A quarterstaff, also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European pole weapon, which was especially prominent in England during the Early Modern period.
Hans Talhoffer was a German fencing master. His martial lineage is unknown, but his writings make it clear that he had some connection to the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, the grand master of a well-known Medieval German school of fencing. Talhoffer was a well-educated man who took interest in astrology, mathematics, onomastics, and the auctoritas and the ratio. He authored at least five fencing manuals during the course of his career, and appears to have made his living teaching, including training people for trial by combat.
Johannes Liechtenauer was a German fencing master who had a great level of influence on the German fencing tradition in the 14th century.
Codex 3227a of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg is a manuscript of 169 folia, dated to the close of the 14th century. Its text is written in Latin and German. The German portions have been identified as in East Central German dialect.
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, specifically designed to be learnt from a book. Many books detailing specific techniques of martial arts are often erroneously called manuals but were written as treatises.
The German school of fencing is a system of combat taught in the Holy Roman Empire during the Late Medieval, German Renaissance, and Early Modern periods. It is described in the contemporary Fechtbücher written at the time. The geographical center of this tradition was in what is now Southern Germany including Augsburg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg. During the period in which it was taught, it was known as the Kunst des Fechtens, or the "Art of Fighting". 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, medieval daggers, messers, and the staff, as well as describing mounted combat and unarmed grappling (ringen).
Sigmund Schining ein Ringeck was a German fencing master. While the meaning of the surname "Schining" is uncertain, the suffix "ain Ringeck" may indicate that he came from the Rhineland region of south-western Germany. He is named in the text of his treatise as Schirmaister to one Duke Albrecht, Count Palatine of Rhine and Duke of Bavaria. Other than this, the only thing that can be determined about his life is that his renown as a master was sufficient for Paulus Kal to include him on his memorial to the deceased masters of the Society of Liechtenauer in 1470. Ringeck seems to have authored one of the few complete glosses of the epitome of the grand master Johannes Liechtenauer, making him one of the most important German fencing masters of the 15th century.
Paulus Hector Mair (1517–1579) was a German civil servant fencing master from Augsburg. He collected Fechtbücher and undertook to compile all knowledge of the art of fencing in a compendium surpassing all earlier books. For this, he engaged the painter Jörg Breu the Younger, as well as two experienced fencers, whom he charged with perfecting the techniques before they were painted. The project was very costly, taking a full four years, and according to Mair, consumed most of his family's income and property. Three versions of his compilation, and one later, less extensive manuscript, have been preserved.
Cod. 44 A 8 also known as MS 1449, Bibliotheca dell'Academica Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana, is a Fechtbuch compiled by Peter von Danzig in 1452. Danzig was a 15th-century German fencing master. He was counted among the 17 members of the "society of Johannes Liechtenauer".
The Gladiatoria Group is a series of several 15th-century German manuscripts that share the same art style and cover the same material—various types of armored combat. The texts are contemporary with the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, but not directly influenced by it. Gladiatoria is thus one of very few glimpses into the characteristics of a potentially independent German martial tradition.
Jörg Wilhalm was an early 16th-century German fencing master, hatmaker, and citizen of Augsburg.
The so-called Codex Wallerstein or Vonn Baumanns Fechtbuch is a 16th-century convolution of three 15th-century fechtbuch manuscripts, with a total of 221 pages.
Ringen is the German language term for grappling (wrestling). In the context of the German school of historical European martial arts during the Late Middle Ages and the German Renaissance, Ringen refers to unarmed combat in general, including grappling techniques used as part of swordsmanship.
Joachim Meyer was a self described Freifechter living in the then Free Imperial City of Strasbourg in the 16th century and the author of a fechtbuch Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens first published in 1570.
Johannes Lecküchner was a 15th-century priest and fencer of the area of Nuremberg. He was inscribed at the University of Leipzig in 1455 and receives the title of bacalaureus in 1457. He was ordained acolyte in 1459, and as priest at some point before 1478. He was employed as communal priest in Herzogenaurach from 1480 until his death on 31 December 1482.
Martin Hundfeld was an early 15th-century German fencing master. His teaching is recorded by Peter von Danzig in Cod. 44 A 8 and by Hans von Speyer in M I 29. Hundfeld is numbered among the "society of Liechtenauer" by Paulus Kal.
Ott Jud was a 15th-century Austrian martial arts master, specialized on grappling (Ringen).
The Glasgow Fechtbuch is a combat manual of the German school of fencing, dated to 1505. Consisting of 105 folia, it combines the instructions of various masters of the 15th century who stood in the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, presumably based on a previous compilation made by fencing master Sigmund Schining ein Ringeck.
Chivalry Bookshelf was a small press based in the United States founded by Brian R. Price which published booklets and books from 1992 to 2007. It was most notable for its contributions to the Society of Creative Anachronism and the early historical fencing movement and for a dispute about plagiarism and nonpayment of royalties in 2011-12.
