Talhoffer Fechtbücher (Hans Talhoffer, 1448–1467)

The Talhoffer Fechtbuch is not a single codex but a group of illustrated manuscripts linked with the name of Hans Talhoffer, a fencing master attested in the sources between 1433 and 1467. Four manuscripts are regarded as Talhoffer's originals, from which later copies derive: the Gotha Chart.A.558 from around 1448, manuscript XIX.17-3 from the private collection of the Königsegg-Aulendorf family (1446–1459), the Copenhagen Thott 290 2º from 1459 and the Munich Cod.icon. 394a from 1467, Talhoffer's last work. All are written in Early New High German. The manuscripts cover fighting with the buckler, crossbow, dagger, Messer, long shield, mace, poleaxe, spear and sword, as well as wrestling, in armour and without it, on foot and on horseback. The teaching is aimed at three situations: the tournament, the formal judicial duel and self-defence in town. The composition differs from manuscript to manuscript. The Gotha one combines Talhoffer's material with Hartlieb's text and Liechtenauer's verses, the Copenhagen one with Liechtenauer and Kyeser, and the Munich one is the only one to treat longsword fencing without armour in detail. The four are followed by derived manuscripts, among them MS 78.A.15 from the fourteen-fifties, an expanded version of the Königsegg manuscript, the Wolfenbüttel Cod.Guelf.78.2 Aug.2º from 1465–1480, manuscript KK5342 from the Ambras Collection (1480–1500) and copies from the 16th to 19th centuries. Although both the Gotha and Copenhagen manuscripts contain Liechtenauer's teaching, Talhoffer is missing from the list of Liechtenauer's society compiled by Paulus Kal. His manuscripts have appeared in facsimile since 1887.

Martial arts in this work

Contents

The contents of manuscript XIX.17-3 are laid out in greatest detail: fighting in armour (folios 2r–9r), preparation for the judicial duel of Luithold of Königsegg (9v–24r), the dagger (25r–45r), wrestling (45v–49v) and the spear (50r–61r). Alongside Talhoffer's material, the Gotha Chart.A.558 contains Hartlieb's and Liechtenauer's text, a duel with the long shield, the short sword, the poleaxe, the dagger, wrestling including that of Otto Jud, and an anonymous war book. The Copenhagen Thott 290 2º combines Liechtenauer with Kyeser and on its last ten folios carries a text on esotericism written upside down. The Munich Cod.icon. 394a is the only one that treats longsword fencing without armour at length.

Origin

The Gotha manuscript Chart.A.558 has 151 folios measuring 215 × 290 mm, written in bastarda, and was made in 1448 or later. On folio 1r it bears an erased ownership mark. Manuscript XIX.17-3 of 73 folios (230 × 305 mm) was made between 1446 and 1459 and has apparently remained since then in the possession of the Königsegg family at Königseggwald. The Copenhagen Thott 290 2º from 1459 has 150 paper folios in a parchment binding, was written down by Michel Rotwyler, its illustrations are attributed, with a question mark, to Clauss Pflieger, and it later belonged to Otto Thott (1703–1785). The Munich Cod.icon. 394a of 137 parchment folios was made in 1467 for Count Eberhard of Württemberg, who according to Wiktenauer paid 10 gold florins for it plus rye and oats.

Authorship

Talhoffer's share in the Gotha manuscript is not certain: according to researchers to whom Wiktenauer refers, he may have bought a finished or half-finished manuscript. We have not been able to substantiate in the sources a dating of this manuscript to 1443, while Wiktenauer places it around 1448 or later. In one place Wiktenauer speaks of five manuscripts attributed to Talhoffer, yet among the originals it names only four, and we have not been able to identify the fifth. The late copy MS 26.236 from the 17th century is held in New York. The supposition that Talhoffer belonged to the Marxbrüder brotherhood rests only on the lion of St Mark in his coat of arms, while the brotherhood is attested only from 1474.

People and martial arts

• Hans TalhofferAuthor
• Michel RotwylerCo-author
• Clauss PfliegerIllustrator
• Eberhard V. von WürttembergPatron
• Luithold von KönigseggPatron

Details

Form

Manuscript

Repository

Universitäts- und Forschungsbibliothek Erfurt/Gotha / Privatsammlung Königsegg-Aulendorf, Königseggwald / Det Kongelige Bibliotek, København / Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München

Shelfmark

MS Chart.A.558 / MS XIX.17-3 / MS Thott.290.2º / Cod.icon. 394a

Material

Paper and parchment

Editions

• 1887 · DE · first edition
• 2000 · EN · Greenhill Books · translation
• 2010 · DE · Der Königsegger Codex
• 2018 · EN · Greenhill Books · translation