Georg Freider, the Well-Connected Marxbruder of Strasbourg
The only true "local" Strasbourg fechtmeister
In our final “spotlight” article in our Marxbruder of Meyer’s Strasbourg series we are going to learn about Georg Freider, the Well-Connected Marxbruder. Unlike all the other fechtmeisters we’ve covered (including Joachim Meyer), Georg lived in Strasbourg for his whole life from around the 1520s or 30s to his death in 1593. He had a massive family in Strasbourg spanning decades and occupying many positions of importance in the city. Georg Freider’s family is the most extensively documented family of any fencing master in history, and that’s where we will be spending the most time in this article. You can check out all the collected references to Freider and his fam here!
Notes below were transcribed and translated by myself and Platy.
Fencing Life
Georg Freider’s fencing career spanned from 1556 to 1563, requesting only 4 ‘schul during this timeframe and retiring around the same time as the birth of his first daughter Anna. Only two of his requests have any particularly interesting inclusions, such as one in 1558 where it sounds like he is goaded into requesting a fechtschul:
Gorg Freuder, carpenter-aspirant, he didn't want to be the one to sooner hold fechtschul, but he has been solicited by fellow persons and his students and swayed. Asks following this for approval.
Recognized. To be complied with him.
And another in 1562 where he mentioned the upcoming fair in Frankfurt where he was to be sworn in as a Marxbruder officially, interestingly using the same wording for his certification as academic doctors would use for their own education:
Georg Freuder, carpenter, through Haberberger, asks to allow him a fechtschul for Monday or, if there is rainy weather, in eight days. Reportedly (to be) made doctor at the next autumn fair. Content of the letter which he presented.
Recognized. Permitted to him.
And become a Marxbruder he did the next year in 1563, appearing in the Hans Medel Fechtbuch in the same section as another Strasbourg Marxbruder: Michael Leuprand.
Georg would request only a single fechtschul after becoming master in late 1563, and the entry even neglects to include his title of Fechtmeister or Master of the Long Sword. The first mention of Georg as a fechtmeister comes after he stopped fencing all together in a job application for work in the city armory in 1564.
Gorg Freyder ein schreiner und fechtmeister supliciret umb d[as] zeugwart[er] Ampt in scriptis[?]
Gorg Freyder, a carpenter and fencing master, supplicates for the office of arms keeper in writing.
This would kick off a fencing-related records gap for Georg of 7 years. It seems that he may have retired from fencing to focus on his family business, as his profession in the records changes from Carpenter to Brickmaker (ziegler) over this span, which was the profession of most of his extended family at the time (see the big section on family below). However, Georg would be pulled out of his sword retirement in 1571 by our own Wygand Brack.
Brack submitted to the Council of XXI a series of regulations for fencing in late 1571, and included in the notes is the one and only Georg Freider, this time with the proper titles and certifications attached to his name for the first time.
Wygand Brack the free-fencer, & Georg Frieder, master of the sword, both citizens here, submit a supplication, along with articles for an order to be kept by a manly fencer.
I hypothesize that Brack was trying to use Freider as ammunition to help along his cause of adopting new city-wide fencing regulations. By dragging Georg out of retirement he could be seen as approaching the council with a certified Marxbruder who had a long history and high standing in the Strasbourg circles, able to wield Georg’s family connections to the city council and those in power to grease the wheels of bureaucracy (see below). Brack was unsuccessful, however, and had to resort to exploiting some young nobles he was teaching as leverage to get the regulations approved, with this note also mentioning Freider, and is the last association with Georg and fencing in the city council records:
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.
Family and Professional Life
Georg’s family is the most highly-documented of any fechtmeister in history. Pressing X to doubt? Just check out this fucking family tree I have built!
His family record is extensive enough that I am going to not dig too deep into any single part of it, and instead point out some of the more interesting parts rather than give an exhaustive explanation. I would highly encourage you to explore this interactive record through this link. It provides some extra context, has links to all of the primary resources that build the tree, and points out some of my mysteries and tragedies of the Freider family.
The Freider Family
The Freider family was extensive and super well-connected. Georg’s uncle Marx Freider was a Strasbourg council member (rhatsherr) from 1559 to 1566, appearing across the 4R and XXI records multiple times. His cousins Abraham and Elizabeth Freider were godparents to some of the Baltner family children, and had Sixt Baltner (a very prolific city councilor who is often seen signing fechtschul notes) as a godparent for some of their own kids.
