“Masters of fencing” are mentioned in Italy in the 1300s as offering
advice and exercises for fighting. In the 1400s, there were well-established
fencing academies in Milan, Venice, and Verona, and later Bologna; even
earlier, a master swordsman by the name of Goffredo taught the youth of
Civildale in 1259. There are also references in Italy during the 1400s to the
“trial for status” of a master of Ars Palistrinae (Martial Arts). The Bolog-
nese school in Italy existed since the early 1200s under instructors in the
1300s such as Master Rosolino, Master Francesco, and Master Nerio. In
the 1400s, Master Filippo di Bartolomeo Dardi, an astrologer, mathemati-
cian, and professor at Bologna University, also kept a school there. An Ital-
ian fencing master from the late 1600s also stated that a “Corporation of
Fencing Masters,” headquartered in Madrid, existed in Spain from the
Middle Ages. There are numerous references to Esgrimidors(fencing mas-
ters) in Portuguese civil documents from the late 1400s.
The people of the Germanic states were the most prolific writers among
the European martial artists. German sword masters are first mentioned as
early as 1259; Hans Liechtenauer (or Johannes Lichtenawer) is considered
the grand Fechtmeister(fighting master) of the German schools of fighting
and swordplay. A whole series of fencing manuals, or Fechterbuecher(fight
books), are based on his work. One of the earliest was compiled in 1389 by
Hanko Doebringer, a priest who at one time appears to have studied fight-
ing under Liechtenauer. As was common practice at the time, it is written in
rhymed verse. In order to conceal his teachings, he also utilized highly cryp-
tic phrasing. Liechtenauer himself appears to have studied under several ear-
lier unknown masters such as Lamprecht from Bohemia, Virgily from
Krakow, and Liegnitzer in Silesia. His influential teachings, reflecting fight-
ing methods developed over a century earlier, cover a variety of weapons
from sword and shield to staff, plus a range of unarmed fighting techniques.
Other major German masters include Joerg Wilhalm, whose text of
1523 survives, as well as Hans Lebkommer, who in 1530 put his methods
on paper in Der Alten Fechter an fengliche Kunst (The Original Art of the
Ancient Fencers) and Fechtmeister Kal (Fight Master). Lebkommer’s fecht-
buch is actually the compilation of Christian Egenolph, and as with many
of the others, it includes materials from earlier works such as those by An-
dre Pauerfeindts of 1516, and the student of Liechtenauer, Fechtmeister
Sigmund Ringeck, of ca. 1440. Ringeck’s material includes the use of the
sword, the scimitar-like falchion, and other weapons. As with many later
German masters, Ringeck interpreted Hans Liechtenauer’s earlier verses
and added them to his own method.
Hans Talhoffer is a more widely known major Master of Defence from
the Middle Ages. His fechtbuch from 1443 was reprinted many times dur-
ing the 1400s but now only exists in various editions from the sixteenth and320 Masters of Defence