Iberian Swordplay , livre ebook

Freelance Academy Press - Tim Rivera

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106 pages

English

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In 1599, during the period when the Portuguese crown was united to the crowns of Castile and Aragon, a Portuguese master-at-arms called Domingo Luis Godinho wrote a manuscript in Spanish entitled Arte de Esgrima (The Art of Fencing). Although Godinho's live is largely a mystery and his text was never published, today his manuscript of utmost relevance in the study of Renaissance Iberian fencing, since it is the only complete treatise discovered so far describing the "Common" or "Vulgar" style of Iberian fencing, first documented in the 15th century, but by Godinho's day, displaced by the new system of La Verdadera Destreza.The work includes instructions for the single sword, a long-bladed, cut & thrust weapon taught alone and with the use of the shield, buckler, dagger, and cape, as well as paired with a second sword. Godinho's instructions also includes the longest known text on the use of the montante, or two-handed sword, a devastating weapon that was used by soldiers and body-guards, in duels and battlefields, in crowded streets and aboard galleys. Translator Tim Rivera provides a detailed introduction that explains Godinho's relationship to earlier masters of the "Common School" of swordsmanship, and a short primer on the various weapons, guards, parries, footwork and terminology of the tradition.

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Publié par	Freelance Academy Press
Date de parution	23 octobre 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781937439361
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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Freelance Academy Press, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189
www.freelanceacademypress.com
2016 Freelance Academy Press, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of Freelance Academy Press, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America by Publishers Graphics
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN 978-1-937439-36-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016916100
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE: SWORD ALONE
PART TWO: SWORD AND SHIELD
PART THREE: SWORD AND BUCKLER
PART FOUR: TWO SWORDS
PART FIVE: SWORD AND DAGGER
PART SIX: THE TWO-HANDED SWORD
PART SEVEN: SWORD AND CLOAK
PART EIGHT: SELF-DEFENSE AND TRICKS
PART NINE: GENERAL ADVICE
PART TEN: SWORD ALONE, CONTINUED
GODINHO S NOTES
APPENDIX A: PACHECO S THIRTY VULGAR TRETAS
APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY
ENDNOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FOREWORD
This is a book of Destreza.
In today s world it is more common to call the fighting tradition pioneered Jer nimo S nchez de Carranza simply Destreza but the word most correctly means skill and in this case skill at arms. The True School, or La Verdadera Destreza , did not have a monopoly on brilliant swordplay anymore than the Italians or Germans did. Even in his day Carranza recognized that there were wise swordsmen of the old school.
I had the experience of meeting one myself as I fenced with Tim Rivera for the first time. As we crossed blades I sensed a connection as if a long lost relative had found his way back to me; there seeing him for the first time and all his family features were plainly laid out in his smile, his laugh, and his spiraling low defensive blade actions. As martial artists our backgrounds are very dissimilar with mine being classical Italian fencing and Tim s being Filipino martial arts and yet the Iberian art we found separately was familiar and I have since taken to calling him my brother from another book cover . By taking separate roads we had somehow come together into powerful cuts, strategies formed by domination of closed defensive lines, and similar libraries of circular actions used to control space. There were the marks of Italian sidesword present in his play but also, plain as day, the roots of the same tradition I was struggling to revive.
The western martial arts world needs this book. As a student of Carranza s True School I need to know this tradition because all the True school authors knew it. As a practitioner of Italian arts there is the promise of additional insight into the sidesword play of the masters of Southern Europe which may hold the keys to improving my own play. If you were looking for an entrance into Iberian arts, you need this book because this form of the tradition combines aspects of the True school and the Italian sidesword tradition in an approachable way. The Old School s addition of ripping play beautifully marries the power and flow of the montante with the single-handed sword.
The truth is that realizing a true destreza true skill is more than just comparing the dribs and drabs of technique we can harvest from the old books to realize in our art. It is the struggle to learn, to grow, to fight, and to live as best we can while we can as you walk your own road. With a sword in one hand and a book in the other you can seek to find the truth about the art and, more importantly, about yourself. It s my hope that as you walk you discover friends, brothers, and sisters on the road with you as I have.
In your hands you hold one piece of the great puzzle of destreza ; the family of Iberian swordplay. If you dare to open the pages, if you dare to lift your sword and train, it will change you and in so doing, the world will change with you. Pause for a moment, take a deep breath, appreciate what you hold in your hands, the people living and dead that helped create this tradition and this work. When you are ready to begin, turn the page.
Puck Curtis, Maestro d Arme Sacramento Sword School 23 September 2016
INTRODUCTION