Elizabeth Freider married Andreas Brandt, related to Sebastian Brandt, who were both rich and very council-adjacent people. Georg himself married Ursula Held in his second marriage, who was likely related to the Ammeister (similar to a mayor) and important person Abraham Heldt.
Additionally, both Georg and his cousin Abraham would have the title “M.” for Meister placed before their names in many records, likely indicating positions of importance within the ziegler guild.
Georg Freider likely did not have to fence to support himself or his family in any way, unlike folks like Brack who was holding fechtschul in order to make rent or Meyer who went into debt specifically because of his fencing activity. His personal and family connections likely guaranteed a level of influence and stability in professional life, and so his transition away from fencing makes sense as there was no apparent financial motivation tied to fencing.
Georg’s Wives and Children
One hallmark of the Freider family is ultra complicated genealogical records (if you haven’t clicked on the family tree link…). Georg himself would marry twice, first in 1556 to Anna Weydner at Temple Neuf, and again on 8/12/1576 to Ursula Held. However, his marriage records at both St Guillaume and Temple Neuf include different professional titles in each.
Across his 2 marriages I was able to find 11 separate baptismal records. With Anna he would have 6 children, including confusing records like 2 Georg Freider Jr and 2 Bernhardt Freider records appearing, with the 2 Georg baptisms being in 2 different parishes and separated by a couple of years. I hypothesize that these early “first” Georg and Bernhardt died in childhood, and the second Georg Jr also died due to him disappearing from the records after his baptismal record.
Georg’s son Bernhardt (3/4/1565 - 1613) was the offspring who left the most within the Strasbourg city records. Bernhardt appears to take over the family ziegler business and also reaches high status in the guild, frequently petitioning the Council of XV around issues of taxes and regulations of the guild (over 17 individual notes) from 1595 to 1612. He also takes up family issues as sort of the chief patriarch, helping his brother in law with a property sale and other local peers with citizenship issues.
Bernhardt would go on to have 7 children with his first wife Maria, including his daughter Felicitas. She is the oldest record of a direct Georg Freider grandchild I was able to find, with her death noted around 1663 (her husband remarries).
One of the biggest “mystery Freider” family lines is that of Johann Sebastian Freider, MD. He first appears in a 1583 marriage record, has a child who becomes similarly highly educated, and his grandchildren are included in the III records in 1670 as a Magistrate for the city. Getting a definite connection down for this side of the Freider fam would likely extend his lineage possibly into the present day given their prominence.
Georg’s Death and Inheritance
Georg died between October and November 1593, between the marriage records of his son Bernhardt and daughter Ursula, as it is in only later records that he was noted as deceased. On December 12, 1593 two of his children approached the Council of XXI and asked for his savings to be distributed among them and give a picture of his family’s wealth.
300 guilders is not a small sum of money! They withdraw 200, leaving a Benjamin behind which comes in handy just under 2 years later when their sister Anna is married. She requests her own share of the money to help fund her wedding.
This sort of inheritance distribution is a great find and bookend to Georg’s life, showing the great wealth he was able to build across a fairly well documented life. A nest egg for a fechtmeister’s family stands in stark contrast to the large debt Meyer left behind for his own.
Conclusions
Georg could be argued as the most “local” Strasbourg fechtmeister of the Meyer era. Born and raised in the city, part of important circles dealing with the management of the city, and leaving a legacy behind that would continue in Strasbourg for years to come, are all properties that differentiate him from most of the other Fechtmeister we have explored. Although he may not have the most impactful documentation around fencing itself his massive dataset provides a new perspective on who counted as a Marxbruder, master of the long sword, and fechtmeister. It wasn’t just hardcore sword nerds, but also professionals and family men!
And who knows — with such a prolific family, perhaps there is still a Freider in Strasbourg to this day who could count Georg as their great-great-great-great-great-great-fechtmeister.
Thank Yous
Thank you so much to Platy for your help in transcription and translation help, and in double checking many of the parish record names and titles I stumbled across constantly. And thank you to Renard for proofreading assistance!