Bolognese Swordsmanship

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Bolognese Swordsmanship, also sometimes known as the Dardi school, is a tradition within the Italian school of swordsmanship which is based on the surviving fencing treatises published by several 16th century fencing masters of Bologna, [1] As early as the 14th century several fencing masters were living and teaching in the city: a maestro Rosolino in 1338, a maestro Nerio in 1354, and a maestro Francesco in 1385. [2] [3]

Italian school of swordsmanship

The term Italian school of swordsmanship is used to describe the Italian style of fencing and edged-weapon combat from the time of the first extant Italian swordsmanship treatise (1409) to the days of Classical Fencing.

Bologna Comune in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Bologna is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, at the heart of a metropolitan area of about one million people.

Contents

Overview

The Dardi school is named after Lippo Bartolomeo Dardi, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Bologna, who was licensed as a fencing master and founded a fencing school in Bologna in 1415, just a few years after Fiore dei Liberi had completed his Fior di Battaglia. The Dardi School constituted both the last great medieval Western martial arts tradition as well as the first great Renaissance tradition, embracing both armed and unarmed combat. No manuscript ascribed to Dardi himself survives, although his tradition became the foundation for the work of Antonio Manciolino and Achille Marozzo, both possibly students of famed Bolognese master Guido Antonio de Luca. [4] [5]

University of Bologna university in Bologna, Italy

The University of Bologna is a research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students, it is the oldest university in the world, as well as one of the leading academic institutions in Italy and Europe. It is one of the most prestigious Italian universities, commonly ranking in the first places of national rankings.

Fiore dei Liberi A late 14th Century Italian knight, diplomat, and master of arms

Fiore Furlano de Cividale d'Austria, delli Liberi da Premariacco (Fiore dei Liberi, Fiore Furlano, Fiore de Cividale d'Austria; born ca. 1350; died after 1409, was a late 14th century knight, diplomat, and itinerant fencing master.

Achille Marozzo (1484–1553) was an Italian fencing master teaching in the Dardi or Bolognese tradition.

The Bolognese masters whose treatises have survived shared a greater consistency of style, terminology and pedagogy with each other than with fencing masters of the period from other parts of Italy, thus justifying their treatment as a single school. The Dardi school focused primarily the single-handed spada da lato (side-sword) still used for both cutting and thrusting. The side-sword was used in combination with various defensive weapons, including a shield (brocchiero, rotella or targa), a dagger, a gauntlet or a cape. The two-handed sword or spadone was also still taught, although losing its prominence. In addition, instruction on fighting with the poleaxe and other polearms was given. [6] [7] [8]

A longsword is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for two-handed use, a straight double-edged blade of around 85 to 110 cm, and weighing approximately 1 to 1.5 kg.

Sources

A treatise on the gintilissima arte del schirmire ("most noble art of fencing") by a "Bolognese anonymus" (Anonimo Bolognese) was edited by Rubboli and Cesari (2005). It is dated to the "very first years of the 1500s" by the editors, but others have placed it closer to 1550. [9] It is a compilation preserved in a single manuscript version (in two parts), mss. 345/6 of the Biblioteca Classense in Ravenna. [10]

Biblioteca Classense library in Ravenna, Italy

The Biblioteca Classense is the public library of Ravenna, Italy.

Ravenna Comune in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476. It then served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Byzantine Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Lombards in 751, after which it became the seat of the Kingdom of the Lombards.

The Opera Nova of Antonio Manciolino was apparently first published in the early 1520s, but only a copy of the likely second edition, "newly revised and printed" in 1531, has survived. It was dedicated to Luis Fernández de Córdoba, Duke of Sessa (d. 1526), mentioned as imperial ambassador to Pope Adrian VI (r. 1522/23). [11]

Luis Fernández de Córdoba was a Spanish nobleman, count of Cabra and viscount of Iznájar, lord of the house of Baena, Duke of Sessa, of Terranova and of Santángelo by his marriage to his cousin, Elvira Fernández de Córdoba y Manrique . Luis was the son of Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Mendoza, third count of Cabra and Francisca de Zúñiga y de la Cerda.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 16th-century Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor from 1519, King of Spain from 1516, and ruling prince of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1506. Head of the rising House of Habsburg during the first half of the 16th century, his dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire extending from Germany to northern Italy with direct rule over Austria and the Low Countries, and a unified Spain with its southern Italian kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. Furthermore, his reign encompassed both the long-lasting Spanish and short-lived German colonizations of the Americas. The personal union of the European and American territories of Charles V was the first collection of realms labelled "the empire on which the sun never sets".

