Manuscripts
Handwritten books on fencing and wrestling. 25 works.
1270Liber de Arte Dimicatoria (MS I.33)The oldest surviving European fencing manuscript, a Latin illustrated sword and buckler manual from Franconia, late 13th or early 14th century, now at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.HEMA1390Nuremberg Hausbuch (MS 3227a)Household miscellany from around 1390, the oldest surviving manuscript with the teaching of Johannes Liechtenauer, kept in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1400Le Jeu de la Hache (MS Français 1996)Anonymous treatise on poleaxe fighting written in Middle French, dated to around 1400 or to 1460–1485, preserved in the manuscript BnF MS Français 1996.HEMA1420Codex Wallerstein (Cod.I.6.4º.2)Augsburg manuscript combining two to three treatises from roughly 1420–1470 on the sword, messer, dagger, wrestling, short sword and long shield.HEMARingen1430GladiatoriaFive anonymous German manuscripts from the thirties to nineties of the 15th century on fighting in full armour. The content follows a judicial duel: spear, sword, dagger and wrestling.HEMARingenGerman School of Fencing1440Wiener Fechtbuch (Cod.11093)Anonymous parchment manuscript from the fourteen-forties, now in Vienna, with illustrated sections on the spear, short sword, dagger, pole weapons, wrestling and mounted fencing.HEMARingen1443Talhoffer Fechtbuch (MS Chart.A.558)A Gotha manuscript from 1443–1448, attributed to Hans Talhoffer, on the longsword, long shield, short sword, war axe, dagger and wrestling.HEMARingenGerman School of Fencing1448Talhoffer Fechtbücher (Hans Talhoffer, 1448–1467)Four original illustrated manuscripts by the fencing master Hans Talhoffer, from around 1448–1467, on the sword, dagger, Messer, spear, wrestling and judicial combat.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1452Codex Danzig (Cod.44.A.8)German fencing manuscript from 1452 (Cod. 44.A.8), a compilation of treatises of the Liechtenauer tradition with the oldest surviving version of an anonymous gloss on his Zettel.German School of FencingHEMA1460Codex Lew (Cod.I.6.4º.3)Augsburg manuscript from the sixties of the 15th century with glosses on Liechtenauer's verses on the long sword and mounted fencing, plus texts by Huntsfeld, Lignitzer and Otto Jud.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1462Schwabenspiegel Codex (Cgm 558)Munich convolute Cgm 558 with a territorial law, Swiss chronicles and an Alemannic fencing treatise on the sword, dagger and wrestling, linked to Hugo Wittenwiler.HEMARingen1465Wolfenbüttel Picture Book (Cod.Guelf.78.2 Aug.2º)Anonymous unfinished picture compilation from roughly 1465–1480: longsword, armoured fighting from the Gladiatoria group, wrestling, sword and buckler, and Kyeser's Bellifortis.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1478Kunst des Messerfechtens (Cod.Pal.Germ.430)Manuscript on fighting with the messer, a long knife or falchion, written between 1478 and 1482 by Hans Lecküchner and dedicated to the Elector Palatine. Held in Heidelberg.HEMA1482De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi (MS Vitt.Em.1324)Illustrated Italian fencing manuscript by Filippo Vadi of Pisa, 1482–1487, dedicated to Guidobaldo da Montefeltro: sword, axe, pole weapons, dagger and wrestling.HEMAArmizare1482Kunst des Messerfechtens (Cgm 582)Illustrated manuscript by Hans Lecküchner from 1482 on messer fencing, held in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich under the shelfmark Cgm 582.German School of FencingHEMA1491Codex Speyer (MS M.I.29)Salzburg compilation of Liechtenauer-tradition treatises on the sword, messer, short sword, combat on horseback and wrestling, put together in 1491 by the scribe Hans von Speyer.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1504Codex Ringeck (Mscr.Dresd.C.487)A Dresden manuscript from 1504–1519 with Sigmund Ringeck's gloss on Liechtenauer's verses on the long sword and with texts on the short sword, mounted fencing and wrestling.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1508Glasgow Fechtbuch (MS E.1939.65.341)German fencing manuscript of 1508 in Glasgow Museums, a compilation of masters of the Liechtenauer tradition with the only known illustrated version of Ringeck's gloss.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1512Oplodidaskalia sive Armorvm Tractandorvm Meditatio Alberti Dvreri (MS 26-232)A manuscript from Dürer's Nuremberg workshop of around 1512 on wrestling, the sword, dagger, messer and fighting on horseback, now in the Albertina in Vienna.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1522Jörg Wilhalm Hutter Fechtbücher (Cod.I.6.4º.5 and others)Four illustrated manuscripts by the Augsburg fencing master Jörg Wilhalm Hutter from 1522 and 1523 on armoured combat, the longsword and judicial duelling.German School of FencingHEMA1535Goliath (MS germ. quart. 2020)Fencing manuscript from Augsburg or Landshut made around 1535–1540, now in Kraków, teaching the Liechtenauer tradition of the sword, dagger, wrestling and fighting on horseback.German School of FencingRingenHEMA1540Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica (Paulus Hector Mair)Illustrated fencing compendium by Augsburg official Paulus Hector Mair from the fifteen-forties, in 16 books, surviving in copies in Dresden, Munich and Vienna.Dussack FencingGerman School of FencingHEMA+11545Jörg Breu Draftbook (Cod.I.6.2º.4)Augsburg manuscript from around 1545 with wrestling sections after Gregor Erhart and preparatory sketches by Jörg Breu's workshop for Mair's work on fencing.German School of FencingRingenDussack Fencing+11591Das Ander Theil Des Newen Kůnstreichen Fechtbůches (Cod.Guelf.83.4 Aug.8º)Anonymous unfinished manuscript from 1591 in Wolfenbüttel with the teaching of the free fencers on the two-handed sword, halberd, dagger, dussack and wrestling.Dussack FencingRingenHEMA1600Discorso sopra l'arte della scherma (MS 14/10)Camillo Palladini's Italian manuscript from around 1600 on the sword, dagger, cloak, spadone, spear and halberd, joining the older Bolognese tradition with the rapier.Bolognese FencingHEMA
