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Codex Wallerstein




thrust against a '' Mordhau '' in Armoured Longsword combat.]]
The Codex Wallerstein ( Augsburg University library I.6.4.2) is a 15th Century Fechtbuch . The title
Vom Baumans Fechtbuch appears on the first page, together with the date 1549 . The Codex came in the possession of Paulus Hector Mair in 1556 . It consists of 221 pages, illustrating techniques of fighting with the Longsword , Dussack and Dagger , Armored and unarmored, Stechschild , as well a system of Grappling .

The manuscript is a convolution of three parts, clearly separable by three different styles of illustration. The part A treats longsword, dagger and messer. The part B is inserted in two parts, interrupting the first part, treating grappling. The part C treats longsword, armoured combat, stechschild and grappling.

The swords depicted are of a tapering Spadone style. The fighting style is somewhat different from that in the other fechtbücher in Liechtenauer 's tradition. Especially the longsword techniques involve a lot of lever work and gripping the blade, reminiscent of Hans Talhoffer , probably executable by most fencers only with blunts, or in armoured combat.

Part A is considered a source for the fechtbuch of Albrecht Dürer of 1512 . A note on fol. 56v indicates that part B post-dates part A. Part C is probably the oldest, dating to the mid-15th century, the illustrations possibly by a professional draftsman of playing-cards, while parts A and B may date to the 1470s, possibly by one Michael Baumann, listed as a Mercenary by profession in the tax registers of Augsburg between 1471 and 1495. The present confused sequence of the pages is the result of a binding in the 16th century.


CONTENTS


  • 1r drawing of a fencer with various arms

  • 1v-2r drawing of a fighting arena with spectators

  • Part A

  • ---3r-14v, 21r, 21v longsword techniques

  • ---22r-28v dagger

  • ---29r-32v messer

  • Part B

  • ---15r-20v, 33r-73r grappling

  • ---74v drawing of an armed robbery (with instructions for the robber to draw blood from the vicitm's neck for intimidation)

  • Part C

  • ---76r-80v, 101r-102v longsword

  • ---81r-95v, 103r-106r armoured combat

  • ---96r-96v, 98v judicial combat, Swabian law

  • ---97r-98r judicial combat, Franconian law

  • ---98v-100v grappling

  • 108v four figures dressed in the style of the 13th century

  • 109r register, in the hand of Paulus Hector Mair



SEE ALSO



LITERATURE

  • G. Zabinski, with B. Walczak, ''The Codex Wallerstein, A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling'', Paladin Press, (2002), ISBN 1-158160-339-8. {Link without Title}



EXTERNAL LINKS

  • http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/CodexW.htm

  • http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/bookReviews/cvet_wallerstein.htm

  • http://ejmas.com/jwma/articles/2001/jwmaart_zabinski_0401.html

  • http://www.guerriers-avalon.org/messer/wallerstein_messer.html