DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.74283#0208
190
APPENDIX A
Folios IV (a double folio) and VI (31% inches long) of our MS
present the famous sword-dance of the cutlers guild, a celebration closely
associated with the Schembartlauf and figured in many of the MSS.4
Our text mentions the cutlers dance on f. 39r: "Anno 1490 ... Es
haben auch dise FaBnacht die Messerer Jhrn Schwertdantz gehalten.";
similar references occur on f. 451 (1497) and f. 55r (1511). In Nurem-
berg the sword-dance enjoyed particular popularity,5 and it is not sur-
prising to find two representations of it in our MS.6
Our miniatures show the two figures of the dance called the "Schlange"
and the "Rose." The first figure is a serpentine chain-movement which
serves as an introduction to the dance: each dancer holds his own sword
by the hilt in his left hand, pointing it backwards over his left shoulder,
while with his right hand he grasps the point of the sword held towards
him.7 In the second figure, the "Rose," the dancers stand in a circle and
grasp each other's swords at shoulder level, and cross them so as to
form a kind of platform on which a dancer may perform the manual
of arms with his sword.8 In our miniatures two such figures are formed
close together, and the dancers on the swords execute the difficult feat
of a sham duel. Both miniatures show figures in seventeeth-century
costume, for the most part bearded and rather ornately dressed, with
sashes across their shoulders. A drummer and piper play the march for
the dance. In f. VI a fool is cutting capers beside the dancers and five
guildsmen on horse have lined up at one side to view the performance.
A garland dance ("Reiftanz") by the clothmakers' apprentices ap-
pears in the miniature on folio V, also a double folio.9 At the top of
this folio a scribe has put the mark "fol. A"; this corresponds to a
reference in an account he has written on f. 105V of the dance of the
"Tuchknappen" in 1650 performed during the deliberations in Nurem-
berg attendant on the Peace of Westphalia.
Anno, 1650, Als nach Gottlichen Willen, von Jhr Kay: May:, Dero Abgesandte,
Benebens, von der Cron Schweden, und Cron Franckreich, auch darbey, alle Stand,
vnd Statte, des10 Reichs, Abgeordnete, Sich alhier Zu Nurmberg haben Zu Sammen
gefunden, Vber die Deliberirung Zu Tractiren, des Endlich: lieben Friedens, Sie Lang
4 Cf. MSS Nos. 2 ("Anno 1386"), 8, 37, 42, 48, 50, 52, 58, 60 (here also two
miniatures).
5 Cf. Meschke, p. 205, n. 5.
6 Miniatures of the sword-dance from the Schembart books have been repro-
duced in Drescher, Sharp and Oppe, etc., cf. App. C. For other sources cf. also
Meschke, p. 214, Tabelle II, Abbildgn.
7 Cf. ibid., p. 43f.
8 Cf. ibid., p. 5of.
9 This miniature is also in MSS Nos. 42, 48, 50, 58, 60. For reproductions cf.
Barbeck, Teil 6, Bl. 2, No. 3 ("Der Tuchknappen-Tantz A. 1600"); Spamer
(Volkskunde), p. 207.
10 "des" is repeated and the first "des" crossed out.
APPENDIX A
Folios IV (a double folio) and VI (31% inches long) of our MS
present the famous sword-dance of the cutlers guild, a celebration closely
associated with the Schembartlauf and figured in many of the MSS.4
Our text mentions the cutlers dance on f. 39r: "Anno 1490 ... Es
haben auch dise FaBnacht die Messerer Jhrn Schwertdantz gehalten.";
similar references occur on f. 451 (1497) and f. 55r (1511). In Nurem-
berg the sword-dance enjoyed particular popularity,5 and it is not sur-
prising to find two representations of it in our MS.6
Our miniatures show the two figures of the dance called the "Schlange"
and the "Rose." The first figure is a serpentine chain-movement which
serves as an introduction to the dance: each dancer holds his own sword
by the hilt in his left hand, pointing it backwards over his left shoulder,
while with his right hand he grasps the point of the sword held towards
him.7 In the second figure, the "Rose," the dancers stand in a circle and
grasp each other's swords at shoulder level, and cross them so as to
form a kind of platform on which a dancer may perform the manual
of arms with his sword.8 In our miniatures two such figures are formed
close together, and the dancers on the swords execute the difficult feat
of a sham duel. Both miniatures show figures in seventeeth-century
costume, for the most part bearded and rather ornately dressed, with
sashes across their shoulders. A drummer and piper play the march for
the dance. In f. VI a fool is cutting capers beside the dancers and five
guildsmen on horse have lined up at one side to view the performance.
A garland dance ("Reiftanz") by the clothmakers' apprentices ap-
pears in the miniature on folio V, also a double folio.9 At the top of
this folio a scribe has put the mark "fol. A"; this corresponds to a
reference in an account he has written on f. 105V of the dance of the
"Tuchknappen" in 1650 performed during the deliberations in Nurem-
berg attendant on the Peace of Westphalia.
Anno, 1650, Als nach Gottlichen Willen, von Jhr Kay: May:, Dero Abgesandte,
Benebens, von der Cron Schweden, und Cron Franckreich, auch darbey, alle Stand,
vnd Statte, des10 Reichs, Abgeordnete, Sich alhier Zu Nurmberg haben Zu Sammen
gefunden, Vber die Deliberirung Zu Tractiren, des Endlich: lieben Friedens, Sie Lang
4 Cf. MSS Nos. 2 ("Anno 1386"), 8, 37, 42, 48, 50, 52, 58, 60 (here also two
miniatures).
5 Cf. Meschke, p. 205, n. 5.
6 Miniatures of the sword-dance from the Schembart books have been repro-
duced in Drescher, Sharp and Oppe, etc., cf. App. C. For other sources cf. also
Meschke, p. 214, Tabelle II, Abbildgn.
7 Cf. ibid., p. 43f.
8 Cf. ibid., p. 5of.
9 This miniature is also in MSS Nos. 42, 48, 50, 58, 60. For reproductions cf.
Barbeck, Teil 6, Bl. 2, No. 3 ("Der Tuchknappen-Tantz A. 1600"); Spamer
(Volkskunde), p. 207.
10 "des" is repeated and the first "des" crossed out.