Narrator: In 1459 a book was written that
contained images so bizarre that even 500
years later their meaning is still
shrouded in mystery.
It depicts improbable Medieval siege engines
and machines of war.
Figures in extraordinary apparatus
and blood thirsty duels.
But key information is missing from the
manuscript and the author is displayed
cryptically holding a broken chain why was
this manuscript ever written and who
could have unlocked its lethal secrets?
This book reveals the secrets of a
Medieval age far more advanced than future
generations would ever imagine.
Deep in the vaults of Denmarks Royal Library
lies a book over 500 years old.
Its time worn leather cover bares one simple
inscription, Talhoffer, the mysterious fight
master of the Middle Ages.
This enigmatic book is written in Swabian,
an ancient German dialect and contains
300 color pages of images and text
offering an astounding account of life in the
Middle Ages.
Mike Loades: This is Talhoffer's actual 1459
manuscript, beautifully executed with colors as
fresh as if it were painted yesterday and
there's Talhoffer himself in the center
dictating to his scribe.
Narrator: The coded imagery and text within
this manuscript has the potential to dispel some
fundamental beliefs the modern world has
about the Medieval age.
Was combat and warfare technology really as
primitive as we imagined?
Did Knights act as chivalrously as
depicted in Victorian times?
And was the population as unsophisticated as
history suggests?
Bettany Hughes: This is an incredibly important
document because it tells us so much about
this mysterious world.
It's really a kind of box of secrets
that we can open.
Narrator: For the first time the Royal Library
in Denmark is allowing the manuscript to be filmed.
A team of experts from around the
world will investigate the mysterious images
and text within.
By using cutting edge computer graphics,
and attempting unorthodox fighting techniques.
Man: It's actually making me sick
to my stomach.
Narrator: Decoding the books puzzling
designs and constructing its enigmatic machines.
Mike Loades: Really get pumping,
he's underwater now!
Narrator: The team will attempt to
establish just how authentic Talhoffer's
depiction of the Medieval Age really is.
Talhoffer's fight book has lain dormant in
Copenhagen's Royal Library for over 200 years.
But 500 years after it was written,
the manuscript has re emerged in the public
eye with martial arts students worldwide
seeking its Medieval fighting techniques.
One fight master who has dedicated his life
to learning the fighting styles of the
Middle Ages, is John Clements,
Clements is one of the world's leading experts
in the field of Medieval martial arts.
John Clements: We know very little about
Talhoffer as a man, about his life,
so he's a mystery in that regard.
But we do know he is a master of the art of
arms, that he's a Knight that he is a
teacher or instructor of Knightly fighting arts.
Narrator: Talhoffer has dedicated nearly
half the manuscript to Medieval combat,
and within these pages are numerous plates,
focusing on the violent and mysterious world of
judicial duels.
Mike Loades: Many of the images in this
manuscript are concerned with fighting
in the judicial duel, now the judicial duel
was a curious institution.
When somebody had accused somebody of
something and there were no witnesses,
there was no evidence then trial by combat
was the way you found out who was
telling the truth.
Narrator: On the eighth plate of his fight
book, Talhoffer describes why a person
would be called forth for judicial battle.
Murder, treason, heresy, disloyalty,
betrayal, falsehood or using a maiden or lady.
Those that broke these laws were often forced
to face each other in judicial combat.
Illustrated in Talhoffer's manuscript
is a bloody portrayal of the Medieval
population locked in these lawful battles,
violently slaughtering their opponents with a
deadly array of weaponry.
John Clements: Contained within this
section of the manuscript is a fight
between a man and a woman,
it's a type of duel, a dispute that has to be
settled by combat to the death.
It's the first appearance of man-woman
dueling in a fight book.
Narrator: This image of a woman battling a man
is a far cry from the typical non violent image
of the Medieval woman.
Terry Jones: Medieval women were much more
powerful than they've been given credit for
and especially through the 14th century,
they gained more power and were able to run
businesses and things like that and it was
only the renaissance when things started to
go wrong and women were seen as more passive
and inactive.
Narrator: The evidence in the manuscript
suggests that in some cases women even
fought men in a judicial duels.
Bettany Hughes: This is a really,
really difficult image to decipher because
certainly what you do have at this time are
very strong woman, I mean woman are left to
run castles while their men are off fighting.
