''Bellifortis'' (, 'War Fortifications') is the first fully illustrated manual of military technology, written by Konrad Kyeser and dating from the start of the 15th century. It summarises material from classical writers on military technology, like

Vegetius Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also r ...

' '' De Re Militari'' and

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontier ...

' anecdotal ''

Strategemata ''Strategemata'', or ''Stratagems'', is a Latin work by the Roman author Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD). It is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, ostensibly for the use of generals. Frontinus is assume ...

'', emphasising '' poliorcetics'', or the art of

siege warfare A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

, but treating magic as a supplement to the military arts; it is "saturated with

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

", remarked Lynn White, Jr. in a review of the first facsimile edition.

History

Konrad Kyeser wrote his

treatise A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

between 1402 and 1405 when he was exiled from

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

to his hometown of

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Dioce ...

.Long, pp. 105–108 Many of the illustrations for the book were made by German illuminators who were sent to Eichstätt after their own ousting from the Prague

scriptorium A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes. The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for scribes. Often they ...

.Lefèvre, pp. 67–72 The work, which was not printed until 1967, survived in a single original presentation manuscript on parchment at

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

, bearing the date 1405, and in numerous copies, excerpts and amplifications, both of the text and of the illustrations, made in German lands.

Design

''Bellifortis'' was written in Latin and contained many elaborate illustrations of war weaponry. The manual discusses machines and technology that were old and new. It described weapons such as

trebuchet A trebuchet () is a type of catapult that uses a hinged arm with a sling attached to the tip to launch a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles ...

battering ram A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried ...

s, movable portable bridges, cannons, rockets, chariots, ships, mills, scaling ladders, incendiary devices, crossbows, and instruments of torture. The portrait of the author is called by its modern editor the first realistic portrait of an author since Antiquity. Kyeser’s viewpoint was that warfare in the broadest sense was most effective if looked at from all angles, which included astrology and sorcery. His manual presented the technology of the art of war through the association of education and Latin letters. The book was of a large expensive format. It had elaborate illustrations and lavish drawings of a large number of war devices and machines. The treatise was designed more for a prince or king than for an engineer. Kyeser believed his war manual would make other armies run in all directions. His treatise often made reference to antiquity, especially the war tactics of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. He writes that Alexander had many war technical abilities. In one illustration he shows Alexander with a giant spearhead-like artifact in his hands with the mysterious letters: MEUFATON. In another illustration Alexander is shown as the supposed inventor of a very large war carriage. Kyeser writes that Alexander was not only a great inventor of war devices but was able to use them himself. Alexander is portrayed with magical abilities.

Dedication

Konrad dedicated his finished treatise to the weak Ruprecht III in a bitter response to his exile. He emphasizes in the dedication the relationship of technical knowledge to technical skills. He writes of the German soldiers, "Just as the sky shines with stars, Germany shines forth with liberal disciplines, is embellished with mechanics, and adorned with diverse arts." At the end of the treatise, Kyeser gives a markedly unusual appearance of himself. He portrays himself as a dying worried person. He even provides his own epitaph, "May my soul be joined to your very high one."

Legacy

The Bellifortis is survived in 45 manuscripts and was either copied completely or partly, and sometimes amplified, in several later manuscripts. The most famous are the ''Thott'' manuscript of

Hans Talhoffer Hans Talhoffer (Dalhover, Talhouer, Thalhoffer, Talhofer; – after 1482) was a German fencing master. His martial lineage is unknown, but his writings make it clear that he had some connection to the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, th ...

of the 15th century, but there are editions of

' '' De Re Militari'' from 1535 in Latin and 1536 in French, that contain pictures clearly copied from the Bellifortis (with more up-to-date clothing for the soldiers), to augment the original text-only treatise by Vegetius. In the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

in Italy Bellifortis was well-known and widespread. The result of new research shows that also

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

knew the work of Kyeser and that several of Leonardo's technical illustrations are based on the Bellifortis.

Notes

Bibliography

*Anzovin, Steven et al., ''Famous First Facts, International Edition — A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in World History'', H. W. Wilson Company (2000), * Marc van den Broek, ''Leonardo da Vincis Erfindungsgeister. Eine Spurensuche'', Mainz, 2018, *Lefèvre, Wolfgang, ''Picturing Machines 1400–1700'', MIT Press, 2004, *Long, Pamela O., ''Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance,'' JHU Press, 2001, * Regina Cermann: ''Astantes stolidos sic immutabo stultos'' - Von nachlässigen Schreibern und verständigen Buchmalern. Zum Zusammenspiel von Text und bild in Konrad Kyesers Bellifortis.'' In: Wege zum illuminierten Buch. Herstellungsbedingungen für Buchmalerei in Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit. Wien 2014, S. 148-176, , Online: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/detail_object/o:521

External links

{{Commonscat-inline
''Bellifortis''-PDF Goethe Universitaet Frankfurt a. MainFragment at the Library and Information Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Military technology books 1405 books 15th-century illuminated manuscripts