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Revision as of 14:45, 4 October 2018

  1. ↑ Fiore Furlan means “Fiore the Friulian”, i.e. “Fiore of Friuli”. Friuli is an area in the extreme north-eastern corner of Italy, to the north-east of Venice, with Austria to the north and Slovenia to the east.
  2. ↑ Fiore the Friulian, of the free knights of Premariacco is usually referred to as Fiore dei Liberi (one translation would be “Fiore of the Free Knights”). We don’t know for sure whether “Fiore” (“Flower”) was his real name or a pen-name. “Fiore” certainly existed as a real name for a man in medieval Italy—it was a common unisex medieval Christian name derived from the Italian word for flower. Alternately “Flower of the Free Knights” also makes sense, meaning “The best of the free knights.” As to the question of whether “Liberi” is a family name or simply refers to the class of free knights, since the word is spelled in Fiore’s manuscripts, in Getty (“liberi”), Pisani-Dossi (“liberorum”) and Morgan (“liberi”), with a small “l” for “liberi”, I am translating this word not as a family name (“Liberi”) but as “free knights” (“milites liberi”).
  3. ↑ I have translated the entire Prologue into the first person “I”, rather than use the third person “Fiore”, so as to make it more friendly and direct to read.
  4. ↑ “Armiçare” or “Armizare” means the art of armed fighting or fighting with weapons. Fiore refers to his martial art as both “L’Arte d’Armizare” (Art of Armed Combat) and “La Scientia d’Armizare” (Science of Armed Combat). However, you should note that the words Arte and Scientia do not necessarily have their modern meanings. Arte may mean simply “skill” and the word “Scientia” may mean simply “knowledge”. Thus “the skill and knowledge of armed fighting”.
  5. ↑ Fiore is comparing the two kinds of fighting: sport/tournament (“combatter a sbarra”—“in the lists”) and mortal combat (“combatter adoltrança”—“to the death”). To fight “in the lists” was not however without serious risks of injury and/or death. Medieval knights took these tournaments very seriously as matters of honor, and renown was won and lost in such events. Fiore also appears to include duels of honor in his term “in sbara”. The fights he describes below include duels of honor.
  6. ↑ “tempere di ferri” means literally “the tempering of iron”. I have translated this liberally to “the construction of weapons” to more clearly reflect what I believe Fiore means here. See also fn. 37 below.
  7. ↑ It is important to remember that when Fiore refers to “Germans” and “Italians” he is referring to language/cultures and not referring to nation states. Neither “Germany” nor “Italy” existed at this time.
  8. ↑ Here is where Fiore names his martial art: “Arte d’Armizare”—“the Art of Armed Combat”.
  9. ↑ “in Sbarra” means literally “at the barriers”. In many medieval sporting events the combatants would fight with longswords or spears over a fence (barrier). This prevented the combatants from closing to grapple and thus tested their long range fighting skills. Fiore uses this term to refer to sporting events as opposed to fights to the death. Fiore tells us he was asked to teach for both.
  10. ↑ Piero del Verde (Getty), Piero dal Verde (Morgan), (lit. “Peter of the Green”), also named elsewhere as Paolo del Verde, Pietro del Verde and Pietro von Grünen, was a recorded German condottiero (mercenary) captain who died in 1384. His birth date is not known.
  11. ↑ Piero della Corona (Getty), Piero dalla Corona (Morgan) (lit “Peter of the Crown”), also named elsewhere as Pietro della Corona, Peter Kornwald, Pietro Cornuald, was another recorded German condottiero (mercenary) captain who died in 1391. His birth date is not known.
  12. ↑ Perosa/Perusia is now known as Perugia. It is situated about 100 miles north of Rome. The date of this duel is estimated between 1379 and 1381, when both knights are recorded as present in this region.
  13. ↑ Nicolo Voriçilino (Getty), Nicholo Vnriçilino (Morgan), is named elsewhere variously as Niccolo Voricilino, Niccolo Borialino, Niccolo Waizilino, Nikolaus Weiss , and Nicholas von Urslingen. There is no historical record, however, as to who this person was.
  14. ↑ Niccolo “Inghileso” (Getty and Morgan) translates as Nicholas “the Englishman”. However, there is no historical record as to who this person was.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 The city of Imola is about 120 miles south-west of Venice.
