Recently, the wikipedia entry for Ott the Jew was deleted due to a lack of apppropriate sources and a perceived lack of relevance. Although I did not have a hand in the authorship of the original article, I felt this decision was inappropriate.
Yet as I thought about it, most of what I know about Ott comes through informal conversation. I have not directly engaged translations of the various Lichtenauer manuscripts directly, and would need to cite sources better to return this colorful personality to the wikipedia appropriately.
I did search the forums already as best as I could. The arma manual by Sylwester Tyra on Ott cites a number of manuscripts as detailed by Hans-Peter Hils. I am very interested in any specific (English translations of) texts I could possibly acquire that may contain historical, documented information about Ott--either translations of manuscripts or otherwise. For example, I heard a story about Ott: that he had to face judicial combat and was not allowed arms as he was a Jew. He was victorious, but "converted" afterwards and was known as a "lip Christian" as to avoid that experience again. I have heard this story, but I don't know where I could cite it or for certain if the story is documented or myth. I certainly think this story alone is worthy of documentation for a number of reasons if there is some historicity to it.
Several sources have suggested the a translation of the von Danzig/Starhemberg commentary on Lichtenauer would be most appropriate, but I cannot tell at a cursory glance which English translations of Lichtenauer have the von Danzig commentaries or which have the Ringeck or even if there is a difference in terms of the documentation of Ott in those translations. I just don't know, and so I come here wondering if you might be able to shed some light on the subject.
I do have access to the library of an Ivy League school nearby and could acquire a number of texts or copies of excerpts through it. If you have anything to reccomend on this colorful--if somewhat obscure--character from history, please offer me what assistance you can.
Thanks so much for your time.
-Mario Cerame
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