The Iron Hand of Götz Von Berlichingen

[Crow of Ryuzoji]

Götz Von Berlichingen had a problem. It was 1504 and, at the tender young age of 24, the plundering knight, mercenary and all around bastard had the upper part of his right arm torn off in a cannon blast. As someone who made his living off war and already had a sizable enemies’ list, Götz needed his killin’ hand.

So he got another one. Made of iron.

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However, this was no crudely shaped hunk of metal — it was a mechanical masterpiece, centuries ahead of its time. The iron hand not only allowed Götz to return to battle, but later helped lay the foundation for modern prosthetics. Complete with articulated fingers, spring action and an array of levers and buttons, the hand allowed a degree of control that’s stunning even today. Fitted with it, Götz could do the following:

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It also gave him one hell of a right hook. All this in an era where steam power was still a distant dream and Copernicus had barely begun to deduce that Earth wasn’t the center of the universe.

Götz (and his iron hand) would go on to great infamy. He was twice outlawed by the Holy Roman Emperor, once for mugging a particularly loaded group of merchants. He pillaged towns, helped lead (and later ditch) a peasant revolt and slaughtered Turks, scores of fellow Germans and the French. When a Bishop once demanded his surrender, he thundered back: “Er kann mich im Arsche lecken!” Roughly translated, that’s “Kiss my ass!” The phrase became somewhat popular.

He accomplished another feat often denied to his ilk: he retired and died in bed. He actually preferred his new hand, saying the mechanical wonder had “rendered more service in the fight than ever did the original flesh.”

In no record I can find is the unknown genius who ever made the damn thing mentioned.

Götz’s larger-than-life persona and deeds lived on, however, as did the now-famous hand, preserved today in the museum at his old Jagsthausen castle. Goethe wrote a five-act play about his life called Götz Von Berlichingen with the Iron Hand, though denying him the peaceful retirement part (not enough DRAMA!, Romantics like their antiheroes dead dammit). Sartre portrayed him as a ruthless butcher/existentialist symbol. As science marched forward, physicians from around Europe would study his metal limb and get some ideas of their own.

And, of course, “kiss my ass” is still shouted loudly and proudly the world over.

(Article found on Coilhouse)

[Dr von Zarkov]

See also the Wikipedia article.

[Maillemann]

In no record I can find is the unknown genius who ever made the damn thing mentioned.

That's likely because it is in fact uncertain as to who made it.
According to the Journal of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand
(Volume 30, Issue 3, June 2005, Pages 310-325):

"Some think that this artificial hand was the work of a Nuremberg craftsman; others, that it was made by Götz’ own armourer, who lived at Olnhausen, near Jagsthausen. It is still the most outstanding example of a historical mechanical prosthesis.

As Fate would have it, two versions of this rare relic have survived their owner: one, rather rough and simple, perhaps the one that Götz used first, which is now the inalienable property of the Berlichingen-Rossach family; the other, a mechanical masterpiece, is kept in von Berlichingen's native castle, near Jagsthausen."

The article goes on to say that "Many copies of Götz’ hand exist; the Austrian Emperor Joseph II had one made which is now in the Vienna Museum; while another is in the Bredow-Wagnitz collection of weapons in Mannheim; and a third, is in the famous Meyrick collection, in Wales."

"While Götz’ hand is the most famous, it is not the only remaining example of the art of prosthesis-makers over the last few hundred years. The Kaiserliches Museum in Berlin contains an artificial hand (Fig 3) that is reputed to have been made in the 15th century, but which we think was made at a later date. Unlike Götz’ hand, it has a thumb that moves at the metacarpophalangeal joint, and the forearm-piece is joined to the arm-piece by a joint covered with overlapping plates. Another artificial hand was recovered from the Rhin canal near Alt-Ruppin in 1836, and is now in the Neu-Ruppin Museum (Fig 4). Its thumb moves at the metacarpophalangeal joint, and the fingers can be moved in pairs. We think it was made earlier than the Berlin hand. A third example is in the private museum of Count Hans Wilczek of Vienna and is said to be of French origin (Fig 5). The thumb is fixed and the fingers move in pairs. I remember seeing some 17th-century wooden hands in the Deutsches Museum at Nuremberg."

Figure 3:

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Figure 4:

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Figure 5:

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The article has literally dozens of photos and illustrations of other hands and limbs.

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If anyone is interested in more information please PM me. Too much to post here.

Another hand over at <a href="http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=7161">MyArmoury</a>.

[Prof. Erwin Lindemann]

In more modern times Goethe would have called his book "the 6 million dollar man". (Dollar as in German "Taler" of course.) 

[JingleJoe]

If I ever loose a limb/part of one, I want prosthetics like that!

[Smaggers]

I bet he could land a decent punch with it as well.

[James Harrison]

If I ever loose a limb/part of one, I want prosthetics like that!

Agreed.  But I say, why wait to loose a limb?  If I had the money, or the expertise, I'd be crafting myself such a thing to fit over my existing limbs tomorrow. 

[Albrecht]

OK, literature trivia check for non-Germans/Austrians: What was it (according to legend), Götz asked of his arch-rival?

[Crow of Ryuzoji]

OK, literature trivia check for non-Germans/Austrians: What was it (according to legend), Götz asked of his arch-rival?

Are you referring to Goethe's play?

[Prof. Erwin Lindemann]

"Sagt Eurem Herrn, er könne mich im Arsche lecken!", which is very polite translated with "kiss my ass". I think  the good old Götz is known here more for that than for his hand. 

[Albrecht]

"Sagt Eurem Herrn, er könne mich im Arsche lecken!", which is very polite translated with "kiss my ass". I think  the good old Götz is known here more for that than for his hand. 

AHEM! I stated that the question was directed to non-Germans/Austrians. Partly because nearly everyone there knows it.

[Prof. Erwin Lindemann]

Ryozoji wrote in the very first posting of this thread:

And, of course, “kiss my ass” is still shouted loudly and proudly the world over.

So I didn't spoil anything to the English readers.

[Maillemann]

"Sagt Eurem Herrn, er könne mich im Arsche lecken!", which is very polite translated with "kiss my ass". I think  the good old Götz is known here more for that than for his hand. 

I had always been under the impression that the origin of the phrase "kiss my ass" lay in the tradition of the osculum infame, or "kiss of shame". This is the supposed act whereby a witch would be initiated or show worship to the devil through kissing him on his backside. It happens that the earliest origins of this accusation are contemporaneous with our dear Götz and from my brief research indicate he may have popularized the phrase as an insult but by no means was its first user.

Dorinda Neave, in The Witch in Early 16th-Century German Art, writes "One of the earliest references to the osculum infame is found in a treatise of the early 15th century entitled Errores Valdensium. In the text the heretical sect the Waldensians are accused of kissing the hindquarters of a devil who appears in feline form. This act of obeisance is illustrated in the frontispiece to the French translation of another 15th-century tract attacking the Waldensians- the Tractatus Contra Sectum Valdensium (c.1460) written by Johannes Tinctoris (1436-1511) (Cabinet des manuscripts fonds, Francais 961; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris). Curiously enough, Institor and Sprenger do not mention the "obscene kiss" in the Malleus. Later theorists also neglected this aspect of the witches' ritual in their writings. However, the osculum infame received great coverage in the witch trials."

Given the accepted meaning of the term at the time, one can appreciate Götz' substantial gall for having slung such a phrase at a bishop. I truly wonder how he got himself out of that one alive...