  16. ↑ Galeazzo de Capitani da Grimello da Mantova (Getty), Galeaz delli capitani de Grimello chiamado da Montoa (Morgan), also named Galeazzo de Mantova (eng. Mantua), Galeazzo Cattaneo dei Grumelli, and Galeazzo Gonzaga, was an Italian condottiero captain who died in 1406. We do not know his birth. Significantly Galeazzo fought two duels against Buzichardo de Fraza, also known as Boucicault, one in 1395 that was stopped by the supervising Lord where the parties were evenly matched, and one in 1406, where Galeazzo defeated Boucicault. To be able to say that one of his students defeated the mighty Boucicault in single combat would have looked very impressive on Fiore’s resume.
  17. ↑ Buçichardo de Fraca (Getty), Briçichardo de Franza (Morgan), named elsewhere as Buzichardo de Fraza, also known as Boucicault, or Jean II Le Maingre (1364-1421), was a French military general who was honored by King Charles VI as Marshall of France in 1391, and was a knight of great renown for his military skill, and his strength and athleticism in single combat. Apparently at a dinner at which both Boucicault and Galeazzo were present, Boucicault insulted Italians claiming he could beat any Italian knight in single combat. Galeazzo accepted the challenge, and the two fought with spears on foot in 1395, a duel that was a draw, when it was halted by the supervising lord, Francesco Gonzaga, Lord of Mantova. The enmity was not forgotten however, and the two repeated their duel in 1406, this time on horseback with lances, at which time Boucicault was defeated by Galeazzo.
  18. ↑ Padova (Padua) is about 20 miles west of Venice.
  19. ↑ A squire was a nobleman who was trained and skilled in the knightly arts, but who had not yet been knighted. Note the fighting abilities of the squire were not necessarily any different from the knight proper.
  20. ↑ Lancillotto da Becharia de Pavia (Getty), Lanzilotto de Boecharia da Pavia (Morgan), also called Lancilotto Beccaria was an Italian condottiero captain who died in 1418. We do not know his birthdate.
  21. ↑ Notice that although these are “sporting events” they were using real spears.
  22. ↑ Baldassarro (Getty), Baldesar (Morgan) refers to the German knight Balthasar von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen (1336-1385)
  23. ↑ Gioanino de Bavo (Getty), Zohanni de Baio (Morgan), also named Giovannino da Baio likely refers to the French knight Jean de Bayeux, who is recorded as being in the area at this time.
  24. ↑ The city of Pavia is 20 miles south of Milan.
  25. ↑ The identity of the German squire named Sram (Getty and Morgan), Schraam, or Schramm, is not known.
  26. ↑ Açço da Castell Barcho (Getty), Azo da Castelbarcho (Morgan), refers to Azzone Francesco di Castelbarco, an Italian condottiero captain who died in 1410. We do not know his birthdate.
  27. ↑ Çuanne di Ordelaffi (Getty), Zohanni di li Ordelaffig (Morgan) refers to Giovanni Ordelaffi, an Italian condottiero captain (1355-1399).
  28. ↑ Jacomo di Boson (Getty), Jacomo de Besen (Morgan), or Giacomo da Boson, likely refers to the German nobleman Jakob von Bozen.
  29. ↑ These were duels of honor, and were taken very seriously in these times.
  30. ↑ Fiore actually says that the swords are “di taglo e di punta” meaning literally “for cutting and thrusting”, or “sharp edged and pointed”.
  31. ↑ A “çuparello darmare” or “zuparello d’armare” is an arming jacket, that is, a cloth padded jacket worn underneath armour as a foundation garment.
  32. ↑ We don’t know if this means he won all five duels, or simply acquitted himself well. But he says he was not injured.
  33. ↑ In addition to “L’Arte d’Armizare” (the art of armed fighting), L’Arte del Combattere (the art of combat) is a second name Fiore gives to his art.
  34. ↑ If they never lost and always acquitted themselves honorably, then presumably they always either won or drew.
  35. ↑ Letter scratched out, possibly "n".
  36. ↑ The word is decretali (Decretals). A Decretal is a Papal Constitution in letter form, i.e., a written decree from a Pope stating the Church’s legal position on a specific legal or moral issue.
