Daniel Jaquet, Karin Verelst, and Timothy Dawson (eds.)
Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books: Transmission and Tradition of Martial Arts in Europe (14th to 17th centuries)
(Brill, 2016), 636 pp. $253.00
The archaeology of conflict is a new and broad field, no more than 40 years old, which includes other branches of research, such as the battlefield archaeology and the combat archaeology. The latter, understood as the study of the forms of individual combat, either in its more martial facet or in its more sacralised or legalistic facets (judicial duels), is perfectly encompassed within the so-called new military history. However, bearing in mind that there is no living tradition in the West of fencing masters or unarmed combat from the Middle Ages to the present day, if we want to recreate and investigate these forms of individual combat, we must necessarily base ourselves on four pillars: the written tradition and illuminations, for example chronicles and epic literature, but above all combat manuals; the available weapons; and the biomechanics of the human body, since this is the same five centuries ago as now, and responds to the same principles both in the East and in the West. At the same time, we must always bear in mind that war and the way of fighting is a specific product of each culture and era, so we must never lose sight of the socio-cultural, ideological, religious and scientific context in which we move at any given time. It is not the first time that we witness an attempt to recreate or understand medieval individual combat, the Victorian society of the late 19th century and, in fact, European society until the beginning of the First World War, saw a period of interest in the medieval that led to the collection of military pieces and the first writings focused on trying to recreate fencing and the medieval way of fighting. But that was left in the past and now it is approached with new methodologies and interests.
Well, after this long diatribe, the book that concerns us here is about… books. About Fechtbuch, or Fight books as they are called in German, since it is from this cultural area that most of the books come from, where individual combat techniques are explained (with weapons and armour and without weapons) and that have so far been discovered and preserved for the 14th-16th centuries. It therefore deals with one of the pillars on which the study of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) is based.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the methodological problems of dealing with these books, both in terms of language and content. It must be taken into account that in addition to the linguistic problems, many of these manuals are written either for initiates, who already have a clear context in which to apply the sometimes cryptic explanations that are given, or the author sometimes wrote them in too summarised a form, because after all, many were books presenting the mastery of a master, who would have to be hired to develop the system. But at other times the audience seems to have been wider than professional warriors, because the burghers also wanted to learn how to defend themselves, especially in the context of judicial duels, which were still very much present on the Germanic scene at this time. Not to mention the problem of interpreting the graphic information that many of them contain, and here it becomes clear that theory is one thing and practice is another, and that to truly decipher them the scholar must also be a practitioner of the Western martial arts (at least fencing). Interpreting Art is always difficult.
The second part aims to study these manuals within the social and scientific framework in which they were produced. And the articles there are intended to frame each of the main schools, German, Italian, French and Spanish, although of the latter only tackle the well known Escuela de la Verdadera Destreza (fencing school of true dexterity), which dates rather from the mid-16th century onwards, is considered. La Destreza is, on the other hand, a perfect example of these military manual as a renaissance outcome.
Finally, the last part deals with the practical cases and specific techniques (e.g. the use of buckler and sword), or the application of these techniques in certain contexts, such as the judicial duel, where the close relationship between martial practice and society is demonstrated.
Of the three editors of the book, Daniel Jaquet is perhaps the best known in academic circles dedicated to this subject, but he is not the only one. The groundwork for the book was conceived in 2012, although it was not brought to fruition until 2016. Brill has not published any other work that could be a continuation of this one, so if the reader wants to know more, he or she must refer to other books published by the different authors -up to seventeen, or quoted by them- who participate in this volume, or go to the publications of journals such as Arms and Armour, Gladius and Acta Periódica duellatorum, without forgetting the great Wiktenuer page.
This book was one of the first serious attempts to fully integrate Medieval European martial arts studies into the academic world, and I must say that it was very successful, although some articles are sometimes difficult to follow for the layman, as well as some very detailed articles on the written or editorial tradition of the manuscripts. In addition, some articles include too many quotations in German, which would have been appreciated if they had been translated. But make no mistake, this book is not only about fighting techniques, but about the art and culture of a time.
As it is customary Brill offers the book at a quite high price. In 2022 the book still costs 205€, either on paper or electronic format. This is a pity because it is a must-have book for anyone interested not only in this aspect of military history, but it will also be useful for studies of medieval manuscripts and everyday life in the Middle Ages.
Jose M. Rodriguez (UNED)
