A Nobile Clientele for Brack and Kellerle

Wygand and Gorg as fencing instructors for high-class students

Fencing during Meyer’s time was not a niche hobby.  Hundreds of workaday people, from tailors to cobblers to carpenters, as well as nobles and the upper class all practiced fencing as a normal part of their culture and day-to-day lives in Strasbourg.  However, the number of people who taught fencing, especially to the nobility, was a much smaller club.  Meyer was one of these select few, creating his elaborate fechtbuchs dedicated to Princes and Counts, and even being hired by Duke Albrecht as a court fencing master before his death.  

In this article I provide evidence that both Wygand Brack and Georg Kellerle were also teachers of fencing and instructors for local nobility, joining Joachim Meyer in this exclusive club.  Additionally, I hypothesize that Wygand Brack may have attempted to establish a permanent fencing school in Strasbourg around the time of Meyer’s death, partially to teach the nobles who would attend university in Strasbourg.

Nobles and Fencing in Meyer’s Era

First, some background.  Brack was made a fencing master by Joachim Meyer in 1563, and practiced alongside Meyer for 5 years until they both disappeared from the XXI city council records in 1568.  Brack would have been fencing with Meyer as he developed and wrote both his 1568 and 1570 treatises (each with dedications to different nobles) and the final mention of Meyer fencing in the XXI records is also shared with Brack.  In the note, the council reluctantly approved a fencing school of theirs slated to be held at Count (Graff) Kuono von Manderscheid’s residence.  Brack simply fencing next to Meyer caused him to bump elbows with the upper classes, as evidenced by this last note, but it is only just before and after Meyer’s death that we see any direct reference to Wygand teaching these noble students himself.

Gorg Kellerle holds the record of most fechtschul requested in Strasbourg history at almost 100, but the majority of his fechtschul requests were very much run of the mill, bog standard ones.  Only a handful of them provide any interesting information, such as a series of conflicts he has with Marxbruders having fechtschul near his, and there is only one note I have found with a definite noble connection which I include below.

I will be presenting notes from the Council of XXI records about both fencers as they appear in chronological order, and all selections below have been transcribed and translated by Platy with some only having the translation copied for space, and the full transcriptions and translations of these notes are available for review here.

Let’s start in 1570, with our first mention of upper-class fencing education!

10/4/1570: “Young Austrian Gentlemen” and a noble clientele

After the 1568 Kuono note and a mysterious absence of 2 years (still workin’ on that one), and only 4 months after re-purchasing his citizenship to Strasbourg, Wygand Brack requested a fechtschul from the council which explicitly mentions his teaching work with nobility, asking them to allow a time for them to demonstrate their learnings.

Wygand Brack the tailor, a fencing master, lets Dr Knader give an account of how he taught fencing to many counts and [many] from the nobility, who now plan to exercise the art which they learned. He requests to allow him a fechtschul until Monday. The ammeister reports that last Monday four young Austrian gentlemen [herr] appeared before him in the chancellery, who plan to journey away and sought permission for a fechtschul on his (Brack's) behalf. He told them that he will [consider] such a request today.

Recognized. He is allowed a fechtschul following this intercession, but it shall take place modestly.

Perhaps during his 2 year disappearance Brack was hired as a fechtmeister for some foreign court or noble house, or was otherwise employed as a fencing master to get a large exposure to a high-class clientele (such as at a university).  However he made his name carry weight, this note kicked off a period of massive activity in Brack’s fencing career. Young Austrians about to leave the city sounds like students about to graduate from university, which ties in to the narrative the other notes of this era create.

9/19/1571: Living near the University

In a request to the city council that was fairly difficult to transcribe, Brack asked to modify some property to install a gate with help from the builders to the courtyard of the Temple Neuf church.

What makes this request particularly interesting (other than it pointing to a specific place where one of Meyer’s students lived) is that the church courtyard was a stone’s throw away from the Jean Sturm Gymnasium, which was the precursor to the University of Strasbourg.  

