the men, sometimes
horses ran: as at the rifle-shooting at Augsburg, in 1446, fourteen
horses appeared in the lists; the prize was a piece of scarlet cloth;
the conqueror was a horse of Duke Albrecht's, which he had sent from
Munich for the races.[66] At the races at the same place, in 1470, a
horse of Duke Wolfgang's, of Bavaria, won a prize of forty-five gulden.
Wrestling, and even dancing, obtained prizes, as in 1508 again, at
Augsburg. And at the same place a whimsical prize was won by the person
who could amuse the people with the greatest lies.

To these national popular amusements were added others not less old,
but from the traditions of foreign life. The descendants of the Roman
gladiators, whose rough struggles had once caused great scandal to
strict Christians, led a despised life as roving fighters[67] through
the whole of the Middle Ages. In the fifteenth century they had taken
refuge behind the city gates and in the guardrooms of the royal court,
in various mercenary service, as fencing-masters, soldiers, police,
valets, and messengers. Out of the secret brotherhoods which were
formed by these strolling fighters had arisen associations which were
openly tolerated; they were arranged in two societies, as _Marxbrueder_
(the fraternity of St. Mark), and _Federfechter_ (champions of the
feather), which cherished a violent antipathy to each other. The
_Federfechter_ displayed a winged griffin on their armorial shield;
they boasted of having received privileges from a Duke of Mecklenburg,
and found later a mild patron in the Elector of Saxony. At the lists,
when they raised their swords, they called out, "Soar aloft, feather;
mark what we do; write with ink which looks like blood."[68] The
Marxbrueders, on the other hand, had for their armorial bearings a lion,
and cheered themselves by the defiant rhyme, "Thou noble lion, elevate
thy curly hair; thou perceivest the griffin; him shalt thou hew down
and tear his feathers." They were privileged by King Maximilian in
1487. These masters of the long sword were under a captain, and their
meetings were held at the harvest fair of Frankfort-on-the-Maine.
Thither resorted any one who wished to receive the freedom of their
company; he had to fence with four masters, then in public meeting to
accept a challenge from any one who chose to fight with him. If he
stood the trial, he was struck with the sword of ceremony crosswise
over the loins; he then took the oath of fellow