The Age of the Sword: Norms of Honor and Fashion

Abstract

On an October Saturday in 1582, two master belt-makers from Rothenburg came to words and then to blows while crossing a field on their way to a country market. One of the men, Leonhard Schiller, apparently instigated the fight by teasing and insulting his colleague Hans Neβer’s journeyman Simon, who was also present at the scene. In response to Neβer’s demand that Schiller leave the boy alone and address his insults to Neβer, Schiller challenged Neβer also to speak what was on his mind, implying that Neβer had a problem with Schiller’s reputation. Schiller then took his gun in his hand. According to Schiller’s apprentice Wolf Stock, who also witnessed the incident, Neβer countered Schiller’s gesture with the accusation, “easy for you, you have a gun, and we don’t.”¹ Schiller then laid his gun aside and drew his sword in order to face Neβer on equal terms. Neβer could not ignore the challenge. As the two crossed swords, Simon picked up Schiller’s loaded gun and fired it in order to clear it and ensure that the fight remained fair. The swordplay went badly for Schiller, who suffered a grievous cut to the abdomen. Afterwards he lay in great pain for two days before dying a pious, Christian death. Multiple witnesses to Schiller’s last hours reported that he confessed his sins to a pastor, admitting his own fault in the fight and accepting his pain and suffering as penance for his restless ways. He then forgave his killer and took communion before dying.²