Hagedorn, Dierk/Amberger, Christoph Codex Amberger

Hidden in the stacks of a New York antiquarian bookshop, unknown even to the most well-read experts, the "Codex Amberger" was unknown to the history of Central European martial arts until its accidental discovery in 2005. Originally attributed to Albrecht Dürer, today anchored in the circle of the Augsburg patrician Paulus Hector Mair, the manuscript was probably part of a much more extensive work, the remains of which have been lost to this day. Although narrow in scope and laconic in wordiness, the magnificent colour illustrations place the codex among the most opulent splendid volumes ever produced on the ancient European martial arts.

For a decade, fencing historians Dierk Hagedorn and J. Christoph Amberger wrestled with the concept of making this work accessible to both researchers and interested laymen. With this edition, the complete "Codex Amberger" now appears in print for the first time. In addition to the illustrations reproduced in their original size, this edition contains a complete concordance of the illustrated hand-to-hand combat techniques from nine contemporary sources, which assign the codex its rightful place among German-language fencing books. The texts are reproduced both in the early New High German, Latin and Walloon of the originals, and with careful translations into German and English.