of the long sword. According to Keller, the privilege of 1487 speaks of masters of the sword. The Augsburg city council ordinance of 1568 required masters from elsewhere to say with whom they had trained and to undergo an examination with the long sword, the dussack and the staff.
Competition
According to Keller's dissertation (2017), a public fencing school (Fechtschule) went as follows. It needed the permission of the head of the city and a public announcement, followed by a procession of fencers, a reading of the rules and a demonstration by the local master and his lead fencers. Then, as a rule, two teams faced each other. By winning, participants could gain honorary wreaths and money, and in Germany people said that one fenced for the wreath. According to Keller, the prize or wreath apparently went only to the one who dealt his opponent a bleeding wound. In Augsburg in 1568, participation cost 15 kreuzers, and each fencer could compete in each weapon only once, unless he was fencing for the wreath. According to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2015), the evidence for fencing events of citizens is much more modest for the 15th century, especially before the privilege of 1487. Older reports exist from Frankfurt from 1397 and from Rothenburg from 1444.
Did you know
The master singer Hans Sachs, a shoemaker and member of the Marxbrüder in Nuremberg, wrote a fencing poem in 1555, according to Jaquet (2015). Fechtschulen were not without risk. Keller's dissertation (2017) states that on 28 June 1590, at a Fechtschule in Nuremberg, the federfechter Hermann Mayer received such a thrust to the head from the carpenter Paulus that he died on the spot. In 1610 the Marxbruder Jobst Petermann hit his opponent Kaspar Zapf fatally with a rapier, and 509 men accompanied Zapf on his last journey. In the same year, the Marxbrüder in Nuremberg had to serve a twenty-four-hour imprisonment over the accusation of insulting the federfechter. According to Keller, Gustav Freytag writes that public duels of the fencing communities were banned in Nuremberg shortly before 1700 and that one of the last great fencing festivals took place in Wrocław in 1741.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Marxbrüder brotherhood founded?
We do not know the exact date of origin. Jaquet (2015) states that the Nuremberg guild's records go back to 1477, and the brotherhood received an imperial privilege on 10 August 1487. According to Keller's dissertation (2017), it existed before that.
Who were the federfechter?
A second German fencing brotherhood, which appears in the 16th century. In a complaint of 1576, the Marxbrüder write that the federfechter had broken away from them a few years earlier. An Emperor Rudolf II privilege of 7 March 1607 made them equal to the Marxbrüder.
Could a nobleman become a member?
No. Keller's dissertation (2017) states that the Marxbrüder took their members mainly from craftsmen in cities such as Nuremberg, Augsburg and Frankfurt, and nobles and members of the knightly class were expressly excluded.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.