Hello! I’m in the process of researching a novel about Jewish fencers in late 14th and early 15th century Germany and Italy. We have a decent amount of evidence that there were some Jews who practiced and even taught fencing in this period: the Pol Hausbuch mentions a fencing master named Andres Jud, the Codex Lew mentions a Jud Lew, and, perhaps most consequentially, we have a charter from 1385 issued by Archbishop Adolf of Mainz admitting a Jew named Josef to his court as a fencing master. A bit later in 1608, Emperor Rudolph issued a charter for the Freifechter fencing guild that included a complaint that their rivals, the Marxbrudder had been teaching Jews. Anne Tlusty’s The Marital Ethic in Early Modern Germany also mentions a number of instances of Jews getting into sword-fights or being described in period sources as carrying swords and other weapons.
However, that’s not much to go on for fleshing out a whole novel. Can anyone point me to some good sources that might shine more of a light on what life might have been like for a Jewish fencing master in this period? Sources (primary or well-researched secondary) that specifically mention Jews are great, but I’m also generally interested in what life was like for fencing masters in general.
This seems to have been a profession that overlapped with military service, but also retained a distinct set of duties and associations and I’m really curious to get a better sense of who these people were. Do we have any idea how they learned and demonstrated their skills? I know that knightly tournaments were quite popular in this period, but how did fencers from the lower classes (it seems to have been a largely lower-class trade) prove themselves and win appointments in court?
I’m also interested in Jews and dueling. The 16th century Italian Jewish engineer Abraham Colorni is mentioned in a couple of secondary sources as having fought a duel, but I can’t find any primary sources talking about it. Jews fighting duels would obviously have been quite rare, but given evidence of some Jewish fencing masters, is it possible that there were some Jewish duelists as well?
Thanks for any assistance learning more about this topic!
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your novel, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists, based on past experience: some aspiring novelists have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
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