1435 February 2nd – Talhoffer’s second letter to Erhard Haller

The following is a transcription of letter of Hans Talhoffer to the knight Erhard Haller in Nürnberg. It is part of the Case of Hans Villenbach. The file is to be found in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Reichsstadt Nürnberg, Losungamt, 7-farbiges Alphabet, Urkunden 874. It was written at 1435 February 2nd. The letter bears the sigil of Hans Talhoffer …

1434 March 23th – Talhoffer’s first letter to Erhard Haller

The following is a transcription of letter of Hans Talhoffer to the knight Erhard Haller in Nürnberg. It is part of the Case of Hans Villenbach. The file is to be found in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Reichsstadt Nürnberg, Losungamt, 7-farbiges Alphabet, Urkunden 874. It was written at 1434 March 23. The letter bears the sigil of Hans Talhoffer identical with …

1434 March 20th – Talhoffer’s confession in Salzburg

The following is a transcription of an “open letter” containing a witnessed confession of Hans Talhoffer in regard of a murder done by fellow  mercenaries in the duty of Nürnberg merchants. The file is to be found in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg Reichsstadt Nürnberg, Losungamt, 7-farbiges Alphabet, Urkunden 873. It was written at 1434 März 20. The letter is …

1434 Hans Kuchler and Johannes Hartlieb

20 March 1434 - On the behalf of Hans von Villenbach the fencing Master Hans Talhoffer was taken to the fortress of Salzburg and was imprisoned. There he confessed that he was bribed by Nuremberg merchants to let the brother of Hans von Villenbach die (see 1434 Hans Talhoffer and case of Wilhelm of Villenbach). After the nobel Hans …

Taillefer is not Talhoffer

In 1834 Johann Martin Lappenberg wrote down the history of England. In the 1st Volume of his "Geschichte von England" on the page 551 he describes the Battle of Hastings. "Sogleich entbrannte der Kampf auf drei Stellen, die Trompeten, Zinken und Hörner hallten von den Hügeln wider, und die Normannen begannen den Angriff. Der erste Schlag war durch einen edeln, …

1440 – 1459 Luithold III of Königsegg

In my researches on the life of Hans Talhoffer I did not miss the letter of Johannes Graf zu Königsegg-Aulendorf to the 2010 facsimile of the so called Königsegg Codex (MS XIX.17-3). You can find the letter on the website of the publisher Von Zabern. I translated the "interesting" part for the Talhoffer biography that tries …

1492 The “Pergament Fencingbook” of Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg

In Urach, 1492 Dezember 26, Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg, dictated his last will and testament. He will be dead on the 24 February 1496 in Tübingen. This testament fills 20 pages and would not be of any interest to the researchers of old European martial arts if there would not be a small note on …

1467 The maker of books, artist and writer: Stefan Schreiber

The Duke Eberhard im Barte (Eberhard the Bearded) paid Hans Talhoffer 10 Gulden as his Fencing Master and to create a book on his behalf in 1467. In his last will Duke Eberhard named this book as his parchment fencing book. Today the manuscript is registered as Cod.icon. 394a to be found at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Germany. It was probably …

Legal murder

"Item wie daz nun sy daz die die decretaleß kempf verbieten, So hat doch die gewonhait herbracht von kaisern und künigen fürsten und hern noch gestatten und kempfen laussen" (Hans Talhoffer, 1459). The methods of the Inquisitio of the Roman rights, should end the brutal Langobardic, Swabian and Frankish rights of trial by battle or …

1434 Hans Talhoffer and case of Wilhelm of Villenbach

Authors remark: this article was written in 2011 and partly updated in 2014. In April 2015 the case was presented in a conference at the University of Geneva based on more recent research. The following pdf hold the slides: Hans Talhoffer and the case of Hans Villenbach 2015 Between 1427 and 1434 during (or after) …