Very interesting: Dorothea Weischnerin, the stepmother of Catharina Kreussler (Wilhelm's wife as of 1621) in 1613 married a Freifechter "Matthias von Caden in Bohemia". Looks like in this case, just like in "Schöffer von Dietz" or "Bahler von Bautzen", the "von" is not an Adelsprädikat but his last name is "Matthias" hailing from ("von" = aus) Kadaň (Kaaden) in Böhmen.
Great question! It's actually quite similar to today -- people had their day jobs/professions and fenced on the side! Lots of people in cities like Strasbourg fenced, fewer of those were actual fancy "fechtmeisters," and fewer still wrote books and things like Meyer did. Carpenters, bookbinders, tailors, knife makers -- all sorts of people played with swords!
Very interesting: Dorothea Weischnerin, the stepmother of Catharina Kreussler (Wilhelm's wife as of 1621) in 1613 married a Freifechter "Matthias von Caden in Bohemia". Looks like in this case, just like in "Schöffer von Dietz" or "Bahler von Bautzen", the "von" is not an Adelsprädikat but his last name is "Matthias" hailing from ("von" = aus) Kadaň (Kaaden) in Böhmen.
Thanks for sharing this window into fencing and society in 1577! So knife makers were fencers back then? Were they also sword makers?
Great question! It's actually quite similar to today -- people had their day jobs/professions and fenced on the side! Lots of people in cities like Strasbourg fenced, fewer of those were actual fancy "fechtmeisters," and fewer still wrote books and things like Meyer did. Carpenters, bookbinders, tailors, knife makers -- all sorts of people played with swords!