Primo assalto di spada e brocchiero (Marozzo)
Primo assalto de spada e brochiero stretto
Literally: „First attack with sword and buckler“
Also known as: Del primo assalto de giocho largo de Spada e Brochiere
The first assalto with sword and small buckler from Achille Marozzo's Opera Nova (Modena, 1536). The author writes of it that it is beautiful and useful for both play and teaching.
Quick Facts
About the kata
Primo assalto di spada e brocchiero is the first of Marozzo's assalti, fixed sequences with the sword in the right hand and the buckler in the left. In the tenth chapter Marozzo calls it „molto bello & utile per giochare & per insegnare“. The text reckons with both a companion (compagno) and an enemy (nemico), whom the pupil approaches. The sequence begins in the corner of the fencing hall. The pupil holds the buckler under his left armpit, his right foot drawn to the left, sword in coda longa e larga with the arm extended; the body must be upright, „galante quanto sia possibile“. Translator Aurélien Calonne (nimico.org) splits the first part into three phases: approaching the game (andare a gioco), the game (gioco), and its embellishment (abbellimento). In the first part the pupil passes through the guards guardia di testa, di sopra braccio, guardia alta, coda longa e stretta, guardia di faccia a porta di ferro stretta. He uses, among others, falso, molinello, montante, mandritto, roverso sgualembrato, fendente, punta a tramazzone, and rettocco — per Calonne a tap of the sword's pommel against the buckler. From guardia alta he cuts a fendente to the buckler, drawing his right foot back.
Meaning of the name
In Marozzo's account, assalto is a fixed sequence of actions; primo assalto literally means first attack. The tenth chapter's title reads, per the nimico.org transcription, „Del primo assalto de giocho largo de Spada e Brochiere“, yet its first sentence already speaks of „spada e brochiero stretto“ — the sword and the small buckler. Which buckler Marozzo meant in the title and in the text, we have not been able to verify from the single edition.
Creator and history
Achille Marozzo (1484–1553) is, per English Wikipedia, one of the most important teachers of the Dardi, or Bolognese, tradition; he says he trained at Guido Antonio di Luca's school, from which, as he claims, as many fighters emerged as from the Trojan horse. Opera Nova dell'Arte delle Armi was published in 1536 in Modena. The first edition had woodcuts, the 1568 edition copperplate engravings; per Wiktenauer, that one appeared in Venice as Arte dell'armi. The later Bolognese masters Viggiani and dall'Agocchie may have drawn on Marozzo's work.
Differences between styles
Today's fencers still divide the assalto for teaching. Grauenwolf (grauenwolf.wordpress.com) breaks it into parts and sequences and gave his own names to the transitional positions Marozzo did not name — Becca Brochiero, Porta di Ferro Brochiero, and Alta Brochiero; according to him, a step accompanies every transition except Becca Brochiero.
Key Tip
Marozzo wants the pupil to hold the body upright already in the initial stance, „as gallant as possible“. In guardia alta the left side should face the enemy more than the right.