German school of fencing


The German school of fencing is a system of combat taught in the Holy Roman Empire during the Late Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern periods, as described in the contemporary Fechtbücher written at the time. The geographical center of this tradition was in what is now Southern Germany. During the period in which it was taught, it was known as the Kunst des Fechtens, or the "Art of Fencing". Though the German school of fencing focuses primarily on the use of the two-handed longsword, it also describes the use of many other weapons, including polearms, daggers, messers, and the staff, as well as describing mounted combat and unarmed grappling.
Most authors of writings on the system are, or claim to be, in the tradition of the 14th-century master Johannes Liechtenauer. The earliest surviving treatise on Liechtenauer's system is a manuscript dated to 1389, known as Ms. 3227a. More manuscripts survive from the 15th century, and during the 16th century the system was also presented in print, most notably by Joachim Meyer in 1570.
The German tradition was largely eclipsed by the Italian school of rapier fencing by the early 17th century, however, practitioners of the German school persisted at least until the end of the 18th century.
Fencing with the German longsword has been a focus of historical European martial arts reconstruction since the late 19th century, when swordsmen such as Alfred Hutton first popularized the pursuit.
The term "the German school of fencing" can be misleading, because there were and are multiple styles of German fencing. For example, both German academic fencing and old German theatrical swordplay are referred to today as being of the "German school of fencing".

History

Late medieval tradition

The first document of German heritage which shows fencing techniques is the Royal Armouries Ms. I.33, which was written around 1300. The next documents date from approximately a century later, when records of the tradition attributed to the 14th-century master Johannes Liechtenauer begin to appear.
The history of the German school of fencing in the tradition of Liechtenauer spans roughly 250 years, or 8-10 generations of masters from 1350 to 1600. The earliest source, Ms. 3227a of 1389, mentions a number of masters who are considered peers of Liechtenauer: Hanko Döbringer, Andres Jud, Jost von der Nyssen, and Niklaus Preuss. Martin Hundsfeld and Ott Jud were probably active in the early 15th century, but there is a scarcity of historical sources until the mid-15th century.
The mid-15th century saw the peak and decline of the "Society of Liechtenauer" under Peter von Danzig, Sigmund Ringeck, and Paulus Kal. Kal's contemporary, Hans Talhoffer, may have been involved with the founding of the Brotherhood of St. Mark, which enjoyed a quasi-monopoly on teaching martial arts from 1487 until 1570.
In 1514, Emperor Maximilian L. gave special privileges to both the Marksbrüder and much later to the Federfechter, and propagated the fencing style of Liechtenauer in the entire Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor also granted students the right to bear arms and allowed them to have duels.

German Renaissance

Late 15th-century masters include Johannes Lecküchner, Hans von Speyer, Peter Falkner, and Hans Folz. In the 16th century, the tradition became more a sporting exercise than a system of combat for duelling or the battlefield. Early 16th-century masters include Hans Wurm, Jörg Wilhalm, and Andre Pauernfeindt
In 1516, Pauernfeindt published a treatise entitled Ergründung der ritterlichen kunst des fechtens durch freyfechter czu Vienn, which is one of the earliest printed fencing manuals. Comparisons with descriptions in other manuscripts from the period confirm that this period was a transitional stage between the late medieval school of Johannes Liechtenauer and the German Renaissance "sportive" Federfechten as practiced in the late 16th century. A later manuscript, dated 1564 and attributed to Lienhart Sollinger, cites Pauernfeindt and is largely identical in content.
In the mid 16th century, the first attempts, notably by Paulus Hector Mair, at preserving and reconstructing the teachings of the past century appeared. The foundation of the Federfechter in 1570 at Vienna falls into this late period. The final phase of the tradition stretches from the late 16th to the early 17th century, with masters such as Joachim Meyer and Jakob Sutor.

