Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, specifically designed to be learnt from a book. Many books detailing specific techniques of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

are often erroneously called manuals but were written as

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 ...

s. Prose descriptions of martial arts techniques appear late within the

history of literature The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pie ...

, due to the inherent difficulties of describing a technique rather than just demonstrating it. The earliest extant manuscript on armed combat (as opposed to unarmed wrestling) is Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 ("I.33"), written in

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

around 1300. Not within the scope of this article are books on

military strategy Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired Strategic goal (military), strategic goals. Derived from the Greek language, Greek word ''strategos'', the term strategy, when first used during the 18th ...

such as

Sun Tzu Sun Tzu (; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) may have been a Chinese General, military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the au ...

's ''

The Art of War ''The Art of War'' is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is compos ...

'' (before 100 BCE) or Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus' '' De Re Militari'' (4th century), or military technology, such as '' De rebus bellicis'' (4th to 5th century).

Predecessors

Some early testimonies of historical martial arts consist of series of images only. The earliest example is a

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

in tomb 15 at

Beni Hasan Beni Hasan (also written as Bani Hasan, or also Beni-Hassan) () is an ancient Egyptian cemetery. It is located approximately to the south of modern-day Minya in the region known as Middle Egypt, the area between Asyut and Memphis.Baines, John ...

, showing illustrations of

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

techniques dating to the 20th century BCE. Similar depictions of wrestling techniques are found on Attic vases dating to

Classical Greece Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Mar ...

. The only known instance of a book from

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

is Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 466 from the 2nd century CE, detailing

Greek wrestling Greek wrestling (), also known as Ancient Greek wrestling and Pále (πάλη), was the most popular organized sport in Ancient Greece. A point was scored when one player touched the ground with his back, hip or shoulder, or conceding defeat due ...

techniques. There are some examples in the

Chinese classics The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian traditi ...

that may predate the turn of the

Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

: the ''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

'' by

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

(c. 100 BCE) documents

, referring to earlier how-to manuals of the

Western Han The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring int ...

(2nd century BCE), which have however not survived. An extant Chinese text on wrestling is "Six Chapters of Hand Fighting" included in the 1st-century CE ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' is a history of China finished in 111 CE, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. The work was composed by Ban Gu (32–92 CE), ...

''. All other extant manuals date to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

or later. The "combat stele" at the

Shaolin Monastery Shaolin Monastery ( zh, labels=no, c=少林寺, p=shàolínsì), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin kung fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak o ...

dates to 728 CE. The earliest text detailing Indian martial arts is the '' Agni Purana'' (c. 8th century), which contains several chapters giving descriptions and instructions on fighting techniques. It described how to improve a warrior's individual prowess and kill enemies using various methods in warfare whether they went to war in chariots, horses,

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s or on foot. Foot methods were subdivided into armed combat and unarmed combat. The former included the bow and

arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

, the sword,

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

, noose, armour, iron dart, club, battle axe, chakram and

trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

. The latter included wrestling, knee strikes, punching and kicking methods. The oldest extant European martial arts manual is Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 (c. 1300). "Illustrations only" manuals do not become extinct with the appearance of prose instructions, but rather exist alongside these, e.g. in the form of the Late Medieval German

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

Historical European martial arts

German Fechtbücher

(plural ) is

Early New High German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650, developing from Middle High German and into New High German. The term is the ...

for 'combat manual', one of the manuscripts or printed books of the late

and 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 ...

containing descriptions of a martial art. The term is usually taken to include 15th- and 16th-century German manuals, but the nature of the subject matter does not allow a clear separation of these from treatises from other parts of Europe on one hand (particularly from the Italian and French schools), and from manuals of later centuries on the other hand. Notable include: * Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 ("Walpurgis Manuscript") (c. 1300, predating Johannes Liechtenauer) * Nürnberger Handschrift GNM 3227a (c. 1389) *Fechtbuch of Sigmund Ringeck (1440s) * Codex Vindobonensis B 11093, kept in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and " Gladiatoria", discovered in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, both dating to the mid-15th century and largely uninfluenced by Liechtenauer. * of Hans Talhoffer (several surviving manuscripts dating from 1443–1467). * of Peter von Danzig, Cod. 44 A 8, 1452 *Jud Lew Cod.I.6.4°.3 (1450s),

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

* of Paulus Kal (1460s) * Cgm 558, a Swiss treatise of the later 15th century only loosely related to the German school. * Codex Wallerstein (), 1470s,

*Solothurner Fechtbuch, no text, dependent on Paulus Kal, 1470s, Solothurn * Johannes Lecküchner Cod. Pal. Germ. 430,

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

(1478), Cgm. 582,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

(1482) *Cod. Guelf. 78.2, ''Herzog August Bibliothek''

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

(late 15th century) * Peter Falkner P 5012, ''Kunsthistorisches Museum'',

* Hans Folz Q566 (c. 1480),

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

* Hans von Speyer (MS M I 29) (1491) * Cluny Fechtbuch, c. 1500, influenced by Kal and Falkner, drawn upon by Wilhalm. * Glasgow Fechtbuch (1505) *Hans Wurm, grappling, (c. 1505) *"Goliath (manuscript)" (1510s) *

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...

