[Christian Henry Tobler]

Now in living color, Captain of the Guild is here!



We are pleased to present a Freelance Academy first: collector's edition of a little-seen and underappreciated masterpiece of the Liechtenauer tradition!

In the late 15th century, Peter Falkner was a long-time member and sometime captain of the famed fencing guild known as "the Brotherhood of Saint Mark," or Marxbrüder. Flourishing a generation after the now better-known Masters Hans Talhoffer and Paulus Kal, Falkner followed in their paths, and set about creating an illustrated fight book of his own; a colorful handbook whose 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 Captain of the Guild the 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. Because of both his unique treatment of a number of the weapons, as well as the manuscript's bright colors and charming, at times whimsical, figures, we decided that the only way to do Falkner's little-seen work justice was to reproduce it in full color! The medieval illuminator's art is not only preserved, but glorified with professional images printed at almost an exact 1:1 scale on high-quality, acid free paper, bound with a durable, case-bound cover to withstand not only shelf wear, but constant use.

Combining a unique text and expert commentary with high production values, this lovingly rendered, English translation of a 500 year old picture-book is not only the finest title we have produced to date, but we believe one of the finest Historical European Martial Arts titles available, and is sure to please martial artists, historians and lovers of medieval art alike. Order yours today!


And...Now available: The Longsword of Johannes Liechtenauer, Part One



Our German partners at Agilitas are working hard: at over two hours in length, The Messer of Hans Lecküchner provides a complete beginner course in training with the long-knife or falchion. We are therefore very pleased to announce that the first DVD Agilitas produced with respected martial artists Hans Heim and Alex Kiermayer is once again available!

In The Longsword of Johannes Liechtenauer, Part One, you will learn the ancient and noble art of fighting with the long- or "hand-and-a-half" sword step-by-step! Reconstructed from 14th - 16th c manuscripts and illuminations, the highly effective fighting techniques and principles of this elegant and deadly martial art are now available for everyone, in this modern training curriculum developed within the Ochs-Historiches Kampfkunst (Ochs Historical Combat School). Beginning with a reconstruction of a 15th century duel, this program combines an historical overview of Liechtenauer's art, and a distillation of his core techniques, with a series of training exercises and partner drills, providing a valuable treasure trove for everyone interested in historical swordsmanship.

Once out of print, we are pleased to be the official distributor for this fine DVD, which set the standard in Western martial arts DVDs.

Enjoy!

[Bill Grandy]

People, buy this book! The Peter Falkner fechtbuch is an wonderful treasure that has not received enough attention, and Christian's translation is top notch! It also has beautiful period illustrations that show some pretty slick Gothic armour.

[Craig Shackleton]

I am very excited to be able to get Peter Falkner at last! That is great news!

I have a question about the Agilitas longsword DVD: What regional format is it in? I previously bought a copy elsewhere, and it is in Pal format, which is a bit of a pain. It would almost be worth it to buy a second copy if this one will work on my DVD player.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Thanks guys!

Craig, the DVD is NTSC, region 0 (that is, international, uncoded). So, just like our poleaxe or the Ochs messer DVDs, it should play just about anywhere.

Yours,

Christian

[Craig Shackleton]

That's good to know, thanks! I'll hold off on a second DVD for now regardless, but maybe in the future.

In other news, I think that was the fastest transition I've ever had from reading a product announcement , submitting my order and receiving confirmation that it has shipped in my history of online shopping. Captain of the Guild is on its way to me already!

[Greg Mele]

Craig,

[Andrew Shultz]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Pamela Muir]

My book arrived Monday and even though I have only had the chance to give it a quick perusal and I'm just now starting to read it thoroughly, I thought I would give some quick first impressions. (I intend to do a full review when I have finished reading it.)

I have been looking forward to this for some time, so I had rather high expectations and so far they have all been met.

I am entranced by the complete design of the book. The size, shape and cover layout captures the feel of the cartoon like illustrations in the manuscript. It sort of resembles a heroic novel, an Ivanhoe kind of impression.

I am just now starting to make my way through the introduction and I think Mr. Tobler did a very good job presenting the background information that is needed to fully appreciate the manuscript. For example, he talks about how Peter Falkner's treatise relates to other treatises in the Liechtenauer tradition.

I like the photo reproduction of the manuscript itself a great deal. It even includes the cover and the blank pages. It makes it that much closer to getting a feel for the original. Obviously it is wonderful to have the transcription and Mr. Tobler's translation, however, in addition, it is also noted when something was in a different hand or in Latin. A few of the techniques have additional footnotes.

Another nice plus is the inclusion of a glossary for the German terms.

In short, this looks to be a beautiful book, beautifully done.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hello Pamela,

Thanks for the kind words.

We definitely tried to capture, as much as we could, the feeling of being able to carry around Falkner's own manuscript, like a handbook.

Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng mused, and I do too, that it's tempting to believe the Falkner manuscript was a personal copy, one for the master himself.

And, as you say, and Dierk Hagedorn notes in the foreword, the illustrations really are quite delightful.

Take care,

Christian

[Craig Shackleton]

My book arrived five minutes ago. Obviously, I have not read the whole thing yet, but let me just say at this point that the physical quality of the book is magnificent.

It is a compact hardback, with very high quality pages and the images are beautiful. The format is similar to some other manual translations with the facsimile page facing the transcription and translation. There is a fair amount of introductory material as well, and Glossary with pronunciation for German terms.

Although this book is in some ways less fancy than Christian's earlier Paulus Kal book from Chivalry, I really like this format better. It is both more aesthetically pleasing to me, and more useful. I can reasonably carry it around and read it in bed, for starters.

So much for me accomplishing anything else today!

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hi Craig,

I'm glad you like the look & feel of the book. The credit for that belongs to our designer, Adam Velez.

I really like this format too, and I'm thinking of additional manuscripts that would be served well by this kind of treatment.

Yours,

Christian