Liechtenauer Medieval German Longsword
From SwordWiki
Overview
Little is known of the German master Johannes Liechtenauer, a fencing master of the 14th century. What we do know is that he left behind a rich tradition of martial arts, taught by students of his tradition all the way up through at least the 16th century. Liechtenauer ensured his immortality by writing down a secret code to preserve his art after his death. This secret code, known as his merkeverse (teaching verse), was a poem that seemed to have no meaning unless the reader were one of his students. This poem contained the core elements of his teachings, and we would know nothing today about these teachings if it were not for later students writing down commentaries on the verse, explaining the hidden meanings. The teachings used the longsword as the pedagogical tool for learning all aspects of fighting: Unarmoured combat (blossfechten), combat in harness (harnisfechten), unarmed (ringen), combat from horseback (rossfechten), and more. Later masters within the tradition expanded upon the original writings (contained in "fechtbucher", or fight books) to include techniques for other weapons as well, including poleax, dagger, and the long knife known as the langes messer.
Sources of historical fencing treatises within the Liechtenauer tradition: Codex Ms. 3227a, aka "Dobringer hausbuch", c. 1389 Ms. Dresden C487, aka "Sigmund Ringeck fechtbuch", c. 1440 Codex I.6.4.3, aka "Jud Lew fechtbuch", c. 1450 Codex 44 A 8, aka "von Danzig fechtbuch", c. 1452 CGM 1507, aka "Paulus Kal fechtbuch", second half of the 15th century Thott 290 2, aka "Hans Talhoffer fechtbuch of '59", 1459 Codex icon. 394, aka "Hans Talhoffer fechtbuch of '67", 1467 M I 29, aka "Hans von Speyer fechtbuch", 1491 Joachim Meyer's Thorough Description of the Free, Knightly and Noble Art of Fencing, 1570
