Fior di Battaglia (MS Ludwig XV 13)

From Wiktenauer

Il Fior di Battaglia
MS Ludwig XV 13, J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles, California
Title page, fol. 3r
Hils' catalog	—
Leng's catalog	—
Type	Fencing manual Wrestling manual
Date	ca. 1400s (prior to 1410)
Place of origin	Milan, Italy
Language(s)	Middle Italian
Scribe(s)	Unknown
Author(s)	Fiore de'i Liberi
Illustrated by	At least two artists
Dedicated to	Niccolò III Marquis d'Este
Material	Parchment, in a pasteboard leather binding
Size	49 folia
Format	Double-sided; four illustrations per side, with text above each
Script	Bastarda
External link	Museum data sheet

The MS Ludwig XV 13, titled Fior di Battaglia, is an Italian fencing manual authored by Fiore de'i Liberi, probably created between 1400 and 1410.^[1] The original currently rests in the holdings of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Its preface, format, illustrations, and text are all very similar to the MS M.383. The text takes the form of descriptive paragraphs set in poor Italian verse, which are nevertheless fairly clear and informative. Despite its shared characteristics with the MS M.383, there are important differences, not the least of which is the vastly different order of the information. MS Ludwig XV 13 contains the most content of any of the four known manuscripts of Fior di Battaglia. It is typically referred to as the Getty.

Contents 1 Provenance 2 Contents 3 Gallery 4 Additional Resources 5 References

Provenance

The known provenance of the MS Ludwig XV 13 is:^[2]

• Written between 1400 and 1410. The Pisani-Dossi MS dates to 1409 and states that the master had fifty years of experience in the martial arts; the MS M.383 and the MS Ludwig XV 13 both state that he had been training for "forty years and more", which makes them slightly older.
• before 1699 – owned by Niccolò Marcello di Santa Marina of Venice.
• ca. 1699 – gifted to Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750), who created a copy of the preface.
• before 1825 – owned by Luigi Celotti (sold London, Sotheby's, 1825).
• 1886-1966 – the MS 4202 in the collection of Thomas Phillipps (sold London, Sotheby's, 1966).
• 1966-1983 – the MS Ludwig XV 13 in the collection of Peter and Irene Ludwig.
• 1983-present – the MS Ludwig XV 13 in the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Contents

Note that the foliation employed by the J. Paul Getty Museum counts the title page as folio 1r, whereas this table of content relies upon the foliation in the manuscript itself, which begins at 3r.

Folio	Section
3r - 4r	Preface by Fiore de'i Liberi
8r - 10r	Grappling by Fiore de'i Liberi
10v	Baton by Fiore de'i Liberi
11r - 20v, 40r - 40v	Dagger by Fiore de'i Liberi
21r - 22r	Longsword vs. dagger by Fiore de'i Liberi
22r - 23v	Longsword in one hand by Fiore de'i Liberi
24r - 34r	Longsword in two hands by Fiore de'i Liberi
34v - 37r	Armored fencing by Fiore de'i Liberi
37v - 39v	Poleaxe by Fiore de'i Liberi
41r - 42r	Spear by Fiore de'i Liberi
43r - 47v, 48v	Mounted fencing by Fiore de'i Liberi
48r	Spear vs. cavalry by Fiore de'i Liberi
48v - 49r	Closing

Gallery

Images hosted by the J. Paul Getty Museum website. Higher resolution images will not be made available for legal reasons. For images from The Flower of Battle with greater clarity and detail, consult the Pisani-Dossi MS.

	[Cover] Front cover	[Cover] Inside cover	[Blank page] Folio 1r	[Blank page] Folio 1v	[Blank page] Folio 2r
[Blank page] Folio 2v	Folio 3r	Folio 3v	Folio 4r	[Blank page] Folio 4v	[Blank page] Folio 5r
[Blank page] Folio 5v	[Blank page] Folio 6r	[Blank page] Folio 6v	[Blank page] Folio 7r	[Blank page] Folio 7v	Folio 8r
Folio 8v	Folio 9r	Folio 9v	Folio 10r	Folio 10v	Folio 11r
Folio 11v	Folio 12r	Folio 12v	Folio 13r	Folio 13v	Folio 14r
Folio 14v	Folio 15r	Folio 15v	Folio 16r	Folio 16v	Folio 17r
Folio 17v	Folio 18r	Folio 18v	Folio 19r	Folio 19v	Folio 20r
Folio 20v	Folio 21r	Folio 21v	Folio 22r	Folio 22v	Folio 23r
Folio 23v	Folio 24r	Folio 24v	Folio 25r	Folio 25v	Folio 26r
Folio 26v	Folio 27r	Folio 27v	Folio 28r	Folio 28v	Folio 29r
Folio 29v	Folio 30r	Folio 30v	Folio 31r	Folio 31v	Folio 32r
Folio 32v	Folio 33r	Folio 33v	Folio 34r	Folio 34v	Folio 35r
Folio 35v	Folio 36r	Folio 36v	Folio 37r	Folio 37v	Folio 38r
Folio 38v	Folio 39r	Folio 39v	Folio 40r	Folio 40v	Folio 41r
Folio 41v	Folio 42r	[Blank page] Folio 42v	Folio 43r	Folio 43v	Folio 44r
Folio 44v	Folio 45r	Folio 45v	Folio 46r	Folio 46v	Folio 47r
Folio 47v	Folio 48r	Folio 48v	Folio 49r	Folio 49v	[Cover] Inside cover
[Cover] Back cover

Additional Resources

• dei Liberi, Fiore; Rubboli, Marco; Cesari, Luca (in Italian). Flos Duellatorum. Manuale di Arte del Combattimento del XV secolo. Rome: Il Cerchio Iniziative Editoriali, 2002. ISBN 88-8474-023-1
• Leoni, Tommaso. Fiore de' Liberi's Fior di Battaglia. Lulu, 2009.
• Malipiero, Massimo (in Italian). Il Fior di battaglia di Fiore dei Liberi da Cividale: Il Codice Ludwing XV 13 del J. Paul Getty Museum. Udine: Ribis, 2006. ISBN 88-7445-035-4.
• Mondschein, Ken. The Knightly Art of Battle. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. ISBN 978-160-60607-6-6
• Richards, Colin. Fiore dei Liberi, 1409: Wrestling & Dagger. Arts of Mars Books, 2007. ISBN 39-8116-270-6
• Zanutto, D. Luigi (in Italian). Fiore di Premariacco ed I Ludi e Le Feste Marziali e Civili in Friuli. Udine: D. Del Bianco, 1907.

References