Tradition, Innovation, Re-enactment: Hans Talhoffer’s Unusual Weapons

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Multiple manuscripts of Hans Talhoffer’s fifteenth-century Fechtbuch depict duels between combatants wielding faceted clubs and tall shields, as well as combatants in tight-fitting grey clothing, and duels between a man and a woman. Legal ordinances and court records from Talhoffer’s time and before him provide context for these scenarios and this equipment. Customary law regarding judicial duels varied significantly between German regions. It also changed over time, shaped by influences that sometimes originated well outside German-speaking lands. Talhoffer’s work and the Fechtbücher that followed him reflect a practice that spanned multiple regions, preserving fading traditions while embracing new innovations.</jats:p>

‘Have the Highest Righteous Fencer in Your Mind’s Eye’: Medieval Martial Ethic as a Conceptual Repository for Just War Theory

“…The reasoning behind this solution was that God would not allow an oath-breaker to prevail and so the winner was to be considered innocent. Regardless of the actual prevalence of such practices [Elema 2019], their common inclusion both in period legal documents and martial writings, such as those of Master Hans Talhoffer [Lampart 2013: 73] leaves no doubt about their vivid presence in medieval German imaginarium. Hence, they may serve as an extreme example of the ethical being tightly interwoven into the martial.…”