Have you ever thought that Ringen (wrestling) is too complicated? Look no further than Wallerstein section C – with only eight techniques to smite them all!
Weapon: unarmed / wrestling
Source: Cod.I.6.4°.2
The Bauman Fechtbuch (Cod.I.6.4o.2) is widely considered to be one oft he most important sources on 15th century Ringen. However, most modern authors focus exclusively on the extremely extensive younger section B (ca. 1470) which combines relatively long descriptions and pictures, while disregarding the older section C (1420ies) which is pictures-only, and one of the oldest surviving German sources. Perhaps surprisingly, the section C was more widely
copied by contemporary volumes such as the Gladiatoria Group (armed plays) and PaulusHector Mair (armed and unarmed plays) and may therefore have been considered the more influential work. While the section C is only comprised of 8 unarmed Ringen plays – some of which are admirably vicious –, 7 of those are also featured in the armed section, in addition to a number of Ringen techniques only shown in the armed section. It is therefore reasonable to assume that these 8 plays may have been considered required the base of wrestling, which
was then integrated into armed fighting and expanded through the use of weapons as grappling aids.
The aim of the workshop is to give an introduction to these basic Ringen techniques and their possible combinations. We will also have a brief look on how they may be applied in armed fighting.
Skill level of Participants: All skill levels
Needed Equipment: mouthguard
About the trainer – Elias Flatscher
Elias Flatscher thinks of himself as a wrestler who reads treatises; he maintains that “this is the way” these sources should be looked at, and is always happy to demonstrate his interpretations.
Elias has trained and competed in Greco‐Roman wrestling (Russian and Nuremberg schools) and Freestyle wrestling (Dagestani school) in Germany and in the Austrian Bundesliga (seasons 2013‐2017), cross‐training in Judo, SAMBO, Sumo, Ranggeln and Schwingen and coaching grappling for a variety of martial disciplines (youth wrestling, MMA, BJJ, HEMA). He doesn’t hold any rank in any martial art, but may just be the most evil whitebelt you’ll ever meet.
In HEMA, he has been focusing on the wrestling sections of Fiore, Monte, the “Blume des Kampfes” and the “Nuremberg‐Augsburg” group of treatises, leading to a number of international workshops and a paper on the wrestling sections of Cod.I.6.4°.2 published in the companion volume to HEMA bookshelf’s “Bauman” facsimile. When he’s not doing something wrestling‐related, he currently works as a post‐doc for medieval archaeology at the University of Zurich.
