Articles

• Hans Talhoffer's dagger
• Myth of "20 to 30 pound broadswords"
• Dagger techniques from Talhoffer's Fechtbuch 1467
• Simplified method for instructing dagger techniques. (500kb pdf)
• Talhoffer's Tafel 172
• Dagger techniques from Achille Marozzo
• Defence against a dagger from Fiore dei Liberi
• Our first attempts at Talhoffer's dagger.
• A buckler from an IKEA salad bowl.
• Thoughts on sharing of research.
• Recommended Literature and book reviews
• Links

Sources

• Vollstandiges Ring-Buch of Johann Georg Passchen.
• Nicolaes Petter's Klare Onderrichtinge der Voortreffelijcke Worstel-Konst.
• Some dietary rules.
• Hendrick van Buren's Drilkonst, (1672) (pdf, 4Mb)
• Illustrated translation of chapter 3: handling of the pike, from the above.

Flos Duellatorum

in armis, sine armis, equester et pedester

Fiore dei Liberi

1410

A very nice Italian reprint of this book is currently available. It has the original text and pictures on the right, and on the left the text in a readable typeface, along with comments in modern Italian by Giovanni Rapisardi, who also wrote an introduction. At about 167 pages, this little book contains a treasure of clear technical drawings. I recommend this book to everyone, it is absolutely worth the very reasonable price even if you don't know a word of Italian.

My own knowledge of Italian is almost non-existant, but I get the impression Mr Rapisardi treats the work primarily from the point of view of a modern fencer. But since his book contains the full original, every reader is free to form a personal opinion. I feel every initiative to make such original material available in an accessible publication merits the strongest support.

The techniques in the Flos Duellatorum cover the entire spectrum from unarmed wrestling to mounted swordfighting. Since the author is supposed to have studied in Germany, a comparison with the techniques of the German Hans Talhoffer would seem reasonable. Many of the techniques are similar, yet there are also important differences. Talhoffers FechtBuch starts with the long sword, Flos Duellatorum starts with unarmed combat, followed by dagger fighting. Where Talhoffer seems to focus heavily on the judicial duel with matched weapons, Dei Liberi pays more attention to unequal fights (as would occur in war or self-defence situations). The dagger techniques (my personal favourites) for example, are all against the same weapon in Talhoffers FechtBuch, but in the Flos Duellatorum, these matched techniques are a distinct minority. Dei Liberi shows a lot of unarmed defences against a dagger attack (which look like a cross between Talhoffer and Marozzo's knife disarms in Opera Nova), counters to these defences, and defences with a dagger against a sword or spear attack. Some of Dei Liberi's techniques use a stick apparently picked up as improvised weapon. Only the armored combat has something of an organised duel.

And now, on to the pictures:

I got my copy of this book from La Libreria Militare :
Galleria Borella 1
20123 MILANO (Italy)
tel/fax ++39.02.89010725
E-mail: libmil@starfarm.it
They respond prompty to email (in English), accept creditcards and are friendly and helpful.