This is my latest project; the transcription and later translation and interpretation of the fechtbuch of Hans Medel, which is contained in the manuscript "Codex I.6.2.5", in the library of the university of Augsburg.
The fechtbuch was bought in the latter half of the 1500's by Paulus Hector Mair, who probably also is the one who bound it together with the other three works in the codex, Augsburger Fechtordnung (1r-5v) - Ordnung und Chronik der Fechtbruderschaft Unserer Lieben Frau und Sankt Markus zu Frankfurt 1491 - 1566 (7r-20r), and Martin Heemskercks, Fechter- und Ringerpaare (Stahlstiche, 43v-49r). The fechtbuch itself is on pages 21r-42v.
It is dated to 1539, and appears to have been written by a student (or at least a great admirer) of maister Hans Medel of Salzburg. The writer himself is anonymous. The fechtbuch is a pretty unique take on the "standard" Liechtenauer art of fencing. The author writes that this is the glossa of "Sigmund Schining" (most likely the same as Sigmund Ringeck), but that it has been "improved" and "expanded" by other masters, most notably by Hans Medel.
The author also mentions Hans Seydenfaden in two places in the manuscript. Seydenfaden is known from the list of the "Liechtenauer gesellschaft" in Paulus Kal, who also mentions that Seydenfaden was from Erfurt. Of Hans Medel nothing is (so far) known outside of Cod. I.6.2.5.
Many earlier researchers (among others Martin Wierschin and Hans-Peter Hils) have interpreted the name as "Niedel", which initially made me do so as well. I feel convinced that it should be "Medel", though.
The first part of the fechtbuch is a heavily modified version of parts of Ringeck's glossa. It ends abruptly, so there appears to once have existed more of this part of the manuscript. Some pages have apparently been lost (or perhaps they were never finished). The "improvements" Hans Medel has made include a complete redefinition of the guards and a partial redefinition of the meisterhawe, among other things.
The second part is a list of "Siben Stendt" (seven stances) and descriptions of techniques coming from them. As far as I know, those are unique to this fechtbuch.
The fechtbuch is illustrated with seventeen quite beautiful tinted ink drawings. In several places, space has been reserved for painted initials that apparently never were finished. The original text is very neatly written (unlike, say, Ringeck's manuscript) and has very few corrections and mistakes. There are quite a lot of minor marginal notes and additions in other hands, some are personal comments by Paulus Hector Mair.
The university of Augsburg has been kind enough to make available a high-resolution scan of the manuscript, which can be
read online page by page or
downloaded as a pdf.
The first version of the transcription is now finished. There are bound to be some minor errors and oversights left, but it's quite usable now and thus I will release it. Unfortunately, due to copyright reasons, the illustrations in this document are in black and white and of low quality. I strongly recommend you visit the links above and look at the original illustrations instead of the "placeholders" in my document.
Andreas Engström's transcription of Codex I.6.2.5 "Hans Medel", version 1.2
The next part of the project will be a translation into english (and possibly also one into swedish). I will start working on this very soon. After that, the considerably more time-consuming and challenging (but fun!) part will start: interpretation and practical testing of the interpretations.
As always, all comments and suggestions for corrections are most welcome. Thanks to Olivier Dupuis for pointing out some mistakes.
Mölndal, 11 march 2009
Andreas Engström, GHFS