Peter von Danzig, Sigmund Ringeck, and Paulus Kal. Kal's contemporary, Hans Talhoffer, may have been involved with the founding of the Brotherhood of St. Mark, which enjoyed a quasi-monopoly on teaching martial arts from 1487 until 1570. In 1514, Emperor Maximilian L. gave special privileges to both the Marksbrüder and much later to the Federfechter, and propagated the fencing style of Liechtenauer in the entire Holy Roman Empire (it became de facto the dominant martial arts within the Holy Roman Empire, despite the fact that there were other martial art schools active in the Empire at the time). The Emperor also granted students the right to bear arms and allowed them to have duels. German Renaissance Late 15th-century masters include Johannes Lecküchner, Hans von Speyer, Peter Falkner, and Hans Folz. In the 16th century, the tradition became more a sporting exercise than a system of combat for duelling or the battlefield. Early 16th-century masters include Hans Wurm, Jörg Wilhalm, and Andre Pauernfeindt (also Paurnfeindt; Paurnfeyndt; Paurenfeyndt). In 1516, Pauernfeindt published a treatise entitled Ergründung der ritterlichen kunst des fechtens durch freyfechter czu Vienn ("Foundation of the knightly art of combat by the Freifechter of Vienna"), which is one of the earliest printed fencing manuals. Comparisons with descriptions in other manuscripts from the period (such as the Cologne Fechtbuch) confirm that this period was a transitional stage between the late medieval school of Johannes Liechtenauer and the German Renaissance "sportive" Federfechten as practiced in the late 16th century (as recorded in the later printed manuals by Joachim Meyer and others). A later manuscript, dated 1564 and attributed to Lienhart Sollinger, cites Pauernfeindt and is largely identical in content. In the mid 16th century, the first attempts, notably by Paulus Hector Mair, at preserving and reconstructing the teachings of the past century appeared. The foundation of the Federfechter in 1570 at Vienna falls into this late period. The final phase of the tradition stretches from the late 16th to the early 17th century, with masters such as Joachim Meyer and Jakob Sutor. Decline of the German tradition In the 17th century, rapier fencing of the Italian school became fashionable due to treatises by such as Salvator Fabris, and the German tradition becoming regarded as old-fashioned and unrefined among the nobility during the Baroque. Longsword fencing was gradually discontinued at noble fencing schools, including most universities, at the time. The rapier had an