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On the 28th July 1597 the council of the Old Town of Prague issuedthe Fencers‘ Ordinance in order to impose discipline at the fencing tournaments(Fechtschule) and settle the affairsof domestic as well as wandering fencers. Holding a fencing tournament in theOld Town had traditionally been in power of the cutlers' guild, however thiscustom had probably been in decline ever since the Prague Federfechter guild emerged in the seventies of the 16th century.Members of this brotherhood fenced mainly with rapier and in order to gain thetitle “master of the long sword” they had to stand a fight against a member ofthe famous brotherhood of saint Mark (Marxbrüder)seated in Frankfurt, who had been given a monopoly over the distribution of thetitles.The original charter has not survived. However, the text was copied into one of the administrative books of the Old Town office. The book was called Kniha pořádkův [The Book of Ordinances] and incorporated copies of selected charters dated between 1476–1715. The Book of Ordinances was unfortunately burned down during the bombing of Prague on 8th May 1945. The text of the ordinance has survived only as an appendix to the publication Pražští šermíři a mistři šermu [Fencers and fencing masters of Prague] from 1927 by a fencer and a historian of fencing Jaroslav Tuček (1882–ca 1940?). View of Prague by Václav Hollar in 1636.Original to be found in the Czech National Gallery in Prague. Copy from Wikimedia CommonsSelectivetranslationThe council of the Old Town of Prague declares and decides, that:1) There are lazy people coming to Prague from otherplaces, who intend to organize fencing tournaments and otherwise stay idle,visit inns and wander in the night. This causes many scandals, brawls, woundsand murder.2) Organising fencing tournaments has always been in powerof the cutlers' guild in order to train bravery and manly fencing.3) The fencing tournament was established so that the cutlers, who live an honourable and humble life, may improvetheir fencing skills.4) The elder fencers elected to govern the fencingsociety must be either burghers or long term inhabitants of the Old Town ofPrague and behave decently.5) The audience at a fencing tournament must notdisturb the fencers.6) The fencers, who are organising the fencingtournaments and otherwise have only little income, should be given some fairamount of money from the fee collected at the tournament, so that they are morewilling to organise it.7) Every fencer, be it a Federfechter or a Marxbruder,and especially the members of the guilds, who are not lazy idlers, should be enrolledin a special register.8) Federfechterand Marxbrüder should take turns inorganising a fencing tournament every single Sunday and Holiday.9) Anyone wanting to organise a fencing tournamentmust ask the elder cutlersin advance, so that they can accompany him and put in a good word for himbefore the town council.10) Special attention must be paid to the reputationof the organiser of a fencing tournament, so that he is neither an idler nor atroublemaker but a decent craftsman.11) Should there be an idler wanting to take part in afencing tournament, so that he may just show off (“act like a peacock”) andthus make money for living, he should not be permitted to enter it.12) A fencing tournament requires the usual woodenweapons, such as dusacks, staffs and halberds, as well as the steel weapons,such as swords and rapiers. These weapons must be held ready in sufficientnumbers by the cutlers' guild and they are obliged to lend them to the organiser ofa fencing tournament. If a weapon is damaged or broken during the tournament,the cutlers willmake a new one.13) For this reason, anyone organising a fencingtournament should pay the cutlers' guild the appointed fee of threescore of Meissner groschen.In case a sword or rapier breaks during the tournament, the organiser pays themanother thirty kreuzer for making a new sword and twenty for a rapier, howeverthere is no such payment for breaking a wooden weapon.14) There are usually many good people and honest youngmen, even noblemen coming to watch the tournament. It is strictly forbidden toany viewer to come among the duelling fencers, because by neglecting this rulemany got hurt or were blinded. If anyone breaks this rule, the one able tofence will be forbidden to take part in the tournaments for some time, the oneunable to fence will be brought before the town council and punished by them.15) Some cowardly fencers use elbow-long gloves, whichis against the ancient tradition. This shall be forbidden from now on. Thefencers should use gloves covering the fist only, so that no one builds hisfencing skills on long gloves.16) No one should be permitted to take part in a tournament, unless he received a proper fencing training.17) When the duelling fencers close the distance, theyshould not jump against each other wrathfully, but they should engage “cleanlyand lengthily” according to the tradition, no matter which weapon they wield.18) Fencing masters and apprentices should actsolemnly and respectfully during the tournament, without any foolishness likeshaking their head or sticking out their tongue.19) Fencing masters and apprentices should stand onthe side during the tournament, Marxbrüderon one side and Federfechter on theopposite side, so that people recognise them easily. They should neitherobstruct nor “stick together like geese” on the duelling ground and thus blockthe view.20) Every fencer is obliged to start the duelaccording to the tradition, unlike a peasant, who runs insanely for a weapon,grabs it and wants to beat with it like a witless ox.21) No one unauthorized and unable to fence shouldenter the duelling ground, obstruct the fencers, lecture them nor step betweenthem. Such behaviour will be punished with beating.22) It also happens that peasants and journeymenwhistle and shout at a fencer, as if he was a fool. Such behaviour will bepunished by the organiser, either with jail or beating.23) Some fencers are not willing to fence at thetournament save for a prize money. They tend to shout at noblemen and burghers,urging them to throw down money for which they should fight. However, thetournament was not established as means for making money, but as an exercisefor the youth. Any fencer should be from now on punished with a fine for suchbehaviour.24) It is however possible to fence for a prize money,assuming that there is someone in the audience freely willing to offer it. Suchmoney should be given to the organiser so that he may award the winner of theduel afterwards. The spectator offering the money may choose the two fencersfighting for the prize himself.25) These two fencers should not engage with fullpower like peasants, as if they wanted to finish each other on the spot, butthey should act according to the art of the fencing tournament.26) They should also proceed through all three roundsand not finish the duel after the first hit when the blood appears, so one ofthem runs away for the money. The other one may succeed in the second roundwith a “higher hit”, because the higher hit is always more valid than the lowerone. They should go through all three rounds without any secret agreement.27) Anyone fighting for the prize money under secretagreement will be punished with jail and the prize money will be confiscated bythe organiser.28) If one fencer is drunk and the other sober, thedrunk one will not be permitted to fence, as fencing drunk causes heavy injuries.29) No one should be called a fencing master and be permittedto organise a tournament unless he learns to fence properly with each of theweapons. For this reason, any fencing master organising a tournament mustwithstand one duel to the first blood with each of the weapons.30) If it rains, the tournament will be postponed sothe organiser suffers no loss. The already collected money should be used forcommon good.31) If the tournament takes place on Sunday, it muststart immediately after the lunch and not later in the afternoon, when manyfencers are already drunk. This “theatre” might also tempt people not to go tothe church, for which reason the tournament must end before the vespers.32) If a tournament takes place in a house, the ownerwill get one groschen per person and must secure suitable sitting or standingplaces according to the social status of the viewers.33) There should also be a fence built around thefencing ground, so that no one unauthorised enters there. Lords and knights shouldbe watching from a balcony.34) A column should be pitched close to the fence anda small shovel hung on it. If anyone enters the fence without authorisation orbehaves badly, he will endure beating with that shovel three times. Anyonechosen by the elders or the tournament organiser to proceed with the beatingmust oblige.The fulltext edition (Czech) of the ordinance may be found in Jaroslav TUČEK: Pražští šermíři a mistři šermu [Fencers and fencing masters of Prague], Praha 1927, p. 79–94.[cite]