IBERIAN SWORDPLAY DURING THE RENAISSANCE
Renaissance Iberia (what is now Spain and Portugal) had been forged by the centuries-long Reconquista and saw martial exploits as central to masculine identity, so fencing was considered a crucial component of a Renaissance gentleman s education. 1 Because of this, specific systems of training and certifying fencing masters was established throughout the Iberian peninsula by the late Middle Ages, and records of fencing masters in service to the various, Iberian royal courts 2 3 extend back to at least the early 15th century. In 1478, their Catholic Majesties Fernando and Isabella established the office of maestro mayor (senior master) 4 to be the chief examiner of fencing masters. The senior master was also the master to the royal pages, which indicates that it was an influential court position. 5
The examination of fencing masters frequently involved formal boards comprised of other masters 6 and representatives of civil authority, before which the candidate who wished to prove his mastery was required to display his skill at arms and engage in a series of formal combats. Besides the sword alone ( espada sola ), these examinations could also include the two-handed sword ( montante ); sword accompanied by any number of companion arms, such as the round shield ( espada y rodela ), buckler ( broquel ), dagger ( daga ), or cloak ( capa ); two swords ( dos espadas ); dagger alone ( daga sola ); and a wide variety of polearms, such as the spear ( lanza ), half-spear, staff or stick, axe ( hacha ), or halberd ( alabarda ).
Although there are earlier records of masters and examinations, the earliest Iberian master who wrote a treatise on fencing was Jaime Pons of Perpignan. 7 He seems to have been an influential master: During one of his student s examinations in 1466, he was referred to as the venerable master Pons, 8 and his sons were noted as sons of the renowned Jaime Pons in the 1490s. His treatise was written in Catalan before or during 1474, was at least 66 folios long, and covered instruction in sword and buckler, montante , 9 sword and dagger, sword and cloak, dagger alone, trips and disarms, and sword alone against spear or pike. Although we have descriptions of this work, the work itself has not yet been found. According to later sources who quote him, sword and buckler appears on the first page and throughout the other pages referenced, suggesting it was possibly the primary weapon combination. 10
Pedro de la Torre from Seville is another master, contemporary with Pons, who wrote a treatise on fencing. 11 His work also remains lost, but what we know of it from secondary sources is that it was written in 1474, was at least 124 folios long and separated into at least two parts, covering sword alone, dagger alone, sword and shield, montante , sword and cloak, two swords, sword and dagger, and sword against spear. Sword alone was likely the principal weapon, as it is called the Queen of Weapons. The two-sword method was created by the author. 12
In the following century, another famous Sevillan master, Francisco Rom n, 13 who was the senior master and examiner for Spain under Carlos V, authored a fencing manual in 1532 which covered at least the montante , sword alone, sword and shield, sword and cloak, and wrestling throws. He again refers to the sword alone as the Queen of Weapons, but the montante is called the Principal Weapon and the Eagle of Weapons . However, he also says that the sword and shield is best of all, and that the sword is the foundation of all shields, so it s difficult to say with certainty which weapon was his primary means of instruction. 14 As with his two predecessors, Rom n s work is yet to be found, although there are citations in other works. 15
In 1583 Jeronimo S nchez de Carranza, yet another Sevillan swordsman, published a book describing a new method of fencing, which he called la verdadera destreza de las armas ( the true skill of arms ). 16 Carranza intended to elevate the art of fencing to a science based on geometry and Aristotelian physics, and integrated it with other subjects such as logic, philosophy, religion, music, poetry, and astrology. Carranza criticized the old style for lacking a foundation in Aristotelian thought, and rejected the label of esgrima ( fencing ) for his art, using it as a pejorative, preferring instead to use the term destreza .
La verdadera destreza was initially a regional style, slowly spreading until its most prolific author, Lu s Pacheco de Narv ez, became senior master of Spain in 1624. 17 Although the rivalry between the two methods would continue into the next century, the old style was gradually consumed by the new requirements for master certification and a deluge of published works on la verdadera destreza . These authors used various, perjorative labels for the old style: esgrima com n ( common fencing ), esgrima vulgar ( vulgar fencing ), esgrima antigua ( old fencing ), destreza ordinaria ( ordinary skill ), destreza antigua ( old skill ), destreza vulgar ( vulgar skill ), and destreza falsa ( false skill ).
DOMINGO LUIS GODINHO AND THE OLD STYLE
In 1599, during the period of time in which the Portuguese crown was united with the crown of Castile and Aragon, a Portuguese fencing master named Domingo Luis Godinho wrote a manuscript in Spanish entitled Arte de Esgrima ( Art of Fencing ). It was never published, and next to nothing is known about the life of the author, apart from being a native of Santarem. 18 The treatise is significant in that it is the first complete treatise discovered which describes the older style of swordsmanship. As of this writing, the only other known work (aside from lists of montante rules) is a Spanish manuscript fragment dating to 1580, 19 which appears to be a transcription of two paragraphs of an older work. There is no reference to the title, author, or date of the