Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat
    Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat
    Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat
    Ebook266 pages1 hour

    Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat

    By Hans Talhoffer and Mark Rector

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    “[A] remarkable how-to . . . offers freeze-frame instructions on medieval martial arts using swords, shields, poleaxes, daggers and wrestling” (Publishers Weekly).
     
    Written by German fencing master Hans Talhoffer in 1467, this book illustrates the intricacies of the medieval art of fighting, covering both the “judicial duel” (an officially sanctioned fight to resolve a legal dispute) and personal combat.
     
    Combatants in the Middle Ages used footwork, avoidance, and the ability to judge and manipulate timing and distance to exploit and enhance the sword’s inherent cutting and thrusting capabilities. These skills were supplemented with techniques for grappling, wrestling, kicking and throwing the opponent, as well as disarming him by seizing his weapon. Every attack contained a defense and every defense a counterattack. Talhoffer reveals the techniques for wrestling, unarmored fighting with the long sword, poleaxe, dagger, sword and buckler, and mounted combat.
     
    This unparalleled guide to medieval combat, illustrated with 268 contemporary images, provides a glimpse of real people fighting with skill, sophistication and ruthlessness. This is one of the most popular and influential manuals of its kind.
     
    “This superb treatise, amply illustrated, provides valuable insight into the real world of medieval combat. Magnificent!” —Books Monthly
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateApr 30, 2014
    ISBN9781473835177
    Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat
    Author

    Hans Talhoffer

    HANS TALHOFFER was a fifteenth-century German fencing master. He authored at least five fencing manuals and made his living teaching and training people for trial by combat. The Translator and editor, MARK RECTOR, is a world-renowned practitioner of historical swordsmanship.

    Related to Medieval Combat

    Related ebooks

    European History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Ancient Art Of Armatura

      Nov 23, 2021

      The Ancient Art Of Armatura
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Evolution Of Armour

      Mar 27, 2020

      The Evolution Of Armour
      1 min read

    • Article

      War Books Of Medieval Germany

      Jul 7, 2023

      Whereas Italy was the epicentre of technological and cultural developments during the late medieval and early modern periods, Central Europe also experienced innovations. The spread of the paper mill north of the Alps, and the proliferation of script

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Oakeshott Typology

      May 19, 2021

      The Oakeshott Typology
      3 min read

    • Article

      Where Will Your Reading Take You?

      Mar 10, 2023

      by Susan Ronald An intriguing study of the male and female ‘influencers and enablers’ who actively worked towards blinding Britain, the US and even Germany to what Adolf Hitler and his accomplices were planning, and enacting, in the years before and

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword: Power, Piety and Play

      Nov 11, 2023

      By Robert W. Jones ISBN: 978-1837650361 Bowdell and Brewster, 2023 $39.95 (paperback) www.boydellandbrewer.com The sword looms large in popular perceptions of the Middle Ages. In this absorbing and exceptionally wideranging book, Robert W. Jones take

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Rise Of The Modern Historical Profession

      Sep 7, 2021

      It is really very striking how little was written in English, until quite recently, on the history of medieval warfare. Before the late nineteenth century there was a good deal of writing about war, but little was about medieval history. The Classica

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Early Handgun

      Mar 23, 2021

      Hasselt, a picturesque town in the north of the Netherlands, has been a city since 1227. It is now stranded inland, but in the Middle Ages it was a port on a tributary of the Ijssel River, within easy reach of the sea, and important enough to be a me

      3 min read

    • Article

      Book Reviews

      May 7, 2021

      Britain’s Universal War Machine By Robert JacksonISBN: 978-1526746436(Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2019) – £16.99 Bren Gun Carrier: Britain’s Universal War Machine is a broadly interesting and engaging piece of work. It is intended more for “modelmakers an

      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Reviews

      Jan 7, 2022

      By Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland ISBN: 978-1526738127 (Pen and Sword Books, 2021) – £16.99 The book is intended first and foremost as a visitor’s guide to the areas mentioned in the title. It has more to it than that though, although any gamers visit

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Writhen-hilted Sword

      Jul 14, 2021

      The Writhen-hilted Sword
      3 min read

    • Article

      Give Point!

