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{{Infobox writer
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{{infobox writer
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| name                 = [[name::Fiore Furlano de’i Liberi]]
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| name                   = Pseudo Ibn Akḥī Ḥizām
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| image               = File:Fiore delli Liberi.jpg
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| image                   =  
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| imagesize           = 250px
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| imagesize               =  
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| caption             = This master with a forked beard appears sporadically throughout both the Getty and Pisani Dossi mss., and may be a representation of Fiore himself.
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| caption                 =  
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| birthdate               = 10th AH/15th CE century
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| pseudonym            =
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| birthplace             = Egypt? Syria?
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| birthname            =  
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| occupation              = Mamluk scribe?
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| birthdate           = 1340s
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| nationality            = Circassian Period (“Burjī”) Mamluk
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| birthplace           = Cividale del Friuli, Friuli
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| influences              = {{plainlist
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| deathdate            = after 1420
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  | Mamluk Martial Arts Literature
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| deathplace          = France (?)
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  | Lāchin b. ʿAbdallāh al-Ṭarablūsī
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| resting_place        =
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  | Ibn Akhī Ḥizām
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| occupation          = {{plainlist
 
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| [[occupation::Diplomat]]
 
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| [[Fencing master]]{{#set: occupation=Fencing master }}
 
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| [[occupation::Mercenary]]
 
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}}
 
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| language            = {{plainlist
 
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| [[language::Middle Italian]]
 
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| [[language::Renaissance Latin]]
 
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}}
 
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| nationality          = Friulian
 
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| ethnicity            =
 
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| citizenship          =
 
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| education            =
 
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| alma_mater          =
 
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| patron              = {{plainlist
 
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| Gian Galeazzo Visconti (?)
 
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| Niccolò III d’Este (?)
 
 
}}
 
}}
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| genre                  = Military manual
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| period              =  
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| language                = Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
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| genre                = {{plainlist
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| notableworks            =  
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| [[Fencing manual]]
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| manuscript(s)          = [[Kitāb al-maḫzūn ğāmi' al-funūn (MS Arabe 2824)|MS Arabe 2824]] (1470)
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| [[Wrestling manual]]
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| wiktenauer compilation by=
 
}}
 
}}
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| subject              =
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'''''Kitāb al-makhzūn: Jāmiʿ al-funūn''''' ("The Treasure: A Work that Gathers Together Combative Arts"; colophon dated 875 AH/1470-1CE) is an Arabic language work in the classical style of Mamluk furūsīya literature. The work is attributed to the famous «father» of Islamicate martial arts literature Ibn Akhī Ḥizām (c. 250 AH/ 864 CE; given as Ibn Akhī Khuzām), yet is clearly the work of a Mamluk author. Agnès Carayon suggests that a grandee of the Circassian Mamluk (''Burjī'') court commissioned the work, potentially for Sultan Qāʾitbay (r. 1468-1496). Composite in nature, the work is most likely a summary of other, more voluminous works—such as ''Nihāyat al-suʾl wa-l-amnīya fī taʿlīm aʿmāl al-furūsīya'' ("The End of Questioning: A Trustworthy Work concerning Instruction in the Deeds of Furūsīya") by Al-Aqsarāʾī (c. 9th cent. AH/14th cent CE). Certain sections begin and then trail off, while others remain incomplete, suggesting that this work is composite in nature and was most likely a summary or copy of other works both extant and lost. The author does not cite other authors within the body of the text itself.
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| movement            =
 
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| notableworks        = ''The Flower of Battle''
 
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| manuscript(s)        = {{collapsible list
 
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| Codex LXXXIV (before 1436)
 
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| Codex CX (before 1436)
 
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| [[Fior di Battaglia (MS M.383)|MS M.383]] (1400s)
 
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| [[Fior di Battaglia (MS Ludwig XV 13)|MS Ludwig XV 13]] (1400s)
 
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| [[Flos Duellatorum (Pisani Dossi MS)|Pisani Dossi MS]] (1409)
 
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| [[Florius de Arte Luctandi (MS Latin 11269)|MS Latin 11269]] (1410s?)
 
