I Fiore: A Fighting Man’s 15th Century Self-Defence Manual

The 85-pages of energetic pictures were made in tempera colours, gold leaf, silver leaf and ink, some of which are featured below.

Il Fior di Battaglia by, Fiore Furlan dei Liberi da Premariacco about 1410

As for the author, Fiore Furlan dei Liberi, he was a knight, diplomat and fencing master. Born in the Holy Roman Empire, he trained under Italian and German instructors, not all of whom he considered to be up to the mark. Fiore was so affronted by their lack of skill and pathetic appeals for him to train them that he fought duels with a few, each time winning without injury.

You can learn about that and more in the book’s preface, which shows that aside from fighting, Fiore was no less skilled at marketing his celebrity. There is something of Thomas Hughes’s literary creation Harry Flashman in Fiore’s writing.

Flashman, like Fiore, was born into nobility’s lower ranks at time when battles were breaking out all over an Empire and its borders (in Flashman’s case, the British Empire). The inveterate coward with an eye for the ladies was always running away from danger, but nevertheless through circumstance and some skill had the lucky habit of emerges the unlikely hero, which earned him more work as a dashing blade.

Preface (translated from the original Italian text):

As a young man I desired to learn armed fighting, including the art of fighting in the lists with spear, poleaxe, sword, dagger and unarmed grappling, on foot and on horseback, armoured and unarmored. In addition I wanted to study how weapons were made, and the characteristics of each weapon for both offence and defence, particularly as they applied to mortal combat.

I also desired to learn the wondrous secrets of this art known only by very few men in this world. And these secrets will give you mastery of attack and defence, and make you invincible, for victory comes easily to a man who has the skill and mastery described above.

I learned these skills from many German and Italian masters and their senior students, in many provinces and many cities, and at great personal cost and expense.

And by the grace of God I also acquired so much knowledge at the courts of noblemen, princes, dukes, marquises, counts, knights and squires, that increasingly I was myself asked to teach. My services were requested many times by noblemen, knights and their squires, who wanted me to teach them the art of armed combat both for fighting at the barrier and for mortal combat. And so I taught this art to many Italians and Germans and other noblemen who were obliged to fight at the barrier, as well as to numerous noblemen who did not actually compete…

Aiming Points on the Body; Fiore Furlan dei Liberi da Premariacco (Italian, about 1340/1350 – before 1450); about 1410

Of these and of others whom I, Fiore, have taught, I am very proud, because I have been well rewarded, plus I earned the respect and the affection of my students and also of their relatives.

Also, I should tell you that I always taught this art secretly, and so no one was present at my lessons except for the student and occasionally a close relative of his, and if anyone else was there by my grace or favor, they were only allowed to watch after swearing a sacred oath of secrecy, swearing by their faith not to reveal any of the techniques they saw me, Master Fiore, demonstrate…

More than anyone else I was careful around other Masters of Arms and their students. And some of these Masters who were envious of me challenged me to fight with sharp edged and pointed swords wearing only a padded jacket, and without any other armour except for a pair of leather gloves; and this happened because I refused to practice with them or teach them anything of my art.

And I was obliged to fight five times in this way. And five times, for my honour, I had to fight in unfamiliar places without relatives and without friends to support me, not trusting anyone but God, my art, myself, and my sword. And by the grace of God, I acquitted myself honourably and without injury to myself…

Combat with Dagger; Fiore Furlan dei Liberi da Premariacco (Italian, about 1340/1350 – before 1450); about 1410; Tempera colors, gold leaf, silver leaf, and ink on parchment; Leaf: 27.9 × 20.6 cm (11 × 8 1/8 in.); Ms. Ludwig XV 13 (83.MR.183), fol. 18v; No Copyright – United States (http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/)

In addition let me just say that none of my students, including those mentioned above, have ever owned a book about the art of combat, except for Galeazzo da Mantova. And he put it well when he said that without books you cannot be either a good teacher or a good student of this art. And I can confirm it to be true, that this art is so vast that there is no one in the world with a memory large enough to be able to retain even a quarter of it. And it should also be pointed out that a man who knows no more than a quarter of the art has no right to call himself a Master…

Now I, Fiore, although I can read and write and draw, and although I have books about this art, and have studied it for 40 years and more, do not myself claim to be a perfect Master in this art, (although I am considered so by some of the fine noblemen who have been my students). But I will say this: if, instead of studying the Art of Armed Combat for 40 years, I had spent 40 years studying law, papal decrees, and medicine, then I would be ranked a Doctor in all three of these disciplines. And you should also know that in order to study the science of arms I have endured great hardship, expended great effort and incurred great expense, all so as to be a perfect student of this art.

It’s my opinion that in this art there are few men in the world who can really call themselves Masters, and it is my goal to be remembered as one of them. To that end I have created this book all about this martial art and the things related to it, including weapons, their applications, and other aspects too.

Combat with Dagger

Four Allegorical Figures

Aiming Points on the Body

Combat with Rondel and Dagger

Unarmed Combat

Combat with Dagger

Combat with Sword

Combat with Sword

Equestrian Combat with Sword

Via: J. Paul Getty Museum