Flos Duellatorum (Pisani-Dossi MS)
From Wiktenauer
| Flos Duellatorum | |
|---|---|
| Pisani-Dossi MS, Private Collection Italy | |
 Title page, fol. 1r | |
| Hils' catalog | — |
| Leng's catalog | — |
| Type | Fencing manual Wrestling manual |
| Date | 10 February 1409 |
| Place of origin | Milan, Italy |
| Language(s) | Renaissance Latin Middle Italian |
| Scribe(s) | Unknown |
| Author(s) | Fiore de'i Liberi |
| Dedicated to | Niccolò III Marquis d'Este |
| Material | Parchment, in a cardboard folder |
| Size | 36 folia |
| Format | Double-sided; four illustrations per side, with text above each |
| Script | Bastarda |
  | |
The Pisani-Dossi MS, titled Flos Duellatorum, is an Italian fencing manual authored by Fiore de'i Liberi and dated 10 February 1409.[1] The original was long believed to have been lost during World War II, but it is now known that it remained in the collection of the Pisani-Dossi family in Italy.[2] Novati described this manuscript as an unbound collection of leaves, covered with a cardboard folder with a marbled paper cover.[3] It consists of approximately 35 folia and possesses two different prefaces, one in Renaissance Latin and a second in Middle Italian. The body of the text includes four to six illustrations per page, each with only a brief couplet or quatrain to explain it. This manuscript is typically referred to as either the Novati or Pisani-Dossi.
The Pisani-Dossi MS was published in facsimile by Francesco Novati in 1902, making it the only version of Fiore de'i Liberi's manual whose images are considered public domain. However, it is unclear how accurate this facsimile is, as evidence suggests that Novati may have hired an artist to create a tracing of the original manuscript rather than reproducing it directly.[4] This would have provided ample opportunity for errors to creep into the images, and might also account for the significant divergences from the artistic style of the Getty and the Morgan.
Contents |
Provenance
The known provenance of the Pisani-Dossi MS is:[5]
- Completed by Fiore de'i Liberi on 10 February, 1409. Though it was dedicated to Niccolò III d'Este, there is no evidence that it ever passed into his library.
- before 1663 – belonged to Schier de' Prevosti da Valbregaglia, passed into the library of the Sacchi da Bucinigo family (purchased before 1902, Alberto Carlo Pisani-Dossi).
- before 1902-present – in the private collection of the Pisani-Dossi family.
Contents
As the foliation of the manuscript is not available, the first page of the introduction is presumed to be 1r.
| Folio | Section |
|---|---|
| 1r | Latin Preface by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 1r - 1v | Italian Preface by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 3r - 4v | Grappling by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 4v | Baton by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 5r - 11v | Dagger by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 11v - 12r | Four strikes of the sword by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 12r - 13v | Longsword in one hand by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 14r - 15v | Staff weapons by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 15v | The Seven Swords by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 16r - 23v | Longsword in two hands by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 24r - 25v | Armored fencing by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 26r - 27r, 35r | Pole weapons by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 28r - 32v, 33v | Mounted fencing by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 33r | Spear vs. cavalry by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 34r - 35r | Sword vs. dagger by Fiore de'i Liberi |
| 35v | Closing |
Gallery
These images are sourced from Francesco Novati's 1902 edition of the manuscript. The Pisani-Dossi MS itself has recently resurfaced in Italy, but is not available for study. A few pages appear to be shuffled in Novati's facsimile, and this has been corrected as much as possible here. (This subject will be revisited when new scans of the manuscript become available.)
 Front Cover | [Inside Cover] Inside Cover |  Ir |  Iv |
Folio 1r | |||
 Folio 1v |  Folio 2r |  Folio 2v |  Folio 3r |  Folio 3v |  Folio 4r | ||
 Folio 4v |  Folio 5r |  Folio 5v |  Folio 6r |  Folio 6v |  Folio 7r | ||
 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 |
Additional Resources
- dei Liberi, Fiore; Rubboli, Marco; Cesari, Luca. Flos Duellatorum. Manuale di Arte del Combattimento del XV secolo. Rome: Il Cerchio Iniziative Editoriali, 2002. ISBN 88-8474-023-1
- Novati, Francesco. Flos Duellatorum, Il Fior di Battaglia di Maestro Fiore dei Liberi da Premariacco. Bergamo: 1902.
- Rapisardi, Giovani. Fiore de' Liberi Flos Duellatorum - in armis, sine armis equester et pedesta. Gladitoria Press, 1998.
- Zanutto, D. Luigi. Fiore di Premariacco ed I Ludi e Le Feste Marziali e Civili in Friuli. Udine: D. Del Bianco, 1907.
References
- ↑ Internally dated on folio 1r
- ↑ dei Liberi's Pisani-Dosi Located. Sword Forum International. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ↑ Novati, pp 29-30.
- ↑ Lost Kal - Found in Plain Sight!. Sword Forum International. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ↑ Easton, Matt. "Fiore dei Liberi - Fior di Battaglia - Flos Duellatorum". Schola Gladiatoria. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