It's laid out as if this is something that
did happen but you wonder what the kind of
legal reason for that would have been.
John Clements: A man and a woman might be
forced to fight like this because of any
number of disputes, it might involve property,
it might involve inheritance,
it might involve accusations,
this is a ritual combat,
it's a semi religious affair,
and they know that only one of them
can emerge alive.
Narrator: Even more disturbing than
judicial battles being fought to the
death is the implication
that combatants may be husband and wife.
A recreation of the duel provides valuable
insight into why the couple is forced to
fight in such a bizarre manner.
John Clements: It would be interesting to
reconstruct one of these judicial combats.
As a living archaeological
experiment to understand something
about the physical components of the
fighting actions and the techniques,
and also something of the mental and
emotional component of the combatants.
Narrator: The hole and the weapon fulfilled
multiple functions.
Firstly they balanced out the fighting
inequality between the sexes and secondly,
the weapons were deemed suitable for commoners.
John Clements: They gave her a heavy rock
inside of her veil, to use it like its a flail.
It's not a manly weapon it's not a war weapon,
it's not a self defense tool,
but they're clearly saying,
here you can use this it's going to be
lethal, bash his skull in.
Narrator: Bettany Hughes will test the
effectiveness of a rock in a veil against the
skull of a sheep.
Bettany Hughes: When you're up close with
all this gear you realize this was
certainly not play fighting,
I mean this thing is heavy in my hands,
I imagine just one of these is gonna be a
killing blow.
That was actually sickening,
because if you can imagine that would have
been a real man's head, he would have never
have survived a blow like that,
so if Talhoffer was depicting reality
rather than just some theory then this would
have caused a huge amount of suffering in
the Medieval world.
Narrator: This 1542 image of a judicial
duel between two Knights suggests that
such violent justice was part of the
Medieval world, and in 1228 there is even a
case in Switzerland of a woman defeating a man
in the same violent manner as depicted in
Talhoffer's manuscript.
The combatants are literally sewn into their
garments to insure that they
cannot conceal anything
that could be used in the fight.
It was also possible that the garments were made
of leather and treated with oil to be made
slippery so non fatal grappling moves would
be ineffective and only a decisive killing blow
would end the ritualized combat.
Aaron Pynenberg: First off I'm sewn into this
garment, I'm buried at basically half way
up in a hole, I'm not going anywhere,
I'm literally, figuratively stuck here.
I feel absolutely demeaned.
The reach advantage, I thought would be,
to the woman or to the person outside the
hole, but in actuality I'm not having a
problem, it's kind of like a strike
for a strike almost.
Pia Bach: I'm learning that it's hard to
strike the head at the same time as be aware
of the club.
You have to be very fast on your feet to do
both but with a little practice I think it
would be ok.
Narrator: And practice was exactly what
combatants could get.
John Clements: This is a type of combat that
these participants would have entered
knowing when they're going to fight,
how they're going to fight and who they're
going to fight weeks in advance.
That has to affect their psyche and it has
to effect their training.
Narrator: A closer examination of the
manuscript reveals that Talhoffer wasn't just
depicting a generic image of the duels;
each plate contains specific moves that
with specialized training could be used
to defeat their opponent.
Aaron Pynenberg: I'm dumping her on her head
and I'm bringing this down right after her,
and I'm gonna probably crush her or stab her,
there's nothing she can do from here.
Narrator: It is possible that Talhoffer
included these specific images in his Fight
book to train the combatants and
earn an income.
It is recorded that he is a judge in
judicial duels,
a perfect vantage point to learn the most
effective and deadliest techniques.
Combatants could then learn these methods
from Talhoffer most likely for a fee,
to ensure victory in the eyes of both the
law and God.
John Clements: The conclusions that we can
reach tentatively about this kind of duel,
it's let us understand that it's brutal.
It's set up to cause a decisive outcome,
this is the world they lived in,
a violent age a violent world.
Narrator: But Talhoffer's vision
goes beyond the restricting circle
of the judicial duel.
Narrator: Not satisfied with merely recounting
in bloody detail his field of expertise,
Talhoffer turns his attention to the machines
born of war.
This sixteenth plate of Talhoffer's manuscript
depicts a siege engine used extensively
throughout the Medieval period.