  37. ↑ Scientia d’Armizare is Fiore’s other term for his Arte d’Armizare. Scientia means science or knowledge. Thus Scientia d’Armizare could translate as “Knowledge of Armed Combat” or “Science of Armed Combat.”
  38. ↑ Fiore writes di ferri e di tempere which literally means “of iron and of tempering”, i.e., hardening of steel. However, since Fiore’s manuscript clearly does not show anything about blacksmithing or how weapons are actually made, this literal translation does not serve me. Thus I changed it to “weapons and their applications”.
  39. ↑ It is not clear here whether Fiore is saying he actually consulted with Niccolo III of Este prior to the creation of the book, that Niccolo indicated how he wants the book laid out, and that Fiore has decided to lay it out exactly as Niccolo has asked for it to be done, or simply that he knows what Niccolo likes.
  40. ↑ I translate Abrazare or Abracare as “grappling” rather than “wrestling”, since wrestling suggests ground-fighting, and there is no ground fighting in Fiore’s system.
  41. ↑ The word solaço means “pleasure”. Fiore means grappling for sport. Fiore is distinguishing between fighting for fun and fighting to the death.
  42. ↑ The expression da ira means “in anger”. Fiore is contrasting this with grappling for fun. Thus I have translated ira as “earnest”.
  43. ↑ Both ingano and falsita mean “deceit”. It is not clear why Fiore uses both, but any difference in these two words are lost in translation. I therefore translated ingano as “cunning” so that there were still three words as in the original.
  44. ↑ The word crudelita means “cruelty”. I prefer the word “viciousness” here.
  45. ↑ The taking of guards would suggest he has some training and thus some skill in grappling.
  46. ↑ The words are prese (“holds”, “grips” or grapples”) and ligadure (“locks” or “binds”).
  47. ↑ inle femine sottol mento means literally “in the soft part below the chin”. Fiore means the throat/larynx.
  48. ↑ The fianchi, the “flanks”, are the unprotected (“soft”) areas of the side of the torso, below the lower ribs but above the hips.
  49. ↑ Viii chose means literally “eight things”.
  50. ↑ Note: attributes numbers 4 and 8 seem to be the same attribute. This is noted especially because in the earlier Pisani Dossi manuscript Fiore tells us there are seven attributes (not eight as here in the Getty). Roture (“breaking”), Romper (“tearing apart”) and Dislogar (“dislocating”) arms and legs appear here to be duplicative.
  51. ↑ Frontale means the front of the head, i.e., the forehead. Elsewhere Fiore comments that this guard is often named (by others) as Posta Corona (“The Crown Guard”), the “crown” referring to the top of the head.
  52. ↑ Dredo means “Behind” but in this context it translates better as “after”, be cause we can see from the way the manuscript is laid out that the remedies are shown first, and the counters later.
  53. ↑ The “Special” Remedy that comes at the very end, that Fiore is referring to is a Counter to the Counter, which, as you will see below, Fiore calls Contra-contrario or the “Counter-counter”.
  54. ↑ Written at the end of the line, with a mark indicating the insertion point.
  55. ↑ Literally “Masters of the Battle” or “Masters of the Fight”.
  56. ↑ Fiore just calls him the “Second Master”, but Fiore means by this that he is the Second Master of Battle.
  57. ↑ Fiore here calls them Zugadori (Players) rather than Scolari (Students), but that is confusing, because the way the manuscript is visually structured, the students of the Remedy Master who wear the golden garter are named Scolari (Students), not Zugadori (Players). The Zugadori are drawn without any garter at all. Therefore here I translate zugadori as Students (Scolari), so as to be consistent with what is drawn.
  58. ↑ Divisa means literally “device” but also refers to a uniform or insignia that marks a person's rank or position. I have chosen to translate the word divisa as “garter”. In the PD, Fiore refers to the golden ribbon worn around one leg by the Students as a lista doro. A lista is a strip of material, like a ribbon, garter or scarf. Doro means D’oro - “of gold.”
  59. ↑ Fiore actually writes “The Remedy Master and his plays, but since the Counter Master also defects the Remedy Master’s students, who show all the plays, I decided to translate it as above.
