Liber de Arte Dimicatoria (MS I.33)

Liber de Arte Dimicatoria, known by its shelfmark as MS I.33 and also nicknamed the Walpurgis Fechtbuch or Tower Fechtbuch, is the oldest surviving European manuscript on fencing. It originated in Franconia and is written in medieval Latin, interwoven with German fencing terms. The dating is disputed, with estimates ranging from the end of the 13th century to the 1320s. Since 1996 it has been held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Thirty-two parchment leaves measuring 230 × 310 mm in five gatherings have survived, and at least eight leaves are missing. Each side of a leaf carries two illustrations, with text above and below them. The subject is combat with sword and buckler, a small round shield held in the fist. The teaching rests on seven guards called custodiae and on ways of overcoming them. In the images a priest instructs his pupil, and on folios 31v–32r a figure named Walpurgis appears, after whom the manuscript received one of its nicknames. The manuscript was written by three scribes and perhaps as many as seventeen illuminators decorated it. Authorship is attributed to a priest named Lutegerus, but the attribution remains uncertain. Until the 16th century it belonged to monks, and in 1552–1553 Johannes Herbart of Würzburg took it away from the monastery. It was first mentioned in writing in 1579 by Heinrich von Gunterrodt. Until 1945 it was owned by the dukes of Saxe-Gotha, on 27 March 1950 it was sold at Sotheby's in London, and afterwards the Royal Armouries kept it in the Tower of London. Modern editions and translations have appeared in English, French, Italian and German.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

Until the 16th century the manuscript belonged to monks. As early as the 15th century someone wrote a couplet on its first leaf, which is attributed to Pope Pius II. In 1552–1553 it was taken away from the monastery by Johannes Herbart of Würzburg, whose name is written on folio 7r and who later served as fencer to the dukes of Saxe-Gotha. In 1579 Heinrich von Gunterrodt was the first to mention the manuscript in writing, and he may have made a copy of it, now unknown. A passage from folio 26r was copied in the 17th century into the manuscript Cod.Guelf.125.16.Extrav. Until 1945 it was kept in the collections of the dukes of Saxe-Gotha in Gotha under the shelfmark Membr.I 115. We have not been able to document where it was between 1945 and 1950. After the auction at Sotheby's in London on 27 March 1950 the Royal Armouries kept it in the Tower of London, and in 1996 the manuscript moved to Leeds. It also bears the older designations No.14.E.iii and No.20 FECHT 1.

Authorship

The author of the manuscript is not known for certain. The work is traditionally attributed to a figure named Lutegerus (Clericus Lutegerus), in whom some see a secular priest, perhaps Ludger or Liutger, while other interpretations hold it to be anonymous. Opinions on the dating differ as well. In 1985 Hils dated it to the beginning of the 14th century, in 1988 Anglo to the end of the 13th, and more recent research agrees on 1320–1330. The widest range of estimates runs from 1270 to 1330. The origin of the fencing doctrine itself is also disputed. In 2009 Dawson considered a Byzantine influence, while in 2012 Hester defended a native German origin and questioned whether the manuscript survives complete.

Editions and translations

Modern editions of the manuscript were prepared chiefly by Forgeng. His English edition The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship appeared in 2003 from Chivalry Bookshelf, in 2012 it was followed by The Illuminated Fightbook from Extraordinary Editions, and in 2018 by the edition The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship: Royal Armouries MS I.33 directly from the Royal Armouries. Forgeng's name is also linked with the German edition Das Tower-Fechtbuch, which appeared in 2021 from Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft in Darmstadt. The French edition Le Livre de l'art du Combat was prepared by Cinato and Surprenant and appeared in 2009 from CNRS Editions. An Italian edition, in which Morini and Rudilosso took part, also appeared in 2012, and we have not been able to document its title or publisher.

People and martial arts

• Lutegerus (Clericus Lutegerus)Author

Details

Form

Manuscript

Repository

Royal Armouries, Leeds

Shelfmark

MS I.33

Folios

32

Material

Parchment

Editions

• 2003 · EN · The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship · Chivalry Bookshelf · translation
• 2009 · FR · Le Livre de l'art du Combat · CNRS Editions · translation
• 2012 · EN · The Illuminated Fightbook · Extraordinary Editions · translation
• 2018 · EN · The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship: Royal Armouries MS I.33 · Royal Armouries · translation
• 2021 · DE · Das Tower-Fechtbuch · Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft · translation