This is a great Trebuchet wherewith one
may throw stones and break cities and forts.
Talhoffer was a fight master,
not an engineer, so why would he include siege
engines in his manuscript?
And where did he get the designs for these
machines of war?
Peter Vemming: Talhoffer was not the
only secret war book we have in the Medieval
period in Europe.
When you look at all the manuscripts we can
see different machines copied in
all the manuscripts.
Narrator: These images in Talhoffer's fight
book have been taken from Konrad Kyeser's
1405 Bellifortis, and Peter Vemming thinks he
knows why Talhoffer included them within
his manuscript.
Peter Vemming: I see them more like a CV or
something, this writer or engineer wants to
present his work to a king or whatever to get
a job, simple as that.
Narrator: Siege engines could tip the power
balance and would be vital for warring
factions attacking castles and fortified
towns that covered the Medieval landscape.
A device from Talhoffer's manuscript
could provide the key to ensuring victory in
this war torn land.
It is, in effect, a Medieval arms catalogue.
Bettany Hughes: Talhoffer lived in what
was called the Holy Roman Empire which
makes it sound like it's one consolidated
block but actually these were warring
tribes warring kingdoms where everybody was at
each other's throats the whole time.
Unlike the original Roman Empire where you
had one centralized military force
everybody had to fight for themselves.
Narrator: And in these battle scarred lands,
men who claimed knowledge of the
mightiest of siege engines,
would more likely be in demand from
wealthy and powerful patrons.
Bettany Hughes: This is a manuscript that been
very deeply researched, it must have been
incredibly expensive to produce,
and Talhoffer you imagine must of
expected some sort of financial kickback from
all of his work.
Narrator: Talhoffer doesn't stop with merely
claiming knowledge of common siege engines.
The ambitious fight master presents
even bolder designs in his arms catalogue.
And no machine was too radical for his
visionary mind.
Mike Loades: So many exciting machines in
this book and this one is one of the more
ambitious of the designs.
Narrator: The Swabian text above the image,
when translated, reads.
One shall make two wagons of this form as
viewed from below; from there,
within the wagons, folk combat those outside,
they fight with the guns and the lances;
the lorication is all around them.
The machine is difficult to comprehend
in a two dimensional drawing,
but once rendered in three dimensions,
its mystery is revealed.
The remarkable design in Talhoffer's manuscript
depitcs an armored tank.
The reference to lorication in the text
is a term describing plated armor,
but how could such a heavily protected
vehicle ever be moved?
Mike Loades: It's a tank;
it's possibly the first tank.
We have to interpret things;
you can see how this
comes off the page here.
Well the text tells us that there
are two carriages.
That it's pushed by horses so there are
horses in here harnessed up,
so it is going that way.
This is a machine designed to go into
the enemy but what does it do when
it gets there?
Well look it's got one, two, three, four,
five canon on each side.
This is 1459 but gunpowder has been
around a while.
These canons are drawn with such detail you
can see the touch hole on each of them.
Narrator: Driven by a team of horses,
and mounted with cannons,
such a war machine seems improbable in
Medieval times.
Did this tank really exist,
and how vital was the heavy armor
protecting it?
A replica of a Medieval canon,
similar to the design in Talhoffer's manual
has been built by
historical experts in Denmark.
Mike Loades: By 1459 cast iron had been
invented in the west but it was only really
used for canon balls, and they couldn't yet
bore and drill through a solid block.
So they made it in the same way they made
buckets and barrels.
They made it with staves.
Single slats of iron that are held together
by hoops, just like they are on a barrel
and that is why it is called the barrel
of a gun.
Narrator: By 1459 canon technology is
available that allows multiple firing
of the weapons from within the safety of
the tank, a technology that is the distant
ancestor seen on today's modern battlefield.
Mike Loades: By around 1450
they had developed the breach loading canon.
That meant you could put the cannonball or
the hail shot in at the breach end.
And the secret to that technology was this!
The breach pot.
In here you pre prepared,
you poured your gunpowder in there,
and that was sealed with a wooden tampion.
Narrator: The breach loading technology
could allow a gun crew to fire two or three
rounds a minute, but how much damage could
these medieval canons really deliver?
Mike Loades: Look at this.
It's just smashed through these boards.
It's made a great big hole here we go.
Look there, its gone right through that
in a musket shaped hole.
