Meyer's Art of Fencing
Fencing according to the Strasbourg master Joachim Meyer, who in 1570 published a printed book on the sword, dussack, rapier, dagger, staff and halberd. His manuscripts also survive.
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About Meyer's Art of Fencing
Meyer's fencing is a body of fencing teachings by Joachim Meyer, who on the title page of his book calls himself Freyfechter zů Straßburg. According to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2021), Meyer became a citizen of Strasbourg in 1560 as a cutler by marrying a widow, and he came from Basel. According to him, birth in 1537 is possible but not certain because of namesakes. In 1571 he entered the service of the duke in Schwerin and died shortly after arriving, his death being confirmed by the chancellor's letter of 24 February 1571.
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In 1570 Meyer published in Strasbourg, with the printer Thiebolt Berger, the book Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen vnnd Adelichen kunst des Fechtens. The book has five parts: fencing with the sword, the dussack, the rapier, the dagger with many wrestling techniques, and finally the staff, halberd and long spear. Dupuis attributes the engravings to Tobias Stimmer. The book is dedicated to the Count Palatine Johann Casimir and was published again in Augsburg in 1600. Meyer also left manuscripts. The Munich one of 1561 has 79 illustrations and, besides the weapons of the printed book, also contains fighting in armour, and others are in Lund and in Rostock. In the fifteen-sixties Meyer held public fencing displays and, according to Dupuis, prepared four fencers for the fencing master's examination. Today his book is also available in the English translation by Jeffrey L. Forgeng of 2006.
History
According to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2021), Joachim Meyer became a citizen of Strasbourg in 1560 as a cutler by marrying a widow who held citizenship rights. His presumed parents Jakob Meyger and Anna Fründt lived in the Basel suburb of St. Alban, in whose parish Joachim Meyer was baptised in 1537, but because of namesakes this is not certain. Between 1560 and 1570 he left few traces in the archives apart from holding public fencing displays, and in 1570 he was treasurer of the court of the Strasbourg blacksmiths' guild, which documents his master status.
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In 1570 his book Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen vnnd Adelichen kunst des Fechtens was published in Strasbourg by Thiebolt Berger, dedicated to the Count Palatine Johann Casimir of the Pfalz-Simmern line. In 1571 Meyer left Strasbourg, entered the service of the duke in Schwerin and died shortly after arriving. His death was confirmed by the chancellor in a letter to the duke of 24 February 1571, in which he complained about the missing court physician. German Wikipedia gives 24 February as the day of death, English Wikipedia 23 February. According to Dupuis, the book was reprinted posthumously in Augsburg in 1600 with the same plates and without substantial changes to the text. Jaquet (2020) also mentions an Augsburg edition of 1610. Green (2001) writes that Meyer wrote down his teachings in 1570, as did Jacob Sutor in 1612, and that the Germans as a whole resisted the adoption of the rapier in favour of traditional weapons.
How it differs
According to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2021), Pierre-Alexandre Chaize sees in Meyer's print the beginnings of bourgeois sport, which sets the body in motion through a social activity. Dupuis points out that fencing remained strongly tied to the aristocracy. Jaquet and Walczak (2015) count Meyer among the witnesses that contain the longsword teachings of Martin Siber. English Wikipedia states that Meyer's print became an influential source for further German fencing books, including those of Jacob Sutor (1612) and Theodor Verolinus (1672), which are simplified redactions of it.
Technique
According to the contents of the digitised copy, the 1570 print has five books. The first covers sword fencing, the second the dussack, the third the rapier, the fourth the dagger with many wrestling techniques and the fifth the staff, halberd and long spear. The second book's heading says it holds many manly and quick techniques that train beginners in dexterity and then in rapier fencing. According to Dupuis (2021), the Munich manuscript of 1561 has 79 illustrations and sections on the two-handed sword, dussack, rapier, dagger, staff, halberd, long spear and armoured fighting. The dussack section has 23 images. English and German Wikipedia say Meyer's system draws on the terminology of Liechtenauer's school, but civilian fencing apparently also draws on contemporary Italian fencing, including Achille Marozzo.
Training
The practice blade for the longsword was the Feder. According to the study by Gassmann and colleagues (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2017), it has blunt edges and point, but otherwise matches the longsword in size, weight (about 1400 grams) and balance. Historical Federn survive from the 16th and 17th centuries, and Meyer's book shows trainees with them in his hall.
Ranks and progression
According to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2021), Meyer prepared four fencers for the fencing master's examination within four years. Requests to hold a public Fechtschule in 1560, 1561 and 1563 were meant to make one of his pupils a master. He himself appears on the title page of the print as Freyfechter zů Straßburg and in 1570 was treasurer of the blacksmiths' guild court, which according to Dupuis documents master status.
Today
Jeffrey L. Forgeng published the English translation of the 1570 print under the title The Art of Combat: A German Martial Arts Treatise of 1570 in London in 2006. The manuscripts in Lund and Rostock were found, according to Dupuis (Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2021), in 2008 and 2009, and the Munich manuscript of 1561 in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum was described by Dupuis in 2021. The sources disagree on the dating of the Lund manuscript. Dupuis places it at about 1568, Jaquet (2020) in 1560. The Rostock manuscript contains, among other things, a treatise on the rapier dedicated to Count Heinrich of Eberst and dated 1570.
Did you know
Luis Pacheco de Narváez, in his book Nueva Ciencia, according to Dupuis (2021), describes Meyer as the translator of Achille Marozzo into German. Some compositions in the rapier section of the Munich manuscript resemble the engravings in Marozzo's book Opera Nova of 1536. The Munich manuscript is dedicated to Count Palatine Georg Hans of Veldenz and the dedication is dated 1 March 1561 in the Julian calendar.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Joachim Meyer?
A fencer and cutler from Strasbourg, where, according to Dupuis (2021), he became a citizen in 1560. In 1570 he published a fencing book, in 1571 he entered the service of the duke in Schwerin and died shortly afterwards.
What weapons does Meyer's book describe?
The print of 1570 has five books: sword, dussack, rapier, dagger with wrestling techniques and finally staff, halberd and long spear. The Munich manuscript of 1561 additionally contains combat in armour.
Is Meyer's book available in translation?
Yes. An English translation by Jeffrey L. Forgeng was published in London in 2006 under the title The Art of Combat: A German Martial Arts Treatise of 1570.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.