Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	742
Title	Arms, Armour, and the Arts of Combat, III: Fight Books and Fighting in Single Combat
Date/Time	Tuesday 5 July 2022: 14.15-15.45
Sponsor	Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Organiser	Jacob H. Deacon, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair	Karen Watts, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Paper 742-a	Making the City of Blades: Solingen Blade Manufacturing from the 13th to the 16th Century (Language: English) Sixt Wetzler, Deutsches Klingenmuseum, Solingen Index Terms: Economics - Urban; Military History
Paper 742-b	Pictorial Glosses: The Fight Books of Paulus Kal and Hans Talhofer in Context (Language: English) Eric Burkart, Fachbereich Geschichte, Politikwissenschaft & Altertumswissenschaften, Universität Trier Index Terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography; Military History
Paper 742-c	When Is a Sword Not a Sword?: Spada-Azzas of the 15th-16th Centuries (Language: English) Jacob H. Deacon, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds Index Terms: Art History - General; Manuscripts and Palaeography; Military History; Technology
Abstract	This session explores themes surrounding single combat throughout the Middle Ages. Sixt Wetzler will first present the location factors and the development of blade manufacturing in Solingen, the 'City of Blades', from the Middle Ages to Early Modern times. Eric Burkart will discuss communication strategies for transmitting embodied techniques in the fight books of Kal and Talhofer, demonstrating how their illustrations of single combat serve as visual mnemonics in comparison to fight books which rely primarily on written glosses. Jacob H. Deacon will conclude the panel with a look into an unusual group of weapons designed for use in armoured combat, so-called spada-azzas, which appear solely in the late medieval fight books.