This sixteenth-century German guide to sword fighting and combat
training is a crucial source for understanding medieval swordplay
techniques. Following his translation of Joachim Meyer’s The Art
of Combat, Jeffrey L. Forgeng was alerted to an earlier version of
Meyer’s text, discovered in Lund University Library in Sweden. The
manuscript, produced in Strasbourg around 1568, is illustrated with
thirty watercolor images and seven ink diagrams. The text covers
combat with the longsword (hand-and-a-half sword), dusack (a
one-handed practice weapon comparable to a sabre), and rapier. The
manuscript’s theoretical discussion of guards sheds significant
light on this key feature of the historical practice, not just in
relation to Meyer but in relation to medieval combat systems in
general. The Art of Sword Combat also offers an extensive repertoire
of training drills for both the dusack and the rapier, a feature
largely lacking in treatises of the period and critical to modern
reconstructions of the practice. Forgeng’s translation also includes
a biography of Meyer, much of which has only recently come to light,
as well as technical terminology and other essential information for
understanding and contextualizing the work.
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A 1568 German Treatise on Swordmanship
Product details
ISBN
9781473876774
Published
2017
Publisher
Independent Publishers Group (Chicago Review Press)
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Author