Most
of what we know about Fiore dei Liberi comes from the prologues of the
different versions of his treatise, Fior di Battaglia ('Flower of
Battle', also known as Flos Duellatorum), and the works
of
the early 20thC historians Francesco Novati and Luigi Zanutto (who
drew
on earlier works by Fontanini and others).

Fiore, the treatises
There are
four known surviving versions of his treatise:
1)
'Pisani-Dossi' (PD) - dated to 1409 (1410 by the modern calendar),
known at the moment from the facsimile in Francesco Novati's work of
1902. It has been widely reproduced on the internet (as Novati's
facsimile is out of copyright) and most of
the text accompanying the lessons is in the form of short rhyming
couplets. It's prologue has two parts, a Latin one and an
Italian
one, the former part of this being quite different to the prologues of
the
other two versions of Fiore's work. It is dedicated to Niccolo III
d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara. The armour shown in the treatise may point
to a slightly later date than the other two versions (also, in PD it says
Fiore
studied for 50 years plus, while in Getty and Morgan it says he has
studied for 40 years plus). It has some parts not included in the other two versions.
Until recently the original was assumed to have been lost, but it is now
known where the manuscript is
kept (in a private collection).
Novati described PD as being unbound and covered with a cardboard
folder
with a marbled paper cover.
2)
'Getty' - kept in the J.P.Getty Museum in Los Angeles
(83.MR.183
(MS LUDWIG XV 13)), it
measures 28cm by 20.5cm. It is un-dated (we assume it to be
earlier
than PD), but is the most extensive of the versions, with more
substantial
and explanatory text than the PD version. It is also dedicated to Niccolo III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara. This is the version we mostly
work from in Schola Gladiatoria.
Known
ownership history compiled by Matt Galas:
Niccolo
Marcello di Santa Marina, Venice
Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750)
Luigi Celotti (c. 1789-c.1846) {sale, Sotheby's, 1825}
Thomas Phillipps, Ms. 4204 (sale, Sotheby's,1966)
Peter and Irene Ludwig, Aachen, Germany
Getty Collection (current location)
Both PD
and Getty describe Niccolo III as Signor of Parma and Reggio - he was only
officially recognised as Signor of these cities from 1409 until 1421. However,
the matter is more complicated, as he laid claim to these cities from around
1404 onwards and received Papal support in his claim. Despite this, on paper is
would therefore seem that both PD and Getty date to 1409 or after.
3)
'Morgan' - kept in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. It is
also undated, and unlike the other two versions does not have a
dedication to Niccolo III d'Este. It has a similar prologue to
the
Getty version, though not exactly the same, and as a treatise is shorter and
with a different
structure, starting with the mounted lessons. The plays that it
does show have very similar accompanying text to the Getty
version. It has some other peculiarities, like showing the
armoured sword lessons out of armour. The artistic style is
somewhat similar to Getty and it would appear to be approximately
about
the same date as Getty, which we take to be before 1410.
Known
ownership history compiled by Matt Galas:
Giacomo
Soranzo (date?)
Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727-1805
Walter Sneyd, 809-1888
J. Pierpont Morgan, (John Pierpont), 1837-1913
J. P. Morgan, (John Pierpont), 1867-1943
4)
Florius 'De Arte Luctandi' - held by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France as
MS LATIN 11269. This treatise was previously unknown to Fiore researchers and
came to light in the middle of 2008 thanks to the efforts of Fabrice Cognot and
Ken Mondschein. It is written entirely in Latin. It lacks a prologue, but is
titled in 17thC script on some pages which were added presumably when it entered
the Bibliothèque du Roi (it was in the library of Louis Phélypeaux, marquis de
Pontchartrain previous to that). It is a shorter treatise than PD or Getty. It
contains plays which are found in the other versions and does not seem to
contain any new material - there is a lot of material from PD and Getty not
included. It is brightly coloured throughout and the art is of a very high
quality and cost. It does seem to contain some artistic errors - for example
Posta Fenestra with the weapon placed behind the head instead of in front of it.
Dating of the manuscript is uncertain, but from the armour and clothes it
appears to be a little later than the others, perhaps by a few years, but not
more.
It shares
a lot of common features with Filippo Vadi's work - especially the artistic
arrangement. In fact the similarities are so great that one is compelled to
suggest that either this was the inspiration for Vadi's work, or they share a
common inspiration. Vadi clearly had access to one of Fiore's prologues, yet
this version does not have a prologue (though it may have done once).
Other copies?
The inventories of the Estense Library show that there were
two copies of Fiore's treatise
(Ms.84 and Ms.110) held there between 1436 and 1508 (and presumably
before this, as the 1436 inventory was the earliest available to
Novati).
In addition to these two there is also an anonymous fighting treatise
recorded at the same time. After the 1508 inventory these three
manuscripts are not recorded in the collection again and have
disappeared from the collection. Judging by
the catalogue details, it seems unlikely that any of the four known
surviving copies were either of these two copies of
Fior
di Battaglia. The details do not match any of the versions we
know
about today exactly. Here are the descriptions of the two manuscripts
which were in the Estense library 1436-1508, as taken from
Novati:
-
Ms. 84: 58 Folios. First page shows a white eagle and two helmets.
Bound
in leather with a clasp.
-
Ms. 110: 15 Folios. Parchment, small format, written in 2 columns,
unbound.
Thus it may be that there were at least six copies of Fior di Battaglia
made - assuming none of the four we know of now were either of the two in
the Estense library.
Fiore, the man
According
to the Getty
prologue, Fiore
was the son of Benedetto dei Liberi, a noble whose estates were
based in Premariacco, a small town in the region of Friuli (north-east
Italy). We do not know his birth date, but it must have been some time
in the middle of the 14thC, probably in the 1350's (because of the
length he gives for his career and the assumed dates of the
treatises).
In
his treatises Fiore tells us that at an early age he decided he wanted to
learn more of martial skills, and so began training and ultimately
fighting in the barriers ('in sbarra'). He tells us that he
travelled to
learn the art further, and that he learnt from Italian and German
masters (in the Pisani-Dossi version two are named - Master Giovanni,
called Suveno and Master Nicholai of Toblem, of the diocese of
Metz). He
says he travelled in different lands (regions) and studied under, and
later taught, many people. We don't know if he travelled outside
the borders of modern Italy, and
all of the proven records of his location are south of his birthplace
(though this does not preclude the possibility that he crossed the
Alps).
Friuli
had strong ties with Austria and parts of Germany, and the
historians Novati (1902) and Zanutto (1907) showed in their research
that the region had been emigrated to by 'Tedeschi' (Germans) over two
centuries at least. Some of these 'Tedeschi' were listed as
'schermistor' (fencers). So, whether Fiore learnt from Tedeschi in
northern
Italy, or in Germany, we cannot be sure until further research becomes
available.

