In part 3 of my “Medel Marxbruder of Meyer’s Strasbourg” series we are exploring Herman Weiss -- pardon, I mean Master Herman Weiss. He was a Marxbruder, bookbinder, and Strasbourg citizen who was active in the city during the 1550s, dying sometime between 1557 and 1560. Herman is an interesting figure, with a comparatively short but colorful participation in the sword scene, evidenced by several unique elements of his mentions across the Hans Medel Fechtbuch and Strasbourg archival records.
All translations below were completed by me and/or my collaborator Platy unless otherwise noted, and full translations, transcriptions, and links to primary sources can be found here.
Personal Life
Herman Weiss became a Strasbourg Citizen on June 10th, 1553 after marrying Anna Steinbrecher in the St Nicklaus parish at the very end of 1552 in deepest December.
Hermann weyß von Eysenach der buch binder hat d[as] burgrecht Empfang[en] vonn anna Niclauß steinbrecherß dochter seyner ehefrouwenn vnndt dient der Steltzenn. Act[um] samstag den zehenden Juny an[n]o liij
Hermann Weiß of Eisenach, the bookbinder, has received citizenship rights from Anna, Niclaus Steinbrecher’s daughter, his wife, and serves the Steltzen [= guild of goldsmiths, bookbinders and painters]. Filed on Saturday the tenth of June, in the year [15]53.
He and Anna would go on to have one daughter: Susanna, born on October 12th, 1553. None of these initial more formal records have anything notable about his titles or profession, but do show that he very quickly established himself into the Strasbourg community from citizenship to family. Additionally, he may have had a son also named Herman, but this hypothesis is entirely based on three Council of XXI records in 1571 that name a “Herman Weys Steinschneyder” in them. Annoyingly the first one has him as “Master Herman,” echoing how his possible father was often titled. I could not find any baptismal, marriage, nor citizenship records for a second Herman Weiss, so this mystery persists.
We have no definite death date for Herman, but his wife Anna is recorded as remarrying to a Ruprecht Tugent in 1561, and through her he gained citizenship in 1562 in much the same way Meyer did through Appolonia’s recent widowing. Both of these records confirm Herman’s death and contain his profession as bookbinder. Anna would go on to have at least 3 more children with Ruprecht: Maria, Margareth, and Ester (who I was only able to find a marriage record for).
His family tree does not end there, however! His daughter Susanna married in 1573 to Wilhelm Rosburger, and with him had 2 children: Jacob in 1576 and an unnamed child in 1579. Below I have drawn up a small family tree for Herman, and you can explore it yourself through this link to see all the primary sources that built it.
Fencing Life
Herman was a prolific fencer in the 6 years he was active in Strasbourg, requesting 12 fechtschuls in that short span. He is mentioned in an additional 2 fechtschul notes, so his 14 total records in the council records alone vastly outpaces many of his peers with much longer careers such as Wolff Brand, Georg Freider, and even Joachim Meyer. Herman appears in the Hans Medel Fechtbuch with the following entry:
Hanns Klaub
Jttem jst bei mir zu maister gschlagen worden…
…jttem maister herman weis von Eissenach buchbind[er] jn der herbstmeß jm jar 1554
Also has been made master under me…
…also Master Herman Weis of Eisenach, bookbinder, at the autumn fair in the year 1554.
Not only is he unique with ‘Master’ attached to his name, but by the date in the Fechtbuch (1554) he had already held multiple fechtschuls in Strasbourg from 1552-1553, identifying himself as a sworn-in Marxbruder and Master of the Long Sword:
Herman Weiss of Eisenach, a sworn-in Master of the Long Sword, asks to allow him to hold a fechtschul on Monday. Recognized. Permit him [= “It is to be allowed to him”].
Herman Weiss, bookbinder and local citizen, master in the four knightly weapons, asks to allow him to hold a fechtschul.
I am not entirely sure what would cause this 2 year disparity between the Council records and the Medel Fechtbuch having him marked as master. Perhaps the Fechtbuch is referring simply to Herman being present in 1554, and he had been made master a few years prior by Hanns Klaub.
