Die "Habichtslehren" des deutschen Spätmittelalters

This volume closes many gapes in research regarding the "Habichtslehren" - the over many centuries virtually unnoticed first original treatises on falconry in German language. First, as not only the two manuscripts published by Kurt Lindner are revised and newly edited, but especially because of the first edition and extensive annotation of the "Jüngere Habichtslehre", an interstage not yet known in the 1960s, but crucial for understanding the genesis of these writings. From the very beginning a work was intended, that would not only develop some relevance for indo-european, medieval or codicological studies, but also be of fruitful use for contemporary falconers, enthusiasts for hawking itself or historically working ornithologists. Thus all three German manuscripts we know of, including the discussion of the Latin manuscript L, are available in one volume concluding the latest state of knowledge. Here already a great progress in editing the primary sources of that time stands out.
In the second part for the first time the question asked since the 1960s on the origin of these texts in the German dialect´s landscape can be answered coherently. Alongside a complex and meticulous analysis of the manuscripts explaining their geographical provenience by examinating their linguistic characteristics non-linguistic facts are also considered as an argument, in particular the ancient distribution of the mentioned game species. In this way a second, completely independent chain of evidence can be established, which's combination with philological methods allows only one conclusion.
The very fruitful cultural connections so typical for falconry itself express themselves in particular in the vitality of the "falconer's language", an early guild idiom, that has included many stimuli and influences from a variety of languages and cultures. To fathom these relations is the pretension of the third chapter. Every technical expression encountered in the "Habichtslehren" undergoes