This school was a hub where young nobles frequently studied, and Brack may have settled in this area after returning from his 2 year absence, perhaps due to the high number of potential students which would allow easier establishment of a more official fencing school.  In 1581/82 he engaged in a legal dispute with Hans Klein about the same property, indicating he had interest in the area for about a decade.

2/16/1572: Two noble youths vouch for Brack, to allow him more leeway in teaching fencing

Speaking of students, just a few months later two nobles, Gottfried of Oettingen and Arnold of Bentheim, submitted a joint request to the council of XXI seemingly espousing the virtues of fencing and vouching for Brack as an esteemed fencing instructor who should be allowed to hold fechtschul frequently.  Both of these Graffs were 17-18 years old at this time, with Arnold in town to study theology at the same university just a block or less away from Brack’s property next to the church courtyard.

Gottfried, Count at Öttingen, and Arnold, Count at Bentheim, submit a supplication through Dr Knader. Within it they oblige themselves by their own hands and writing, so within it they report "capta prius vina":

For many hundred years many certain persons of high standing, as princes, counts and lords, have practiced in tournaments on horseback and on foot and in other knightly games, and likewise because of this the knightly art of fencing has been in high value with them. Not only at the courts of princes and lords, but also in all distinguished cities and under well-governed administrations has the youth been led to good and the holding of public schools been allowed.

And because they take special pleasure in such exercise, my gentlemen [of the council] do not allow them less than other authorities, and only at various times such schools have been canceled due to behavior unbecoming of honest persons.

So they request my gentlemen in a most friendly and obedient manner, that they may allow their citizen Wygand Brack - for he practices this knightly art in front of others, and also instructs many young gentlemen daily in this - to hold a public fechtschul on the next Monday together with the next 18th and, following, the next 25th.

For something different from above: Wygand Brack, as well as Georg Frieder, master of the sword, have submitted to my gentlemen articles on how such knightly art might be preserved in good order according to their simple reasoning, and in the manner which has been communicated to them by many gentlemen. So that they might view the same and send them an appropriate reply.

So they likewise ask my gentlemen to declare themselves gratuitous on this point, and to resolve themselves in a compliant manner, so they may feel they have benefitted from this intercession.

Where they can amiably render services to my gentlemen and the city and reciprocate in a different way, in this they wish to have offered themselves.

Recognized. One should report to both gentlemen - my gentlemen have listened to their gentlemen's supplication. They are ready to officially please them, to allow Wygand Brack - on his request concerning the fechtschule - an approving answer.

As concerns the other request, my gentlemen are able to well remember what their citizens submit in supplication. Before you know it, my gentlemen will know how to behave themselves in a becoming manner towards their citizens, in matters such as this and others.

Proceeding from this, both gentlemen will need to accept that they shall not let themselves be used by citizens, to raise a ruckus.

The council is obviously not pleased that Brack tried to leverage his connection with these teenagers to try and curry action from the council, and although they approve his fechtschul, they do not indicate that they approve his fencing regulations document, and give them a pretty stern talking to in the process.

2/18/1572, Brack gets reprimanded for egging these young noblemen to try and put in a good word for him with the council

Just 2 days after he has Gottfried and Arnold write the “intercession” for him, Brack brings back his request for confirmation and gets chewed out by the council due to him soliciting nobility for help in submitting supplications.

Wygand Brack the fencing master requests through Dr Knader: to hold a public fechtschule according to the intercession by the young gentlemen which has been viewed last Saturday.

Recognized. The fechtschul is approved to him. But one should inform him at the same time that my gentlemen (the councilors) have a complaint about it. That he is able to solicit the young gentlemen to ask for replies to his supplications, from this he should refrain in the future; for my gentlemen know to reply him and other citizens at their convenience.

Brack is no stranger to knocking heads with the council by this point, with him being part of a complaint against the night's watch back in ‘68, and this case will be part of a trend of Wygand being at odds with the council during his whole life in Strasbourg.

