Codex Danzig (Cod.44.A.8)

Codex Danzig, also known as the Starhemberg Fechtbuch, is a German fencing manuscript from 1452 with the shelfmark Cod. 44.A.8. Wiktenauer also calls it the Rome version. The manuscript is a compilation of several treatises by various masters of the Liechtenauer tradition. Its core is an anonymous gloss on Liechtenauer's Zettel with sections on the longsword, mounted combat and the short sword. The Rome version is the oldest surviving form of this gloss. The compilation does not name the authors of the other treatises. The whole manuscript is linked to Peter von Danzig, but according to Wiktenauer he wrote only its final part, the gloss on the Zettel on the short sword. Paulus Kal listed him around 1470 among the members of Liechtenauer's society. The author of the anonymous gloss could not be identified, and so he is referred to as Pseudo-Peter von Danzig. Master Lew, Sigmund ain Ringeck or Liechtenauer himself are considered as possible authors. The Rome manuscript belongs to the same branch of the textual tradition as Codex Lew of Augsburg from the fifties of the fifteenth century and Codex Speyer from 1491. A transcription with a German translation was published in 2008 by Dierk Hagedorn, an English translation by Christian Henry Tobler appeared in 2010, and in 2021 a joint edition of both scholars followed.

Martial arts in this work

Authorship

Peter von Danzig is mistakenly considered the author of the whole manuscript. According to Wiktenauer, only the final gloss on the Zettel on the short sword is his work, so he co-authored the compilation only to that extent. Paulus Kal recorded him around 1470 among the members of Liechtenauer's society. The glossator of the main part remains unidentified. Wiktenauer summarises three proposals. The first is Master Lew, to whom a closing note in several copies attributes the gloss on mounted combat. The second is Sigmund ain Ringeck owing to textual similarity. The third comes from the introduction of the Rome version, which can be read as an attribution to Liechtenauer himself. We did not find in the sources the names of the scholars behind these proposals. We have also not been able to document the exact boundary between the anonymous gloss, which likewise contains the short sword, and Danzig's final part.

Editions and translations

A transcription of the manuscript with a German translation was published in 2008 by Dierk Hagedorn at VS-Books. The first English translation was made by Christian Henry Tobler and appeared in 2010 in the anthology In Saint George's Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts from Freelance Academy Press. The same publisher issued in 2021 a joint work by Hagedorn and Tobler under the title The Peter von Danzig Fight Book. The title of this edition links the whole manuscript with Danzig's name, although his share is limited to the final gloss on the short sword. A Hungarian translation of Liechtenauer's gloss was made in 2012 by Gábor Erényi. We have not been able to document whether he worked from the Rome manuscript itself.

People and martial arts

• Peter von DanzigCo-author
• Dierk HagedornEditor
• Christian Henry ToblerTranslator

Details

Form

Manuscript

Repository

Biblioteca dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana, Roma

Shelfmark

Cod. 44.A.8

Editions

• 2008 · DE · VS-Books · translation
• 2010 · EN · In Saint George's Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts · Freelance Academy Press · first edition
• 2021 · EN · The Peter von Danzig Fight Book · Freelance Academy Press · translation