View source for Keeping Medieval Martial Art Alive in a Modern Society

=Keeping Medieval Martial Art Alive in a Modern Society=
by [[User: Vnmercouris|Victoria Mercouris]]<br>

{{Infobox
|title = Keeping Medieval Martial Art Alive in a Modern Society
|bodystyle  = width:25em
|image = [[File:First Master, Sixth Play Contrary.png|x450px|alt=Milestone Image]]
|caption = A recreation of Fiore's First Master, Sixth Play from his treatiey Getty
|label2 = '''Photo Credit'''
|data2 = [[User:Tatedtsen|Trinity Tedtsen]]
}}


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=Abstract=
The goal of this project is to explore the ways that medieval martial arts have not been lost to time. Many times techniques and skills that are passed down through generations are lost as technology advantages and the need for those skills becomes obsolete. Martial arts, however, seems to have survived the test of time and is still practice around the world today even if it is not relied upon in combat as much as it had been. By attending serval medieval martial arts classes over the course of five weeks I was able to make some demonstration videos of the skills that I learn. These videos are a great way to keep an updated form of records for this specific style of martial arts.
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=Introduction=
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This project focuses on a specific manuscript written by Fiore dei Liberi. By taking his written work and translating some of it into video demonstrations I hope to keep the interest and study of this art alive. What I have done in general is not a new concept, there are many videos on the internet that show martial arts techniques, but usually the style originated from Asia, while I focused of European techniques that are not as well know.
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=Section 1: Background=
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==HEMA==
HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts, it refers to European martial arts the have been formerly practices, but have either died out or evolved into different forms. There are different HEMA groups such as Historical European Martial Arts Coalition (HEMAC) or Historical European Martial Arts Alliance (HEMAA) that bring different people together to reconstruct historical martial arts from treaties or combat manuals that date from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The HEMA community will them test their martial arts skills in different competitive environments as well as train the next generation of HEMA practitioners. 
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==Parts of a Sword==
[[File: Sword Diagram.png|x320px|right|thumb| A Diagram of a Sword with it's parts labeled ]]<br>
One of the first steps to learn how to use a longsword is understanding all and identifying all the different parts of it. The diagram to the right has most of the parts of the sword labeled. What is missing is the flat of the blade which is perpendicular to the edge of the blade and is smooth. The other two pieces that are crucial to a sword are the false and true edges. What makes these parts difficult to identify on the sword is that the edges change based on the way the weapon is being held. When holding a sword in your hand the edge that is lined up with your knuckles and furthest away for your body is the true edge while the edge that is closest to your body is the false edge. If the sword were to be rotated 180 degrees then these edges on the sword would flip so that way the true edge is always the one farthest away. The parts marked strong and weak refer to the blade and how much strength the sword's wielder would have when using it. For example, if a fighter got attacked with another sword and blocked it using the strong section of the blade, that fighter would be able to push the enemies blade away easier than if it was the weak that got attacked. This concept it much easier to understand from a physics point of view as this concept is just torque. (Wait for article request for Swordplay: an exercise in rotational dynamics to be provided.) The concept of torque isn't the only time physics plays an important role in swordsmanship, if you take a long sword and smack the flat of the blade near the weak the sword will vibrate and display the characteristics of a transverse wave. What is important to take note of is the part of the sword that doesn't vibrate also know as a node. This node will be towards the tip of the blade and what makes it so important is that if when attack you strike with this part of the sword your arm will receive less of a shock from the hit. This may not seem that important but when dueling for extended periods of time and attacking with large amounts of force, preventing your arm from tiring to quickly could be the difference between winning and losing.
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==Fiore dei Liberi==
Fiore dei Liberi was a master in the Bolognese school of fencing in northern Italy and is now the primary source used for 15th-century Italian fighting due to his four surviving treaties; 'Pisani-Dossi', 'Getty', 'Morgan', and Florius 'De Arts Luctandi'. Not much is know about Fiore except for what he wrote about himself in the prologues of his treaties. According the Getty prologue, Fiore was a noble whose estates were based in Premariacco, a small town in north-east Italy. At an early age Fiore began training and traveling to learn martial arts. In his treatises Fiore tells us that he traveled to different regions and studied under and then later taught many people. During his time as a teacher Fiore tells that he prepared gentlemen for duels, some of his students include Piero del Verde, Galeazzo da Mantova, Lancilotto Beccaria of Pavia, Giannino de Bavo of Milan and Azzone da Castelbarco. Fiore even tells that he himself had to fight five duels against other masters wearing only an arming jacket and gloves rather than armor. Not much is known about his death but his treaties serve as his legacy.
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==Rondel Daggers==
The dagger section in Fiore's treaties utilize the Rondel dagger. This dagger gets it's name rondel, which means round or circular from it's round hand guard and or pommel. These daggers were very commonly used by many people in Europe from the 14th century onwards. It was typically worn at the waist, usually measuring 12 inches or more. What makes this type of dagger unique is that it is similar to a screwdriver in design and is mostly used for stabbing and not very effective in slashing or cutting. Using this type of dagger is important when fighting in Fiore's styles as many of the plays decribed in his triaties involve grabing the blade of the dagger, a technique that could do more harm then good with another type of blade. Below are some pictures of Rondel daggers that are on display in the Wallace Collection in London, England.
<gallery>
Rondel Dagger 1.jpg
Rondel Dagger 2.jpg
Rondel Dagger 3.jpg
</gallery>
==Glossary of Italian Fighting Terms==
Abrazare - Unarmed Combat, combine both grappling and striking. <br>
Azza - Axe; refers to Poll Axe. <br>
Colpi - Blows, as in strikes. <br>
Colpi Fendente - Downward blows. In Fiore's system these blows take the path from tooth to knee at an oblique angle.<br>
Colpi Mezzani - Middle/horizontal blows. These are done with the True Edge leading from the right and the False Edge leading from the left. <br>
Colpi Sottani - Upward blows. Normally done with the false edge, enabling a quick return with a fendente. <br>
Coverta - Cover. An action that will cover that line of attack which will allow for the fighter to move to safety. <br>
Daga - Dagger. The dagger used in Fiore's text is a rondel dagger which has no real edge but rather a point so it is best used to stab instead of cut. <br>
Fendente - Downward blow. <br>
Gioco Largo - Wide, loose play; done at a distance.
Gioco Stretto - Tight, narrow play. This is used to describe when a fight enters close range to grapple with their opponent or seize the opponent's weapon. <br>
Guardia - A guard against an attack. <br>
Lanza - Spear when on foot, but a lance when on a horse. <br>
Ligadura Mezana - Middle Bind. <br>
Ligadura Soprana - High Bind. <br>
Ligadura Sottana - Under bind. <br>
Mezza Volta - Half turn, refers to passing footwork. <br>
Posta - A position that simultaneously defends from attacks and threatens attacks. <br>
Prese - A hold, take or catch depending on the context. <br>
Rebattere - Beat. The action of beating back an attack. <br>
Spada - Sword. <br>
Spada a Uno Mano - One handed sword. <br>
Spada a due mani - Two handed sword. <br>
Tagli - Cut or slice. <br>
Tutta Volta - Full/Complete turn. <br>
Volta Stabile - Footwork where the fighter turns on the balls of their feet to face the opposite direction. <br>