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| [[Fior di Battaglia (MS XXIV)|MS XXIV]] (1699)
 
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}}
 
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| principal manuscript(s)=
 
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| first printed edition=
 
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| wiktenauer compilation by=[[Michael Chidester]]
 
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| spouse              =
 
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| partner              =
 
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| children            =
 
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| relatives            = Benedetto de’i Liberi
 
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| influences          = {{plainlist
 
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| [[Johannes Suvenus|Johane Suveno]]
 
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| [[Nicholai de Toblem]]
 
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}}
 
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| influenced          = [[Philippo di Vadi]]
 
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| awards              =
 
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| signature            =
 
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| website              =
 
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| translations        =
 
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| below                =
 
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}}
 
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'''Fiore Furlano de’i Liberi de Cividale d’Austria''' (Fiore delli Liberi, Fiore Furlano, Fiore de Cividale d’Austria; ca. 1340s - 1420s) was a late [[century::14th century]] knight, diplomat, and itinerant [[fencing master]]. He was born in Cividale del Friuli, a town in the Patriarchal State of Aquileia (in the Friuli region of modern-day Italy), the son of Benedetto and scion of a Liberi house of Premariacco. The term ''Liberi'', while potentially merely a surname, more probably indicates that his family had Imperial immediacy (''Reichsunmittelbarkeit''), either as part of the ''nobili liberi'' (''Edelfrei'', "free nobles"), the Germanic unindentured knightly class which formed the lower tier of nobility in the Middle Ages, or possibly of the rising class of Imperial Free Knights. It has been suggested by various historians that Fiore and Benedetto were descended from Cristallo dei Liberi of Premariacco, who was granted immediacy in 1110 by Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich V, but this has yet to be proven.
 
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Fiore wrote that he had a natural inclination to the martial arts and began training at a young age, ultimately studying with “countless” masters from both Italic and Germanic lands. He had ample opportunity to interact with both, being born in the Holy Roman Empire and later traveling widely in the northern Italian states. Unfortunately, not all of these encounters were friendly: Fiore wrote of meeting many “false” or unworthy masters in his travels, most of whom lacked even the limited skill he'd expect in a good student. He further mentions that on five separate occasions he was forced to fight [[duel]]s for his honor against certain of these masters who he described as envious because he refused to teach them his art; the duels were all fought with sharp swords, unarmored except for gambesons and chamois gloves, and he won each without injury.
 
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Writing very little on his own career as a commander and master at arms, Fiore laid out his credentials for his readers in other ways. He stated that foremost among the masters who trained him was one [[Johannes Suvenus|Johane dicto Suueno]], who he notes was a disciple of [[Nicholai de Toblem]]; unfortunately, both names are given in Latin so there is little we can conclude about them other than that they were probably among the Italians and Germans he alludes to, and that one or both were well known in Fiore's time. He further offered an extensive list of the famous ''condottieri'' that he trained, including Piero Paolo del Verde (Peter von Grünen), Niccolo Unricilino (Nikolo von Urslingen), Galeazzo Cattaneo dei Grumelli (Galeazzo Gonzaga da Mantova), Lancillotto Beccaria di Pavia, Giovannino da Baggio di Milano, and Azzone di Castelbarco, and also highlights some of their martial exploits.
 
