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 Leng —
Wierschin — Hils —
Type	Fencing manual Wrestling manual
Date	ca. 1420s
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
Format	Double-sided; two illustrations per side, with text above each
Script	Bastarda
Exemplar(s)	Pisani Dossi MS (1410)
Identified	Ken Mondschein (2008) Fabrice Cognot (2008)
External data	Ken Mondschein's description
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 1420s. Any preface it 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; its descriptions are cast in couplets and quatrains that closely resemble those of the Pisani Dossi MS. This manuscript is generally referred to as either the Florius or the Paris.

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.
• ca. 1635 – rebound by a master papermaker who worked at the Puy-moyen mill for Sieur Janssen.
• before 1727 – in the collection of Louis Phélypeaux, marquis de Phélypeaux. 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

Folio	Section
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	Poleaxe by Fiore de'i Liberi
10r - 12r	Longsword in one hand by Fiore de'i Liberi
12v - 15v, 26r - 30v	Longsword in two hands by Fiore de'i Liberi
16r - 19v	Armored fencing 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

Images hosted by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Front Cover

Inside Cover

Folio Ir

Folio Iv

Folio 1r

Folio 1v

Folio 2r

Folio 2v

Folio 3r

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Folio 4r

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Folio 44v

Folio 45r

Folio 45v

Inside Cover

Back Cover

Additional Resources

• Lodà, Francesco. Florius. De arte luctandi. Traduzione e cura del testo di Francesco Lodà. Rome: Bonanno Editore, 2014. ISBN 978-88-96950-86-9