Ceallach mac Donal - His Musings

Giacomo di Grassi

Giacomo di Grassi was an Italian fencing master who wrote His True Arte of Defense, a text on fencing, in 1570. The text was later translated into English and published again in 1594. Di Grassi was one of the premiere fencing masters, and invented many of the tactics used in modern fencing. In particular, he changed a martial art which was based on attack-counterattack into one based on attack-defense. I am in the process (slowly) of transcribing the Italian (1570) version of DiGrassi's Della Vera Arte Adoprare Le Arme.

Fiore dei Liberi

Fiore dei Liberi (ca. 1350s - 1420s) was a medieval master of arms and the earliest master of the Italian school of swordsmanship from whom we have an extant manual.

Achille Marozzo

Achille Marozzo was an Italian fencing master teaching in the Dardi or Bolognese tradition. He was probably born in Bologna. His text Opera Nova dell'Arte delle Armi (roughly equivalent to The New Text on the Art of Arms) was published in 1536 in Modena, dedicated to Count Rangoni, then reprinted several times all the way into the next century. It is considered one of the most important works about fencing in the 16th century.

Angelo Viggiani

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

Camillo Agrippa

Camillo Agrippa was a noted fencer, architect, engineer and mathematician of the Renaissance. Though born in Milan, he lived and worked in Rome. He is considered to be one of the greatest fencing theorists of all time. He is most renowned for applying geometric theory to solve problems in armed combat. In his Treatise on the Science of Arms with Philosophical Dialogue (published in 1553), he proposed dramatic changes in the way swordsmanship was practiced at the time. For instance, he pointed out the effectiveness of holding the sword in front of the body instead of behind it. He also simplified Achille Marozzo's eleven guards down to four: prima, seconda, terza and quarta, which roughly correspond to the modern guards used today.

Salvator Fabris

Salvator Fabris 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.[1] It was during his time in Copenhagen that he published his treatise on rapier fencing, Lo Schermo, overo Scienza d’Arme, in 1606.

Ridolfo Capoferro

Ridolfo Capoferro or Capo Ferro of Cagli was a fencing master in the city of Siena who published a rapier fencing manual in Italian in 1610, entitled "Great Representation of the Art and Use of Fencing". Printed by Salvestro Marchetti and Camillo Turi in Siena, Ridolfo's origin is unclear. The references to the Holy Roman Empire may indicate that he studied with masters of the German school. Cagli (in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino) appears to be his place of origin, while he was active as a fencing master in Siena (in Tuscany). Ridolfo's teachings, however, do not reflect perceptible German influence, but are soundly in the Italian tradition with a notable influence from the Bolognese (Dardi) school of swordsmanship.

Nicoletto Giganti

Nicoletto Giganti was a fencing master in the city of Venice who published a rapier fencing manual in Italian in 1606, entitled "Scola, overo, Teatro". This manual was reprinted in 1608, with 3 additional reprints in both German and French between 1608 and 1619. Nicoletto Giganti is also reported to have plagiarized a rapier manual written by Salvator Fabris in 1606, by having it reprinted under his own name. His teachings are pretty much in line with the Italian tradition with what appears to be a notable influence from the Bolognese (Dardi) school of swordsmanship (perhaps even being a part of that school).Giganti

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