Weapons – Grappling (Abrazare)
Abrazare (Italian; to embrace) is the art of unarmed combat aimed at disabling an opponent as fast, and efficiently as possible.
What you will not find in Fiore’s abrazare is a focus on a lot of hand striking, punches, etc. “Knowing how to strike to the most vulnerable points” is only a portion of Fiore’s unarmed combat. As the art is a inter-related system, the lessons learned in abrazare must also apply to ernest combat in armor and punching a fully armored knight is not very useful. Any striking is used as a prelude to a throwing/binding/breaking technique to definitively end an engagement.
Weapons – Dagger (daga)
Fiore’s dagger (daga) takes the art of abrazare and adds a weapon; the rondel dagger of the military class. The rondel dagger is so named in the modern era by the metal discs that make up the upper and lower portions of the dagger’s grip. Primarily a thrusting weapon used to pierce the heavy textile garments and maille armors of the 14th century. Fiore details four core concepts of ‘Masters’ of dagger combat: disarms, breaks, locks, and throws. The dagger section deals with both civilian and military defense, for combat in and out of armor.
In our classes we make use of blunt training daggers of varying materials:
Top to bottom: Foam padded training dagger, wooden rondel trainer, steel rondel trainer.
Weapons – Longsword (spada a dui mani)
Fiore’s longsword art builds on the ground work laid in earlier sections of the manual. Fiore separates the longsword into three main sections: spada dun mano (sword in one hand), spada a dui mani (sword in two hands), and spada en arme (sword in armor) but the weapon itself remains the same. He takes the tactical considerations and bio-mechanical concepts of the abrazare and daga sections then applies them to a wholly different weapon: the 14th century longsword.
The 13th and 14th centuries are referred to as the ‘Transitional Period’ when it comes to arms and armor. Technology continues to improve during this time which allows for the formation of larger plates of higher quality iron and steel. As such the armor moves away from the padded textile, hardened leather, and maille defenses of the 13th century and by the end of the 14th century the knightly class is armored head to toe in articulated steel plate. To combat these changes in armor material and profile the swords of the time changed profile towards more acutely pointed blades that could be gripped with one hand on the grip and one hand on the blade in the ‘halfsword’ position.
Outside of armor the longsword is a fearsome weapon capable of devastating cuts and thrusts will little apparent effort in the hands of a skilled user.
The longsword is a highly dynamic weapon, able to be effectively used at longer ranges as well as being useful when the range collapses. In our training classes we use either synthetic or blunt steel trainers. Intro and novice students use synthetics exclusively with more senior students able to use steel after they have developed the requisite control and safety awareness that the more realistic trainers require.