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The only known historical mentions of Fiore appear in connection with the Aquileian War of Succession, which erupted in 1381 as a coalition of secular nobles from Udine and surrounding cities sought to remove the newly appointed Patriarch (prince-bishop of Aquileia), Philippe II d'Alençon. Fiore seems to have supported the secular nobility against the Cardinal; he traveled to Udine in 1383 and was granted residency in the city on 3 August. On 30 September, the high council tasked him with inspection and maintenance of city's weapons, including the [[artillery]] pieces defending Udine (large crossbows and catapults). In February of 1384, he was assigned the task of recruiting a mercenary company to augment Udine's forces and leading them back to the city. This task seems to have been accomplished in three months or less, as on 23 May he appeared before the high council again and was sworn in as a sort of magistrate charged with keeping the peace in one of the city's districts. After May 1384, the historical record is silent on Fiore's activities; the war continued until a new Patriarch was appointed in 1389 and a peace settlement was reached, but it's unclear if Fiore remained involved for the duration. Given that he appears in council records four times in 1383-4, it would be quite odd for him to be completely unmentioned over the subsequent five years if he remained, and since his absence from records coincides with a proclamation in July of that year demanding that Udine cease hostilities or face harsh repercussions, it seems more likely that he moved on.
 
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Based on his autobiographical account, Fiore traveled a good deal in northern Italy, teaching fencing and training men for duels. He seems to have been in Perugia in 1381 in this capacity, when his student Peter von Grünen likely fought a duel with Peter Kornwald. In 1395, he can be placed in Padua training the mercenary captain Galeazzo Gonzaga of Mantua for a duel with the French marshal Jean II le Maingre (who went by the war name “Boucicaut”). Galeazzo made the challenge when Boucicaut called into question the valor of Italians at the royal court of France, and the duel was ultimately set for Padua on 15 August. Both Francesco Novello da Carrara, Lord of Padua, and Francesco Gonzaga, Lord of Mantua, were in attendance. The duel was to begin with [[spear]]s on [[:category:Mounted Fencing|horseback]], but Boucicaut became impatient and dismounted, attacking Galeazzo before he could mount his own horse. Galeazzo landed a solid blow on the Frenchman’s helmet, but was subsequently disarmed. At this point, Boucicaut called for his poleaxe but the lords intervened to end the duel.
 
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Fiore surfaces again in Pavia in 1399, this time training Giovannino da Baggio for a duel with a German squire named Sirano. It was fought on 24 June and attended by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, as well as the Duchess and other nobles. The duel was to consist of three bouts of mounted lance followed by three bouts each of dismounted [[poleaxe]], [[estoc]], and [[dagger]]. They ultimately rode two additional passes and on the fifth, Baggio impaled Sirano’s horse through the chest, slaying the horse but losing his lance in the process. They fought the other nine bouts as scheduled, and due to the strength of their armor (and the fact that all of the weapons were blunted), both combatants reportedly emerged from these exchanges unharmed.
 
  
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Fiore was likely involved in at least one other duel that year, that of his final student Azzone di Castelbarco and Giovanni degli Ordelaffi, as the latter is known to have died in 1399. After Castelbarco’s duel, Fiore’s activities are unclear. Based on the allegiances of the nobles that he trained in the 1390s, he seems to have been associated with the ducal court of Milan in the latter part of his career. Some time in the first years of the 1400s, Fiore composed a fencing treatise in Italian and Latin called "The Flower of Battle" (rendered variously as ''Fior di Battaglia'', ''Florius de Arte Luctandi'', and ''Flos Duellatorum''). The briefest version of the text is dated to 1409 and indicates that it was a labor of six months and great personal effort; as evidence suggests that at least two longer versions were composed some time before this, we may assume that he devoted a considerable amount of time to writing during this decade.
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The text of ''Jāmiʿ al-funūn'' is by and large more classical in nature with a great deal of dialectal, Egyptian Arabic of the period. This pertains both to vocabulary (ex: ''bāṭ'' for ''ibāṭ'' "armpit" throughout; ''jawwān'' as a preposition) as well as to grammar (verbs not in gender alignment, plurality disagreements, grammatical inconsistencies of adverbial phrases etc.). An introductory phrase in Ottoman Turkish in the beginning of the text has it that on «The seventh night of Muharram, 975 AH (1567CE)” a certain “Ṣilāhdār Aǧa” Dervish (unknown) petitioned God to be among those counted as Muhammad’s companions. Likewise, the intricate title page has “The owner of this work is Derviş Ağa” crossed out in black ink. Whether or not this was a higher ranking “Arms-Bearer” of the Sultan cannot be confirmed. The version from which the following translation stems is Bibliothèque Nationale MS 2824 (another version can be found in the same collection: MS 2826). Scholars have yet to produce a critical edition of this work.
  
