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Scola, overo teatro (Nicoletto Giganti)

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Scola, overo teatro
School, or Theater
Giganti Title 1606.png
Full title Scola, overo teatro, nelquale sono
rappresentate diverse maniere, e modi di
parare, e di ferire di spada sola, e di spada,
e pugnala
Author(s) Nicoletto Giganti
Illustrated by Odoarco Fialetti
Dedicated to Cosimo II de' Medici
Place of origin Siena, Tuscany
Language Italian
Genre(s) Fencing manual
Publisher Giovanni Antonio & Giacomo de' Franceschi
Publication date 1606, 1610, 1619, 1622, 1628, 1644
Pages 95 pages
Treatise scans

Scola, overo teatro ("School, or Theater") is an Italian fencing manual written by Nicoletto Giganti and printed in 1606. It treats the use of the single rapier and the rapier and dagger. The treatise is structured as a series of progressively more complex lessons, and Tom Leoni opines that this treatise is the best pedagogical work on rapier fencing of its time.[1] Based on the number of republications over the succeeding decades it seems to have been quite popular, and fencing historians have praised it both for its organization and as the first text to fully describe the use of the lunge.

Publication History

Scola, overo teatro was first printed in Venice in 1606 by Giovanni Antonio and Giacomo de' Franceschi, with illustrations by Odoarco Fialetti. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany granted Giganti a special protection against unauthorized reprints for a term of 30 years, including a fine of 300 ducats. This copyright was repeatedly ignored, however, including a 1628 edition published in Padua by Paolo Frambotto, which included an additional dedication from the publisher to Lazaro Stubick di Kœnigstein. Bibliographies also list printings in 1608 and 1610; the first is probably a mistaken reference to Libro secondo, whereas the second seems to be spurious (or possibly a mistaken reference to the treatise of Ridolfo Capo Ferro).

In 1619, still within the copyright period, the treatise was translated into French and German and published in Frankfurt by Jacob de Zeter. He published separate French and German editions titled Escrime Novvelle ov Theatre ("New Fencing or Theater") and Newe Fechtkunst Oder Schawplatz ("New Fencing Art or Show Place"), containing the main text in both languages but the preface in only one.[2] Zeter also included translations of book II of Salvator Fabris' 1606 treatise, which has oddly lead various fencing historians to accuse Giganti himself of plagiarism.[3] This parallel edition was reprinted in 1622 and 1644.

In 2010, Scola, overo teatro was translated into English by Tom Leoni and published by Freelance Academy Press under the title Venetian Rapier: The School, or Salle. A second English translation, titled Nicoletto Giganti's the School of the Sword was released in 2014 by Aaron Taylor Mediema.

Contents

i - v Preface by Nicoletto Giganti
vii - xiv Publisher's preface
1 - 47 Rapier by Nicoletto Giganti
48 - 95 Rapier and dagger by Nicoletto Giganti

Gallery

Title pages

1606
Giganti Title 1606.png
1619 (French)
Giganti French Title 1619.png
1619 (German)
150x125px
1622 (French)
150x125px
1622 (German)
150x125px
1628
Giganti Title 1628.png
1644 (French)
150x125px
1644 (German)
Giganti German Title 1644.jpg

Illustrations

Medici Heraldry
Giganti Medici Heraldry.png
Portrait
Nicoletto Giganti portrait 1606.png
Figure 1
Giganti 01.png
Figure 2
Giganti 02.png
Figure 3
Giganti 03.png
Figure 4
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Figure 5
Giganti 05.png
Figure 6
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Figure 7
Giganti 07.png
Figure 8
Giganti 08.png
Figure 9
Giganti 09.png
Figure 10
Giganti 10.png
Figure 11
Giganti 11.png
Figure 12
Giganti 12.png
Figure 13
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Figure 14
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Figure 15
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Figure 16
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Figure 17
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Figure 18
Giganti 18.png
Figure 19
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Figure 20
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Figure 21
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Figure 22
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Figure 23
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Figure 24
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Figure 25
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Figure 26
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Figure 27
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Figure 28
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Figure 29
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Figure 30
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Figure 31
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Figure 32
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Figure 33
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Figure 34
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Figure 35
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Figure 36
Giganti 36.png
Figure 37
Giganti 37.png
Figure 38
Giganti 38.png
Figure 39
Giganti 39.png
Figure 40
Giganti 40.png
Figure 41
Giganti 41.png
Figure 42
Giganti 42.png


Additional Resources

  • Leoni, Tom. Venetian Rapier: The School, or Salle. Nicoletto Giganti's 1606 Rapier Fencing Curriculum. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9825911-2-3
  • Miedema, Aaron Taylor. Nicoletto Giganti's the School of the Sword: A New Translation by Aaron Taylor Miedema. Legacy Books Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1927537077

References

  1. ↑ Leoni, p xi.
  2. ↑ I'm not aware of any extant copies of the 1619 German edition, but since both editions exist in the 1622 and 1644 reprints, it seems reasonable to assume they were created at the same time.
  3. ↑ This accusation was first made by Johann Joachim Hynitzsch, who attributed the edition to Giganti rather than Zeter and was incensed that he gave no credit to Fabris.

Copyright and License Summary

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

Work Author(s) Source License
Images
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Transcription Index:Scola, overo teatro (Nicoletto Giganti)
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