Volume 19, Issue 2 - Zweikämpfer. Fechtmeister – Kämpen – Samurai. Herausgegeben von Christian Jaser und Uwe Israel

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the communication strategies of medieval fightbooks and the purpose of integrated depictions of their authors and addressees. The point of departure is a series of three articles written by Jan-Dirk Müller between 1992 and 1994, in which he analyses the relationship between mnemonic verses, glosses and didactic images in the tradition of the fencing master Johannes Liechtenauer. On the basis of a case study on the five surviving 15th century manuscripts ascribed to Hans Talhofer, who also stands in the tradition of Liechtenauer, the description of his personal martial art by the use of didactic images is examined.

The group of fencing masters of the 14th to 16th century is investigated according to their function as a literary motif in fencing treatises written in German. One example is the attribution of a particular set of instructions to ‘mystical’ founding figures like Johannes Liechtenauer‚ who serves as an authentication strategy and proof of authority of the particular record. The texts themselves claim to record mnemonics of traditional teachings that were originally only passed down orally in an encrypted language. Here the mnemonics attributed to the original master remain unchanged and are merely interpreted and commented on. Analogies to bible exegesis that support the creation myth surrounding Johannes Liechtenauer become apparent. This phenomenon exists side by side with a synchronic polemic against false masters ( leychmeister ) and the creation of diachronic tradition lines in fencing books. This tendency is especially apparent in the oeuvre of the fencing master Paulus Kal, written in the second half of the 15th century. In his preface, Kal, a stable master ( schirrmeister ) at the Bavarian court, mentions the ‘Liechtenauer society’‚ a group of direct students of the ‘master of the masters’. His own teacher Stettner being one of them‚ Kal presents himself as part of the direct hereditary line of the mystical founding figure Liechtenauer. It is such parts of the historical tradition that allow for the formation of conflicting cross-over models, creating tension between the roles of ‘master – servant’ and ‘teacher – student’. They become especially effective when fencing allegories elevate the fencing master as a figure high above his students in the treatises.

Initial attempts to reconstruct private libraries of the Ernestine princes and recent findings shedding new light on the provenance of manuscripts illustrating and describing dual combat in the Late Middle Ages have revealed that members of this dynasty possessed significant volumes of this genre in the 16th century. Due to their enthusiastic interest in noble fighting competitions, the electoral princes of Saxony commissioned magnificently illuminated tournament books and promoted the publication of Fabian von Auerwald’s well-known grappling book. They also collected fighting manuals and claimed some precious manuscripts depicting dual combat as spoils of war. A number of the books were acquired in connection with the education of the young princes. If they indeed served as instructive manuals for learning forms of knightly combat remains speculative. Indisputable, however, is their symbolic function of presenting evidence of the opulence and wealth of the Ernestine court, documenting the participation of the princes in competitions and commemorating the learning of combative skills. Duke Ernest the Pius of Saxe-Gotha inherited a large number of these highly valued manuscripts in the 17th century. In the ducal library that he founded at Friedenstein Palace they continued to serve as media of courtly representation. Due to shifting political developments the majority of these manuscripts are now preserved in other library collections.

In medieval Europe, ritualized forms of duelling were not restricted to the continent’s central regions. The North Germanic areas had developed similar practices. The best source material for the phenomenon stems from Iceland. After a short introduction to the peculiarities of the early Icelandic political system, this article will briefly discuss the possibilities and problems of a scientific approach towards the history of Iceland’s first centuries. Then, after an outline of the dominant concepts of personal and family honour and fortune at this time, the paper’s main part will provide insight into specific Old Icelandic forms of duelling – especially the hólmganga , the einvígi , and glíma . A focus will be laid on the personnel of the duel, and on duelling as an access to social prestige. Finally, the question will be raised in how far other, seemingly non-ritualized forms of armed violence can also be understood from the perspective of the duel’s underlying ideological principles.

Historical research on the complex legal and social roles of medieval mercenary champions hired as proxies to fight in judicial duels has long been dominated by simplistic categorisations and static repetitions of their reputed infamy. Concentrating on account books and statutes of late medieval German and Italian cities, this article seeks, in contrast, to reconstruct the dynamic institutionalisation and control of civic champions. Thereby, their ambiguous perception reveals a complex interplay between marginality, enhancement of their status as legal agents and a latent suspiciousness regarding their peculiar representational role.

