Schwabenspiegel Codex (Cgm 558)

Codex Schwabenspiegel (Cgm 558) is a paper miscellany kept by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich as Cgm 558. It has 160 folios and is a convolute: in the thirties of the 16th century it was bound together from manuscripts whose content is several decades older. The first part (fol. 1–100) was copied around 1462 by Otmar Gossau. It consists of the territorial law Schwabenspiegel, after which the volume is named, and the territorial peace of King Rudolf of 1287. The second part was written by two scribes. It contains the Zurich chronicle, notes on Swiss history of the years 1385–1446, a small Toggenburg chronicle and, on fol. 125r–136r, a fencing treatise. The treatise covers the long sword, pole weapons, mounted fencing, the dagger and wrestling and is written in the Alemannic dialect of Early New High German. It is followed by texts on stag hunting and falconry, verses on the planets and a monthly regimen. The fencing section is linked to the name of Hugo Wittenwiler, who signed it. He is often named as the author of the treatise, but he was probably only its scribe. The date at the signature is corrupted and is read as around 1493, and 1503 has been proposed. The place of origin is tentatively placed in Swiss Toggenburg, although Wiktenauer also classes the manuscript among the German sources. The treatise has almost nothing to do with the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer.

Martial arts in this work

Contents

The fencing treatise on fol. 125r–136r opens with the sentence "Item wiltu lernen hoflich und weidalich mit dem langen schwert vechten". It teaches fighting without gloves or armour against various weapons. The largest section is that on the long sword (fol. 125r–130r). On fol. 130r the pole weapons follow, on fol. 130v–131r mounted fencing, on fol. 131r–133v the dagger and on fol. 133v–136r wrestling. The English translation by Christian Trosclair divides the dagger section more finely into the baselard, the dagger, the short knife and unarmed defence against the dagger. Legal and chronicle texts occupy fol. 1r–124r. The treatise is followed by teaching on stag hunting (fol. 136r–141r), an incomplete falconry manual (fol. 141r–150r), verses on the planets (fol. 151r–153r) and a monthly regimen with unlucky days (fol. 153r–160r).

Authorship

Hugo Wittenwiler signed on fol. 140v–141r with the words "per manus Hugonis dicti wittenwiller", that is, by the hand of Hugo called Wittenwiller. With reference to this signature, the commentators of Wiktenauer regard him as scribe rather than author of the treatise. The year at the signature, dated the day after the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, is corrupted as "m. y. iij" and is read as around 1493 or 1503, while other readings give 1408. Dieter Bachmann judges that the convolute arose around 1530, but all its content is older and the safe range is 1450–1500. Jaquet (2010) gives 1462–1530, whereas Bachmann points out that 1462 belongs to the part of Otmar Gossau, which need not be connected with Wittenwiler. The Wittenwilers were lesser nobility from Wittenwil in today's canton of Thurgau, impoverished in 1339. Hugo probably belonged to the Toggenburg branch of the family, and otherwise we know little about his life.

Editions and translations

The treatise was first published in print in English translation by Jeffrey Hull in 2008. Wiktenauer publishes a transcription by Dieter Bachmann and Didier de Grenier and an English translation by Christian Trosclair, who also worked on the transcription with de Grenier. A French translation exists, but we did not find its author or year in the sources. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has made images of the whole volume available as a public domain work. We have not been able to document how the manuscript reached the Munich library.

People and martial arts

• Hugo WittenwilerAuthor

Details

Form

Manuscript

Repository

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München

Shelfmark

Cgm 558

Folios

160

Material

Paper

Library digitisation

daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0003/bsb00035322/images

Editions

• 2008 · EN · first edition
• EN · Wiktenauer · translation