As a small quirk across Weiss’ career, during this era fechtschuls were held almost exclusively on Sundays, and the vast majority of requests during these years contained mention of avoiding commotion during sermons and keeping down the sounds of fifes and drums (common musical instruments at fechtschuls). Here are some examples:
Herman Weiss, bookbinder and local citizen, master in the four knightly weapons, asks to allow him to hold a fechtschul. If my gentlemen received a complaint by the ill people about him parading with fifes and drums, he wishes to gladly refrain from the same thing.
Recognized. Permit him to hold fechtschul after the sermon, and (tell him) that he shall not parade with fifes and drums.
Herman Weiss of Eisenach, a fencing master, requests (and) he is permitted to hold a fechtschul, but without fifes and drums.
Herman Weiss, fencing master, asks to allow him to hold fechtschul on next coming Sunday, including drums and fifes, he wishes to keep himself irreproachable.
Recognized and permitted to him as requested, but that he should not parade during the sermon.
In later records these constant warnings against interrupting church services get supplanted by instructions typically restricting the amount of money fechtmeisters were permitted to charge per head (typically 1 pfennig). I ran into only one mention of fifes and drums after the 1550s, where in a 1584 request Georg Kellerle is restricted from employing drums and fifes while conducting a fechtschul.
Herman was also a fencing instructor, with 2 notes mentioning him making new fechtmeisters out of his students in just his 6 years of activity. Both occur in 1554, and may refer to the education of a single person, but since one of the notes lacks a name it is hard to say for certain.
Herman Weiss of Eisenach - he has for some time held fechtschul and taught many. And out of these one (person), Hans Fort of Augsburg, wishes to seize it and become a sworn-in master.
Herman Weiss, Master of the long-sword, local citizen, asks to allow him to hold a schul tomorrow. Including the music [lit. playing (of instruments)]. Wishes to dub someone master [= “woll einen zum Meister schlagen”].
Herman’s final fechtschul request in June of 1557 leaves us with a bit of mystery to go along with it.
Master Herman Weiss of Eisenach asks to allow him to hold a public fechtschul on Sunday, under consideration for Monday the large fair.
This may refer to the Frankfurt autumn fair where the Marxbruder would often receive the oaths of new members, do finances, and probably drink a massive amount of beer. After this record Herman disappears completely from the Strasbourg records, only reappearing as a ghost in the marriage records mentioned in the first part of this article. Perhaps he met a similar fate to Joachim Meyer, contracting an illness while traveling to the fall festival and ne’er returning to his wife and child. Whatever the reason for his disappearance from the records, it may remain a mystery, as multiple manual reviews of the years following his final record produced no additional insights.
Beefs and Hardassery
Even with such a relatively short stint on the sword scene in Strasbourg, Herman was not afraid to pull rank and throw his weight around. The Hans Medel Fechtbuch contains not only names of sworn-in Masters of the Long Sword, but also regulations from Augsburg and Frankfurt on how fechtschuls should be held.
7. Furthermore, if henceforth a foreign Master of the Sword should come here, and he should be granted to hold schul by a local Honorable Council at his request, he shall precede a local Master of the Sword in this.
8. Furthermore, a local Master of the Sword shall precede a foreign sworn-in master with the schul, except if it is the case that the local master has willingly allowed this to him.
9. Likewise, a local sworn-in master shall precede a foreign Free Fencer.
10. And then the local fencers, namely a Master of the Sword (shall) precede a sworn-in master and a sworn-master shall precede a Free Fencer, unless they have prior to this settled the matter amicably among themselves.
Herman seemingly leaned into these customary practices in 1555, when a fellow fencer and future sworn-in Marxbruder Peter Danzer requested to hold a fechtschul without yet being considered a “master” by Herman.
Peter Dentzer of Filseck requests that one should allow him a fechtschul on tomorrow's Sunday or on Sunday in eight days, including drums and fifes. Recognized. Meanwhile the Herr Ammeister reports that Master Herman has visited him and said that Peter is no master, one should not allow him the schul. So that no misunderstanding arises because of this, one should keep in mind that one has listened to M[aster] Herman.
Master Herman! No other fechtmeister I have found, not Meyer nor Brack nor Brand nor Kellerle nor Freider ever had “Master” slapped before their name so simply in a note relating to fencing. However, this may not necessarily be an indication of Herman’s status as a highly-regarded fencer, and could possibly refer to an academic title, or a position as a special member of his guild. I would have to visit Strasbourg and dig into the non-digitized guild record series to follow up on this hypothesis (how many “Buy me a Coffees” is an international flight?).
