- Konrad Kyeser
Konrad Kyeser (1366 – after 1405) was a
military engineer , author of "Bellifortis" (c. 1405), a book on siege engines popular throughout the 15th century. Originally conceived for king Wenceslaus, Konrad dedicated the finished work toRupert of Germany .Kyeser, a native of
Eichstätt , was trained as a physician and lived at the court inPadua before he joined the crusade against the Turks which ended in disaster at theBattle of Nicopolis of 1396. Kyeser was in exile in a mountain village ofBohemia during the reign of Sigismund in 1402 to 1403.Bellifortis
In this time, he began to write his book on the military arts. The book is the most prominent illustrated treatise on military engineering of the
Late Middle Ages . There are at least twelve surviving 15th century manuscripts which copy, excerpt or amplify the work. One of these is the "Thott"Fechtbuch ofHans Talhoffer (1459).The book is divided into ten chapters:
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#auxiliary toolsThe
diving suit presented in the book has precedents reaching back to the 12th century and toRoger Bacon . The book also has the earliest known depiction of achastity belt . Kyeser counts the "artes magicae " among themechanical arts , and his work contains various applications of magic in warfare.Editions
The original codex is kept in the
Göttingen University library (Cod. Ms. philos. 63). These are other editions:*Götz Quarg (ed.), facsimile of the Göttinger MS Philos. 63, VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf (1967)
*Udo Friedrich (introduction), Fidel Rädle (trans.), "Bellifortis", Codices figurati - libri picturati, Lengenfelder, Munich (1995), ISBN 3-89219-303-7. (facsimile of Cod. Ms. philos. 64 und 64a Cim.)
*electronic edition (CD ROM), facsimile ofCod. Pal. lat. 1994, Palatina manuscripts of the 12th - 15th centuries, Belser, Wildberg (2001)ee also
*
De Rebus Bellicis Literature
*L. White, "Kyeser's "Bellifortis": The First Technological Treatise of the Fifteenth Century", Technology and Culture (1969).
External links
*http://www.ingolstadt.de/stadtmuseum/documents/ast_2003_konrad_kyeser_mi.htm
*http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.history.id_ko.i11.i5
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