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Beyond this, nothing certain is known of Fiore's activities in the 15th century. [[Francesco Novati]] and [[D. Luigi Zanutto]] both assume that some time before 1409 he accepted an appointment as court fencing master to Niccolò III d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara, Modena, and Parma; presumably he would have made this change when Milan fell into disarray in 1402, though Zanutto went so far as to speculate that he trained Niccolò for his 1399 passage at arms. However, while the records of the d’Este library indicate the presence of two versions of "the Flower of Battle", it seems more likely that the manuscripts were written as a diplomatic gift to Ferrara from Milan when they made peace in 1404. C. A. Blengini di Torricella stated that late in life he made his way to Paris, France, where he could be placed teaching fencing in 1418 and creating a copy of a [[fencing manual]] located there in 1420. Though he attributes these facts to Novati, no publication verifying them has yet been located and this anecdote may be entirely spurious. The time and place of Fiore's death remain unknown.
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Despite its brevity in comparison to other works of the Mamluk furūsīya tradition, Jāmiʿ al-funūn provides a great deal of insight into the ways in which the Mamluks trained their troops. The illustrations featured in the work are some of the best examples of the medium. Distinct from other works in the genre with lengthy introductions, Jāmiʿ al-funūn begins with only minor benedictions, then jumps straight into a description of how to establish the training area for cavalry exercises – the nāwārd. From there, the author displays 72 bunūd or paired lance exercises – most likely inspired by al-Ṭarāblūsī’s famous 72 forms (c . 738 AH / 1337-8 CE). Following this, the author then treats issues deemed relevant to the development of a cavalier, without a particular logic to the ordering of the sections.
  
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Despite the depth and complexity of his writings, Fiore de’i Liberi does not seem to have been a very significant master in the evolution of fencing in Central Europe. That field was instead dominated by the traditions of 14th century master [[Johannes Liechtenauer]] in the Holy Roman Empire and of Fiore's near-contemporary [[Filippo di Bartolomeo Dardi]] in Italy. Even so, there are a number of later treatises which bear strong resemblance to his work, including the writings of [[Philippo di Vadi]] and [[Ludwig VI von Eyb]]. This may be due to the direct influence of Fiore or his writings, or it may instead indicate that the older tradition of Johane and Nicholai survived and spread outside of Fiore's direct line.
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Unlike other works of furūsīya, ''Jāmiʿ al-funūn'' contains several sections detailing the ways in which soldiers can train for combat on foot. Most notably, the author presents a system for training swordsmanship. The work begins with instruction on the ways in which one can execute paired exercises with cane fighting, dagger fighting, and cane and shield fighting on foot. The author details the proper ways to feint and hit, the ways in which one can parry and riposte (and disarm), and where to target with a sword. In the author’s system, training with the cane was a safe means to perfect one’s technique before moving on to using sharp swords in battle. After training with the cane, the author recommends perfecting test cutting on clay mounds as a way to develop arm strength and ensure proper edge alignment. Following  both of these methods of training, a potential cavalier would be ready to pursue test cutting on horseback.
  
