1712 A London Bear Garden Fight

Bear Garden, prize fight, swashbuckler, sword and buckler

1487 The duel between Johann von Waldburg-Sonnenberg and Antonio Maria d’ Aragonia di San Severino

In the parish church (the former abbey church) St. Katharina, in Wolfegg in Bavaria (Germany) is a ceiling fresco in the  main aisle made by Franz Joseph Spiegler in 1735 and finished by his student Franz Anton Erler. It shows a duel which happy ending for the the young Johann von Waldburg-Sonnenberg (later senechal - Truchsess) led to the …

What to do if you are called for the judicial duel with mace and shield

The Folios 128r-129v of the KK5126, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria, do contain some recommendations for a participant of a mace - shield duel in a judicial court. The most interesting thing for us is that it is not absolutely expected that the fighters must die. It is asked for regulations, what will happen if someone wins …

1137 – 1139 Judicial duel in the kitab al-i’tibar

Usāma ibn Munqiḏ was a noble, a warrior, a diplomat, and poet living from 1095-1188. As a Muslim diplomat he travelled the realms realms of the crusaders and learned about their habit and way of life. He wrote several books from which only few survived. The most interesting work from the point of research in …

1360 – The law of judicial duels in the city of Gelnhausen

The following text is the law of fighting in the city of Gelnhausen. It has a history of transcribing and copies. The first copy was made in the 18th century from the following manuscript München, königl. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 2011 (Uffenbach). This was printed by Euler, Nachträge zur Bechtsgeschichte der RSt. Gelnhausen, in: Mittheilungen …

1438 The combats of Sir John Astley of Nailstone, Leicestershire

Young Francis L'Estrange Astley was born on 27 February 1810 and since the death of his father, Sir Jacob Henry Astley, 5th Baronet Astley, in April 1817 the possessor of the Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk, England. A place that according to latest news fell into dereliction, and is according the English Heritage at Risk Register in poor …

1711 A bloody London Bear Garden fight

The following is a direct translation of a travelling report made in 1709-1711 by Zacharias Conrad von Offenbach in London, England. Zacharias Conrad von Offenbach (Uffenbach) lived from 1683 until 1734 and was a consul in Frankfurt am Main and a book collector owning more than ten thousand books in his library. His published travelogues "Merckwürdige Reisen" made him famous. The reports …

1444 Two fencing masters in Rothenburg

In the year 1444 a duel took place between two fencing-masters. One from the south coming from Vienna the other from Württemberg. One of fencing master from Vienna is named Conrad of Siebenbürgen (Transilvania), the other is not named. The only thing that we kow of the second fencing-master is that he has followed the …

1478 A knightly duel

As Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, called the Gentle, died in September 1464 his sons Ernst und Albert, had to work together with William III, Landgrave of Thuringia, called the Brave, until his death in September 1482. From that political cooperation we still have some correspondence. The dukes wrote to each other of events happening …

1428 The earthquake and the duel in the Codex 5278

In the beginning of the Codex 5278, currently resting in the Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, there is a note of an historical event: an earthquake. This earthquake is dated to the 12th December 1428. 12r Anno domini M°CCCC vicesimo octauo dominica antte lucie do vaht Iu[n]chher Hainrich von Ramstein myt den spanyol, der sich na[m]pt her Iohan …