Swordsmanship emerged as a new field of knowledge in early modern Japan (1600–1868), a time of relative peace. During the most violent periods of Japanese history, the latter half of the medieval period (1185–1600), samurai conducted warfare mostly on horseback, using the bow and arrow, or by leading massive armies filled with soldiers who used pikes, halberds, and even firearms. In this paper, I will trace the origins of early modern swordsmanship to the late 16th century during the transition between the medieval and early modern periods, when teachers of swordsmanship and their sword ‘styles’ first appeared in texts. Of these texts I will focus on ‘The Military Mirror of Kai’, purportedly written during the late 16th century, and a widely-read text among samurai of the early modern period. A mix of fact and fiction, the ‘Mirror’ became a source of fantasy and inspiration for samurai and non-samurai alike. It is also the earliest source of writing about swordsmanship, which was influenced by, and grew alongside, other medieval cultural arts such as Noh theater and tea ceremony.

Michael Altripp, Die Basilika in Byzanz (Lutz Rickelt: Münster, E-Mail: l.rickelt@uni-muenster.de) Klaus Böldl, Götter und Mythen des Nordens (Michael Dallapiazza: Prato/Urbino, E-Mail: michael.dallapiazza@uniurb.it) Mirjam Burkard, Sangspruchdichter unter sich (Michael R. Ott: Heidelberg, E-Mail: michael.ott@gs.uni-heidelberg.de) Lucy Donkin/Hanna Vorholt (Hgg.), Imagining Jerusalem in the Medieval West (Stefan Schröder: Helsinki, E-Mail: stefan.schroder@helsinki.fi) Mark Häberlein/Christian Kuhn/Lina Hörl (Hgg.), Generationen in spätmittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen Städten (ca. 1250–1750) (Christian Scholl: Münster, E-Mail: christian.scholl@uni-muenster.de) Reinhard Hahn, Geschichte der mittelalterlichen deutschen Literatur Thüringens (Monika Studer: Basel, E-Mail: monika.studer@unibas.ch) Stephanie Hauschild, Skriptorium (Nikolaus Henkel: Hamburg/Freiburg i. Br., E-Mail: nhenkel@uni-hamburg.de) Mathias Herweg, Wege zur Verbindlichkeit (W. Günther Rohr: Seoul, E-Mail: rohr@ewha.ac.kr) Petra Hörner (Hg.), Catena Aurea Deutsch (Irene Berkenbusch-Erbe: Mannheim, E-Mail: iberk@t-online.de) Reinhold Kaiser/Sebastian Scholz (Hgg.), Quellen zur Geschichte der Franken und der Merowinger (Guido M. Berndt: Erlangen-Nürnberg, E-Mail: guido.berndt@fau.de) Michael McCormick, Charlemagne’s Survey of the Holy Land (Michael Grünbart: Münster, E-Mail: gruenbart@uni-muenster.de) Friedrich Möbius, Die karolingische Reichsklosterkirche Centula (Saint-Riquier) und ihr Reliquienschatz (Gia Toussaint: Hamburg, E-Mail: gia.toussaint@uni-hamburg.de) Bernhard von Breydenbach, Peregrinatio in Terram sanctam (Ekkehart Rotter: Bad Vilbel, E-Mail: ekkehart.rotter@t-online.de) Harald Müller/Brigitte Hotz (Hgg.), Gegenpäpste (Wendelin Knoch: Hattingen, E-Mail: wendelin.knoch@ruhr-uni-bochum.de) Daniel Carlo Pangerl, Die Metropolitanverfassung des karolingischen Frankenreiches (Simon Groth: Frankfurt a. M., E-Mail: groth@rg.mpg.de) Denys Pringle (Hg.), Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187–1291 (Ingrid Baumgärtner: Kassel, E-Mail: ibaum@uni-kassel.de) Armin Schulz, Schwieriges Erkennen (W. Günther Rohr: Seoul, E-Mail: rohr@ewha.ac.kr) Andrea Stieldorf, Marken und Markgrafen (Hans-Werner Goetz: Hamburg, E-Mail: Hans-Werner.Goetz@uni-hamburg.de) Patrick Stoffels, Die Wiederverwendung jüdischer Grabsteine im spätmittelalterlichen Reich (Nathanja Hüttenmeister: Essen, E-Mail: hut@steinheim-institut.org) Verena Türck, Christliche Pilgerfahrten nach Jerusalem im früheren Mittelalter im Spiegel der Pilgerberichte (Ekkehart Rotter: Bad Vilbel, E-Mail: ekkehart.rotter@t-online.de)