Bolognese Swordsmanship

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] although records indicate that 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]

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]

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 "arming" sword (generally referred to as a 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]

Sources

Manciolino

The Opera Nova of Antonio Manciolino was apparently first published in the early 1520's, but only a copy of the likely second edition, "newly revised and printed" in 1531, has survived. It was dedicated to Don Luis de Cordoba, the imperial ambassador to Pope Adrian VI from late 1522 to late 1523. ^[8]

Marozzo

Main article: Achille Marozzo

Achille Marozzo's text Opera Nova dell'arte delle armi ("New Treatise on the Art of Arms") 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.^[9][10]

Anonimo Bolognese

The L'Arte della Spada ("Art of the Sword") treatise by the Anonimo Bolognese (anonymous master of Bologna), Manuscripts Ravenna M-345 and M-346, is an early 16th century fencing manual of the Bolognese school. It is dated to the "very first years of the 1500s" by Rubboli and Cesari (2005), who would like to ascribe it to the master of Manciolino, while other estimates place it closer to 1550.^[11][12]

Angelo Viggiani

Angelo Viggiani's Lo Schermo was written around 1550 and published posthumously, ca. 1575.^[13][14]

Dall'Agocchie

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.^[15][16]

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 9780982591130
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 9780982591130
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 9781598842432
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 9780982591130
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 9780982591130
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 9781598842432
8. ^ 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 9780982591130
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 9781598842432
10. ^ 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 9780982591130
11. ^ 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 9781598842432
12. ^ 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 9780982591130
13. ^ 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 9781598842432
14. ^ 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 9780982591130
15. ^ 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 9781598842432
16. ^ 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 9780982591130

External links

• Bolognese Swordsmanship
• Bolognese Swordsmanship: The Dardi School
• Bolognese Swordsmanship (2006 class handout) by Tom Leoni
• Site dedicated to the study of the Dardi tradition maintained by William E Wilson
• Bolognese Masters at Scrimipedia
• Introductory lesson on Bolognese swordsmanship at Marozzo.com, a website dedicated to the Bolognese Swordsmanship