This could have been a paper screen.
So one thing that tells me is our tank would
have to be an armored vehicle.
If you are going to take that vehicle into
the enemy, with the horses behind and the
wedge in front, look like you are,
then you must be armored because the
enemy have got canon just like that.
Narrator: It's hard to imagine such a
sophisticated machine in the Medieval age,
an age perceived to have only primitive technology.
But other historical sources besides
Talhoffer depict Medieval tanks,
suggesting that they were more than just the
fight master's imaginative fancy.
But not all objects in Talhoffer's manual have
such evidence to support them.
in Talhoffers fight book
even more difficult to comprehend.
Bettany Hughes: We always get very
excited about inventions of Greece and
Egypt and Rome.
But actually this book is packed with
incredibly ingenious inventions.
One of my favorites is a very weird thing
that looks like something out of a
sci-fi movie.
And we think it's called the crayfish.
Narrator: This rig is called a crayfish.
It conducts itself upon four speeding wheels.
It shears front and behind.
If one kindles munitions then it
shoots stones before it,
steel buckshot as a hail,
wherewith one smites low the foes.
Historical reproduction expert Richard Windley,
will attempt to decode the image of the
crayfish, and bring it to life.
Richard Windley: Talhoffer's crayfish is
one of the most puzzling and enigmatic
designs in his book, he tells us that it was
made of iron, so that's helpful,
and that it runs on four speeding wheels,
and there's some kind of munitions inside it,
and frustratingly he says make this rig as
big or as small as you want,
which really doesn't shed too much
light on it.
So really it's trying to work out what it
could have been and more importantly how it
could have been deployed.
So bearing in mind all the various clues we've
got from the drawing I've produced a design
which incorporates as many of these elements
as possible.
Narrator: From the designs in Talhoffer's
manuscript, Richard will build the model to
get a true sense of the objects capabilities.
Here, for possibly the first time in 500 years
Talhoffer's crayfish is revealed.
Richard Windley: It's got all the main
features that we get in the Talhoffer
illustration, we've got the big spikes at the
front, we've got the cutting scimitar blades
here, and also the extensions on the wheel
which will cut and maim if anyone gets
in the way.
Narrator: Richard has proved that the
Crayfish is a plausable design,
but its construction doesn't answer the
question why or where it might have
been used.
In a Medieval castle or fortified town the gates,
are one of the most vunerable points
and need to be protected from attacks
at any cost.
Mike Loades believes the Crayfish could have
been the perfect defensive system.
Mike Loades: How about if this,
the crayfish was in a castle gateway or a
gateway to a fortified town?
Then you could see the ropes that made it go
to and fro, were imbedded in channels in
the flagstone floor.
That would be very effective because you
could have a man inside the wall working a
windlass and make it go to and fro;
if there were 4, 5, 6 of these going like
this, who would drive a horse through that,
who would dare to run through that?
It would take you off at the ankles.
And what is more the text tells us it has
explosive devices in it that would send
out a hail of shot.
Narrator: Richard incorporates this
devastating explosive weaponry in his design
of the Crayfish.
Richard Windley: There is a removable panel on
here, which means we can get to the fusing
for the grenades, now these are made to
simulate cast iron and it probably would have
been full with metal fragments,
something that is going to cause debris to fly
in all sorts of directions.
You really want to do some damage with this
and take out as many enemy personnel
as we possibly can.
Narrator: Talhoffer see's enough in the design to
include the crayfish in his manuscript.
By combining all the team's research into
computer graphics we can visualize what
the device looked like in action
defending a stronghold.
In theory the Crayfish was capable of
repelling an enemy at the very threshold of a
fortification but for an attacking force to
get that close in the first place,
is never an easy task.
Talhoffer again appears to have the right tool
for the job.
But the question remains, did it work?
Mike Loades: There are a number of ways you
can take a castle or fortification,
you can dig tunnels, underneath it,
undermine it.
You can do an escalade, which is taking ladders
and siege towers up to the walls and piling
over the top, or you could simply try and
blow the gates off.
But how do you get your bomb to the gates?
Well one idea is to use Jamie here,
in his armor, you're wearing armor
just walk up to it,
but up there are going to be archers.
