Consulting Swordsman
Greetings! I have been beavering away on the Fiore Translation Project, and have completed the work on the Stretto plays. Hurrah! You can find them here: https://gumroad.com/l/ftp4 I am now working on bringing the four parts of this series together into a coherent whole, starting with the defences of the dagger against the sword, and … Read more
You There is a critical feedback system between transcription, translation, and interpretation. Getting the words in the original language right is a good first step, which allows for better translation, which enables better interpretation, which in turn may resolve issues of translation or transcription. It would be foolish to begin with interpretation and try … Read more
One of the most stylish techniques in the system is the punta falsa, literally “false thrust”. Fiore’s instructions are very detailed: Questo zogo si chiama punta falsa o punta curta, e si diro come la fazzo. Io mostro d’venire cum granda forza per ferir lo zugadore cum colpo mezano in la testa. E subito ch’ello … Read more
The two-page spread of plays against the thrust continues with the six plays relating to breaking the thrust. I’ll cover them all in order, starting with the 11th play of the master of the zogho largo crossed at the middle of the swords, shown on f26v. The text reads: Questa sie unaltra deffesa che se … Read more
Having kicked our opponent in the groin, we turn the page to see this spread: [Note, this image is not a photograph of the manuscript opened up; I have just put the scan of each page next to each other.] The story is the same though; having dealt with a whole lot of cuts, including … Read more
We in the historical swordsmanship community are often asked about drawing the sword. I wrote a short chapter on it in my book Swordfighting. The chapter was short because there isn’t much information in the sources! I think this is because most sources are concerned with swordsmanship for the duel in a European culture, which … Read more
If you have been following The Fiore Translation Project from the beginning, you may recall that I gave myself permission to skip about in the treatise as the whimsy takes me. I had a nagging feeling that I ought to include the plays of the dagger against the sword, and the sword in the scabbard … Read more
The seventh play of the sword in two hands in zogho largo punishes the opponent for offences against geometry. Pythagoras is widely credited with establishing the relationship between the lengths of the sides of a right angled triangle (though I think the Babylonians got there centuries earlier). In short, the square of the length of … Read more
As we saw in the 10th play of the Sword in One Hand, the solution to overwhelming force is to let it go by, while preventing it from following you. The “Peasant’s Blow”, or colpo di villano, does this by meeting the incoming sword and yielding to it, while stepping out of the way. This … Read more
Back in the saddle again… It might be more accurate to say, ensconced in the new study and actually getting some work done instead of unpacking boxes… Sadly, no horses involved. Let’s continue where we left off, with the next two plays of the master of the zogho largo crossed at the middle of the … Read more