Christian Henry Tobler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christian Henry Tobler (* 1963 in Paterson (New Jersey) ) is an American product manager and globally known practitioner and specialist in the field of historical martial arts and European sword fighting . Tobler gained greater fame among historical fencers with his interpretations and translations of old fencing books into the English language as well as his groundbreaking work Secrets of German Medieval Swordmanship: Sigmund Ringeck's Commentaries on Liechtenauer's Verse , the first holistic translation of Sigmund Ringeck's fencing book from 1438 into English represents (previously parts of the work were simply published in the Anglo-Saxon region).

Life and career

Christian Henry Tobler was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1963. Tobler is of Swiss descent, his grandfather, Henri Tobler (after he was named), was a Swiss Guard in the 1920s. After graduating from the University of Bridgeport's in computer engineering , Tobler worked as a software specialist and product manager. Tobler is one of the founders of the Order of Selohaar, a mystical, electrical and modern knightly order, which, in addition to the ideals of the knighthood, also deals with the reconstruction of the German fencing school . As early as the 1970s, Tobler took part in jousting games and medieval markets as a fighter, but was strongly opposed to the fact that these demonstrations are not historically correct and are based on many clichés (e.g. knights are clumsy and immobile, swords are heavy, etc.) . Because Tobler wanted to get closer to the Middle Ages, he began to translate old texts and manuscripts from the Middle Ages (German is not his mother tongue, he learned German as a product manager). During his studies he discovered that there are so-called fencing books in which fencing masters and authors wrote down ancient fighting techniques. Tobler began to deal intensively and in detail with the existing fencing books, but this was severely limited by the fact that global information networks such as the Internet did not yet exist and he had only limited access to fencing books. In the late 1990s Tobler began to try out his interpretations of the old fencing books in so-called free fights, and he also got in touch with well-known fencers and martial artists around the world. It was important to Tobler from the start that his interpretation of the martial arts should match the representations and descriptions of old techniques in the fencing books, but that it could also be used effectively and efficiently in reality. Today Tobler is considered to be one of the most renowned specialists in the field of historical martial arts.

Works

  • 2001: Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck's Commentaries on Liechtenauer ISBN 1-891448-07-2
  • 2004: Fighting with the german longsword ISBN 978-1-891448-24-9
  • 2006: In Service of the Duke: The 15th Century Fighting Treatise of Paulus Kal ISBN 1-891448-25-0
  • 2007: Modern training with the long sword according to Liechtenauer. DragonSys - Living Middle Ages ISBN 978-3-925698-05-7
  • 2010: In Saint George's Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts ISBN 0-9825911-1-X

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tobler, Christian Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American specialist in historical fencing arts, founder of the Order of Selohaar
DATE OF BIRTH 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Paterson, New Jersey