Decline of the German tradition

In the 17th century, rapier fencing of the Italian school became fashionable due to treatises by such as Salvator Fabris, and the German tradition becoming regarded as old-fashioned and unrefined among the nobility during the Baroque. Longsword fencing was gradually discontinued at noble fencing schools, including most universities, at the time. The rapier had an advantage in that it could be worn well with the clothing of that time period when longswords were typically seen as too large to be worn fashionably. Thirty Years' War also led to a massive decline of both fencing schools and practitioners in the Holy Roman Empire. Both Peter Hagendorf and Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen make references in their works to the excessive number of deaths among the member of the traditional fencing guilds and the massive destruction of the regions in which they were active.
Author Jean Daniel L'Ange writes in his book Deutliche und gründliche Erklärung der adelichen und ritterlichen freyen Fecht-Kunst, from 1664, that "a big sword is very dangerous in our times because it is more difficult to around with clothing than a smaller thrusting sword, which can easily be worn." He also writes that "it is possible to kill a man who is armed with a gun in a short range, when he stands close to you with the help of the rapier, because of the highly effective thrusting techniques will save your life, rather than with the slower cutting of a bigger sword or a sabre. You may even be able to kill him, before he can take his gun out of its halter, before he can make the first shot".
L'Ange also writes, "you can hide your rapier well under your mantle and thus avoid any provocation in public. A long sword may cause problems and excite enemies". But L'Ange also pays tribute to the Marksbrüder and states, "their art is truly a knightly science, it must be preserved for the coming, yet unborn generations!". However, some civilian fencers still practiced the German school instead of the rapier-fencing of the noble elite. The last known practitioner by name was Theodori Verolini in 1679, when he published his book Der Kůnstliche Fechter, which was based upon Joachim Meyers fechtbuch.

Late survivals in the modern period

There are paintings from the middle of the 18th century that show practitioners still using long swords in the fencing schools of the Marxbrüder and Federfechter. It cannot be verified if these depictions are anachronistic or they show techniques and practices of the original Liechtenauer tradition still in use, although it is highly likely that most 18th century fencers were not at all familiar with longsword fencing and would likely not have known how to handle these weapons, which indicates that these pictures show lines of the Liechtenauer tradition that are referred in literature.
In 1726, Gottfried Rudolf Pommer auf Bugenhagen mentions, in his publication Sammlung von Merktwurdigkeiten, the use of long swords in those fencing schools. Most fencers of the 18th century viewed longsword fencing as a curious thing, and it was probably only taught in the few remaining fencing schools of the Marxbrüder and Federfechter and in some stage fencing schools.
In 1735, German historian Johann Büsching mentioned the existence of both the Brotherhood of St. Mark and the Federfechter as well as the existence of "Klopffechter". He further stated that there were alive in 1817 at least a handful of skilled people who knew how to use "battle swords". Büsching goes on to say that the art was dying out very slowly, mostly due to the fact that there were fewer living fencers who were trained by the few remaining Marxbrüder und Federfechter.
The last of public displays of longsword fencing was on 5 November 1741, the author clearly mentions the use of "Schlachtenschwerter". The most prominent guest of one of the last of these displays was the very young Francis II., holy Roman Emperor who enjoyed the presentation very much. Strangely enough, the public demonstrations of these fencing styles seem to end very abruptly, despite the big popularity they had among both noblemen and common citizens.
Some historians assume that it was the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire which directly led to the end and eventual extinction of its unique fencing culture, because the downfall of the Empire did also destroy much of its oldest institutions and practices.
The collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1806, and the wars and battles of the period destroyed several of the remaining old fencing schools and led to the death of many active fencers. It is possible that the Napoleonic wars brought an end to most of the remaining lines of the Liechtenauer tradition.
Another source mentions living longsword fencers who were alive in 1819, but who were "without any fencing schools".
The very last practitioners of longsword fencing may have ceased activity with the dissolution of the Marxbrüder and Federfechter by the early 19th century.
On 16 April 1862, The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung mentioned the death of an unnamed, 76-year-old former member of the Marksbrüder, who having fenced longsword in his teenage years in the early 1800s, was possibly the very last living such practitioner.
The very last known source who mentions living members of the Marksbrüder is the "Jagd-Zeitung" part 9 from 1866. The author Jos Baader, mentions living veterans of the old fencing schools who were still alive but very old.
There were some living German longsword fencers alive during the lifetime of Alfred Hutton, a British fencer of the 19th century who was interested into the reconstruction of old fencing systems. Hutton could have met some living longsword fencers and interviewed them. He could have preserved at least a part of their knowledge, if he had been to Germany and met the last living Marksbrüder members.
Some aspects and basics—such as the Huten, the basic four guards of the Liechtenauer traditions, and some terminology, as well as the four basic cuts and the thrusts from all guards of medieval German longsword fencing—survived in some classic German stage fencing schools at least until the middle of the 20th century.
The close relationship between longsword fencers of the Liechtenauer tradition and stage fencers can be traced back at least until the medieval period.
During the time of the Third Reich, there was an interest among certain members of the NSDAP to conserve classical German stage fencing and to teach specifically longsword fencing techniques to young boys who were in the Hitlerjugend, under the name "Ritterspiele".
Wilhelm Fabricius, a silviculture scientist and passionate admirer of historical martial arts and fencing even wanted to reconstruct German medieval fencing on the basis of traditional stage fencing and the Fechtbuch of Joachim Meyer. Fabricius was later captured by American troops, it is unclear whether or not he continued his reconstruction efforts after the war, although there is evidence that his interest in the subject never faded. The very last references and active lines of these techniques in classical German stage fencing vanished almost entirely with the second world war.
After the war, Germans started to vastly prefer modern American stage fencing, probably due to the popularity of Hollywood movies in Germany after the second world war. Unfortunately, classical German stage fencing became more and more rare and its practitioners started to die out. As of 2018, almost all of the practitioners of this classical style of stage fencing either have died or would be very old.
Today, the only surviving part of the medieval German school of fencing can be found in modern German Academic fencing, where some of the old terminologies and traditions are still active.