==The Getty==
The Getty is known as one of the most complete and "by far the finest" manuscript written by Fiore. This manuscript includes in-depth instructions accompanied by illustrations on how to perform various techniques. Now while the Getty does give instructions, is is not a how-to book. The manuscript assumes that the person reading has already had some fighting experience so it will not deal with explaining the basics. This piece is broken up into 3 main sections, unarmed combat, dagger, and longsword. These sections are then broken up into masters and plays. The term master refers to the starting position of the play, whether with the right hand, left, both or even a dagger. A play then refers to the sequence of moves or the technique in a whole that is being performed. This set-up makes it easy to search the manuscript for a certain play if you know what the starting position or master is.
Another thing worth noting in this manuscript is its use of symbolism throughout the entire piece. All of the plays in the manuscript contain two opponents but at all times at least one of them will be wearing either a garter on their leg or a crown. The person that has either one of these objects is the one enacting the play and is the master of the scenario. This is helpful in that a quick glance it is easy to tell exactly what is going on in the picture. Another example of symbolism can be found in the dagger section of the treaty. This refers to the level of mastery that can be achieved, which is illustrated in four pictures along with accompanying descriptions. The first level is disarming the opponent as the person is shown with both his own and his opponents daggers. The next level of mastery is breaks shown by a figure holding his opponents arms in the air. The third level of mastery is displayed by the fighter now holding a key in his hands, this is in reference to his ability to lock his opponent or bind them. The fourth and final level is complete control over the opponent which included throws as he has a picture of a man at his feet. Another thing to note in these illustrations is that as the levels progress the clothes that the man in the picture are wearing grow more and more extravagant as does his facial hair, which indicates his level of skill.
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[[Media: Fiore Getty MS Representation (Translation).pdf  | A translated copy of the Getty treaty]]

