A rapier or espada ropera is a type of sword originally used in Spain and Italy. The name designates a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It was widely popular in Western Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries as a symbol of nobility or gentleman status.
Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword. The formation of the English word "swordsman" is parallel to the Latin word gladiator, a term for the professional fighters who fought against each other and a variety of other foes for the entertainment of spectators in the Roman Empire. The word gladiator itself comes from the Latin word gladius, which is a type of sword.
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, specifically designed to be learnt from a book. Many books detailing specific techniques of martial arts are often erroneously called manuals but were written as treatises.
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.
Joachim Meyer was a self-described Freifechter living in the then Free Imperial City of Strasbourg in the 16th century and the author of a fechtbuch Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens first published in 1570.
Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri, was a famous fencer in the 17th century. He was a representative of the Venetian school of fencing and “Maestro D’Armeuvkb” to the Accademia Delia in Padua in 1640. Alfieri was originally from Padua, which at that time was the territory of the infamous Venetian Republic.
Fencing master Vincentio Saviolo, though Italian born and raised, authored one of the first books on fencing to be available in the English language.
Salvator Fabris (1544-1618) was an Italian fencing master from Padua. During his life he taught in various European countries, most notably in Denmark where he was the fencing instructor of King Christian IV. It was during his time in Copenhagen that he published his treatise on rapier fencing, Lo Schermo, overo Scienza d’Arme, in 1606. The treatise became a fencing bestseller around Europe, and was reprinted until 1713 and translated into several languages, notably into German, and again in 2005, into English.
Nicoletto Giganti was a 17th-century Italian rapier fencing master. The frontispiece of his 1606 work names him as “Nicoletto Giganti, Venetian”, although evidence suggests he or his family, moved to Venice from the town of Fossombrone, in Le Marche, Central Italy.
The known history of fencing in France begins in the 16th century, with the adoption of Italian styles of fencing.
In fencing, forte is "the strong part" of the blade—the one-third closest to the hilt. The "strength" refers to the control established over the opponent's weapon upon contact of one's forte with the opponent's foible.
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, 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.
The oldest surviving manual on western swordsmanship dates back to the 14th century, although historical references date fencing schools back to the 12th century.
Giuseppe Maria Rosaroll-Scorza was an Italian essayist and a general in the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was also the father of the Italian patriotic hero Cesare Rosaroll.
Nova Scrimia is an Italian organisation which promotes the teaching of the Italian school of swordsmanship, of stick fencing, of short range fencing (dagger) and of unarmed fencing from the documented period that goes from the 15th century to the 20th century. Nova Scrimia is currently represented in Italy and other European countries, in USA and in Mexico.
Italian martial arts include all those unarmed and armed fighting arts popular in Italy between the Bronze age until the 19th century AD. It involved the usage of weapons. Each weapon is the product of a specific historical era. The swords used in Italian martial arts range from the Bronze daggers of the Nuragic times to the gladius of the Roman legionaries to swords which were developed during the renaissance, the baroque era and later. Short blades range from medieval daggers to the liccasapuni Sicilian duelling knife.
Jared Kirby is a classical and historical fencing master who earned the rank of Master of Arms through the Martinez Academy of Arms and continues to study fencing under Maestro Ramon Martinez in New York City. Ramon Martinez who is one of the last fencing masters to teach fencing as a martial art. Jared also teaches Combat for Screen & Stage and is a certified fight director with the Art of Combat.
Antonio Francesco Manciolino is considered one of the most important masters of the so-called "Bolognese School" of fencing.
Filippo Vadi was an Italian fencing master of the 15th century. Together with Fiore dei Liberi, he is one of the earliest Italian masters from whom an extant martial arts manual has survived.
