Abstract

In this paper we shall give an extended overview of the diffferent methodological options and approaches at the disposal of future editors of scientifijically sound, scholarly editions of our Fight Book sources. These options will be evaluated with respect to applicability of the material envisaged, work load, comparative and editorial obstacles, etc. The inevitably preliminary conclusions will then be tested by applying them to one extremely important exemplum for the whole corpus: the text tradition concerning the Zedel, the verses ascribed to the auctoritas of Master Johannes Liechtenauer, the Urtext of the German martial arts heritage. The paper should therefore be seen as a tool for future editors, rather than as a preliminary study for an edition in its own right, although the present author will not deny the existence of plans in that direction.