The Brotherhood of Saint Mark (german: Marxbrüder, Marx brothers) was the name of the most important organization of
German swordsmen in the 16th century.
History
The brotherhood originated in the 15th century, but it is not known when exactly it was founded.
Hans Talhoffer may have been an early member, or even one of the founders (the
lion of St Mark
The Lion of Saint Mark, representing Mark the Evangelist, pictured in the form of a winged lion, is an aspect of the Tetramorph. On the pinnacle of St Mark's Cathedral he is depicted as holding a Bible, and surmounting a golden lion which is t ...
appears in his coat of arms in a manuscript of 1459). The earliest certain attestation dates to 1474. The group held an annual meeting in
Frankfurt, where they elected their
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
(''Hauptmann''). In 1487,
Frederick III granted them the monopoly on the title "master of the
long sword
A longsword (also spelled as long sword or long-sword) is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for primarily two-handed use (around ), a straight double-edged blade of around , and weighing approximately ...
" (''Meister des langen Schwerts''), effectively making them a fencers'
guild. This title was relevant for the
Landsknechts, because a certified "master of the long sword" wielding the
Zweihänder
The ''Zweihänder'' () (German 'two-hander'), also ''Doppelhänder'' ('double-hander'), ''Beidhänder'' ('both-hander'), ''Bihänder'' or ''Bidenhänder'', is a large two-handed sword primarily in use during the 16th century.
''Zweihänder'' s ...
was entitled to twice the pay of a normal soldier (
Doppelsöldner
("double-mercenaries", "double-pay men", from German ''doppel-'' meaning double, ''Sold'' meaning pay) were ''Landsknechte'' in 16th-century Germany who volunteered to fight in the front line, taking on extra risk, in exchange for double payment. ...
).
The earliest reference to the brotherhood calls them the brotherhood of Our dear lady and pure Virgin Mary and the Holy and warlike heavenly prince Saint Mark (german: bruderschafft Unserere lieben frawen und der reynen Jungfrawen Marien vnd des Heiligen vnd gewaltsamen Hyemelfursten sanct Marcen). After their recognition by Frederick, the brotherhood was usually referred to as "Marxbrüder", "Bruderschaft des heiligen Marren" or "Bruderschaft des St. Markus" ("Marx brothers", "Brotherhood of St. Mark").
Anton Rast (captain in 1522) was a known member of the brotherhood.{{citation needed, date=December 2018
Woodcuts, some of them by
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
, and other references, show that more than just
rapier use was taught by the Marxbrüder. They also taught the use of the Zweihänder (as mentioned above), the
dussack
A dusack (also ''dusägge'' and variants, from Czech ''tesák'' "cleaver; hunting sword", lit. "fang") is a single-edged sword of the cutlass or sabre type, in use as a side arm in Germany and the Habsburg monarchy during the 16th to 17th centur ...
, the
spear, the
quarterstaff and the
longsword. The dussack, being primarily a practice weapon, was used to train the real-life use of single-edged swords like the
langes Messer
A messer (German for "knife") is a single-edged sword with a knife-like hilt. While the various names are often used synonymously, messers are divided into two types:
''Lange Messer'' ("long knives") are one-handed swords used for self-defen ...
.
A second fencing brotherhood, the ''
Federfechter
The ''Freifechter'' or ''Federfechter'' (''Freifechter von der Feder zum Greifenfels'') were a fencing guild founded around 1570 in Prague. They were known, from early in their existence, to be skilled, rivalling the Marx brothers who for the best ...
'', was founded in
Prague in 1570, and recognized by the city of
Frankfurt, in spite of protests by the Marx brothers, in 1575. From 1607 the two societies shared equal privileges, as in that year, the Federfechter received their first letter of privilege from
Rudolph II, the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
.
A third guild may have been ''Lukasbrüder'' (brotherhood of
Saint Luke
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
). They had no official recognition, however, and were probably closer to a society of
hooligans than to a proper guild.
Important centers of
16th century martial arts in Germany were
Frankfurt,
Augsburg and
Nuremberg.
See also
*
Paulus Hector Mair
External links
* http://www.swordhistory.com/excerpts/marx.html
* http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~wew/fencing/german.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20050412012652/http://www.georgehernandez.com/xMartialArts/Blades/SwordHistory.htm
* https://web.archive.org/web/20091229123531/http://www.marxbruder.com/
References
* ''Secret History of the Sword'', by J Christopher Amberger
* ''Schools and Masters of Fence'', by Edgerton Castle
* ''The History of Fencing: Foundations of Modern European Swordplay'', by William Gaugler
Historical European martial arts
15th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Historical fencing