ship, and laid two
golden guldens on the sword; then he received the secret sign of
recognition of the brotherhood, and the right to instruct others in his
art, and to hold fencing schools, that is to say, to arrange public
fights. For a long time these public fights were a pleasure to
princes and citizens; after the battle of Muehlberg, they enlivened
the imprisoned Elector of Saxony during the great Imperial Diet
at Augsburg. It was considered by the people an especial privilege
for Frankfort, that it was the only town in which one could become
a prize-fighter.[69] The fighters made their way into the
prize-shootings--already at Augsburg in 1508--especially when princes
took a part in the civic pleasures. The procession, and many of the
usages of the fighters, remind one strongly of the Roman gladiatorial
games, though the combats seldom came to so bloody an end. The princes
and cities hired whole bands of fighters, who attended at the
prize-shootings and other great festivals. Thus at Stuttgardt, in 1560,
the fighters strove in pairs on the shooting-ground; the royal ladies
also drove out to see this combat; the first victor received a
beautiful waistcoat of taffety; every other prize consisted of two
thalers. At a cross-bow meeting at Zwickau, 1573, the Margrave of
Anspach introduced a fighting band of forty men, against whom the
Elector August of Saxony arranged his _Federfechters_. They contended
for two days, in pairs, with the long sword, the wooden sword, the long
spear, and the short lance, bareheaded, according to old custom, and
some made many passes without conquering the other. There was much
bravado in these combats, but they gave rise to great jealousy, violent
blows, and bad wounds.

The society of fencers outlived the prize-shootings and the great war.
They lost the old expressions for their art, but substituted French
words, and maintained their position in the larger cities in spite of
the foreign fencing-masters. In Nueremberg their public combats were
forbidden shortly before 1700; but parties long ran high among the
people for the two factions: there was no boy in the city who did not
contend for the Marxbrueder or Federfechter, who frequently gave their
performances in private houses. The last great fencing match took
place, in 1741, at Breslau, in the churchyard of Magdalena. On the day
when the young King of Prussia, with careless mien and dishevelled
hair, and his small parade sword, came to