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Pseudo-Hans Döbringer

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Here begins Master Liechtenauer's art of fencing
Hie hebt sich an meister lichtenawers kunst des fechtens
Author(s) Unknown
Ascribed to Pseudo-Hans Döbringer
Date before 1495
Genre
Language Early New High German
Manuscript(s) MS 3227a
First Printed
English Edition
Żabiński, 2008
Translations

"Pseudo-Hans Döbringer" is the name given to an anonymous 15th century German fencing master.[1] At some point in the 15th century (or possibly the last decade of the 14th), he dictated a gloss on and expansion of the teachings of the grand master Johannes Liechtenauer, including the only biographical details of the master yet discovered; it is even speculated that he was personally acquainted with Liechtenauer, who was still alive at the time of the writing.[2] These comments were written into MS 3227a, a commonplace book, by an equally unknown scribe.

Modern HEMA

The first transcription of the long sword gloss was completed in 2001 by Grzegorz Żabiński and posted on ARMA-PL. This was the foundation of the first translations.

In 2005, David Lindholm ("and friends") completed the first English translation of the long sword and posted in on the ARMA site. A second English translation, including all fencing sections, was completed in 2006 by Thomas Stoeppler; he intended to contribute it to a never-realized book with a complete translation of MS 3227a and never released it publicly until he allowed it to be posted in Wiktenauer in 2013. The first Spanish translation of the long sword was also completed in 2006 by Francisco Uribe (based on Lindholm's English) and posted on esgrimahistorica.cl; the first French translation of the long sword was then completed in 2007 by an anonymous author and posted on the ARDAMHE site.

In 2008, Żabiński's English translation of the long sword was published by Paladin Press, along with his transcription, as “Unarmored Longsword Combat by Master Liechtenauer via Priest Döbringer” in Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts. 2008 also saw the first transcription of all fencing teachings in 3227a by Dierk Hagedorn for his site Hammaborg, and a German modernization of the long sword by Bertram Koch which was posted on Lupi-venaritis. Hagedorn's transcription formed the basis of Francesco Lanza's Italian translation, which he posted on a blog called “Hanko Döbringer in Italiano” from 2009-11.

A new English translation was self-published by Jay Acutt in 2010 (under the pen name James Wallhausen) as Knightly Martial Arts: An Introduction to Medieval Combat Systems. The first Polish translation was authored by Maciej Hammer and submitted to the Uniwersytet Jagielloński as part of his master's thesis.

In 2017, Christian Trosclair authored a new translation of the long sword as part of his ongoing project to translate the entire Liechtenauer tradition, and he donated it to Wiktenauer.

Most recently, a new English translation by Michael Chidester and a revised transcription by Dierk Hagedorn was published by HEMA Bookshelf in 2021 as “The Foundation and Core of All the Arts of Fighting”: The Long Sword Gloss of GNM Manuscript 3227a.