Narrator: The power of a war bow at short
distance against a Knight's armor could
penetrate it at certain points,
and if an archer was skilled enough he could
find the joins in the plate mail and
kill the man inside.
Risking Knights like this would be far
too a costly method to storm a
city's gates but Talhoffer's manual seems
to offer a solution.
Narrator: Terry Jones, one of the famed
members of the Monty Python team is
renowned for more than just comedy.
He's an expert in Medieval history,
but some of Talhoffer's depictions of siege
warfare appear strange, even to him.
Terry Jones: Talhoffer's manuscript
shows a lot of surprising images,
I means there's one here of these people
walking up to castle under these,
sort of metal bells, I mean how do they get
them off in the first place,
very Pythonesque to me, and here's this castle
that's being protected by two huge cushions
outside the front door, very odd.
Narrator: The description above this
cryptic image gives little information away.
See they are going towards the fortress.
With the basket they should lurch around.
Within the shelter of the basket they go.
Mike Loades: We know that so much in
Talhoffer works, because things like
Trebuchet's have been built and tested,
so we know that he's talking about workable
things, but when we come across something
like this, that's so bizarre, so weird,
you think well would it work?
And of course the only way to find out is try
and replicate it using the clues that are
there, let's build it, let's shoot things
against it and test it.
Narrator: And this is what the team thinks
the Medieval siege device may
have looked like.
Mike Loades: We've had to guess at the
material, some people say it would have been
cast like a bell, others say it would
have been clad in plate armor;
I think that would have been far too heavy.
Narrator: One material used in Medieval times
could have provided the strength of iron
without its excessive weight.
Mike Loades: Hardened leather is tough,
it's what armor was made of during the
Middle Ages, a lot of poorer Knights were
clad in Cuir Bouilli, boiled leather,
hardened tough leather.
Narrator: So much importance is placed on
what this device is made of because of what
scholars believe the structure was used for
getting men to the very walls of a
castle under siege.
As the siege bell draws near to its target it
has to repel attack from very close range
if the men inside are to survive.
Mike Loades: So I'm going to give this the
ultimate test, we're at extreme close range,
less than ten yards, and Ben here is
shooting a very, very powerful bow,
eighty pounds draw weight with a
heavy war arrow.
Do your worst Ben.
I expected that to punch right through,
and it hasn't.
It's penetrated, but it hasn't really
penetrated that much.
Certainly one of the guys inside is
bleeding, but he's not dead.
That is remarkable stopping power I think
that if we were to double this thickness,
we really would have something of genuine
defensive capability.
Narrator: A second layer of leather
reduces arrow penetration significantly
and still allow the siege bell to
be carried by two men.
It is feasible that such a device could
make it to the walls of a castle with its
occupants alive.
Perhaps for those looking through
Talhoffer's arms catalogue and desiring
the siege bell it is possible they could
acquire the information about its construction
from the fight master at a price.
The satisfied war lord could then deploy it
any way he see's fit.
Placing a bomb, delivering a letter of
ultimatum or retrieving a fallen comrade in the
field of battle.
But a castle under siege has more than
just arrows at its disposal.
Mike Loades: When I look at that,
it's designed for one thing and that is to
withstand an aerial shot.
If you're coming up to my walls and I've got
broken masonry, then I'm gonna hurl them on
top of you.
That has got a good structural shape,
and even very big boulders I think with
that central strut in the middle the guys
inside, their heads are going to be okay.
Narrator: With the correct military
knowledge, these drawings in Talhoffer's
manuscript have been transformed into a two
man siege bell.
But it is the armor on a Medieval Knight that
takes this protection a step further,
by allowing the individual inside a far
greater freedom of movement.
The Knights featured in Talhoffer's 1459 Fight
Book are primarily involved in violent and
bloody activities.
Talhoffer is trained as a Knight,
and know's their ways intimately.
Narrator: Honorable Knights rescuing
damsels in distress isn't the only dubious
portrayal of these Medieval warriors.
Terry Jones: It was Lawrence Oliver who was
responsible for the misconception that
armor was terribly heavy,
in his film Henry V he showed Knights being
lifted onto the horses by cranes.
But in fact of course you couldn't fight if
that was the case.
Narrator: With many of Talhoffer's plates
dedicated to Knights, it suggests he
target's serious fighters to sell his
services too, but more specifically,
those with money.
