A Historical Martial Arts blog by Jens P. Kleinau
The first plate of the Talhoffer dagger plays in the Munich manuscript, 1467 Cod. icon 394a, contains the main guards or "free stances" in Dagger. The plate is to be understood as separate even they could be constructed as a sequence. To the right side we see the Oberstich and Unterstich (combined as a Treiben). At … Continue reading Talhoffer Dagger – Part 1 – Treiben zu den Blößen
The first plate of the Talhoffer dagger plays in the Munich manuscript, 1467 Cod. icon 394a, contains the first play of dagger. A simple displacement and a disarming of the opponent. The text in the images are to be translated: He wants to stab down from above / So he moves up with the displacement and wants … Continue reading Talhoffer Dagger – Part 2 – Versetzen und Auswinden
The following is a transcription of letter of Hans Talhoffer to the knight Erhard Haller in Nürnberg. It is part of the Case of Hans Villenbach. The file is to be found in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Reichsstadt Nürnberg, Losungamt, 7-farbiges Alphabet, Urkunden 874. It was written at 1435 February 2nd. The letter bears the sigil of Hans Talhoffer … Continue reading 1435 February 2nd – Talhoffer’s second letter to Erhard Haller
The following is a transcription of letter of Hans Talhoffer to the knight Erhard Haller in Nürnberg. It is part of the Case of Hans Villenbach. The file is to be found in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Reichsstadt Nürnberg, Losungamt, 7-farbiges Alphabet, Urkunden 874. It was written at 1434 March 23. The letter bears the sigil of Hans Talhoffer identical with … Continue reading 1434 March 23th – Talhoffer’s first letter to Erhard Haller
The following is a transcription of an “open letter” containing a witnessed confession of Hans Talhoffer in regard of a murder done by fellow mercenaries in the duty of Nürnberg merchants. The file is to be found in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Reichsstadt Nürnberg, Losungamt, 7-farbiges Alphabet, Urkunden 873. It was written at 1434 März 20. The letter is … Continue reading 1434 March 20th – Talhoffer’s confession in Salzburg
20 March 1434 - On the behalf of Hans von Villenbach the fencing Master Hans Talhoffer was taken to the fortress of Salzburg and was imprisoned. There he confessed that he was bribed by Nuremberg merchants to let the brother of Hans von Villenbach die (see 1434 Hans Talhoffer and case of Wilhelm of Villenbach). After the nobel Hans … Continue reading 1434 Hans Kuchler and Johannes Hartlieb
One of the interesting poems on sword-fighting is one that mixes Messer fighting with the longsword. It is to be found in Talhoffer Fechtbuch (MS Thott.290.2º, Copenhagen, 1r) and in Martin Siber’s Fighting of the Codex Speyer (MS M.I.29, Salzburg, 3r). In June 2011 I translated and explained the poem in the Salzburg manuscript. Today … Continue reading The Anonymous poem on Messer and Longsword of the Thott and the MI29 manuscript
In the year 1444 a duel took place between two fencing-masters. One from the south coming from Vienna the other from Württemberg. One of fencing master from Vienna is named Conrad of Siebenbürgen (Transilvania), the other is not named. The only thing that we kow of the second fencing-master is that he has followed the … Continue reading 1444 Two fencing masters in Rothenburg
In 1834 Johann Martin Lappenberg wrote down the history of England. In the 1st Volume of his "Geschichte von England" on the page 551 he describes the Battle of Hastings. "Sogleich entbrannte der Kampf auf drei Stellen, die Trompeten, Zinken und Hörner hallten von den Hügeln wider, und die Normannen begannen den Angriff. Der erste Schlag war durch einen edeln, … Continue reading Taillefer is not Talhoffer
In my researches on the life of Hans Talhoffer I did not miss the letter of Johannes Graf zu Königsegg-Aulendorf to the 2010 facsimile of the so called Königsegg Codex (MS XIX.17-3). You can find the letter on the website of the publisher Von Zabern. I translated the "interesting" part for the Talhoffer biography that tries … Continue reading 1440 – 1459 Luithold III of Königsegg
Hans Talhoffer 