Treatise

Additional Resources

  • Alderson, Keith. “Arts and Crafts of War: die Kunst des Schwerts in its Manuscript Context.” Can The Bones Come to Life? Insights from Reconstruction, Reenactment, and Re-creation 1: 24-29. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1-937439-13-2
  • Burkart, Eric. “The Autograph of an Erudite Martial Artist: A Close Reading of Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs. 3227a.” Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books. Transmission and Tradition of Martial Arts in Europe: 451-480. Ed. Daniel Jaquet, et al. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2016. ISBN 978-9004312418
  • Burkart, Eric (in German). “Informationsverarbeitung durch autographe Notizen: Die ältesten Aufzeichnungen zur Kampfkunst des Johannes Liechtenauer als Spuren einer Aneignung praktischen Wissens.” 2020. doi:10.26012/mittelalter-25866doi:10.1163/9789004324725_017
  • Chidester, Michael. The Long Sword Gloss of GNM Manuscript 3227a. Somerville, MA: HEMA Bookshelf, 2021. ISBN 978-1-953683-13-7
  • Chidester, Michael and Hagedorn, Dierk. “The Foundation and Core of All the Arts of Fighting”: The Long Sword Gloss of GNM Manuscript 3227a. Somerville, MA: HEMA Bookshelf, 2021. ISBN 978-1-953683-05-2
  • Dürer, Albrecht and Wassmannsdorff, Karl. Die Ringkunst des deutschen Mittelalters. Liepzig: Priber, 1870.
  • Hammer, Maciej. Tłumaczenie traktatu szermierczego zawartego w rękopisie Nürnberger Handschrift 3227a z wyszczególnieniem trudności zaistniałych podczas przekładu [unpublished thesis]. Uniwersytet Jagielloński Wydział Filologiczny, 2015.
  • Vodička, Ondřej. “Origin of the oldest German Fencing Manual Compilation (GNM Hs. 3227a).” Waffen- und Kostümkunde 61(1): 87-108, 2019.
  • Wallhausen, James. Knightly Martial Arts: An Introduction to Medieval Combat Systems. Self-published, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4457-3736-2
  • Welle, Rainer. “...und wisse das alle höbischeit kompt von deme ringen”. Der Ringkampf als adelige Kunst im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1993. ISBN 3-89085-755-8
  • Żabiński, Grzegorz. “Unarmored Longsword Combat by Master Liechtenauer via Priest Döbringer.” Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts: 59-116. Ed. Jeffrey Hull. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58160-668-3

References

  1. This name stems from the false assumption of many 20th century writers identifying him with Hans Döbringer. It has been argued that this name is inappropriate because the treatise attributed to pseudo-Döbringer (and also pseudo-Peter von Danzig) are not true pseudepigrapha—they are internally anonymous. However, many Ancient and Medieval pseudepigraphic texts were originally anonymous and were assigned their false attributions by later readers, and this is also the case with these two glosses in our fledgling tradition.
  2. The manuscript uniformly lacks the typical prayer for the dead when mentioning his name.
  3. The silver "soon" was added later above the line
  4. lit: entirely finished sword
  5. lit: verses
  6. 6.0 6.1 Latin
  7. Possibly: "If one cannot flee, then do something cunning, that is my advice."
  8. Text is blacked out.
  9. In front of the words “denne” and “her” there are oblique insertion marks, which indicate a reverse order – as shown here.
  10. Here the writing is cut off by manuscript trimming.
  11. "Wisely" inferred from the summary
  12. Supplemented according to fol. 29v.
  13. The two words “hewe” and “ander” are interchanged in the manuscript, as indicated by corresponding insertion characters.
  14. At this point there is an ink stain which might hide an original “g” (which can only be seen indistinctly).
  15. to the side, apart, sidways
  16. The page is clipped. only 'cut' remains. This manuscript spells 'haupte' as 'cutpte'
  17. "Hew" is inserted in the margin.
  18. The comment ends here and remains unfinished.
  19. In all other extant versions this is "point"
  20. Unlike other places where there are definitely passages originally forgotten and inserted with a caret, such is missing here. Thus, it can be conjectured that this is a later addition or comment.
  21. Illegible deleted character.
  22. latin: dampno => damno => harm
  23. The word »Nicht«, which cannot be clearly assigned, is added on the side of the page.
  24. Text cuts off here, and the rest of the page is blank.
  25. Latin passage follows; very difficult.
  26. Grzegorz Żabiński offers: ++ rape radices viole et mitte contare tibi hinssis debtem urgre et quocumque tetigeris suas operis
  27. Please note that there are only three methods described against the turning-out.
  28. Korrigiert aus »sin«.
  29. Alternate description follows, it hopefully should make the method clearer:
    If he holds you by the shoulders, and you grab his shoulders from the outside. Then you sling your right arm with the elbow over his left and below his right, and push downwards, so his right arm moves up. Take this arm over your head and secure the grip with your left hand behind your head; and then push against his chest with your right again. This will lead to a painful breaking lock.
  30. This is a partner exercise, similar to one I know in chinese shuai chiao
  31. Oder »slosse«? Unleserlich.