4/18/1573, six “born gentlemen” and Brack running a fechtschul

The wording in this note is strange. I believe that “they are subordinate to him” indicates that the 6 “born gentlemen” (ie. nobles) were Brack’s students.  This marks nearly 3 years of Wygand teaching nobles in the city, and by this time he has had his university-adjacent property for over a year and a half.

Wygand Brack der freyfechter bitt Jme zu [?]gen vnd zu zulassen, biß montag d[en] [?] tag eyn freye offne fechtschul zuhalt[en]. Zeigt de[r] herr Ammeister an Es heben sechs geborne herrn by[?] Jme gewes[en], die seie[n] Jne unter[?] ordnit.

Erkanndt mann soll Jme seyn begern zulass[en]. doch darv von eyner geste nitt mehr nemmen denn eynen pfenning.

Wygand Brack the freyfechter requests to [...] and allow him to hold a free public fechtschul until Monday the [...] day. The Herr Ammeister reports that six born gentlemen have visited him, they are subordinate to him.

Recognized. One should allow his request, but he is not allowed to take more than one penny from a guest.

This fechtschul request is the last of the early 1570s Brack notes which specifically mention nobles or gentlemen.  However, Brack would go on to request 4 individual ‘schul during the following year, one of the busiest periods in his career.  Although none of them explicitly mention nobles, I do not think it is too far fetched to hypothesize that they may have included high-class students given his presence next to the University and his previous trend of teaching nobles over 3 years. In fact, this culminated in the council complaining about Brack fencing too much in mid 1575, resulting in him getting a job as a council messenger to placate his fencing requests with a salary and duties to replace his fencing habit.

7/27/1573, Gorg and Otto Heinrich von Brunswick and Lunenburg request a fechtschul

Strangely, the only note which definitely connects Gorg Kellerle with a noble is actually before he gained Strasbourg citizenship, but it follows the precedent set by Brack in having young nobles vouch for fechtmeisters to the council.  On July 27th, Gorg requests to hold a fechtschul which is not only denied, but the Council also does “not allow him to be received in audience.”  Later that same day he brought another request to the Council of XXI, this time with a letter from a young noble asking to allow Gorg to be approved.

The Herr Ammeister had a letter be read, which Herr Otto Heinrich, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, has sent to him. Therein he approves of allowing Georg Helderlin to hold a public fechtschul.

Following this, the same one was let in [?Gorg?], he has asked my gentlemen through Johann Peter Bittelbronn to grant him to hold a free public fechtschul until next Monday.

Recognized. One should allow him his request, but one should keep oneself modest and not take more than one penny from a guest.

Otto Heinrich was newly 18 and studying at the University in Strasbourg just the same as the two nobles Brack leveraged in 1572 to get the fencing gears greased with the council.  However, there is not a similar “chew out” note following this one, and I have not seen any other notes from Gorg which directly reference nobility as his teaching audience.

6/16/1579, Brack mentions a “Pfalzgraff Jacob” he taught fencing to in his youth

About 8 years after Brack’s return to Strasbourg and his streak of teaching young university-enrolled nobles early in the decade, we get a note of a former student asking Brack to hold a ‘schul.  

Wygand Brack through Doctor Grys, although he has been planning to no longer hold fechtschule, he has been approached by Count Palatine Jacob to hold a fechtschule to his pleasure. As he taught him in many manners of fighting, he has been unable to deny it to the Rhine Count, he thereupon requests to allow him one.

Recognized. Allowed in honor of the prince. And because he asks to allow him the same until Wednesday, the same [shall be] granted.

I wonder if this person was taught by Brack during their time as a student at the Sturm Gymnasium given the density of similar notes earlier in the decade, perhaps being one of the “born gentlemen” or “young austrian gentlemen'' named more generally way back then.  However, the mystery still remains as to who this Pfalzgraff actually was.  Even since writing an initial investigatory article linked here many months ago I have yet to find another solid reference to any pfalzgraff or rheingraff alive during this time by the name of Jacob.  In any case, it does at least put the number of named nobles Brack taught up to 3.

