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 Hans Talhoffer (Dalhover, Talhouer, Thalhoffer, Talhofer; – after 1482) was a German fencing master. His martial lineage is unknown, but his writings make it clear that he had some connection to the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, the ...

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 ...

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 Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, 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 approximate ...

" (''Meister des langen Schwerts''), effectively making them a fencers'

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

. This title was relevant for the

Landsknecht The (singular: , ), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were Germanic mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line wa ...

s, 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

Woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s, 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 A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Impor ...

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 centu ...

, the

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

, the

quarterstaff A quarterstaff (plural quarterstaffs or quarterstaves), also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European pole weapon, which was especially prominent in England during the Early Modern period. The term is generally accepted to refer t ...

and the

longsword 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 approximatel ...

. 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 Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1570, and recognized by the city of

, 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 Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Ho ...

, 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 Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events. Etymology There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a ...

than to a proper guild. Important centers of 16th century martial arts in Germany were

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

and

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

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

History

See also

External links

References