[Dustin Faulkner]

Hello:

I recently purchased a copy of "Medieval and Renaissance Dagger Combat" by Jason Vail. On page 11 in chapter 2 is the following quote:

" In 1389 one of Liechtenauer's students, a priest named Hanko Dobringer, wrote a lenghty commentary on his master's method and others, such as Sigmund Ringeck in about 1420, attempted interpretations. Liechtenauer is thought to have inspired many additional figures in medieval and renaissance combat, such as Paulus Kal, [b]Peter Falkner[/b], Hans von Speyer, Ludwig von Eyb, Gregor Erhart, Sigmund Schining, Andre Pauernfeindt, and more."

Who was Peter Falkner? Amongst all the historical figures in our hobby's genre, I've never heard of this man (and a few others). Given my last name, I hope you guys can understand my intrigue and excitement. As far as I know, my paternal ancestry is mostly English and the name stems from Falconer. However, I am aware of W.W.II Luftwaffe pilots with last names like Falker or Falk. There was a Wolfgang Falk.

"Falconer" is certainly appropriate given my life-long interest in aviation (and I admire Falconry), but if there is a possible German connection it'd sure be cool to claim this Peter Falkner as an ancestor who was a great German knight. Of course, I am assuming he was Germanic given his categorization with several other Germanic knights. Perhaps my other life-long interest in medieval combat is naturally genetic because of this Peter Falkner.

I will write to Mr. Vail. I also intend to contact Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng at the Higgins Museum. Perhaps folks at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's armour department might know of this man too. Please pardon my ignorance, but I am not aware of any medieval historians or museums who keep a "roll call" of medieval knights. Naturally, I thought I'd contact fellow myArmoury.com friends first. :-)

Thank you and Merry Christmas everyone!

Sincerely,
Dustin Faulkner

[Bill Grandy]

Hi Dustin,
Peter Falkner was a fencing master in the 15th century. He published an illustrated fencing treatise that has a rhyming verse to aid in learning the longsword, poleaxe, messer, staff, duelling shield and dagger. Certain parts are a didaction of other fencing treatises. I believe the only known copy is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, but I could be mistaken there. I'm not sure if we know any more about him personally. You may want to shoot Christian Tobler a PM, as he's worked a lot with this treatise over the past few years.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hello Dustin!

It's unlikely Meister Peter was a knight. We do know he a member and, for some years, Hauptmann (Captain), of the famous Marxbruder fencing guild, sanctioned by the Emperor in the late 15th c. with the monopoly on bestowing the title "Master of the Longsword".

'Falkner' is a functional name - 'falconer' - so any relationship between this man and your family is unlikely, I'm afraid. [My own name is a functional one: 'Tobler' means one who dwells in a forest ravine]

Falkner's fencing manuscript is very interesting, including his own variations of the verses for the longsword and messer, plus explicatory paragraphs for staff, dagger, dueling shield, poleaxe, and mounted combat. Each technique has an illustration.

I'm at work preparing a reproduction and translation of this work.

All the best,

Christian

[Dustin Faulkner]

I figured the chance of a direct relationship to Peter Falkner is low. However, I am glad to hear Mr. Tobler is working on a translation of his work. That book alone would be an interesting conversation piece. Can't wait for it Mr. Tobler.

I have copies of your two previous books about the German longsword. They are excellent! Peter Falkner's work would certainly compliment them. I have an interest in polearms so I look forward to what he says in comparison to Herr Mair's work.

[Michael Curl]

I too just wanted to chime in and tell Tobler that I really enjoyed his Fighting with the German Longsword. Now if only we could get a book on Roszfechten

[Jean Thibodeau]

[James Head]

A little bird told me there might be a Polaxe DVD in the works...

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hello all,

Let me take a moment and address some stuff, so everyone's 'updated'. First, Dustin, I actually have 3 books currently in print - "Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship", "Fighting with the German Longsword", and "In Service of the Duke".

I've completed a fourth title, "In Saint George's Name", which should debut in early 2010. As James has noted (thanks James!), I'm working on a poleaxe instructional video. We have almost the entire footage complete and have a couple of the DVD chapters already laid out. This should be a very high quality product and will feature a couple of interviews with some 'guest stars.

For Michael: a mounted combat book is possible, but will need to be done in conjunction with someone else with infinitely better riding skills than me, unless it's strictly a look at all the German manuscript sources on that material (which is considerable). Depending on who the other resource(s) is, such a book could take a number of different forms, perhaps even concording the German, Italian, and Iberian sources. We'll have to see what shapes up.

And, of course there's the Falkner manuscript...that could also see the light of day sometime in 2010. I feel the translation is now in good shape, largely due to the generous help of my friend and colleague from Hammaborg, Dierk Hagedorn - one of the community's finest gentlemen. I still need to write the accompanying apparatus for the book, but that could all mature before March, easily.

Take care everyone, and thank you for your generous and ongoing support of my work!

Yours,

Christian

[Jean Thibodeau]

I will certainly be interested in the Poleaxe DVD as I also take staff and polearm with my group " lesduellistes " in Montréal.

Mostly just staff work so far as it is sort of a good base to start from but we also have the option of using Poleaxe trainers during class. ( We use mostly " Le jeux de la hache " as reference ).

I'm sure my instructors will also be happy to see or buy the DVD ( I will probably show it to them when I get it and they might want their own copy ? ).

Let us know when it's available and reserve me a copy ( Well don't know if you would be interested in " officially " taking pre-publication reservations ? Just a thought as having a number of seriously interested buyers in advance might help in decided on the size of the first production run ??? . ).