Spread

The geographical origin of the tradition of Liechtenauer is difficult to establish. There are several places called "Lichtenau" in Germany, and Ms. 3227a states explicitly that Johannes Liechtenauer traveled widely to learn from as many masters as possible. Of course, it is to be assumed that there were traditions of combat training throughout the medieval world, in spite of the absence of evidence of their details. What is now known as the "German school" comprises those traditions which were put on paper in the late medieval period, and this tradition of compiling written manuals or epitomes of fighting systems appears to mostly have been confined to Southern Germany. From about the same time, early records of the Italian school of fencing document the German school, beginning with the writings of Fiore dei Liberi, who mentions a master of Swabia called Johannes "who was a student of Nicholai of Toblem."
After the medieval period, emerging traditions of fencing, i.e. the early modern rapier systems, as opposed to the generic systems of "combat" or "fighting" of the late medieval period, developed in close contact with each other, which led to the separate but closely related rapier styles of Italy, Spain, and later France, all of which were also well received in Germany. For example: Paulus Hector Mair describes a Spanish style of rapier fencing in his book on fencing.
The 15th century Liechtenauerian tradition seems to have been geographically centered on Swabia and Franconia, and influenced development in the adjacent territories, including Alsace, the Rhineland, the Lowlands, Bohemia, and the Swiss Confederacy. In the 16th century, there was an established tradition of Federfechten competitions. The dominant guild were the Brotherhood of St. Mark which held their annual meeting in Frankfurt. After 1570, there was a second influential guild, the Federfechter, which apparently originated in the southeastern part of the empire. Masters or treatises of the period that can be located geographically include:
Karl Ludwig Blum mentioned that there were traveling masters, who gave lectures to noblemen in the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
In spite of the surging popularity of the Italian and Spanish rapier, elements of the German tradition survived well into the 17th century. Even in 1614, many fencing masters based their fighting styles on the tradition. An example is would-be master Joachim Meyer, who based his early rapier fencing on Lichtenauers principles, which was considered to be the most effective and efficient school of fencing. There is evidence that, in the second half of the 16th century, at least a handful of German long sword fencers. Although the German school of fencing was mostly distributed in the Holy Roman Empire, there are hints of practitioners even in Greece, Spain and Scandinavia. The German fencing master Konrad Ditzefeldberg stated in the late 16th century: "the noble art of Liechtenauer may be at home in the Empire, but everywhere in Christendom you can find adherents and adepts of the art!". In 1646, the young prince Louis XIV of France was entertained by longsword fencers at a party. One German source states: "the young prince was very excited by the stage fencing provided by fencers from his mothers fatherland. When they were finished with the swordplay, he clapped loudly and asked for more ".

Disciplines

Master Johannes Liechtenauer based his system of fencing upon the use of the Longsword. He used this weapon to exemplify several overarching martial principles that also apply to other disciplines within the tradition. Ringen was taught, as well as fighting with the messer, and staff. Also part of the curriculum was fighting with the dagger Degen and with pole weapons. Two other disciplines besides Blossfechten involved the sword: fencing with sword and buckler, and armored fighting, the latter reserved only for nobility.

