Opera Nova (Antonio Manciolino, 1531)

Opera Nova, in full Opera Nova per Imparare a Combattere, & Schermire d'ogni sorte Armi, is a printed fencing treatise by the Bolognese master Antonio Manciolino, who according to Wiktenauer was born at the end of the 15th century. It appeared in Venice in 1531 as a "newly corrected and printed" edition. It shares only its title with Achille Marozzo's Opera Nova of 1536, which is a different work by a different author. The treatise has a prologue and six books. Books I to III teach fighting with the sword and small shield, book IV the sword with a large shield, two swords and the sword alone, book V the sword with a cloak, with a dagger and with the rotella, and book VI polearms, according to Wikipedia the partisan, the pike and the hooked halberd. The 1531 print follows an older version of the text. The work is dedicated to Luis de Cordoba, Duke of Sessa, who was imperial orator to Pope Adrian VI from 1522 to 1523, which is why the original is placed at around 1523. As early as 1518 Manciolino signed a contract in Rome with a French printer to publish his book, but no copy of such an edition survives. Wiktenauer ranks Opera Nova as the oldest surviving treatise of the Bolognese school associated with Filippo di Bartolomeo Dardi and states that Manciolino was possibly a pupil of Guido Antonio di Luca. Marozzo's more extensive treatise, published thirteen years later, overshadowed Manciolino's work. According to Wikipedia, the Bolognese school kept the sword and small shield as the focus of teaching until the middle of the 16th century.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

The source of the 1531 print is older. The dedication to Luis de Córdoba, Duke of Sessa, points to the time when he was imperial orator to Pope Adrian VI, that is from September 1522 to September 1523. Wikipedia infers that the text may have been written almost ten years before it was printed. An even older trace is the contract that Manciolino signed in Rome in 1518 with a French printer. We did not find any copy from that time in the sources. The 1531 print itself describes itself as newly corrected and printed, which points to an earlier version of the text. The title page of the original print carries an illustration, and we have not been able to document the number of other illustrations.

Editions and translations

The original print appeared in Venice in 1531, and we did not find the printer's name in the sources. According to Wiktenauer, the first English edition was prepared by Leoni in 2010 under the title The Complete Renaissance Swordsman. In 2021 W. Jherek Swanger published a new English translation, How to Fight and Defend with Arms of Every Kind, and in the same year a transcription of the Italian text prepared by Steven Reich appeared. Both 2021 editions were published by Lulu. Manciolino's Opera Nova must be distinguished from the treatise of the same name by Achille Marozzo, published in 1536, which is a separate work by a different author.

People and martial arts

• Antonio ManciolinoAuthor
• W. Jherek SwangerTranslator
• Luis de Córdoba, vévoda ze SessyPatron

Details

Form

Printed book

Editions

• 1531 · IT · Opera Nova per Imparare a Combattere, & Schermire d'ogni sorte Armi
• 2010 · EN · The Complete Renaissance Swordsman · translation
• 2021 · EN · How to Fight and Defend with Arms of Every Kind · Lulu · translation
• 2021 · IT · Lulu