Fiore
seems to have gained a reputation for himself, and in the late 14thC
he
is recorded as performing several duties and as being in various parts
of northern Italy. He is not recorded being in Austria or Germany, as
far as we, Novati or Zanutto can/could tell. A 'Master Fiore' is
recorded as fighting for the alliance of towns in Udine in 1383 (there
was a kind of civil war in the region, brought about by the accession
of
a new Patriarch of Aquilegia) against the Patriarch, as a kind of
captain, where he is recorded as being put in charge of crossbowmen
and/or giant crossbow artillery, as well as being given the
responsibility of procuring gunpowder artillery for the defence of the
allied
towns. There is now a street named after Fiore in Premariacco. In 1395
he is recorded in Padua, and in 1399 in Pavia.
Novati
and particularly Zanutto surmise that finally,
as a man of reasonable age (maybe in the year 1399 or 1400), he
entered
the service of Niccolo III d'Este, the Marchese (Marquis)
of Ferrara, Lord of Parma, Reggio etc, head of one of the richest and
most
famous families in Italy at the time (and enemies of the Visconti
family, then-rulers of Milan until a truce in 1404). Zanutto goes as
far
as to suggest that perhaps Fiore was Niccolo's trainer for his 1399
passage of arms, when Niccolo was 16 years old and had to face a
contest
against 12 swordsmen. In fact there is no solid evidence to place
Fiore
at the court of Niccolo d'Este, other than the two dedications to
Niccolo in Getty and PD, and the fact that the Estense (d'Este)
library
record two copies of Fior di Battaglia being present in the
collection between the 1436 and 1508 catalogues, after which time
these two manuscripts evidently left the collection.
We could
assume that Fiore was based at Niccolo's court, but aside from the
treatise dedications there is no evidence to support it and Fiore is not
recorded anywhere as being at the court of Ferrara,
whilst
many other individuals who were present at Niccolo's court are
recorded
as being there. We therefore cannot neglect the possibility that
Fiore was not based at the d'Este court, and maybe dedicated a
treatise
to Niccolo for some other reason, now lost to us, or that maybe he
passed through Niccolo's court for a brief time. I suggest the
possibility that Fiore was actually based at the court of Milan, due to
the names he gives of men he taught (being mostly associated with
Milan), and the fact that he assisted at combats in the presence of the
Duke and Duchess of Milan. If he was in fact aligned to Milan, then it
is possible that his treatises were dedicated to Niccolo d'Este as
diplomatic gifts when Milan and Ferrara made a truce in 1404. In PD and
Getty Niccolo is described as 'Signor of Parma and Reggio' - a title he
did not officially receive until 1409.
The lack of dedication in the Morgan version raises some interesting
questions. Note that in Getty he says he has organised the treatise
(starting with wrestling) according to the wishes of his patron, and
this order is shared by PD (which is also dedicated to Niccolo). Whereas
in Morgan he says he has organised the treatise according to his own
intelligence (starting with mounted fighting) and in De Arte Luctandi
this order is shared. This suggests that Fiore must have had fairly
explicit instructions from Niccolo about how to arrange the treatise.

