Hans Talhoffer

Hans Talhoffer (also spelled Talhofer) was a fencing-master in southern Germany in the 15th century. He is the author of several Fechtbücher, illustrated treatises describing methods of fighting with various weapons, including unarmed combat (grappling), dagger, long sword, pole weapons and mounted combat. He is a contemporary of fencing-master Paulus Kal (whose manuscript may contain hints of professional rivalry between the two). Talhoffer is part of the German school of fencing, but may have been somewhat outside the mainstream of Johannes Liechtenauer.

Overview

Talhoffer is the best-known of the 15th century German fencing-masters. There are half a dozen surviving illustrated "Fechtbücher", some of them of considerable draftsmanship, documenting a span of three decades of his activity. Talhoffer's name appears in the records of Zürich, documenting how he was teaching near the Rathaus (city council) in 1454 (a fight broke out among his students, resulting in various fines).

A list of the "Fechtbücher" by Hans Talhoffer:

*(1) "MS Chart. A 558", Gotha, 151 folia, 178 drawings, 41 pages of text, 1443.
*(2) "HS XIX. 17-3", Königsegg, 73 folia, ca. 1450.
*(3) "P 5342 B (Cod. Nr. 55 Ambras)". Copy of (2)
*(4) "78 A 15", Berlin, 77 folia., before 1459.
*(5) "Thott 290 2", Kongelige Bibliothek, Copenhagen, "Hans Talhoffers Alte Armatur und Ringkunst", 150 folia, 1459
*(6) "Cod. icon. 394", 137 folia, 1467.
*(7) "Cod. Vindob. Ser. Nov. 2978" 276 folia, 16th century copy of (6).

Of these, (1), (3) and (6) [see also the [http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/talhoffer.htm English translation and some plates] on [http://www.thearma.org website] of The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts; see also a [http://ardamhe.free.fr/biblio/talhoffer/1467.htm French translation] ] have been edited by Gustav Hergsell. (5) is available online as full facsimile at the website of the Kongelige Bibliothek. [ [http://base.kb.dk/pls/hsk_web/hsk_vis.forside?p_hs_loebenr=2&p_navtype=rel&p_lang=eng] ; a transcription is available [http://freywild.ch/wiki/index.php/Thott] ] So that ignoring copies, (4) is the only known manuscript that remains unpublished as of 2006. The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts website also has a complete English translation and analysis of the [http://www.thearma.org/Fight-Earnestly.htm 1459 Thott Manuscript] (5) by Jeffrey Hull.

Notes

References

*Sydney Anglo, "The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe", Yale University Press (2000) ISBN 0-300-08352-1, p. 24.
*Gustav Hergsell, "Talhoffers Fechtbuch von 1467", Prague 1887; English language edition: Marc Rector, "Medieval Combat", Greenhill Books, 2000.
*Gustav Hergsell, "Talhoffers Fechtbuch von 1443", Prague 1889 [http://jfgilles.club.fr/escrime/bibliotheque/talhoffer_gotha/index.html ( [French translation 1893] )
*Gustav Hergsell, "Ambraser Codex", Prague 1901 [http://jfgilles.club.fr/escrime/bibliotheque/talhoffer_ambras/index.html] [http://www.schielhau.org/talhoffer1459_ac_duel.html] .
*Hans-Peter Hils, "Meister Johann Liechtenauers Kunst des langen Schwertes", Frankfurt am Main / New York (1985).
*Schulze, A. and Fortner, S. (eds.), "Mittelalterliche Kampfesweisen" Zabern, Mainz (edition of the 1467 ms.)
**vol. 1 Das Lange Schwert (2006), ISBN 3-8053-3652-7.
**vol. 2 Der Kriegshammer, Schild und Kolben (2007), ISBN 3-8053-3736-1.
**vol. 3 Scheibendolch und Stechschild (2007), ISBN 3-8053-3750-7.

See also

*German school of swordsmanship
*Historical European Martial Arts

External links

* [http://www.thearma.org/temp/Fight-Earnestly.pdf Fight Earnestly – the Fight-Book from 1459 AD by Hans Talhoffer] by Jeffrey Hull
* http://talhoffer.de/
* [http://www.truefork.org/DragonPreservationSociety/TalhofferDaggerClass.php Dagger Techniques From Hans Talhoffer] by Eli Steenput