Marc'Antonio Pagano

Marc'Antonio Pagano
Born	Early XVI century
Died	1560 ca.
Relative(s)	Pietro Pagano (father) Gioan Girolamo (nephew) Mutio Pagano (nephew)
Occupation	Fencing master
Patron	Juan Ramires de Montalvo Luigi Carafa, prince of Stigliano
Movement	Neapolitan Swordmanship
Genres	Fencing manual
Language	Italian
Manuscript(s)	Le tre giornate di Marc'Antonio Pagano, Gentiluomo Napolitano, dintorno la disciplina de l'arme et spetialmente della spada sola (1553)

Marc'Antonio Pagano (1500-1560 ca) was a Neapolitan fencing master, who lived in the first half of the XVIth century and wrote the first known treatise of southern Italy.

Life

Marc’Antonio was born around the beginning of the XVIth century, probably in the area between Salerno and Naples. Little is known about his private life. He belonged to a very ancient feudal family of the Realm, deeply involved in warfare and administration, and very close to the royal house of Aragon. With the advent of the viceroyalty, the family obtained relevant positions inside the military and a lot of its members followed the career under the Imperial sign. Many of them died during military actions, like one of the young protagonists of the dialog, Mutio, who was killed in Flanders. The most important information about Marc’Antonio is reported in a book written by one of his nephews, Cesare. Cesare states that since the age of 7 Marc’Antonio was dedicated to fighting on foot and on horse. At the age of 49, he dedicated himself to teaching. He died ten years later. In his work about equitation, Antonio Ferraro gave us another clue about the career of Marc’Antonio as a teacher. It seems, in fact, that he was master of arms for a branch of the house of Carafa, one of the most important in the Realm. This branch was the same that held the title of princes of Stigliano and duke of Mondragone, the place where the dialog is set. He was also the master of other relevant personalities. The famous erudite and historian Summonte also reported the interesting point that Marc’Antonio was a member of the Seat of Porto, one of the organizational structures of the nobility in the city of Naples. In 1547 he took part in the uprising against the introduction of the inquisition in the Realm: citizens armed with capes and swords and other weapons assaulted the garrison of Castelnuovo, which was armed with pikes and muskets. Throughout his work we can find different references to the martial traditions of other parts of Italy and of other European countries and this could be evidence of the mobility of the author or, at least, of the exchange of knowledge between the Realm and the rest of Europe. It’s quite obvious if we think of the employment of Neapolitan soldiers all around the world.

Le tre giornate was printed in 1553, but some internal evidences reveals that the work was probably finished between the end of 1549 and the first months of 1550. There is, infact, an explicit reference to the Conclave for the election of Giulio III, which ended in February of that year. It’s written in the form of a dialogue, between Pagano himself and different personalities of the entourage of the Prince of Stigliano. Many of them are preeminent authors of the contemporary literature and poetry, as well as famous men-at-arms (Castriota, Di Costanzo, Cantelmo, Rota, etc.). One of the interlocutors is the son of the prince, who was ten years old at the time, and this gave us another clue to the connections between Marc’Antonio as teacher and the house of Carafa. The dialog, moreover, is set in the palace of Mondragone, property of this family. We are also reminded that Le tre giornate is dedicated to Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, third duke of Sessa, and son of the duke to whom Antonio Manciolino dedicated his own work. With such a sophisticated audience, and considering the role of the master inside such an important family, a crude work about the art of arms would have disappointed the expectations. In fact, inside Le tre giornate, we find the knowledge about the use of weapons deeply tied with other topics, as bucolic and pastoral narrations, like the one of hunting; the description of the marvelous palace of Mondragone; the essay on the history of fighting, etc. We are still in a period in which the art of fencing is deeply tied with and influenced by military weapons and customs. If we restrict our attention to more specific and technical information, we are able to identify some main topics: wrestling, sword, two handed sword, glaive, pike and dagger.

Wrestling

The topic on which Pagano is most superficial is wrestling. Though he tells us that the discipline was widespread in the Realm, he gives us just an overview, naming some actions used in various Italian regions and reporting some customs of other countries. In particular he says that in the Realm some people were professional masters of wrestling and all the foreign styles are known and performed.

Sword

Inside Le tre giornate we can find a lot of pieces concerning fencing theories and on the art of arms in general. They are scattered in several places in the text, although we have a concentration in the section dedicated to the sword. If we put all the information together, the scene is quite interesting, revealing an advanced theoretical system which clearly gives details that were not transmitted by other contemporary authors (specific kind of Giochi/Plays, guards, etc.).

Two handed sword

For the two handed sword we have two plays that went from Gioco Largo to Stretto, ending with grappling actions. Unfortunately, we had no explicit information about guards, but the text is rich in actions such as feints and strikes, combinations of strikes and arm locks with their counters. But there are also other elements of interest. Those plays are executed with light metallic armour, probably a fine chainmail under the clothes (“sotto coverta armati in bianco”). The players also had hats that appeared normal, but, with a touch, a metal visor could descend to cover the face.

Coltello inastato

This is an unique example of detailed fighting with this weapon, with explicit informations about guards. The name of the weapon immediately recalls the one used by the imperial guards of Carlo V and of his successors in the Holy Roman Empire, as recalled also by Altoni. This could partially explain the presence of a long duel with many techniques inside the work of Pagano, traditionally tied to Iberian and imperial influenced backgrounds. However, the weapons used by Pagano had some little differences, because it had a hook (“gancietto”) on one edge and eventually other little spikes. At the end of the staff there is a metal point, called “pedicone” or “calcio”. So, coltello inastato could be considered as a weapon similar (if not equal) to the Italian falcione inastato, and known all over Europe mainly under the category of glaive.

Pike and Dagger

The influence of the battlefield is still strong and this is also evident in the last confrontation inside Le tre giornate, which is executed with the pike and then with dagger. As in the previous plays, from Gioco Largo they pass to Gioco Stretto and to the fighting with the short weapon. Some techniques are similar to what we can see in other authors, and also this time the fighters are equipped with foot armor (arme da piede), probably the typical defensive equipment of pikemen on the battlefield. Pagano specifies that the weapon is a picca tedesca, very flexible.