Images from 15th century Fechtbuch, "Gladiatoria"

The "Gladiatoria" is a rare manuscript from the mid-1400's.  It is one of the more obscure Fechtbucher and one which has not been examined at length before by pracitioners.  ARMA is excited to present online recently obtained portions from the more than 200 pages of this unique work.  ARMA has just begun a concerted translation effort of the Gladiatoria text.  If you can assist in translating Medieval or Old German and would like to be a part, please email the webmaster.  We also welcome observations and comments about the content. Gladiatoria is interesting in that it begins with armored combat, yet surprisingly the combatants do not wear guantlets.  It also depicts several plates of sword vs. spear and even a thrown rock.   There are once again clear examples of deflecting and displacing actions rather than direct edge on edge blocks or parries.  It then moves on to unarmored combat.  More sections will be added here in time.  These images are slow to load.

Note: all these scans have been marked as originating at the ARMA
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