      Apr 12, 2024

      Give Point!
      8 min read

    • Article

      Weapons Check War Hammer

      Jan 9, 2024

      The war hammer, as crude as it seems, was a practical solution to a late-medieval arms race between offense and defense. From the 14th century, steel plate armor spread amongst the warrior classes. The angled and hardened surfaces of plate armor were

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Weaponry Revolution

      Mar 27, 2020

      The Weaponry Revolution
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Mounted Crossbowman

      Mar 23, 2021

      The Mounted Crossbowman
      2 min read

    • Article

      On Combat In The East

      Jul 11, 2023

      On Combat In The East
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Trauma Of War

      Jul 14, 2021

      The Trauma Of War
      8 min read

    • Article

      The English Longbow: Origins

      Aug 11, 2022

      The English Longbow: Origins
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Bombard And The Book

      Mar 2, 2023

      According to a nineteenth-century transcription of a lost ledger, the Neapolitan Book of Armaments (libro degli armamenti) was authored in 1474 by a not very well-known court painter, Giosuè Cantelmo. Like a sketchbook, it is devoid of written text,

      8 min read

    • Article

      War Bows

      Feb 21, 2019

      War Bows
      2 min read

    • Article

      Books & co

      Mar 8, 2024

      by Ashley Mantle The history books are full of tales of the tragedies and triumphs of England’s kings and queens, with names such as William the Conqueror, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I known to generations of schoolchildren. But what about those who w

      4 min read

    • Article

      Trad: The German Style

      Aug 20, 2021

      Trad: The German Style
      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Ducal Hangers

      Feb 13, 2020

      THE hanger was a type of short sword that was used from the 15th century onwards for hunting, war and self-defence. Over these years its form altered, as all longer serving weapons did, in line with changing fashion and function. The hanger usually h

      2 min read

    • Article

      New Light On The Dark Ages

      Jun 9, 2022

      New Light On The Dark Ages
      8 min read

    • Article

      Legend Of The winged Hussars

      Aug 31, 2023

      Legend Of The winged Hussars
      6 min read

    • Article

      Happy birthday, Lord Wavell

      Dec 15, 2021

      MANY Second World War military leaders are still admired, but few, I think, have been loved long after their deaths. One exception (indeed, the only one of whom I can think) is Field Marshal Lord Wavell (1883–1950). He was the commander who began to

      3 min read

    • Article

      Red Alert

      Feb 1, 2019

      David Reynolds and Vladimir Pechatnov, eds., The Kremlin Letters: Stalin’s Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt, Yale University Press, 2018, 660 pages, $35. 978–0300226829 At first glance The Kremlin Letters: Stalin’s Wartime Corresp

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Medieval Combat

    3.5/5

    35 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This is an interesting book, a classic in the field. It gets the point across (pun intended) via a collection of gritty little illustrations that would be amusing in any other context. No messing around, here.
    • 4/5
      Mainly consists of illustrations reproduced from the 1467 original. Each illustration is captioned, explaining what is happening in the illustrated maneuver. Also contains a foreword by John Clements and an introduction to the material by editor and translator Mark Rector.

    Book preview

    Medieval Combat - Hans Talhoffer

    Medieval

            Combat

    Medieval

            Combat

    A Fifteenth-Century Manual of

    Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat

    Hans Talhoffer

    Translated and edited by Mark Rector

    A Greenhill Book

    First published in Great Britain in 2000 by

    Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal Limited

    www.greenhillbooks.com

    Reprinted in this format in 2014 by

    Frontline Books

    an imprint of

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd

    47 Church Street

    Barnsley

    South Yorkshire

    S70 2AS

    Copyright © Greenhill Books, 2000, 2014

    ISBN 978 1 84832 770 2

    A CIP catalogue record for this book is

    available from the British Library

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

    transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical

    including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and

    retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

    Printed and Bound

    by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

    For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

    PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

    47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

    E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk

    Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

    CONTENTS

    FOREWORD

    A MODERN RENAISSANCE IN MEDIEVAL MARTIAL ARTS

    Today the term ‘martial arts’ is usually assumed to be synonymous with ‘Asian fighting art’. This is no surprise since popular media are notorious for misrepresenting medieval fighting. The medieval warrior’s craft is often reduced to the myth that combatants merely crudely bludgeoned one another or hacked and slashed savagely. Yet well established, highly sophisticated European fighting systems existed. European ‘masters of defence’ produced hundreds of detailed, well-illustrated technical manuals on their fighting methods, and the people of the Germanic states were especially prolific. Their manuals present to us a portrait of highly developed and innovative European martial arts based on sophisticated, systematic and effective skills. Among the best known of these works is that of Hans Talhoffer. His influential treatise, first produced in 1443, was reproduced many times throughout the century.