's fechtbuch HS. 26-232 (1512),

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

* Andre Pauernfeindt, ,

, 1516 * Cologne Fechtbuch, anonymous (early 16th century) * by Jörg Wilhalm (1520s) *Egenolph: , anonymous, printed by Christian Egenolff, 1529,

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. This is largely derived from Pauernfeindt's 1516 manual. *Hans Czynner MS. 963 (1538),

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

*the compendia of Paulus Hector Mair (1540s). * Johannes Lecküchner (1558) (this is a reprint from the , printed by Egenolph). * Joachim Meyer "" (1570) *Gunterrodt: "" (1579),

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

*Codex Guelf. 83.4 (c. 1591) * Jakob Sutor von Baden (1612) * Hanko Döbringer, Cod.ms.3227a (1389)

Italian treatises

The Italian school is attested in an early manual of 1410, at which time it is not yet clearly separable from the German school. Indeed, the author Fiore dei Liberi states that he has learned much of his art from one "Master Johannes of

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

". The heyday of the Italian school comes in the 16th century, with the Dardi school. * Fiore dei Liberi's '' Flos Duellatorum'' (1410) * Filippo Vadi's '' De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi'' (1485) * Pietro Monte (1509) *Anonimo Bolognese M-345/6 (c. 1510s) * Antonio Manciolino (1531) * Achille Marozzo (1536) *

Camillo Agrippa Camillo Agrippa (1520 – 1 January 1600) was a noted fencing, fencer, architect, engineer and mathematician of the Renaissance. He is considered to be one of the greatest fencing theorists of all time. Biography Though born in Milan, Agrippa l ...

, ''Trattato di Scienza d'Arme'' (1568) * Giacomo di Grassi, ''His True Art of Defense'' (1594) * Vincentio Saviolo, ''His Practice'' (1595) *

Salvator Fabris Salvator Fabris (1544-1618) was an Italian fencing master from Padua. During his life he taught in various European countries, most notably in Denmark where he was the fencing instructor of King Christian IV. It was during his time in Copenhagen ...

(1606) * Ridolfo Capo Ferro (1610) *

Francesco Alfieri Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri, was a famous Fencing, fencer in the 17th century. He was a representative of the Venetian school of fencing and “Maestro D’Armeuvkb” to the Accademia Delia in Padua in 1640. Alfieri was originally from Padua, ...

, ''La Scherma'' (1640) * Giuseppe Colombani (1711)

French manuals

Similar to the situation in Italy, there is one early manual (c. 1400, dealing with the pollaxe exclusively), and later treatises appear only after a gap of more than a century. *'' Le jeu de la hache'' (c. 1400) *Andre Pauernfeindt, (1528)—This is a French translation of Pauernfeindt's 1516 work. One notable difference between it and the original is that the "noble science" print has colored images, unlike the German. *

Henry de Sainct-Didier The known history of fencing in France begins in the 16th century, with the adoption of Italian styles of fencing. There are medieval predecessors, such as the Burgundian '' Le jeu de la hache'' ("The Play of the Axe") of ca. 1400, but the hist ...

, (1573) *

Gérard Thibault d'Anvers Gérard (or Girard) Thibault of Antwerp (ca. 1574–1627) was a fencing master and writer of the 1628 rapier manual ''Academie de l'Espée''. Thibault was from the Spanish Netherlands, Southern Netherlands which is today Belgium. His manual is o ...

, (1623) *Monsieur L'Abbat, ''The Art of Fencing, or, the Use of the Small Sword'' (1734)

British manuals

England

Apart from three rather opaque texts of the later 15th century, the native English tradition of fencing manuals begins with George Silver's '' Paradoxes of Defense'' (1599). * Harley MS 3542 (''The Man Who Wol''), late 14th–early 15th century *

Cotton Titus This is an incomplete list of some of the manuscripts from the Cotton library that today form the Cotton collection of the British Library. Some manuscripts were destroyed or damaged in a fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, and a few are kept in ot ...

, 15th-century English greatsword and staff *Additional Manuscript 39564, 15th century * George Silver, '' Paradoxes of Defense'' (1599) * Joseph Swetnam, ''Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence'' (1612) *Captain John Godfrey, ''A Treatise Upon the Useful Science of Defence, Connecting the Small and Back-Sword'' (1747) * John Musgrave Waite, ''Lessons in

sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

, singlestick, sabre &

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

, and sword feats'' (1880) *

Alfred Hutton Alfred Hutton Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (10 March 1839 – 18 December 1910) was a British Army officer, antiquarian and writer. Serving during the Victorian era in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, he played a major role in the revival ...