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=Section 2: Deliverable=
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Over the course of 4 weeks, I attended a total of 12 hours of historical martial arts classes put on by Scholar Gladiatoria and The Exiles. During these classes I learned many different styles of medieval martial arts, such as grappling, victorian saber, long sword, and dagger. These classes usually involved some time of warm-up and stretching. After the warm-up the class learning simple single plays that were performed in groups of two, after both people could perform the plays adequately and new one was learned. This would continue for the rest of the class save the last 20 minutes where the pair would then used what was learned in a simple mock spar. This style of teaching was done for the classes that I took mainly because I was in the begginer group, I did notice that while our group was learning the more advanced students would go around and correct our forms to help.
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==Demonstrations==
Below are demonstrations of some of the plays from Fiore's Getty treaty out of the dagger section. The Getty treaty is view by many as one the most complete manuscripts from Fiore, having a large number of plays and descriptions. It is this reason that I have chosen to use the Getty treaty, I have also chosen this set of plays because these were the ones that were taught at the classes that I took with the Exiles and I had the most experience with them. When watching the videos note that the person enacting the regular plays is the one on the right, while the person performing any contraries is the one on the left similar to the pattern found in the treaties.
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First Master, First Play
<mediaplayer>File:First Master; First Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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First Master, Sixth Play (Contrary)
<mediaplayer>File:First Master; Sixth Play (Contrary).mov</mediaplayer>
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First Master, Twelfth Play
<mediaplayer>File:First Master; Twelfth Play.mp4</mediaplayer>
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First Master, Twenteth Play
<mediaplayer>File:First Master; Twenteth Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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Second Master, First Play
<mediaplayer>File:Second Master; First Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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Second Master, Third Play
<mediaplayer>File:Second  Master; Third Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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Second Master, Fourth Play (Contrary)
<mediaplayer>File:Second Master; Fourth Play (Contrary).mov</mediaplayer>
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Third Master, First Play
<mediaplayer>File:Third Master; First Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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Third Master, Fourth Play
<mediaplayer>File:Third Master; Fourth Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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Fourth Master, Firsth Play
<mediaplayer>File:Forth_Master;_First_Play.mov</mediaplayer>
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=Conclusion=
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Over the course of five weeks I had the opportunity to visit two different styles of classes. Both were great but one thing I did notice was the size difference. One class that I attended had a maximum of six students including myself each week while the other class averaged twenty. I believe this can be attributed to popularity, the larger of the classes was put on by a group called Scholar Gladiatorius, which interestingly enough has a very popular Youtube channel. The other class group however only has a webpage. It was from this that I decided to make video demonstrations as video have become a popular and fast way to share and learn new information. Simply be watching a video on the internet one can easily learn skills with the ability to pause rewind and replay as many times as they like. While the manuscripts that Fiore have written are great tools into decoding his style of martial arts, the ability to watch his plays I feel is invaluable as some things don't translate well just on paper. 
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=References=
Anglo, S. (2000). The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
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Manifesto. (2007, August 17). Retrieved June 01, 2017, from http://www.hemac.org/index.php?site=manifesto
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Mondschein, K. (2011). The Knightly Art of Battle. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
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Ramsey, S. (2016). Tools of War: History of Weapons in Medieval Times.

[[Category:History Projects]]

[[Category:2017]]
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