2/1/1581, Brack requests a fechtschul, stating that foreign masters want to work with him

By this year Brack’s fencing career had slowed dramatically compared to just a decade previous, and his health was likely deteriorating due to his long term illness (see details here).  However, in his second to last fechtschul request before his death in 1583 Brack is apparently still a fencing teacher with high repute:

Wygand Brack requests through Dr Greisen to [allow] him to hold a public fechtschul, this because he expects that traveling and foreign masters wish to test him here in this manner. Recognized. It is allowed to him, but he should not take more than one penny from a person.

This note may not mention nobles or royalty explicitly, but it does show that Brack was not just some typical local fechtmeister.  He trained upper-class students, fenced alongside Meyer for years, and apparently still had some sway even as he was likely very sick.  No notes from Meyer, Wolff Brand, nor Kellerle specifically mention out of towners coming to learn from them, so this is a bit of a final feather in the cap of Wygand Brack’s fencing career.

4/24/1602, Kellerle taught fencing for over 30 years

Although I found no further evidence of Gorg teaching nobles, I did, however, find evidence that he continued to instruct in fencing and create freyfechters all the way into the 1600s, over 30 years after Meyer’s death.

Görg Kellerlin bitt auch vmb fechtschul biß Montag vber 8 tag d[aweil] er ein jung fechter freyen will. Erkant. Ist Jm willfahrt.

Görg Kellerlin asks for a fechtschul until Monday over eight days, at this time he wants to free a young fencer. Recognized. He is allowed to do so.

The vast majority of fechtschul requests in the XXI records contain no mention of the students or people attending them. Even though Gorg has fewer references to nobility across his vast career, I would bet that his clientele was equally vast.  He fenced for almost as many years as Meyer was alive, so it may just take some extra digging and luck to dredge up any fancy folks he freyfecht’d.

Conclusions and Further Research

As we can see, both Wygand Brack and Gorg Kellerle were prolific fencing instructors in Strasbourg, with Brack having the most explicit connections to teaching the local nobility.  The biggest commonality between Brack and Kellerle’s noble clientele was their age (all 17-18 years old) and their attendance of the University during the early 1570s.  After 1573 I found no other direct “graff” teaching references, and the later note with the mysterious “Pfalzgraff Jacob” indicates that Wygand taught him possibly during the same period; while this nobleman attended university as a youth.  Why there aren’t more mentions after this quick burst of noble fencing requests is currently a mystery.  Most fechtschul requests contain no information about who would be in attendance whatsoever, so perhaps teaching nobility was common but just not typically written in the XXI records, and these examples are the few exceptions to the rule.

Getting records from the local university to look for evidence of these or other nobles attending in the early 1570s, or to find communications or mentions of Brack relating to the student body from the university’s records, may help to fill in some of the gaps.  If Brack did set up shop right next door to the Gymnasium for at least 3 years to teach the students how to fence, one would hope the records of the school would mention some neighbor instructing their pupils in the art of combat.  I was also able to contact the extremely helpful Oettingen archives, but they found no instances of Brack or fencing-related writing related to Gottfried during that timespan.

And with Brack so obviously being involved with the local nobility, it still begs the question why we have not found any writing about fencing authored by him.  He spent years with Meyer as he wrote treatises, years teaching rich young noble students, and years making a living doing fencing, yet there are still no works attributed to Brack that he could have sold to make a buck.  Perhaps digging deeper into some of the university records will yield more names of potential students, and thus more sets of noble archives to investigate for scribbles by our less famous fechtmeisters.  In any case, these two fechtmeister were unique during these decades, with no other fencing master containing similar references to upper class students, and puts them more on par with the fencing achievements of Joachim Meyer.