Codex Wallerstein: A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling [Hardcover]

Grzegorz Zabinski (Author), Bartlomiej Walczak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

The Codex Wallerstein is one of the best known of the late medieval fencing treatises still in existence. Though perhaps not as widely known as Talhoffer 1467 or Flos Duellatorum, it is just as important to students of the Western martial arts. Originally written in Middle High German during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Codex Wallerstein has long been available to scholars in microfilm format from Augusburg University. Now with the publication of this book, the text and drawings are available to scholars and martial artists in the original Middle High German, as well as in Modern German and English translations. The translations were provided by Grzegorz Zabinski, with assistance from Bartlomiej Walczak, two of the most esteemed interpreters of medieval combat in the world. The codex offers a series of fundamental counters to common attacks, using the longsword, falchion and dagger, as well as the complete system of wrestling techniques. In this work the reader will find a great deal of instruction on thrusting at or closing in against an opponent, expanding Master Johannes Liechtenauer's art of longsword combat. For martial artists, medievalists, historians or anyone with an interest in historical arms or self-defense, Codex Wallerstein is sure to become an invaluable reference.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Grzegorz Zabinski is a medievalist from Upper Silesia in Poland. Apart from medieval and early Renaissance military history and martial arts, his fields of interest include problems of medieval social and economic history, with special reference to the Cistercian order. He is currently working on a Ph.D. dissertation on early 16th-century comments on the swordsmanship treatise of Johannes Liechtenauer.

Bartlomiej Walczak is a student of nuclear physics, but his real passion is the study of medieval martial arts, which he has been pursuing since 1997. He is the chief of the Brotherhood of the Eagles’ Nests, a member of the Historical European Martial Arts Community and the director of Association for Renaissance Martial Arts in Poland. Currently, he is working on a training curriculum based on Johannes Liechtenauer’s teachings.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581603398
• ISBN-13: 978-1581603392
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,125,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, but not for the casual swordsman, September 29, 2003

By 

Stephen Hand (Hobart, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Codex Wallerstein: A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book. Grzegorz and Bart are to be commended for their fine work translating this important medieval fechtbuch. The book contains some of the most important material on medieval unarmed combat and is an absolute must for anyone working in that area. It also contains many plates on longsword, messer and a range of other weapons.

What this book is: An excellent translation of a significant and well illustrated medieval fechtbuch.

What this book isn't: It isn't a guide to medieval fencing. Wallerstein is primarily illustrations. With minimal text and no interpretation, it's up to you to work out what's being done in the plates. If you're like me, this is great. If you're beginner, expecting a book teaching you medieval swordsmanship, this is not that book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine treatment of an important manuscript, February 20, 2003

By 

Christian Tobler (Oxford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Codex Wallerstein: A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling (Hardcover)

Messrs. Zabinski and Walczak have made a great contribution to the study of Historic European Martial Arts with their translation and analysis of the 'Codex Wallerstein'. This fascinating 15th Century German manuscript contains illustrated fighting techniques for the hand and a half knightly sword (the longsword), close quarters combat both unarmed and with a dagger, combat with the messer (a falchion-like short sword), and for fighting in the full armour of the day. The original plates from the manuscript are presented side by side with both modern German and English translations. Definitely a must-have for the sword practitioner or student of the late Middle Ages - it certainly has served *this* researcher well in my own ongoing study of German fighting arts.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for the Practicing Medieval Swordsman as Well as Historian, August 1, 2006

By 

EquesNiger (Prague, Czech Republic) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Codex Wallerstein: A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestling (Hardcover)

One of the great challenges of studying medieval forms of the martial arts is the fact that there is no school anywhere that preserves the actual fighting techniques of this era intact. While some of the techniques have survived, the decline of the necessity for a gentleman post Renaissance to be a man of arms as well as letters and learning has resulted in much knowledge being misplaced, lost and forgotten. As a result, modern schools of medieval martial arts can, and will, teach you basic techniques, but, as opposed to some of the better preserved Renaissance arts with the epée or rapier, most of the material tends to be appropriate for and focused on purely theatrical fighting. As such, this fighting manual of the late medieval period is invaluable, particularly due to the accessibility of the techniques contained therein.

While others may find this volume a bit advanced for the novice of medieval swordsmanship, I find the pictures and descriptions eminently understandable (and I'm certainly a novice). Frankly, learning any martial art through a book is a bit of a challenge, but, in this case, the manual is extremely easy to follow, which accounts in large part for its popularity in the 15th Century. The text focuses on the REAL art of the fighting man, centering on applications of the long sword, dagger, falchion and unarmed combat, and it's neither "chivalrous" in the modern sense of the word, nor pretty. The techniques within are designed for the professional fighting man, and the full emphasis is on surviving a fight, and not looking pretty while you do it. As such, in using the techniques, you will get cut, without a doubt - some of the holds, particularly in unarmed versus armed combat, and such put your bare skin on the edge of the opponents blade. However, they do increase the likelihood of being the one to walk (or stagger, or stumble) away from the encounter.

From the perspective of one only interested in the historical aspects, the book is fascinating in that it presents facsimiles of the original plates from the book, with a Latin alphabet version of the old German text on each plate, as well as modern German and English translations of the text. It's also fascinating, again, in that this was designed for the professional warrior, and the presumed context in which it would be read, and intent and value system of the reader of the day, is vastly different from what many hold as misconceptions of the period.

Highly recommended!