Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Medieval References

This is topic Medieval References in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :

I posted this on F&F and thought it might be useful here:

A great illustrated guide to German medieval fighting techniques is:

Medieval Combat by Hans Talhoffer, translated and edited by Mark Rector. It deals with Germal combat techniques taught by Talhoffer (c1420-1490) who was the master of arms to the Swabian knight Leutold an Konigsegg. Techiniques depicted use Long sword, combat in the lists with spear and sword, pole-axe, shield and wooden mace, shield and sword, shield, throat hooliking shield, dagger, wrestling, Messer (long knife/short sword), sword and buckler, one against two, fight between man and woman, sword fight on horseback, hand-to-hand on horseback, lance and sword on horseback, and fighting on horseback against crossbows.

Also, for medieval life,

Medieval Lives by Terry Jones is a good reference.

Posted by oliverhouse (Member # 3432) on :

Nice lead.

I found it online, along with a bunch of other stuff, at the Association for Rennaissance Martial Arts:
http://www.thearma.org/manuals.htm

You have to be a member to get the full PDF of that particular work, but there's a _ton_ of other information there, including "insights from renaissance art", notes on Viking fighting culled from the Norse sagas, a longsword treatise from 1389... Good stuff!

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

You can get the following at 2nd hand bookstores or ebay for next to nothing:

Life in a Medieval Castle (Harper Colophon Books) by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies (Paperback - Jun 1, 1979)

Life in a Medieval City by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies (Paperback - Oct 30, 1981)

Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies (Paperback - Feb 15, 1995)

Life in a Medieval Village by Frances Gies and Joseph Gies (Paperback - Jan 30, 1991)

The Knight in History by Frances Gies (Paperback - May 13, 1987)

Women in the Middle Ages by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies (Paperback - Nov 16, 1991)

Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages (Perennial Library) by Frances Gies and Joseph Gies (Paperback - Jan 25, 1989)

Daily Life in Medieval Times: A Vivid, Detailed Account of Birth, Marriage and Death; Food, Clothing and Housing; Love and Labor in the Middle Ages