At the Nebraska Swordfighters Guild we focus on the knightly arts of combat (armizare) as practiced in 14th century Italy. Specifically, the art set down by Master at Arms Fiore dei Liberi de Premariacco.
Fiore was born around 1350 in Cividale del Friuli in the northeast of modern Italy. We can estimate his birth year by the prologue of his book Il Fior di Battalgia (1409) where he states that he had been practicing the art of arms for more than 40 years at the time of its writing. There is not much information on his early life, only what he has written in the prologue. Fiore tells us that he was motivated from childhood to learn the art of wrestling, sword, axe and lance, seeking instruction under a variety of German and Italian masters. During this time he transitioned from student to teacher, and began traveling as a weapons-instructor throughout northern Italy. This new competition was not at all well received by local masters:
“And I was especially wary of other masters and their scholars. And through envy, these masters challenged me to play with sharp swords in arming doublets, without any other armour but for a pair of chamois gloves. And I endured this all because I had not wished to practice with them, nor to teach them anything of my art. And five times I was required to undergo this ordeal; and thus five times my honor compelled me to play in strange places, without family and without friends, and without hope in anything but in God, in the Art, in myself, Fiore, and in my sword. And by the grace of God, I, Fiore, have always come away with honor and without injury to my body.”
Maestro Fiore continued his life participating in military engagements that were prevalent in the city states of Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as continuing to be a hired soldier and Master at Arms. While a large portion of the details of his life during this period have been lost to time, the names of some of his students were not. They varied in rank and lineage, but all were condottieri. From Sir Galeazzo da Mantova, Captain of Grimello who later became the Captain-General of the armies of Venice in 1405, to his last and greatest patron, Niccolò III d’Este, Marquise of Ferrara (1383-1441). It was Marquise d’Este who requested that Fiore compose the manuscript and whom it is dedicated to.
Fiore’s art was recorded in four separate ‘editions’ and begins with unarmed grappling, dagger fighting, use of the sword in one hand, and in two hands, in and out of armor, as well as the use of the pollaxe and the spear; the latter being shown on foot and on horseback. It is a holistic system with a comprehensive inter-relation of techniques and concepts. What is shown in the grappling section will have applications in armored combat with spears, dagger fighting techniques being used with the sword in two hands and so on.