Hans Talhoffer
Swabian fencing master of the 15th century (attested 1433–1467), author of illustrated manuscripts on wrestling, the longsword, armoured combat and judicial duels.
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Hans Talhoffer was a Swabian fencing master of the 15th century, attested 1433 to 1467, and author of several illustrated fencing manuscripts. English Wikipedia places his birth between 1410 and 1415 and his death after 1482, while Wiktenauer gives none.
In 1433 he represented the Archbishop of Salzburg, Johann II von Reisberg, before the Vehmic court. In 1434 he was questioned in the trial of Jacob Auer and confessed that he had been hired for an abduction. Wiktenauer describes him as an educated man interested in astrology and mathematics. We do not know his teachers, but his writings show a connection to the Liechtenauer tradition.
The manuscript MS Chart.A.558 from around 1448 is an anthology that Talhoffer bought. The Königsegg Codex was made between 1446 and 1459, and in 1459 he completed the personal manual MS Thott.290.2º, now in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. The last, Cod.icon. 394a of 1467, was made for Eberhard of Württemberg. The manuscripts describe wrestling, the dagger, the longsword, fighting in armour, on horseback, and the judicial duel with the pavise.
Talhoffer's writings were copied from the 15th to the 19th century, and more than a dozen of them survive. The claim that he belonged to the Marxbrüder brotherhood cannot be documented, as the brotherhood is attested only from 1474. We have not found a quotation with documented Talhoffer authorship.
Early life
English Wikipedia gives his birth as around 1410 to 1415 in Swabia and his death as after 1482. Wiktenauer does not give these dates, and we have not found them in a better source either. Wiktenauer describes him as an educated man who was interested in astrology, mathematics and onomastics. Around 1437 he is mentioned as steward (Kastner) in Hohenburg in the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg.
Training and teachers
According to Wiktenauer, Talhoffer's martial background is unknown, but his writings show a certain connection to the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer. His name is missing from the list of the Society of Liechtenauer compiled by Paulus Kal, and Wiktenauer therefore considers it more likely that he did not join this circle. Zurich records from 1454 mention a master Hans, perhaps Talhoffer, entrusted with teaching fencing and adjudicating judicial duels.
Contribution and innovations
In 1433 he represented the Archbishop of Salzburg, Johann II von Reisberg, before the Vehmic court. According to Wiktenauer, the manuscript MS Chart.A.558 is an anthology from around 1448 that Talhoffer bought, and its fencing section is almost without text. The Königsegg Codex MS XIX.17-3 was made between 1446 and 1459 and depicts a judicial duel for Luithold von Königsegg that probably never took place. The manuscript MS 78.A.15 from the fourteen-fifties was made for the brothers David and Buppellin vom Stain. The personal manual MS Thott.290.2º of 1459 was, according to English Wikipedia, written by Michel Rotwyler and illustrated by Clauss Pflieger. The manuscript Cod.icon. 394a of 1467 was made for Eberhard of Württemberg, who paid 10 gulden and grain for it.
Legends and documented facts
The claim that he was a member or founder of the Marxbrüder brotherhood because of the lion of Saint Mark in his coat of arms of 1459 cannot be documented, because the brotherhood is attested only from 1474. According to Wiktenauer, the identification of the master Hans who in 1455 prepared Mahiot Coquel for a judicial duel with Talhoffer is without citation. The dating of the manuscript MS Chart.A.558 differs, as Wiktenauer gives 1448 while English Wikipedia and Hergsell give 1443. Wiktenauer gives the patron as Eberhard V and Wikipedia as Eberhard I, and we believe that they are the same person, first a count and later the first Duke of Württemberg.
Legacy
According to Wiktenauer, Talhoffer's writings were copied in every century from the 15th to the 19th, and there are more than a dozen manuscripts, among them the Ambras Codex from 1480 to 1500 and the Munich copies Cod.icon. 394 and 395 from around 1820. Facsimiles of his manuscripts were published from 1887 to 1894 by Gustav Hergsell in German and French. In 1434 he was questioned in the Nuremberg trial of Jacob Auer, who was accused of murder, and confessed that he had been hired to abduct Hans von Villenbach.