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Fencing Book (Fechtbuch)

Author Hans Talhoffer German
16th century copy of a mid-15th century manuscript
Not on view
This volume is a rare sixteenth-century copy of one of the earliest surviving European fencing manuals, Hans Talhoffer's influential Fechtbuch (Fencing Book), written in the 1440s. Talhoffer was following a tradition established by Johannes Liechtenauer, an itinerant master swordsman of the fourteenth century who recorded the secrets of his fighting techniques in the form of cryptic verses. The Talhoffer manuscript includes verses from Liechtenauer, sections devoted to the procedures for fighting judicial combats both with and without armor, and the use of the weapons employed in such combats, including the highly specialized Stechschilde (thrusting shields), maces, long swords, spears, and daggers. There are also sections on knife fighting and wrestling, the latter based on the methods of Ott the Jew, a renowned wrestling master to the archdukes of Austria.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Fencing Book (Fechtbuch)
  • Author: Hans Talhoffer (German, recorded 1435–82)
  • Date: 16th century copy of a mid-15th century manuscript
  • Culture: German
  • Medium: Leather, brass
  • Dimensions: H. 12 7/8 in. (32.7 cm); W. 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm)
  • Classification: Books & Manuscripts
  • Credit Line: Gift of Miss Marguerite Keasbey, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.236
  • Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor

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