    Here now is the first English-language edition of the definitive work of this Fechtmeister (literally, ‘fight master’). Talhoffer, probably a follower of the Grand Fechtmeister Hans Liechtenauer, reveals an array of great-sword and two-handed sword techniques, sword and buckler moves, dagger fighting, seizures and disarms, grappling techniques, and the Austrian wrestling of Ott, a rare medieval Jewish master of whom little is known. The illustrated plates also show methods for judicial duels — official fights to end legal disputes — and fighting with pole-weapons. Like many other medieval fighting texts, Talhoffer’s manual covers fighting in full armour and without armour.

    His manual reveals a range of both rudimentary and advanced techniques and provides a firm foundation on which to begin exploration of Western martial culture and the skills of medieval masters of defence. His manual covers fighting with swords, shields, spears, staffs, pole-axes and daggers, as well as grappling, throws, takedowns, holds and ground-fighting skills. Like many other teachers of his day, Talhoffer recognized that armed and unarmed fighting were only facets of personal combat and he accordingly taught an integrated art. He was greatly concerned with secrecy in both the teaching and learning of his skills, for if a fighter’s style were known he could be vulnerable, and a master’s teaching was his own to give out as he saw fit. Talhoffer’s manual was not widely distributed until after his death, and even then it must have circulated very slowly among groups of practitioners.

    Whether your interest is academic, historical, theatrical or martial, Talhoffer’s work offers today’s student of European martial culture a strong starting point. While not a complete guide book on fighting from the period, it will encourage the reader’s own practice and understanding of the brutal effectiveness of European warriors as well as the artistry of their craft. Like many others, for years now I have been interpreting and practising Talhoffer’s techniques. I have studied his instructions and followed his advice with real weapons and with safe sparring tools. It has been a long but fruitful process and while such investigation remains ongoing and new insights continually appear, there is no question of the martial value and legitimacy of his teachings.

    It is exciting that we are currently seeing a ‘renaissance’ in the study of Western martial culture as research and study of historical European fighting arts now undergoes something of a revival. Increasingly, enthusiasts of historical fencing today are focusing on legitimate methods rather than mere competitive games and role-playing pursuits and a much greater appreciation for the sophistication and effectiveness of medieval and Renaissance fighting skills has emerged. A new generation of serious practitioners and researchers is approaching the subject not as escapist fantasy or entertainment, not just as theatrical display, but as the study of a true martial art.

    Earnest practice of the methods of medieval and Renaissance weaponry is increasing in popularity today as students rediscover the many works of European masters of defence. A renewed interest in and appreciation of the formidability and complexity of both medieval and Renaissance arms and armour has evolved. Most satisfying is the tremendous increase in the availability of translations of the old fighting manuals, but even so we have only begun to scratch the surface in the serious study of medieval fighting arts. Talhoffer’s Fechtbuch (‘fight book’) represents the tip of a very large iceberg.

    John Clements

    Author of Medieval Swordsmanship and

    Director of the Historical Armed Combat Association

    2000

    INTRODUCTION

    This is the very first English translation of Master Hans Talhoffer’s Fechtbuch, or ‘Fight Book’, from the year 1467, one of the most influential and lavishly drawn fencing manuals of the fifteenth century. Talhoffer (c1420–c1490) was master of arms to the Swabian knight Leutold von Königsegg, a feudatory of Count Eberhardt the Bearded of Württemberg.¹ At least six illustrated manuals were produced under Talhoffer’s name, covering an astonishing variety of armed and unarmed combat techniques. The most commonly known manuscripts were drawn in 1443, 1459 and 1467. Fencing scholar Gustav Hergsell discovered this last manual at the end of the nineteenth century in the library of Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and translated the original Swabian text into German, publishing his version in Prague in 1887.

    Hergsell describes Talhoffer’s manuscript in his introduction:

    The original drawings were made with pen and ink on parchment sheets, and boldly coloured. The cross is drawn in red upon the shields, caps, chests and backs of the shield-fighters. In some of the drawings, blood spurts from wounds, and the shields are coloured yellow. The drawings appear on both sides of each leaf.

    The captions … are inscribed in a bold hand. They alone set out the particular fights, as this codex contains neither a title nor any other text.

    Next to the final illustration, showing a fight on horseback with crossbow and spear (jousting

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1