Pope Adrian VI 16th-century Catholic pope

Pope Adrian VI, born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523. The only Dutchman so far to become pope, he was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II, 455 years later.

Opera Nova dell'arte delle armi ("New Treatise on the Art of Arms") by Achille Marozzo was published in 1536 in Modena, dedicated to Count Rangoni. Considered the most important work on Italian fencing of the 16th century, it exemplifies techniques about fighting in a judicial duel with all the major weapons of the times and includes a large section on the conventions and rules of the duel. [12] [13]

Modena Comune in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Modena is a city and comune (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.

Angelo Viggiani's Lo Schermo was written around 1550 and published posthumously, ca. 1575. [14] [15]

Giovanni dall'Agocchie, Dell'Arte di Scrimia, 1572. This work is unusually clear, a significant amount of material on the theory of swordsmanship along with many specific descriptions of the fundamentals. [16] [17]

Girolamo Cavalcabo (Hieronyme Calvacabo, Hieronimo Cavalcabo) was trained in the Bolognese school of fencing, possibly under Angelo Viggiani dal Montone, and seems to have traveled to London, England in the 1580s or 1590s. While in London, he wrote a treatise on the use of the rapier entitled Nobilissimo discorso intorno il schermo ("Most Noble Discourse on Defense"), published in 1597. In the early 17th century, he served as fencing master at the court of Henry IV of France to prince Louis (the future Louis XIII). [18]

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References

  1. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  2. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  3. ↑ Orioli, Emilio (May 20–21, 1901). "La scherma a Bologna". Il Resto del Carlino, Italy. Print.
  4. ↑ Mele, Gregory D. "Fighting Arts of the Renaissance ~ Bologna: City of Swordsmen." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. 2nd. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010. 249-250. Print. ISBN   978-1-59884-243-2
  5. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  6. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  7. ↑ Mele, Gregory D. "Fighting Arts of the Renaissance ~ Bologna: City of Swordsmen." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. 2nd. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010. 249-250. Print. ISBN   978-1-59884-243-2
  8. ↑ Mele, Gregory. "Bolognese Poleaxe Combat: A New Look at an Old Weapon." In the Service of Mars: Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop 1999–2009, Volume I. Ed. Gregory D. Mele. 1st ed. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 13-39. Print. ISBN   978-0-9825911-5-4
  9. ↑ Mele, Gregory D. "Fighting Arts of the Renaissance ~ Bologna: City of Swordsmen." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. 2nd. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010. 249-250. Print. ISBN   978-1-59884-243-2. Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  10. ↑ "345-6. Trattato della « gintilissima arte del schirmire », adesp[oto] e acef[alo] (Sec. xvi)." Giuseppe Mazzatinti, Inventari dei manoscritti delle biblioteche d'Italia vol. 4 (1894), p. 219.
  11. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  12. ↑ Mele, Gregory D. "Fighting Arts of the Renaissance ~ Bologna: City of Swordsmen." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. 2nd. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010. 249-250. Print. ISBN   978-1-59884-243-2
  13. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  14. ↑ Mele, Gregory D. "Fighting Arts of the Renaissance ~ Bologna: City of Swordsmen." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. 2nd. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010. 249-250. Print. ISBN   978-1-59884-243-2
  15. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  16. ↑ Mele, Gregory D. "Fighting Arts of the Renaissance ~ Bologna: City of Swordsmen." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. 2nd. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010. 249-250. Print. ISBN   978-1-59884-243-2
  17. ↑ Leoni, Tom, tr. The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531). Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. 9-11. ISBN   978-0-9825911-3-0
  18. ↑ Runacres, Rob. Treatise or Instruction for Fencing: By Hieronymus Calvacabo of Bologna and Patenostrier of Rome. Lulu, 2015.
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