  60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 Should be "et e"?
  61. ↑ I’ve rearranged the sentences here to make my translation clearer. Thus the red and blue letters in the original don’t match up at all in my translation.
  62. ↑ Fiore actually says libro (“book”), but I’ve changed it to “system”.
  63. ↑ The word Rubriche means writing in red ink. I chose to translate this word simply as “text”.
  64. ↑ "e di maistri" appears twice in a row in the text, but isn't struck out like other duplications.
  65. ↑ Corrected from "a"(?) to "i".
  66. ↑ This was translated from an Italian translation of the Latin, and needs to be checked against the original language to be promoted to B-class.
  67. ↑ The full statement, as given by Philippo di Vadi, is "It is not meet that the Imperial Majesty be honored in arms alone, but it is necessary also that it be armored in sacred laws". (El non bixogna solo la maestà inperiale essere honorata di arme ma ancora è necesario epsa sia armata de le sacre legge.)
  68. ↑ Word disrupted by a lynx.
  69. ↑ “Lovo cerviero” (Lupo Cerviere) translates literally as “sharp-eyed wolf”. Fiore means the Eurasian Lynx that was said to have not only astonishing eyesight and the ability to see in the dark, but also the ability to see around corners and even see into the future. The choice of the Lynx to represent the ability to “read” the fight and proceed carefully is thus meaningful. The lynx has been used to symbolize the search for knowledge, or the search for the truth. In 1603, for example, the Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynxes) was founded in Italy, dedicated to providing a sharp and penetrating insight into science and nature. For its emblem, the academy chose the lynx, and its symbol, the lynx passant is remarkably similar to Fiore’s lynx. The great Galileo himself was inducted into the Accademia dei Lincei in 1609, and published papers under the Accademia dei Lincei name. In fact, after joining the Accademia dei Lincei, Gailieo thereafter signed his name Galileo Galilei Linceo (“Galileo the Lynx”).
  70. ↑ “A sesto e misura” - Fiore’s Lynx represents the intelligence and scientific application of knowledge. Hence it proceeds literally holding a “sesta” which is a pair of compasses or dividers. Note “sesta” is the pair of dividers, used for drawing circles and arcs and for measuring distance, not a nautical compass showing north south east west. A “misura” is a measure or rule, also used for measuring and drawing. The symbol of freemasonry is the “compass and square” (the square being a type of rule, namely two rules at right angles to each other). “A misura” means “with measure”, i.e. carefully. See, for example, Compass-and-straightedge construction.
  71. ↑ 'subitos' is problematic, meaning plural masculine things that appear or attack unexpectedly. 'subito' is an adverb meaning 'suddenly', which appears several other times in the text. 'subitos' only appears here.
  72. ↑ The final letters are obliterated; the likeliest candidates are "am" or "or"
  73. ↑ This word does not appear in any dictionary. It must be a misspelling of some word related to lightning such as fulmen or a conjugation of fulminare.
  74. ↑ Fiore’s Tigro is not the black and orange striped tiger (cat family), but is a mythical creature from the medieval Bestiaries that resembles a giant wolfhound (dog family). The tiny mouse-like creature drawn in the Getty does not do justice to this mighty mythical Tiger that was said to be as big as a horse and was attributed incredible speed. There is a most beautiful painting of a medieval Tiger in the Aberdeen Bestiary.
  75. ↑ “la sagitta del cielo” means literally “the arrow from the sky”. Fiore means of course a bolt of lightning.
  76. ↑ “Avanzare” means to excel or surpass. I understand Fiore to be saying that the Tiger is faster than lightning.
  77. ↑ This abbreviation can also be read "nec."
  78. ↑ This punctuation mark is not used elsewhere in the text, and its meaning is not known. It could be a tie-mark indicating a word written in the margin and labeled with this punctuation should be inserted here.
  79. ↑ These words are not visible in standard photography; this reading is based on ultraviolet imaging.
