Noted medieval combat authorities Dierk Hagedorn and Christian Henry Tobler join forces to present a transcription, translation and analysis of the Peter von Danzig Fight Book, one of the finest manuscripts of the 15th century devoted to the fencing tradition of German grandmaster Johannes Liechtenauer. The codex features anonymous commentaries on Liechtenauer's own mnemonic verses, as well as treatises by other masters of his circle: Masters Lignitzer, Huntfelt, Ott and Peter von Danzig himself. A compendium of teachings for how to fight with the long sword, spear, sword and buckler, dagger, as well as unarmed grappling, both in and out of armour, this volume is a valuable resource for historical martial artists, historians and medieval re-enactors.

The medieval knight was a well-trained fighting man, expert in the use of sword, lance, spear and dagger, and member of a warrior aristocracy whose values, virtues and vices helped shape European society for over 500 years. As a window into the knight and his craft, In Saint George's Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts brings readers a treasure trove of historic combat treatises, musings on the culture and context of the martial arts in the late Middle Ages and hands-on training exercises for wrestling, dagger, falchion and poleaxe. Join medieval combat expert Christian Henry Tobler on an expansive journey into the lost world of chivalric fighting arts, certain to thrill martial artists, arms and armour enthusiasts, and lovers of history alike.

Christian Tobler makes a deep dive into the fighting traditions of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, particularly as recorded by Johannes Liechtenauer (1300-1389). It was a time of plague, of the Hundred Years War, of the Peasants' Revolt, but also a time when the origins of the European Renaissance were formed. In the later years of this turbulent time a shadowy figure named Johannes Liechtenauer systematized lessons for swordsmanship, wrestling, armoured and mounted combat. 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. 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. No author has done more to reveal this lost world of German knightly martial arts to a modern audience than Christian Tobler. Lance, Spear, Sword and Messer is a rich collection of Tobler's work, containing extensive material on topics as diverse as the two-handed sword, spear, poleaxe, wrestling, and the use of long shields, combined with thought-provoking analysis and historical commentary that will occupy the mind-and challenge the preconceptions-of students and historians of medieval German martial arts. In addition, the martial career-in arms and in the literature of arms-of Emperor Maximilian I, often called "the Last Knight," who was himself a devoted student of the tradition, serves as a capstone of this collection. Maximilian's literary output, including a planned but unwritten fight book, was a similar capstone in his own lifetime at the waning of the Middle Ages and start of the Northern Renaissance.

In the late 14th century, the German swordsman Johannes Liechtenauer developed and codified a system of armed combat with sword, spear and dagger that spread through the Holy Roman Empire and dominated German martial arts for nearly 300 years. By the end of the 15th century, a fellowship of swordsmen in Frankfurt known as 'the Brotherhood of Saint Mark,' or Marxbruder, had been granted an imperial charter to train and test swordmasters. Peter Falkner was a long-time member and sometime captain of this famed fencing guild, and it was during this tenure that he set about creating an illustrated fight book of his own; colourful, painted figures and short captions depict combat with a wide variety of weapons: the longsword, dagger, staff, poleaxe, halberd, dueling shield and mounted combat. Where his work excels, however, is in its extensive treatment of the falchion-like messer and the unique variations of core techniques of the Liechtenauer canon. In this first, printed edition of Falkner's work, German martial arts teacher and scholar Christian Tobler includes a full translation, transcription and analysis, combined with a photographic reproduction of the original manuscript. The end result is a lovingly rendered, English translation of a 500 year old picture-book that shows an adaptation of the Liechtenauer tradition, by a known master of its most prestigious school, as taught over a century after its foundation.