Florius de Arte Luctandi (MS Latin 11269)

Florius de Arte Luctandi
MS Latin 11269, Bibliothèque nationale de France Paris, France
Title page, folio Ir
Hagedorn FLP Leng —
Wierschin — Hils —
Type	Fencing manual Wrestling manual
Date	ca. 1410s or 20s
Language(s)	Renaissance Latin
Author(s)	Fiore de'i Liberi
Translator	Unknown
Scribe(s)	Unknown
Illustrator(s)	Unknown
Material	Parchment, with a pasteboard leather cover
Size	44 folia (195 mm × 255 mm)
Format	Double-sided; two illustrations per side, with text above
Script	Semigothic
Identified	Ken Mondschein (2008) Fabrice Cognot (2008)
External data	Library catalog entry
Treatise scans	Digital scans (3000x4500) Digital scans (450x600)

Florius de Arte Luctandi ("The Flower of Battle", MS Latin 11269) is an Italian fencing manual translated from a treatise authored by Fiore de'i Liberi and probably created in the 1410s or 20s. The original currently rests in the holdings of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, France. MS Latin 11269 is written in a semigothic script on parchment in a pasteboard leather binding; the illustrations are inked and painted, with gold leafing on the crowns and garters. This manuscript is generally referred to as either the Florius or the Paris.

Any preface MS Latin 11269 once possessed is missing from the current form of the manuscript, and its current title was added much later in a 17th century hand. It consists of 44 folios with two pairings per page, and is the only copy of Fiore's treatise whose illustrations are fully painted. Unlike the other versions of his work, this manuscript is written entirely in Latin.

Determining the derivation of this manuscript is difficult. Its descriptions are cast in couplets and quatrains that closely resemble those of the Pisani Dossi version (FLPD), though often in a jumbled and semi-coherent fashion. The sequence is comparable to that of the Morgan version (FLM), beginning with mounted fighting and ending with wrestling on foot. The illustrations, though painted, often resemble those of the Getty version (FLG). Finally, in terms of content it contains plays otherwise unique to each of the other three manuscripts.

Provenance

The known provenance of the MS Latin 11269 is:

• Written in the early 15th century, probably after the completion of Flos Duellatorum in 1409.
• 1467 - Possibly the Ms. 75 in the catalog of the Biblioteca Estense, in which case the description at the time was "Book on fighting called Florius friuiolen, teaching the form of fencing actions in the duel, cursive lettering, small format, illustrated in many ways on many different pages with letters above the figures, with a white eagle and two crests depicted over the first page, covered in white sheepskin with bosses and one clasp. The number of pages written and unwritten are 58".
• ca. 1635 – rebound by a master papermaker who worked at the Puy-moyen mill for Sieur Janssen.
• before 1712 – in the Pontchartrain library, owned by Louis Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain (1643-1727). Donated to the Bibliothèque du Roi, where it was labeled Florius de Art Luctandi.
• 1712-present – held by the Bibliothèque du Roi/Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Contents

1v	The Seven Swords by Fiore de'i Liberi
2r - 5v	Mounted fencing by Fiore de'i Liberi
6r - 6v	Spear vs. cavalry by Fiore de'i Liberi
6v - 8v	Spear by Fiore de'i Liberi
8v - 10r	Axe in armor by Fiore de'i Liberi
10r - 12r	Sword in one hand by Fiore de'i Liberi
12v - 15v, 26r - 30v	Sword in two hands by Fiore de'i Liberi
16r - 19v	Sword in armor by Fiore de'i Liberi
20r - 20v	Sword vs. dagger by Fiore de'i Liberi
21r - 25v, 31r - 38r, 43r - 44r	Dagger by Fiore de'i Liberi
38v - 42v	Grappling by Fiore de'i Liberi
44r	Closing

Gallery

A collation diagram for this manuscript is available on the index page.

Front Cover

Inside Cover

Folio Ⅰr

Folio 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

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

Folio 42v

Folio 43r

Folio 43v

Folio 44r

Folio 44v

Folio Ⅱr

Folio Ⅱv

Inside Cover

Back Cover

Additional Resources

The following is a list of publications containing scans, transcriptions, and translations relevant to this article, as well as published peer-reviewed research.

• Baudet, Émeline (2013). Édition du Florius, de arte luctandi, BNF lat. 11269 [Unpublished thesis]. Paris: Université Paris Sorbonne.
• Lodà, Francesco (2014). Florius. De arte luctandi. Traduzione e cura del testo di Francesco Lodà. Rome: Bonanno Editore. ISBN 978-88-96950-86-9.
• Lodà, Francesco (2023). Florius. Reloaded. Rome: Eterea Edizioni. ISBN 978-88-32069-28-0.
• Marsden, Richard (2019). The Flower of Battle: MS Latin 11269. Trans. by Benjamin Winnick. Tyrant Industries. ISBN 978-0-9847716-3-9.
• Mondschein, Ken (2011). "Notes on Bibliothèque Nationale MS Lat. 11269, Florius de Arte Luctandi." Arms & Armour 8(2): 117-122. doi:10.1179/174962611X13097916223163.
• Mondschein, Ken (2018). "On the Art of Fighting: A Humanist Translation of Fiore dei Liberi's Flower of Battle Owned by Leonello D'Este." Acta Periodica Duellatorum 6(1): 99-135. doi:10.2478/apd-2018-0004.
• Mondschein, Ken; Gregory Mele (2018). Flowers of Battle, Volume 3: Florius de Arte Luctandi. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press. ISBN 978-1-937439-19-4.
• Палій, Людмила Іванівна (2020). "Витоки художнього стилю ілюстрацій «Квітки Битви» майстра Фіоре Фріулано деі Лібері." Науковий вісник Ужгородського університету 2(43): 84-102. doi:10.24144/2523-4498.2(43).2020.217366.

Copyright and License Summary

For further information, including transcription and translation notes, see the discussion page.

Work	Author(s)	Source	License
Images	Bibliothèque nationale de France	Gallica
Transcription	Kendra Brown and Rebecca Garber	Index:Florius de Arte Luctandi (MS Latin 11269)