Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Knightly Arts

The Art of the Gladiator


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair a


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair k


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair l


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair b


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair v


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair c


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair d


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair f


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair t


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair e


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair i


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair s


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair o


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair r


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair q


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair p


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair w


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair n


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair m


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair j


De arte athletica by Paul Hector Mair u


[click on any image for an enlarged version]


'De Arte Athletica' (Volume II) [B Cod.icon. 393(2)] is online at the Bavarian State Library.

The massive mid-16th century treatise on combat techniques by Paul Hector Mair totals over twelve hundred pages, spread across two exquisitely illustrated manuscripts.

Volume I - featured earlier this year in the entry Pugnacious Puffy Pants - 'tends' to concentrate more on the armed and unarmed hand-to-hand techniques, while the present volume introduces the tournament combat styles of knights.

A number of the illustrations are thought, perhaps unsurprisingly, to have been derived from or copied after the style of Hans Bergkmair (both father & son); see: Burgkmair Tournament Book. Some of the scenes and combattants depicted in 'De Arte Athletica' are based on actual tournaments (and participants) from history.

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