Fechtschule Sankt Peter
Focus and Name
The school operates as a chapter of Stoccata, and focusses on the central European, rather than English, tradition. This means in practice chiefly the German tradition, in particular that of Johannes Liechtenauer, a school which was dominant in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries . At this stage we teach longsword, following the early commentaries, in particular those associated with Hanko Döbringer (1389) and Sigmund Ringeck (c. 1440). Later we intend to introduce a messer course (based on Johannes Leckuchner's text of 1482) and perhaps arming sword & buckler (Tower Manuscript I.33) and Polish sabre (based on Zablocki/Starzewski).
The name of the school is based on those of the late renaissance German guilds. Patron saints (and evangelists in particular) seem to have been much favoured. There is as far as I know no historical guild or school claiming St. Peter as its patron, although he is the only apostle recorded as having used a sword - in defence of Jesus at his arrest in Gethsemane, Peter drew his sword against one of the arresting officers, cutting off his right ear (with a Schielhau, perhaps? ) He got better.