[upd.May2014]
We’ve shifted focus on this blog to working on the teachings of a single Bolognese master, Antonio Manciolino, as found in his treatise Opera Nova (1531)
Downloadable copies of Opera Nova (1531):
http://www.umass.edu/renaissance/lord/pdfs/Manciolino_1531.pdf (Raymond J Lord collection, U Mass)
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RgU8AAAAcAAJ (Bavarian State Library)
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2Js8AAAAcAAJ (Bavarian State Library)
Translations:
http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Opera_Nova_(Antonio_Manciolino) — hosts the ascii text in side-by-side columns of the Italian transcription by Steven Reich and the English translation by Jherek Swanger (available directly also, below).
http://www.drizzle.com/~celyn/jherek/EngManc.pdf
http://celyn.drizzlehosting.com/jherek/archive.html
http://www.hemac.org/php/publications.php – by Craig Pitt- Pladdy (Sword and Targa, Single sword, Sword and dagger, Two swords) that the Wiktenauer has yet to acquire the copyright permissions required in order to host.
Other links:
http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11991 — http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17750 —
In Print:
Leoni, Tom, tr. (2010) The Complete Renaissance Swordsman: A Guide to the Use of All Manner of Weapons ~ Antonio Manciolino’s Opera Nova (1531).
Freelance Academy Press, ISBN 978-0-9825911-3-0
The structure of Opera Nova:
OPERA NOVA 1531
1r – 6v Introduction
7r – 19r First Book — — — The Blows; 10 Guardie; The Offenses and Counters from matched guardie.
19v – 19v Second Book — — The Three Assalti
30r – 37v Third Book — — — Strette (17 false:false, ?17 true:true)
38r – 49r Fourth Book — — Spada da Filo plays
49r – 58r Fifth Book — — — Topics
58r – 63v Sixth Book — — — Topics
Other sources in the Bolognese tradition include, to quote information from the Chicago Swordplay Guild:
“…five works from the 16th Century: Antonio Manciolino (Opera Nova, 1531), Achille Marozzo (Opera Nova, 1536), Angelo Viggiani (Lo Schermo, written circa 1550, published posthumously in 1575) and Giovanni dall’Agocchie (Dell’arte di Scrimia, 1575). Most recently, an extensive, yet incomplete and anonymous manuscript (c.1550) was found in the city of Ravenna, and provides a great deal of clarification and explanation on the tradition’s theoretical framework.
All of these texts share a consistency of terminology and curriculum that is traced to the most famed teacher of the tradition, Guido Antonio de Luca, who flourished in the city around 1500 and “from whose school came more warriors than from the belly of the Trojan horse”, including Antonio Manciolino and Achille Marozzo, and the famed condottiero, Giovanni de Medici.
The Bolognese masters have also left behind a very specific didactical method, including long solo-drills, like those of Okinawan kata or Chinese kung fu forms, assalti (sequences of techniques to be used in friendly matches) and abbattimenti (techniques to be used in serious duels). In all, the Bolognese style is extremely dynamic and flamboyant, with its many guards, varied footwork and creative attacks.
…”
Other teachings and masters related to our area of interest:
Altoni, ?Dociolini
Giacomo Di Grassi (born Modena, ran a schola in Trevino, settled in London and opened a new school)
– 1570 Ragione di adoprar sicuramente l’Arme, = 1594 His True Art of Defence
Going further afield, the following masters/teachings pertain to the use of a similar weapon (a single-handed sword capable of both cut and thrust play), within in a roughly similar era (phasing out with the move towards the rapier and/or a trend towards more thrust-orientated play)
Vincentio Saviolo
George Silver
Henri Sainct Didier
Meyer’s Rappier
Finally – and back on Bolognese fencing – a few links to further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolognese_Swordsmanship — an overview from a familiar source of information to many.
http://www.umass.edu/renaissance/lord/collection.html — relevant digitised original treatises downloadable as .pdf files.
http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=18814
Turning Bolognese.. 