Meister Hans Talhoffer is one of the pivotal figures of German sword arts. Steeped into traditions that are as well documented

as they remain inaccessible to full comprehension, his art (and showmanship?) belongs to the few medieval systems that have survived not in

one but a few manuscripts.

           The 1467 Codex, of what became known as Talhoffer's Fechtbuch, was first revived for reproduction and re-publication by the

Viennese fencing master Gustav Hergsell.

 

            Hergsell's transcription and interpretation of the instructions may not have remained without vocal critics. (The 19th-century fencing 

historian Dr. Karl Wassmannsdorff found so much wrong with him that he devoted an entire book to Hergsell's philological misdeeds.) But

his leather-bound 1887 editions (both self-published and, later that year, by Calve) still command prices of between $500 and $900 that

are eagerly paid by collectors.

            Mark Rector has exercised restraint and competence in his endeavor of making Talhoffer accessible to the Anglophile market. He

places the manuscript into its appropriate cultural and combative context that has as much to offer to the history buff as it has to the

combative practitioner. Its only drawback: Wassmannsdorff's valid objections have not been acknowledged or taken into consideration

for the transcription.

            Still, Rector's work should find a well deserved place in the canon of combative arts source literature. The quality of the production

is solid and well worth the price. This book has earned an unconditional seal of approval! Go buy it now.

 

                                                                                                                                                                           -J. Christoph Amberger

 

Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth - Century Illustrated Manual of Sword fighting and Close - Quarter Combat