So Herman throws rank and regulation around to get Peter denied by the council. Not only does he pull rank, but he may have also directed fellow Marxbrüder-affiliated students a few weeks later to…umm…intervene in Peter’s fencing with some more direct action.
Peter Denzer, fencing master, requests once more to allow him to hold schul. In order to be able to bid farewell with his students and also to receive his master's farewell, he wishes to keep himself judicious – and if he does not do it, to deliver himself up to my gentleman's gracious punishment.
The Herr Ammeister reports that an antipathy between the furriers and fencing masters has developed out of this fencing. The furriers, rioting, fought his own [Peter's] on Sunday, and they themselves [Peter's students] against brazenly approaching journeymen.
Recognized. One should not allow this Peter the fechtschul, and one should send (a message) to the journeymen furriers – to severely forbid them (and tell them) that my gentlemen have been burdened quite a bit by their rioting and the iniquities they have began so far, and that they should consider this and see to it that they lose interest and keep themselves judicious. Otherwise one will punish (them) in such a manner that they might see that my gentlemen do not tolerate it.
And one should also send to the fencing masters, also forbid them this. And (remind them) that they should keep themselves judicious and peaceful during the fechtschul and in the alleys, on both sides. And one should also ask Herr Philipp Ingold and Master Herman if they know about the rioting, send them notice and question them.
I was unable to locate a mention of Peter within a different fechtmeister’s fechtschul request, but during this early part of the decade there were a few Marxbrüder hanging around Strasbourg so it could have been a handful of people who trained him (assuming that Peter was associated with the Marxbrüder for his entire career, as his later honors within the Marxbrüder guild would imply). Additionally, this type of direct intervention of one fechtmeister stepping on another is rare, with only some notes, decades later in the 1590s, having a similar tone of competing schuls.
It seems that things may not have calmed down even after these strong words, as another Marxbruder tries to request a fechtschul shortly after the recent brouhaha and is denied, with fechtschuls put on hold for the rest of the year by the council.
Hans Schmidt of Hof, a sworn-in Master of the Long Sword, asks to allow him to hold fechtschul. Recognized. Meanwhile the furriers – as was reported – keep themselves rowdy and they riot, one should not permit him and otherwise also discontinue it for a while.
Herman may have been a bit of a firebrand, getting his students and fellow Marxbrüder involved in enforcing the rules of the guild across the city through force. Herman is allowed to hold fechtschul the following year without restriction, however, so he must not have totally run afoul of the Council of XXI. Additionally, Peter seems to have done alright for himself, as he reappears in the council records a decade later in 1565 requesting a fechtschul alongside our own Wygand Brack and again in 1575. Can’t keep a Denzer down for long!
Conclusions
Herman could be called the fencing phoenix of 16th century Strasbourg. He showed up, lived large, influenced fencing culture, threw his weight around, and burned out in only 6 years. Having so many unique tidbits included in his handful of council records is impressive, from being named ‘Master Herman’ repeatedly to explicitly mentioning the Frankfurt fair in a record (a recurring event important to the Marxbrüder). Weiss is a figure who can be added into the list of “if only they hadn’t croaked…” fencing masters and interesting figures along with Joachim Meyer himself.
However, with him such a stickler to the rules and his obvious readiness to influence the council, how would Herman’s survival have affected Meyer’s fencing career in the city? Would he have restricted how Joachim practiced in the city, with Meyer not being a Marxbruder? Could Meyer’s fencing career have been staunched, and with it also those of Wygand Brack, Samuel Schilling, and his other students? Or, perhaps, with Herman's profession as a bookbinder, a career of collaboration could have ignited a golden age of of fencing books, with Meyer and Weiss working hand-in-hand to speak the good work of "true knightly fencing" and preserve the culture for decades to come.
We may never know, but seeing the vivid impact that Herman had on the fencing community over such a short timespan makes it easy to wildly speculate.
Thank yous
Big thank yous to Platy for your help in polishing up all of the transcriptions and translations, and having that ah-HAH! moment of recognizing his name from the Hans Medel fechtbuch. That moment of clarity led to all this interesting work! Additional thank yous to Renard for proof reading help, and to the Frankfurt archives Dr. Barbara Hammes for checking into records about their famous fair for me.