Transcriptions | Johannes Lecküchner

A Falchion / Langes Messer Fencing Treatise by Johannes Lecküchner (1482)

Lecküchner's Langes Messer treatise is freely available as a PDF document for training and research purposes (646 pages, 47 MB). It contains:

Part 1 – An introductory section about Lecküchner's Messer fencing, weapons and the author's approach on the manuscripts.
Part 2 – The main part of the document features
- all illustrations from codex Cgm 582,
- transcription of the text,
- English translation of the text,
- plus a transcription and translation of differing contents in Lecküchner's Heidelberg codex Cpg 430 as footnotes.
Part 3 – A concordance table of the manuscripts Cgm 582, Cpg 430 and Cod.I.6.4^o.3 (Jude Lew), list of figures and bibliography.

About the author

Dr Grzegorz Żabiński (Upper Silesia, PL), historian and archaeologist. Apart from medieval and early Renaissance martial arts, his research interests also include weaponry studies and archaeometallurgy. He is currently employed at the Institute of History of Jan Długosz Academy in Częstochowa, PL.

Co-authors

Russ Mitchell (Texas) is a historian and experimental archaeologist specializing in medieval arms and armor. He holds teaching ranks in several martial arts and has a special focus on Central and Eastern-European weaponry.

Falko Fritz is a historical fencer from Hamburg. Since 2009 he holds the weekly training for Langes Messer at Hammaborg – historischer Schwertkampf e.V.

Reviewer

Gerhard Gohr is instructor for Langes Messer at Der Fechtsaal, Krefeld, and an experienced interpreter of Lecküchner's techniques.

The translation in the PDF document is independent from the partial translation by Falko Fritz found online on this website (see below).

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Annotations

The Manuscript

The source Cgm 582 is an illustrated manuscript in early new high German, completed by Johannes Lecküchner, priest in Herzogenaurach, in the night of the 19. January 1482. Presumably it was made for Philip the Upright, Elector Palatine of the Rhine from 1476 to 1508.
The book contains 216 folios sized 30 x 20.7 cm and it's written in a bastarda. Today it is kept in the Bayrische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. The text itself is a copy of an earlier manuscript by the same author, Cod. Pal. germ. 430, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, which is without illustrations.

The Contents

The Messer fencing book by Johannes Lecküchner is unique in several aspects, compared to other medieval German fencing books: The presentation of fencing techniques with all the three elements illustration, verse and detailed explanation is not to be found in any other comparable manuscript from the 15. century. Additionally, the book deals with Messer fencing only, it is not a compendium of knightly martial arts in general.

Even though, the teachings are clearly based in Master Liechtenauer's tradition. The alignment of the chapters, the description of guards and hidden strikes, the verses and many texts themselves have their counterparts in the sources covering the Longsword, e.g. the manuscript 44 A 8 (“Peter von Danzig“), 1452.

Still Lecküchner extends Master Liechtenauer's system and renames several techniques. All in all he lists 23 main pieces including six hidden strikes, five of which have an equivalent in Liechtenauer's Longsword, plus 17 additional main pieces. However, the extent of the chapters differs greatly: While 132 pages are dedicated to disarming techniques (“taking the Messer“), there is only one single page about the “Zwinger“ (the Schielhau in the Longsword). It might be concluded that the Zwinger was only added to complete the handing down of Liechtenauer's verses.

The three most extensive chapters add up to more than half of the book: Taking the Messer, Durchlaufen and Überlaufen - all of them techniques that mostly end up in wrestling, be it wrestling with the Messer, with the arms or throws and takedowns. It is fair to assume that this emphasis on wrestling is a consequence of having a shorter weapon (compared to the Longsword) and an empty hand for grappling.

The Translation

The translation is based on the transcription by Carsten and Julia Lorbeer, Johann Heim, Robert Brunner and Alexander Kiermayer of the Gesellschaft für pragmatische Schriftlichkeit, which is downloadable as PDF document. To give a starting point for Messer fencing, the first pages of each chapter were translated.

It was tried to use modern language as close as possible to the original text and avoid interpretations. Obvious mistakes like confusing “his“ and “your“ or right and left were corrected in some few cases. On many pages Lecküchner repeats the verse or its beginning in the explanation; these repetitions were replaced by the annotation [Rep.v.].

Glossary

Ablaufen - running off
Abnehmen - taking off
Abschneiden - cutting off
Absetzen - setting off
Ansetzen - setting on
Duplieren - doubling
Durchgehen / geh durch - go through
Durchwechseln / wechsel durch - change through
Durchlaufen / lauf durch - running through
Eber - guard position, “boar”
Einlaufen - running in
Entrüsthau - hidden strike, “disarming strike”
Geferhau - hidden strike, “danger strike”
Hängen - hanging
Halbhau - “half strike”
Indes - simultaneously, instantly
Langes Messer - long knife
Luginsland - guard position, “look over the land”
Messer - knife
Messernehmen - taking the Messer
Mordschlag - strike with the pommel
Mutieren - mutating
Nachreißen - jerking after
Oberhau - strike from above
Pastei - guard position, “bastion”
Pnehmen / pnimm - removing(?)
Pogen - arc / bow
Schrankhut - “barrier guard”
Sonnenzeigen - showing the sun
Stier - guard position, “bull”
Überlaufen / lauf über - running over
Unterhau - strike from below
Wecker - hidden strike, “wakener”
Winden - winding
Winker - hidden strike, “waver”
Zornhau - hidden strike, “wrath strike”
Zornhau-Ort - Zornhau-point
Zucken - jerking / snatching
Zufechten - approaching in fencing / getting into striking distance / engagement
Zwinger - hidden strike, “forcer”