Johannes Liechtenauer, grand master of the oldest known German fencing tradition, recorded his art in a 358-line poem called the Zettel. To unlock the secrets of this poem, we rely on the writings of his students and associates, as well as later masters in his tradition. This lecture will explore the different kinds of fencing manuals that have been preserved and how they relate to and inform each other, tracing the evolution and expansion of this literary tradition from early recordings of the Zettel, through the process of glossing and commentaries on the glosses, and eventually into lavish illustrated artbooks.