, ''Cold Steel, A Practical Treatise on the Sabre'' (1889), ''Old Sword-Play'' (1892)

Scotland

Scottish manuals detailing the use of the basket-hilted Scottish broadsword, besides other disciplines such as the smallsword and spadroon, were published throughout the 18th century, with early and late examples dating to the late 17th and early 19th centuries, respectively: * Sir William Hope, ''The Scots Fencing Master (the Complete Smallswordsman)'' (1687) * Sir William Hope, ''Advice to his Scholar from the Fencing Master'' (1692) * Sir William Hope, ''Complete Fencing Master'' (1691–1692) * Sir William Hope, ''The Swordsman's Vade-Mecum'' (1692) * Sir William Hope, ''New Short and Easy Method of Fencing'' (1st edition, 1707) * Sir William Hope, ''New Short and Easy Method of Fencing'' (2nd edition, 1714) * Sir William Hope, ''A Few Observations upon the Fighting for Prizes in the Bear Gardens'' (1715) * Sir William Hope, ''A Vindication of the True Art of Self-Defence'' (1724) * Donald McBane, ''Expert Swords-man's Companion'' (1728) * Captain James Miller, ''A treatise on backsword, sword, buckler, sword and

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

, sword and great gauntlet, falchon, quarterstaff'' (1737) * Thomas Page, ''The Use of the Broad Sword'' (1746) * Captain G. Sinclair, ''Anti-Pugilism – Anonymous'' (1790) * Captain G. Sinclair, ''Cudgel Playing Modernized and Improved; or, The Science of Defence, Exemplified in a Few Short and Easy Lessons, for the Practice of the Broad Sword or Single Stick, on Foot'' * Archibald MacGregor, ''Lecture on the Art of Defence'' (1791) * Thomas Rowlandson, ''The Guards of the Highland Broadsword'' (1799) * Henry Angelo and son, ''Hungarian & Highland Broadsword'' (1799) * John Taylor, ''The Art of Defence on Foot with Broadsword and Saber'' (1804) * Thomas Mathewson, ''Fencing Familiarized; or, a New Treatise on the Art of the Scotch Broad Sword'' (1805)

Iberian manuals

There are some manuals containing training advice for the

medieval tournament A tournament, or tourney (from Old French ''torneiement'', ''tornei''), was a mock fight that was common in the Middle Ages">Mock_combat.html" ;"title="chivalry">chivalrous competition or Mock combat">mock fight that was common in the Middle ...

and

jousting Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

, such as the early Portuguese work '' A ensinança de bem cavalgar em toda a sela'' by Edward of Portugal (1391–1438), a riding instruction manual that also included martial information. In 1599, the swordmaster Domingo Luis Godinho wrote the '' Arte de Esgrima'', the only fencing manual that preserved the older "Common" or "Vulgar" system of Spanish fencing, which has its traditions in the Middle Ages. 17th-century Spanish destreza is steeped in the Spanish

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

noblemen mindset, so it does not contain graphical explanations of the fencing techniques so much as explanations based on mathematics and philosophical sciences in general. The subsequent difficulty in interpreting the theory and practice of correctly has frequently led to this school of fencing being misunderstood. * Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza, (1582) * Luis Pacheco de Narváez, ''

Libro de las grandezas de la espada (lit. ''Book of the Greatness of the Sword'') is a 16th-century Spanish treatise on fencing written by Don Luis Pacheco de Narváez, who is considered one of the founding fathers of Spanish fencing ('' destreza'') and the disciple of Jerónimo S ...

'' (1600) * Gerard Thibault, (1628) * Luis Pacheco de Narváez, (1632) * Luis Méndez de Carmona Tamariz, (1632) * Luis Diáz de Viedma, (1639) and (1639) * Cristóbal de Cala, (1642) * Diogo Gomes de Figueyredo, (1651) * Miguel Pérez de Mendoza y Quijada, (1675) * Francisco Antonio de Ettenhard y Abarca, (1675) * Álvaro Guerra de la Vega, (1681) * Thomas Luis, (1685) * Nicolás Tamariz, (1696) * Manuel Cruzado y Peralta, (1702) * Francisco Lórenz de Rada, (1705) * Nicolás Rodrigo Noveli, (1731) * Manuel Antonio de Brea, (1805) * Jaime Mereló y Casademunt, (1862)

Historical Asian martial arts

Some texts on unarmed combat survive from

Han China The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

(c. 1st century). A list of wrestling techniques is contained in the ''Malla Purana'' of 13th-century

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India. The Chinese '' Jixiao Xinshu'' dates to the 1560s. The Korean '' Muyejebo'' dates to 1598, the ''

Muyedobotongji ''Muyedobot'ongji'' (; ''Muye Dobo Tong Ji'') was a Korean martial arts text written by , Pak Chega, and Paek Tongsu and published in four volumes in 1795. It was commissioned in 1790 by King Jeongjo (r. 1740–1810). It expanded on the eigh ...

'' dates to 1790. The Japanese '' The Book of Five Rings'' dates to 1645.

Notes

References

External links

Wiktenauer: A Wiki database dedicated to the masters, manuals, and techniques of Historical European Martial Arts
hosted by the HEMA Alliance
THE ARMARIUM: Online Historical Fencing Manuals & Texts of the Doctrina Armorum
by The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA)
Online Library of Historical Fencing Treatises
hosted by th
Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts
(AEMMA)

hosted by th
Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts
(AEMMA)
Destreza Translation & Research Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martial Arts Manual *