[With this book AGEA Editora starts its new collection AGEA Editora Apresenta, whose purpose is to facilitate the publication of material related to HEMA that is beyond our main editorial theme — the martial arts of the Iberian Baroque. You can read a more detailed description in the article already published about our editorial lines. ]
→ Third print! After finishing the first two runs of 100 copies we choose to make another one. To distinguish it from the previous two, we changed the colors of cover and shirt (gray and red now). They will be numbered, as usual, and the reprint is indicated on the credits of the book. Check the image gallery to compare the cover design of both versions.
The original manuscript, created between the late 14th and early 15th centuries, is one of the earliest texts collecting the Kunst des Fechtens tradition of semi-legendary master Johannes Liechtenauer. Focused on the use of the two-handed sword in ‘street’ clothing, it also includes the verses dedicated to horse and harness combat, as well as appendixes dedicated to dagger and Ringen, and brief indications for the Langes Messer, sword and shield and staff weapons. This 3227a is also singular because it includes many more verses from the Zedel — the poem attributed to Johannes Liechtenauer — than any other source. These verses are explained through the extensive comments of an anonymous scribe who reflects on the tactical and theoretical aspects of the Art with a depth and personality seldom found in other treatises.
The translation, made over the cours of five years, is based on the original Mittelhochdeutsch text, both read from high resolution scans of the manuscript and from the transcriptions of Dierk Hagedorn and David Lindholm. It was contrasted with the existing English translations of Hull, Lindholm, Stoeppler, Wallhausen, and Zabinski, as well as some other alternatives for specific aspects (Farrell, Kleinau, etc.). The translation criteria are described in the foretexts. The reasons for the choices made in translation and alternative interpretations are profusely noted in marginal notes.
To the original material this edition adds close to 100 pages dealing with: Physical description of the original; Foliation digrams; Stemmatic analysis of the text; Translation policies and criteria; Bibliography; Glossary and a set of essays describing the contexts, both historical (material, political and cultural) and theoretical (the place of 3227a within Kunst des Fechtens, its relation with other texts and description of some particularities).
You can see a more detailed description on the page that the author dedicates to the book (in galician).
Printed with care in a unique format (15×30 cm) reminiscent of the svelte proportions of Gothic architecture, with high quality paper for the covers and the dust jacket, Há Uma Única Arte da Espada is a must-have book for the lusophone student of medieval martial arts.