  80. ↑ “Ne perdo vargo” means literally “I do not lose my way”. From the Bestiaries however we understand that what the Elephant never does is fall over. In the Bestiaries we are told the Elephant has no knees and if it once lies down can never get up again. Thus Fiore’s Elephant stands for stability and sure-footedness. The Aberdeen Bestiary reads as follows: “[Of the elephant] ... no larger animal is seen. The Persians and Indians, carried in wooden towers on their backs, fight with javelins as from a wall. ...The elephant has this characteristic: if it falls down, it cannot rise. But it falls when it leans on a tree in order to sleep, for it has no joints in its knees. A hunter cuts part of the way through the tree, so that when the elephant leans against it, elephant and tree will fall together.”
  81. ↑ The bottom of the page, including the elephant verse, has been cut off.
  82. ↑ Added later: "pro".
  83. ↑ Added later: "scilicet tu".
  84. ↑ It looks like the period maybe was changed to a slash/comma.
  85. ↑ Nec sine is an emphatic, not a negation.
  86. ↑ Phrase doubled.
  87. ↑ Apposui is clearly “I served up,” but with the convention that the captions are spoken by the wearer of the crown or garter, this makes little sense (as the palms are in the face of that person). Further, the Pisani Dossi text reverses the speaker.
  88. ↑ Added later: "+ ut".
  89. ↑ Added later: "+ posuj".
  90. ↑ Added later: "scilicet ego".
  91. ↑ Added later: "situ".
  92. ↑ Added later: "& mergit".
  93. ↑ Added later: "scilicet ego".
  94. ↑ Tot: so many, such a number.
  95. ↑ Added later: "tu scilicet".
  96. ↑ The accusatives [direct objects] are unusual in both of these lines
  97. ↑ There are no personal pronouns indicating whose eyes are getting injured in this couplet. Only the second person verb in the first line indicates whose eyes are getting damaged.
  98. ↑ "senza" appears twice, but neither is struck out.
  99. ↑ "de" appears twice, but neither is struck out.
  100. ↑ cautus (from cavere) is a common term in Roman jurist texts, where it means security in the sense of assurance or collateral
  101. ↑ Maybe "laevo".
  102. ↑ Possibly a scribal error—the first sentence seems to be missing a “me” and the second has one it doesn’t need.
  103. ↑ The illustration clearly shows a thrust to the arm, not the shoulder.
  104. ↑ Could be “praesto”, Latin adv. “ready, available” or Italian “presto”.
  105. ↑ Added later: "scilicet occidam"
  106. ↑ The character ꝑ (a p with a stroke through the descender) would indicate that it should be read as per, but since romperer isn't a word and the stroke is much shorter than usual, I think it was an error and the scribe stopped writing it as soon as he realized. I have thus transcribed it as a normal p.
  107. ↑ Alternative with accusatives in opposite order: “I would seize the arm(s) in front suddenly / <I> the strong one would bring the dagger around in a violent whirling motion close by the elbow.”
  108. ↑ Added later: "scilicet ego".
  109. ↑ Interestingly, this page appears to be dirty and damaged; the recto looks like it’s warped from water damage. The next several pages also show warping; the art quality has also declined substantially.
  110. ↑ Or "backhand cover"
  111. ↑ Or "of the backhand cover"
  112. ↑ Or "reverse cover"
  113. ↑ Added later: "scilicet ego".
  114. ↑ This page has lots of dirt smudges, drips, and stains; some—to the left of the combatants in the upper register, and just below the verse in the lower—look like they might be handwritten smudges, but without clear meaning.
  115. ↑ Denodare appears to be a technical term for breaking or dislocating limbs; appears only in Ducange.
  116. ↑ Added later: "scilicet revolutum".
  117. ↑ Or "Master's reverse cover"
  118. ↑ Or "with the reverse cover"
  119. ↑ Added later: "ego s."
  120. ↑ Demittere mentem is recorded (by Bantam dictionary) as an idiom meaning “to lose heart”. Possibly mente sedebit is referencing this, in a pun (e.g., demittere in the sense of depose, and sedeo in the sense of hold court).
  121. ↑ There is an unreadable marking here.
  122. ↑ Added later: "ego scilicet".
  123. ↑ Added later: "scilicet ego".
  124. ↑ This looks like it may have originally said “veter” but was corrected to “vetes” (e.g. from first person present passive to second active present).
  125. ↑ See Capelli 285; this can be read as either prope (near) or proprie (specifically).
  126. ↑ Literally “the two palms”.
  127. ↑ Should be "defendam".
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