For a Knights armor is expensive.
For it to be truly effective,
a Knight's armor has to allow the freedom of
movement to match the swiftness of a lesser
armored opponent on the battlefield.
And also let a Knight climb or
mount a steed quickly.
But the design couldn't compromise on
its protective capabilities,
and it had to be able to withstand what is
perhaps the pinnacle of Medieval metallurgy
the long sword.
In many of his depictions of fighting
techniques, Talhoffer reveals the weapons
deadly efficiency.
The craftsmanship that went into these blades
shows that they are the most formidable
of weapons during the Middle Ages.
Owen Bush: What I've got here is a Talhoffer
Long sword, it's based one of the
illustrations in his 1459 manual.
This sword has a balance point about two
inches in front of the guard,
which means that the blade can rotate easily
about that point.
The heat treatment on a Medieval long sword
blade would have been incredibly
sophisticated, they were making a blade
that would both hold an edge and would also
flex during use.
It's quite amazing, very,
very sophisticated workmanship.
The heat treatment on a sword is a two part
process, which is the quenching which makes
the blade hard, but ever so slightly
brittle, and then there's tempering which
is a lower temperature process of about
200 centigrade which made the blade
flexible again.
It's combining an awful lot of things;
it's got devastating cutting power
and fine balance.
Narrator: But despite a Medieval sword blade's
technology, they still weren't able to cleave
through the hardened plate steel of a
Knight's armor.
John Clements: With a sharp,
historically accurate robust blade,
designed for fighting armor,
you're simply not going to get through to wound
him with an edge blow.
It doesn't matter how hard I hit him,
or where I hit him, I can't cut through the
armor with edge blows.
Narrator: But a single plate in the fight book
reveals a useful long sword
technique against a Knight.
An unarmored man might be forced to fight an
armored opponent due to rules stated in a
judicial duel, or in the field of battle,
or beyond the city walls trying to escape
from the robber Knights.
John Clements: Talhoffer gives us the
way of fighting a Knight and beating him,
and that is through the techniques of half
swording, where we are trying to get that
point in his visor, underneath his helmet
into his groin, behind his knee under his arm
where he would normally have chainmail
armor protecting him.
But even then, the point's going
to penetrate.
Narrator: This technique of half
swording could also be used on unarmored
opponents and relies on the fact that some
Medieval blades are not sharp their entire
length and could be gripped when using
specific fighting techniques.
And one such move would make an opponent's
armor almost irrelevant.
Owen Bush: The interesting features
about this sword are that not just the blade
is able to be used offensively,
the guard and the pommel are both
pointed, and if you wanted to you could use
those as an active part of the weapon.
John Clements: Talhoffer shows that
besides the point, you also could use the hilt
effectively.
To knock him about the head to bash him with
the pommel or the pummel,
may even be where the phrase to pommel
someone to death comes from.
Striking with the hilt like this is like
smashing with a war hammer,
it doesn't look very lethal,
but the mass and the weight on it actually
has a tremendous amount of force behind it and
it will knock him senseless.
Narrator: John Clements is going to try these
half sword techniques against a Knight in
full armor to test their effectiveness.
Aaron Pynenberg: I'm so dangerous,
and potentially deadly in this thing that
there's really not much I can do to try and
hold back at all, I mean I'm committed,
and once I committed the suit has a weight
and deadliness all to its own.
John Clements: Fighting unarmored against an
armored Knight such as Talhoffer shows in his
plate, I felt obviously more agile and quicker,
but it didn't make that much of a difference.
He wasn't so slow that I could take
advantage of it.
I saw openings but I can't get to them
because he's all over the place.
But what I was able to do was hit
with that hilt.
We know these techniques we train
these techniques, to go all out and fully do it
and see that pommel smash and put a dent in
his armor, and to see him pause because of
that blow, that was enlightening.
Director: What happened there, Aaron?
What happened there Aaron?
Aaron Pynenberg: Well in honesty,
I'm still feeling the effects of that pommel
strike from earlier when he hit me with the
rear of his sword, the pommel on the end of it
has so much momentum carrying right through
the armor, that it's actually making me sick
to my stomach, and I'm having a hard time
catching my breath and staying in the fight
because I'm just sick, I felt it
through my whole body.
John Clements: This is the helmet
he was wearing here.