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([[Fiore de'i Liberi|Read more]]...)
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([[Pseudo-Ibn Akḥī Ḥizām|Read more]]…)
  
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<dl>
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Latest revision as of 02:46, 11 March 2025

Pseudo Ibn Akḥī Ḥizām
Born 10th AH/15th CE century
Egypt? Syria?
Occupation Mamluk scribe?
Nationality Circassian Period (“Burjī”) Mamluk
Influences
  • Mamluk Martial Arts Literature
  • Lāchin b. ʿAbdallāh al-Ṭarablūsī
  • Ibn Akhī Ḥizām
Genres Military manual
Language Arabic, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic
Manuscript(s) MS Arabe 2824 (1470)

Kitāb al-makhzūn: Jāmiʿ al-funūn ("The Treasure: A Work that Gathers Together Combative Arts"; colophon dated 875 AH/1470-1CE) is an Arabic language work in the classical style of Mamluk furūsīya literature. The work is attributed to the famous «father» of Islamicate martial arts literature Ibn Akhī Ḥizām (c. 250 AH/ 864 CE; given as Ibn Akhī Khuzām), yet is clearly the work of a Mamluk author. Agnès Carayon suggests that a grandee of the Circassian Mamluk (Burjī) court commissioned the work, potentially for Sultan Qāʾitbay (r. 1468-1496). Composite in nature, the work is most likely a summary of other, more voluminous works—such as Nihāyat al-suʾl wa-l-amnīya fī taʿlīm aʿmāl al-furūsīya ("The End of Questioning: A Trustworthy Work concerning Instruction in the Deeds of Furūsīya") by Al-Aqsarāʾī (c. 9th cent. AH/14th cent CE). Certain sections begin and then trail off, while others remain incomplete, suggesting that this work is composite in nature and was most likely a summary or copy of other works both extant and lost. The author does not cite other authors within the body of the text itself.

The text of Jāmiʿ al-funūn is by and large more classical in nature with a great deal of dialectal, Egyptian Arabic of the period. This pertains both to vocabulary (ex: bāṭ for ibāṭ "armpit" throughout; jawwān as a preposition) as well as to grammar (verbs not in gender alignment, plurality disagreements, grammatical inconsistencies of adverbial phrases etc.). An introductory phrase in Ottoman Turkish in the beginning of the text has it that on «The seventh night of Muharram, 975 AH (1567CE)” a certain “Ṣilāhdār Aǧa” Dervish (unknown) petitioned God to be among those counted as Muhammad’s companions. Likewise, the intricate title page has “The owner of this work is Derviş Ağa” crossed out in black ink. Whether or not this was a higher ranking “Arms-Bearer” of the Sultan cannot be confirmed. The version from which the following translation stems is Bibliothèque Nationale MS 2824 (another version can be found in the same collection: MS 2826). Scholars have yet to produce a critical edition of this work.

Despite its brevity in comparison to other works of the Mamluk furūsīya tradition, Jāmiʿ al-funūn provides a great deal of insight into the ways in which the Mamluks trained their troops. The illustrations featured in the work are some of the best examples of the medium. Distinct from other works in the genre with lengthy introductions, Jāmiʿ al-funūn begins with only minor benedictions, then jumps straight into a description of how to establish the training area for cavalry exercises – the nāwārd. From there, the author displays 72 bunūd or paired lance exercises – most likely inspired by al-Ṭarāblūsī’s famous 72 forms (c . 738 AH / 1337-8 CE). Following this, the author then treats issues deemed relevant to the development of a cavalier, without a particular logic to the ordering of the sections.

Unlike other works of furūsīya, Jāmiʿ al-funūn contains several sections detailing the ways in which soldiers can train for combat on foot. Most notably, the author presents a system for training swordsmanship. The work begins with instruction on the ways in which one can execute paired exercises with cane fighting, dagger fighting, and cane and shield fighting on foot. The author details the proper ways to feint and hit, the ways in which one can parry and riposte (and disarm), and where to target with a sword. In the author’s system, training with the cane was a safe means to perfect one’s technique before moving on to using sharp swords in battle. After training with the cane, the author recommends perfecting test cutting on clay mounds as a way to develop arm strength and ensure proper edge alignment. Following both of these methods of training, a potential cavalier would be ready to pursue test cutting on horseback.

(Read more…)

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