Trattato di Scientia d'Arme, con vn Dialogo di Filosofia (Camillo Agrippa, 1553)

Trattato di Scientia d'Arme, con vn Dialogo di Filosofia is a printed Italian fencing treatise by Camillo Agrippa from 1553, accompanied by a philosophical dialogue. Agrippa was born in Milan, according to Wiktenauer probably in the 1510s, moved to Rome in 1535 and died there in 1595. He was an architect, engineer and fencing theorist, moved in literary and artistic circles, and knew Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and Michelangelo. The exposition rests on knowledge of geometry and mechanics. According to English Wikipedia, Agrippa simplified the guards of Achille Marozzo to four, prima, seconda, terza and quarta, roughly matching the hand positions of the modern Italian school. The treatise covers the rapier and dagger, two rapiers, the rapier and shield, polearms, the two-handed sword and fencing on horseback. According to Wiktenauer, the work changed civil fencing and influenced Ridolfo Capo Ferro, Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza, Salvator Fabris and Sainct Didier, and among those influenced it also names Girolamo Lucino and Camillo Palladini. English Wikipedia sees Agrippa as the author who contributed most to the development of the rapier as a primarily thrusting weapon. According to English Wikipedia, the copperplate engravings of the book were partly attributed to Michelangelo, but modern art historians place the unknown engraver rather in the school of Marcantonio Raimondi. We have not been able to document the place of publication or the printer in the sources.

Martial arts in this work

Contents

The transcription of the treatise that Wiktenauer offers in the version of Niccolò Menozzi, from the copy in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, divides the exposition into six parts: rapier and dagger, two rapiers, rapier and shield, polearms, two-handed sword and fencing on horseback. Three of the six thus belong to the rapier combined with a dagger, a second rapier or a shield. The sources disagree on the number of Agrippa's guards. English Wikipedia writes that he simplified the eleven guards of Achille Marozzo to four, prima, seconda, terza and quarta. Italian Wikipedia gives eight guards: the first to the fourth, each in two variants depending on whether the fencer has the feet together or apart. Both versions agree on four basic positions.

Editions and translations

The first edition appeared in 1553 under the title Trattato di Scientia d'Arme, con vn Dialogo di Filosofia. Neither Wiktenauer nor English Wikipedia gives the place of publication or the printer. Ken Mondschein translated the treatise into English, and his edition appeared in 2009 from Italica Press under the title Fencing: A Renaissance Treatise. In 2013 W. Jherek Swanger self-published another English translation under the title A Treatise on the Science of Arms. English Wikipedia lists the work as Treatise on the Science of Arms with Philosophical Dialogue. Agrippa returned to his writings in 1585, when his Dialogo del Modo di Mettere in battaglia presto & con facilità appeared.

People and martial arts

• Camillo AgrippaAuthor
• Ken MondscheinTranslator
• W. Jherek SwangerTranslator

Details

Form

Printed book

Editions

• 1553 · IT · Trattato di Scientia d'Arme, con vn Dialogo di Filosofia · first edition
• 2009 · EN · Fencing: A Renaissance Treatise · Italica Press · translation
• 2013 · EN · A Treatise on the Science of Arms · W. Jherek Swanger · translation