The Art of Swordsmanship by Hans Lecküchner

Completed in 1482, Johannes Lecküchner's Art of Combat with the Langes Messer (Messerfechtkunst) is among the most important documents on the combat arts of the Middle Ages. The Messer was a single-edged, one-handed utility sword peculiar to central Europe, but Lecküchner's techniques apply to cut-and-thrust swords in general. This treatise is not only the single most substantial work on the use of one-handed swords to survive from this period, but it is also the most detailed explanation of the two-handed sword techniques of the German Liechtenauer school dating back to the 1300s. Lecküchner's lavish manuscript consists of over four hundred illustrations with explanatory text, in which the author, a parish priest, explores bladework, deceits, and grappling, with techniques ranging from life-or-death escapes from an armed assailant to slapstick moves designed to entertain the crowd in public fencing matches. This translation, complete with all illustrations from the manuscript, makes the treatise accessible for the first time since the author's untimely death less than a year after its completion left his major work to be lost for generations. An extensive introduction, notes, and glossary analyze and contextualize the work and clarify its technical content. Jeffrey L. Forgeng is curator of Arms and Armour and Medieval Art at the Worcester Art Museum and teaches as Adjunct Professor of History at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.