Lance, Spear, Sword, and Messer: A German Medieval Martial Arts Miscellany Tobler Christian Henry

The 14th century - a paradoxical time of world-shattering plague, the Hundred Years War, the Peasants' Revolt, but also literary and artistic innovation, formed the basis of the Renaissance. Recorded in cryptic, rhyming verses, it fell to masters of the 15th and 16th century to record, clarify and expand the grandmaster's instructions in an extensive body of fencing manuals. In the later years of this turbulent time a shadowy figure named Johannes Liechtenauer systematized lessons for swordsmanship, wrestling, armoured, and mounted combat.

In Lance, Spear, Sword and Messer, As the world of the knight receded into history, these texts - many extensively and beautifully illustrated - were forgotten by all but German-language antiquarians and fencing historians until the last decade of the 20th century, when they were rediscovered by a new audience of martial artists and historians.