First principles

's teachings as recorded in 3227a are introduced by some general principles. The anonymous author explicitly states that Liechtenauer had cast his teaching in opaque verses intended to hide their meaning from the uninitiated. He stressed that there is "only a single art of the sword" which had been the same for centuries and which is the kernel and foundation of all arts of combat.
The text goes on to present the core principles of successful swordsmanship in eight rhyming couplets :
1. the help of GodCzu allem fechten / gehört dy hölfe gotes von rechte
2. a healthy body and a good weaponGerader leip vnd gesvnder / eyn gancz vertik swert pesundr
3. the principles of offensive and defensive and of hard and softVor noch swach sterke / yndes das wort mete czu merken
4.-5. a list of basic techniques Hewe stiche snete drücken / leger schütczen stöße fülen czücken
Winden vnd hengen / rücken striche sprönge greiffen ringen
6. speed and courage paired with wariness, deceit and cleverness Rascheit vnd kunheit / vorsichtikeit list vnd klugheit
7. correct distance, concealing one's intentions, reason, anticipation and dexterityMasse vörborgenheit / vernunft vorbetrachtunge fertikeit
8. training and confidence, speed, agility and good footworkVbunge vnd guter mut / motus gelenkheit schrete gut

A characteristic, introductory verse of Liechtenauer's – often repeated in later manuscripts – echoes classic 14th century chivalry, addressing the student as "young knight" :

Unarmoured longsword

The principal discipline is unarmoured fencing with the longsword.
The foundation of the system comprises five "master-hews" or "hidden hews" from which many masterful techniques arise, 12 "chief pieces" that categorize the main components of the art, and five words dealing with concepts of timing and leverage.
At the center of the art is an emphasis on swiftness, as well as on balance and good judgement:
The terms "before" and "after" correspond to offensive and defensive actions. While in the vor, one dictates his opponent's actions and thus is in control of the engagement, while in the nach, one responds to the decisions made by his opponent. Under Liechtenauer's system, a combatant must always strive to be in control of the engagement—that is, in the vor. "Strong" and "weak" relate to the amount of force that is applied in a bind, or contact, of the swords. Here, neither is better than the other, but one needs to counter the opponent's action with a complementary reaction; strength is countered with weakness, and weakness with strength. Indes means "meanwhile" or "interim", referring to the time it takes for the opponent to complete an action. At the instant of contact with the opponent's blade, an experienced fencer uses "feeling" to immediately sense his opponent's pressure in order to know whether he should be "weak" or "strong" against him. He then either attacks on the vor or remains in the bind until his opponent acts, depending on what he feels is right. When his opponent starts to act, the fencer acts indes and regains the vor before the opponent can finish his action.
What follows is a list of technical terms of the system :

Range

Some of the later practitioners of the German school of fencing, such as Theodori Verolini, started to use the term Mensur in the 17th century to explain the different ranges of the art of fencing.
Liechtenauer and other German masters describe three basic methods of attack with the sword. They are sometimes called drei wunder, "three wounders", with a deliberate pun on "three wonders."
Called "five hews" in 3227a, later "hidden hews," and in late manuals "master hews", these likely originated as secret surprise attacks in Liechtenauer's system, but with the success of Liechtenauer's school, they may have become common knowledge. All five are attacks from the first phase of the fight and are long range, accompanied by triangular stepping.
Basic Guards
Additional Guards: Liechtenauer is emphatic that the above four guards are sufficient, and all guards taught by other masters may be derived from them. Later masters introduce richer terminology for variant guards:
The following are transitional stances that are not properly called guards:
Other terms in Liechtenauer's system include:
Combat in full plate armour made use of the same weapons as Blossfechten, the longsword and dagger ; but the techniques were entirely different. Attacking an opponent in plate armour is carried out in two ways: percussive force or penetration at joints or unprotected areas. Penetration was extremely unlikely even with thrusting attacks. Percussion was realized with the Mordstreich, an attack with the hilt when holding the sword at the blade, and then penetration into openings of the armour with the Halbschwert, which allowed stabbing with greater precision. From the evidence of the Fechtbücher, most armoured fights were concluded by wrestling moves, with one combatant falling to the ground. Lying on the ground, he could then be easily killed with a stab into his visor or another opening of the armour.

Literature