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Jakob Sutor's New Illustrated Fencing Manual
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Description
​Jakob Sutor's 1612 "New Künstliches Fechtbuch" (New Illustrated Fighting Manual) was one publication of many on the subject being printed at the time in Europe, this one focussing primarly on fighting with the long sword, the dusack, the rapier, the staff, and the halberd. This manual has several collections of woodcut illustrations for each weapon and fighting type, demonstrating proper stances and techniques, as well as illustrating the different parts of the weapons and the different zones of the body to strike. The audience was both young aristocratic men who would be expected to duel with others of their station, as well as any who wished to join the military and needed to be well-trained in both offensive and defensive maneuvers with a variety of standard-issue weaponry.
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Note From The Author
Many thanks to the Goethe Institute for scanning their original 1612 printing of Jakob Sutor’s Fechtbuch and making those scans available in the public domain. Their generosity has made this project possible. The original copy of the manual was printed in 1612 in Frankfurt am Main by Wilhelm Hoffman, and the holding institution of the original book is the Göttingen State and University Library (shelf mark 4 BIBL UFF 522 (4)).
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I would also like to thank Project Gutenberg and its volunteer arm, Distributed Proofreaders, for introducing me to the enjoyment of transcribing and translating older manuscripts.
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On The Material
Due to the manner of printing at the time, shorthand methods were used to keep passages properly formatted within the page. Fraktur, like many fonts used at the time for texts in New High German, were visually ambiguous among certain pairings of letters. The letters “y” and “n” in this font are quite similar in appearance, as are the letter pairing “s” and “l” and the letter pairing “f” and “k”. Great care has been taken to distinguish them in the transcription, but there may be a few that were missed, or mistranscribed.
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Punctuation in the original text was meant to suggest pauses or denote where words have been split at the end of one line and the beginning of the next. My transcription maintains this original punctuation, but my translation has endeavored to interpret it as faithfully as possible using punctuation in the fashion it is understood today in English. An attempt has been made to marry current terminology with the terminology mentioned in the text. There are points where this is not possible, and the original term is maintained and left in italics within the translated text. In instances where a translation was impossible to find, the original Early New High German word was left in italics. For the sake of legibility, the endings of sentences that occur on the next page are included in italics at the end of paragraphs.
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Lastly, I would like to offer wisdom from William Caxton, the author of my previous project. His words and sentiments are shared by me and are paraphrased here.
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And where it is so, that I have presumed and planned this translation into our English and mother tongue, in which I am not fully perfect, and even less so in German, yet I have endevored at it, at the request and desire, cost and dispense, of myself. Which is why I humbly beseech my readers to pardon me for this rude and simple transation, how it is, I lay for my excuse that I have to my power followed my copy, and as close as it was possible for me to have made it plain, so that every reasonable man may understand it, if he advisedly and intently reads it or hears it. And if there is any fault in any marvels contained herein, I beseech you to blame the fault upon me, for the original work is a piece of art, one which I began to first translate the thirty-first day of March the year of our lord 2023, and finished in November of the same year.
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Sample
Jakob Sutor's New Illustrated Fencing Manual, page 6
Early New High German Transcription
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Der Mann zur lincken liegt im Läger / genant die Schranck-
hut / also: Stehe mit dem linken Fusz vor / halt das Schwerdt mit ge-
schrenckten Händen / mit dem Ort vor dir auff die Erden. Der Mann
zur rechten liegt im Läger / genannt der Hangetort / also: Stehe mit dem rech-
ten Fusz vor / halt das Schwerdt mit auszgestreckten Armen vor dir / damit die
klinge etwas under sich gegen der Erden hange.
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Modern English Translation
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The man on the left is in the position called the barrier guard, thus: stand with the left foot forward, hold the sword with crossed hands with the point before you over the ground. The man on the right is in the position called the hanging point, thus: stand with the right foot forward, hold the sword with crossed arms before you, so that he blade hangs somewhat in front of you towards the ground.
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Jakob Sutor's New Illustrated Fencing Manual, page 72
Early New High German Transcription
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Wilstu dich mit einem scharpff im Dolchen und Rappier
balgen oder fechten / so gebe du gut Achtung auff den ersten Stosz mit
dem Dolchen / dasz er sich verstossen hat / und liege mit deiner Klingen
sampt der stercke vor dem Mann / und stosse baldt hernach / bisz dasz du sihest /
dasz du mit der Verführung ihm könnest abbrechen / und mit der Geschwin-
digkeit ihme alsbaldt nachstossen.
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Modern English Translation
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If you want to deal with or fight with a sharp dagger and rapier, then you should pay close attention to the first thrust with the dagger. If he has missed the mark, lie with your blades with the strong parts in front of the man and soon afterwards thrust until you see that you can stop deceiving him, and quickly rush after him.