Captain of the Guild - book review

[Sword Chick]

Whether you are a practitioner of the medieval sword arts, in either the German or the Italian traditions, a hobbyist or a sword and weapons collector Captain of the Guild: Master Peter Falkner’s Art of Knightly Defense by Christian Henry Tobler deserves a prominent space on your bookshelf.

Captain of the Guild is primarily a full color photo reproduction in 1:1 scale of a medieval “how to” manuscript in the fighting arts, usually referred to as a fechtbuch. The manuscript has sections on fighting with the sword, messer, dagger, staff, poleaxe and fighting on horseback. It also includes a section on a Franconian Rite shield and club duel. Each section is illustrated and captioned with verse or a more detailed prose description of the illustrated techniques. Facing each reproduced plate is a transcription and a translation of the text. In addition to the reproduction of the manuscript is a marvelous introduction by Mr. Tobler to explain the provenance of the manuscript, a bit of history about this type of manuscript in general, background information on Peter Falkner and the Marxbrüder fencing guild and detailed commentary on each section of the manuscript.

As this was a project that I knew was in the works and I was eagerly awaiting, I ordered my copy the day it was announced. The consistent high quality of customer service by Freelance Academy Press meant that I received my shipping notice within a couple of hours of placing my order. As I was a tad impatient, I paid for a faster shipping than the media mail option, with the result that I placed my order on a Friday afternoon and received the book in Monday’s mail. Delight truly is the best word to describe my first impression. The cover, layout and design of the book captures the feel of Master Peter Falkner’s manuscript, but also conveys a feeling that this book is special on its own. I almost expected to find tales of heroic and wondrous knightly deeds inside the cover.

After flipping through and marveling at the charming reproduction, I settled down to read the quite meaty introduction portion of the book. As mentioned above, Mr. Tobler gives us background information which helps in the appreciation of the work. He also provides useful commentary, speculation and interpretation on the manuscript. For instance, he discusses which sections are in verse and which are in prose and what the reasons for each might be. He provides us with information about other manuscripts and how they might be related to Master Falkner’s. There is also plenty of commentary on individual plates themselves. He points out some plates which appear to be inconsistent in that the illustration and the text do not seem to match. Mr. Tobler lends his expertise in the interpreting some of the techniques themselves, giving the reader a better idea of what is going on in the illustration than a simple reading of the often cryptic verse in the original provides. He also points out other things we should notice as we peruse the manuscript such as inclusions of what appear to be glued in plates of the Crucifixion and of the Lion of Saint Mark. I found, for me, the best way to read this book was to read it straight through first, the introduction followed by the reproduction of Peter Falkner’s manuscript, then go back and re-read the introduction, flipping back to the reproduction section as needed when reading about specific plates.

I would be remiss if I did not remark over the illustrations themselves. Thank goodness Freelance Academy Press published this one in full color. As has been mentioned by others before, the illustrations have a most charming cartoon-like quality to them. Some are barely sketches, such as those that show the Franconian rite duel, and others have extraordinary detail, such as the final illustration, also used as the cover for the book, which shows fabulous detail on the armour and the expressions on the fighters’ faces. The poleaxe section shows not just poleaxes but a variety of polearms. Along with the illustrations being so carefully photo reproduced the cover and even the blank pages of the manuscript are included, with the result that you can almost imagine holding the original itself.

My favorite section might very well be the Franconian rite duel with shields and clubs. It seems to follow a duel from the beginning when both fighters have their shields, clubs and daggers, progressing to shield versus dagger where both fencers have lost their clubs and one has lost his shield as well and concluding with unarmed versus dagger with the other weapons scattered on the ground around the opponents.

A nice bonus that Mr. Tobler includes in his book is a glossary of the German terms, a very nice reference to flip back and forth to as you read the book.

Some people might at first be put off by the price point of this book. However, as those of you that have spent time in academia realize, this is an extremely reasonable price for a reference book of this quality. For those of you that study the sword arts, this is an amazing textbook that includes some familiar verses along with new twists all providing another reference point to help improve our interpretations. For sword collectors, think how wonderful it would be to include with your collection of weapons a beautifully done reproduction of a historic manuscript which shows how those weapons were used. For hobbyists, this is simply a way cool book to read, enjoy and display.