It's a historically accurate reproduction,
it's the right thickness of metal the
right kind of metal, and the dents that were
put on it, it's not easy to dent this kind
of helmet this kind of metal,
and when I threw the blow I could
see him react.
I was frankly pretty darn surprised
that I could get it in there with that
kind of force.
We train hard we train in these moves from
Talhoffer and Talhoffer specifically shows this
technique in his image of an unarmored fighter
against an armored fighter.
It really does validate that technique.
Narrator: Despite its brutal imagery and
title, Talhoffer's fight book is not
entirely focused on the martial arts
and warfare.
Contained within its pages is material from
many facets of life in the Middle Ages
including this bizarre image.
Narrator: The purpose of this image,
like many Talhoffers fight book,
is shrouded in mystery.
Mike Loades: These illustrations are
extraordinary, here we've got frogmen,
people in diving suits, this is 1459.
Narrator: The head is covered with a hard
helm, be it that the water runs strongly,
then you should burden yourself with weights,
so that you may submerge and emerge
again too.
Mike Loades: Talhoffer tells us so much in
this manuscript, there is so much information,
but there's also key bits of information
missing, and this a classic example.
We've got a diving suit but he doesn't actually
explain where the oxygen comes from.
Perhaps he needs us to go to him to pay him to
tell us what that missing bit of
information is.
Narrator: But could a diving suit actually
exist over 500 years ago?
At the Medieval Centre in Denmark,
historians build a diving suit from images
taken from another 15th century source.
But does this technology really work?
Mike Loades: This helmet is slightly
different to the one take we see in the
Talhoffer manuscript, what we see depicted
there is what's actually known as a
frogmouth helmet, very appropriately for a
frogman, it's a frogmouth helmet which
is used for jousting.
The point is you need a solid helmet to put the
air in, basically what's going to happen
is this is going to act like an air bell,
a very simple primary technology,
the first of its kind, and I'm very glad that
he's doing it and not me.
Narrator: Although the secret to supplying air
to a man underwater is not revealed,
the likely technology required is contained
within the manuscript; a set of bellows
attached to an air bladder.
Historical engineers found that getting this
technology to work isnt as easy as they
initially perceived.
Jens Christiansen: When you have a big amount
of air in a big bellow that you need to
compress to get it down to the diver,
you don't have enough force to press it into
the bellows and down to the diver,
so we had to go back and make three small
bellows with very long levers on so you have a
lot of power to pump the air.
It's a lot of hard work to work the bellows,
they need to be pumped really hard and fast to
get enough air, down to the diver.
Well I think we are about ready,
are you ready guys?
Bellows Team: Ready 1, 2, 3!
Mike Loades: We've got to buckle that
front and back because as the air goes in this
would float off once it's in water,
but already the guys are pumping away.
Here he goes down, we've got to keep this
pipe straight, and there he is he's
in the water.
You better get pumping he's under water now.
You can see the bubbles, its working.
This is fantastic, you can see this
technology, technology that was thought about
probably before 1400, and it's working that
man is under water and he's breathing,
and he's breathing through this pipe with
those guys pumping on those bellows,
quite extraordinary.
Narrator: This test is limited to 10 minutes,
but in Medieval times,
a diver could stay underwater for as
long as there was a supply of men to
pump the bellows.
Mike Loades: This is the technology that
put men on the moon, the idea that
mechanical contraptions can override
our biological limitations.
Good Job.
How was that?
Diver: It was fine.
Mike: You're not wet, the water only
went to here.
Diver: No, no problem at all.
Mike: Your whole face is it's extraordinary,
his whole face is dry.
Narrator: The diving suit is one of the
Medieval world's great achievements and the
version depicted in Talhoffer's manuscript
appears to be more advanced than the suit
the team in Denmark has just tested.
It is closer in design to the closed air
systems we have today, and is more
maneuverable and better fitted,
with the air likely designed to escape from
the sleeves and not around the face.
Talhoffer does not reveal why the diving
suit was used, and possibly this and all
the other information the fight master
excludes from his manuscript is the
answer to the image of him holding a
broken chain.
Could it be that Talhoffer,
through the secrets he kept,
is the missing link that makes his 1459
fight book complete?
For this manuscript offers us a glimpse
into the violent and complicated world that
we're only just
beginning to truly understand.