During
his time as a teacher, Fiore tells us he prepared gentlemen, under
oath of
secrecy, for duels in the barriers, and he recites a few of the most
notable examples, telling us his student's name, their opponent's name
and nationality, where the fight was held and what the outcome
was.
Fiore
names as his students Piero del Verde (a German), Niccolo
(Waz)ianlino?
(a German), the famous condottiere Galeazzo da Mantova, Capitani da
Grumello (an Italian), Lancilotto Beccaria of Pavia (an Italian),
Giannino da Bavo of Milan (an Italian) and Azzone (Francesco) da
Castelbarco (an Italian). For most of these it is possible to find
biographies, and they were amongst some of the most important nobles
of
their day, some of them being at the forefront of contemporary Italian
politics (see Beccaria's attempted assassination coup for example, or
Galeazzo's many adventures as a mercenary captain). The same can
be said of some of Fiore's students' opponents also, for example
Giovanni di Ordilaffi who Fiore says fought against his student Azzone
(Francesco)
da
Castelbarco. Ordilaffi was a major player in north Italian
politics of this time, and was an experienced military leader, though
he
is perhaps most famous for his defeat at Castagnaro in 1387 while
leading the armies of Verona, at the hands of the illustrious English
Captain, Sir John Hawkwood (known as Giovanni Acuto in Italy), who was
commanding a multi-national force including English and German
mercenaries on behalf of Padua, for his Florentine
employers.
Fiore
gives the names of seven opponents for his six students (two duels
being
listed for Azzone da Castelbarco) .
Three are Germans, one of them being an identifiable historical person
(Piero
della Corona),
another is a well-known Italian noble (Giovanni di Ordilaffi), one is
possibly an
Englishman (Nicolo Inghileso, this name meaning 'English'),
another is possibly identified with a known English nobleman (Giacomo
da
Boson) and there
is also a Frenchman: 'Messer Buzichardo de Fraza', who we now think
was
probably Jean le Maingre, 'Boucicaut', Marshal of the armies of
France, and for a time Governor of Genoa, captured on Crusade at
Nicopolis in 1396 and ransomed, later general at the Battle of
Agincourt
and captured by the English. Boucicaut was one of the most famous and
celebrated knights and generals of the late-14th and early-15thC's,
yet
he was beaten twice in single combat by one of Fiore's students
(Galeazzo
da Mantova). Shown to the
right is an illuminated page showing Marshal Boucicaut in the book
of hours he commissioned - this now resides in the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris. He wears typical armour of the beginning of the
15thC, with a great bascinet, a longsword and rondel dagger. (click
to enlarge) |
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This
international cast should not be surprising to the historian, as many
nobles from across Europe are recorded as having travelled to northern
Italy to fight knightly duels and tournaments (which were forbidden in
many other places), and Austrian, Bohemian, English, French, German,
Hungarian and Spanish military influence are well documented in Italy during the
14th
and 15thC's, with such famous figures as the English mercenary Captain
Sir John Hawkwood (whose monument painted by Paulo Uccello still stands in
the
Duomo cathedral in Florence) and Boucicaut playing important roles in
late 14thC Italian history. Northern Italy was literally awash with
mercenary companies, containing soldiers from France and England
(magnified by the temporary peace between those countries of 1360),
and from countries
with shared borders and heritage with northern Italy (Germany and
Austria being primary).
This
is one subject in my
published
article (ISBN
0954163311).
The
prologues tells us that Fiore himself had to fight five duels against
other
masters, not wearing armour, but instead only an arming
jacket and gloves. He tells us that he would prefer to fight three
armoured duels in the barriers rather than just one of these
un-armoured
duels.
Unfortunately
we are not sure exactly when Fiore died - possibly between 1410 and
1420.

The
legacy of his treatise lived on after his death however, as other
fencing masters drew upon his knowledge in their own combat treatises
-
this can be seen in Filippo Vadi's treatise of about 1485 and also in
that of Ludwig von Eyb, a
16thC German General. We can also see that there was
some kind of shared tradition between Fiore's art and other Masters,
with some common names for guards (eg. Iron Door, Long Tail Guard etc),
common names for attacks and even named techniques.
To
see parts of our English translation to the Getty and Morgan versions
of Fior
di Battaglia and further articles and research
here.

Written and updated by Matt Easton.
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