er'he .9fcademy of the Sword ILLUSTRATED FENCING BOOKS 1500-1800 3· I ~ Or~en.Hlcht: parade vonficu.n'de unten THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART efhe !Academy #the Sword ILLUSTRATED FENCING BOOKS 1500-1800 Donald]. LaRocca THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK This publication is issued in conjunction with the exhibi­ Black-and-white photography by Susanne Cardone tion "The Academy of the Sword: Illustrated Fencing and Paul Lachenauer of The Photograph Studio, Books, 1500-1800," held at The Metropolitan Museum of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Art, New York, fromJune 9, 1998, to fall of 1999. Printed and bound by Malloy Lithographing, Inc., This publication is made possible byJoseph A. Suarez, Esq., Ann Arbor, Michigan The Armor and Arms Club of New York, and the Grancsay Fund. Cover illustration: Anthon Friedrich Kahn, Anfangsgriinde der Fechtkunst ... (see page 18) Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data John P. O'Neill, Editor in Chief LaRocca, Donald]. Barbara Cavaliere, Editor The academy of the sword: illustrated fencing Sean Flaherty, Production books 1500-1800 / Donald]. LaRocca. Design by Robert Weisberg p. cm. Exhibition heldJune 1998 through the fall of 1999 Copyright © 1998 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York ISBN 0-87099-894-3 (pbk.) 1. Fencing in art-Exhibitions. 2. Fencing­ Second printing 1999 Textbooks-Illustrations-Exhibitions. 3. Illustrated books-New York (State)-New York-Exhibitions. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be 4. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y:). reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, Arms and Armor Dept. I. Metropolitan Museum of electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, record­ Art (New York, N.Y:) II. Title. ing, or any information storage and retrieval system, with­ N82!7.F4L37 1998 out permission in writing from the publishers. 796.86-dc21 98-50294 eIP 'Introduction The Academy of the Sword centers on an assemblage of with bouts between unarmored duelists but continue to rare illustrated books devoted to the subject of fencing include the use of several different weapons: sword and and dueling, drawn (with one exception) from the library rapier used alone or in tandem with a· dagger, shield, or ofthe Arms and Armor Department ofThe Metropolitan even a cloak in the left hand; the use of the two-handed Museum ofArt. The title is taken from Girard Thibault's sword, spear, halberd and quarter-staff; and methods of Academie de l'Espee (Leiden, 1628), the most lavish fencing unarmed combat. By the early seventeenth century the book ever produced, which was kindly lent by the rapier, a long, slender thrusting sword, began to domi­ Museum's ThomasJ. Watson Library. Accompanying the nate as the gentleman's weapon of choice, and most books and giving vivid impact to their illustrations are a books of the period become increasingly devoted to the selection of swords, rapiers, parrying daggers, bucklers, use of the rapier alone or with a left-hand dagger. During and other accoutrements, which follow the chronology the course of the centur~ as civilian fencing techniques of, and changes in, fighting styles depicted in the books. became more specialized and refined, the rapier devel­ These weapons were frequently treated not only as oped into a lighter, trimmed-down weapon known by sidearms, but also as fashionable costume accessories. about 1700 as the smallsword. The smallsword, often The decoration of hilts, scabbards, and belts often exem­ richly decorated, remained an integral part of a gentle­ plifies the prevailing artistic styles of a given period, man's wardrobe until the wearing of swords in civilian from Renaissance and Mannerism through Baroque and settings went out of fashion at the end of the eighteenth Rococo to Neoclassical. Hilts were designed by well­ centu~ at which time pistols were replacing swords as known engravers such as Hans Sebald Beham and Virgil the weapons most frequently used in personal duels. Solis, leading goldsmiths including Wenzel Jamnitzer During the early nineteenth century swordsmanship pro­ and Luigi Valadier, and major artists from Hans Holbein gressively diverged between military training and sport­ and Giulio Romano toJacques Louis David. ing practice, from which modern competitive fencing Today the term "fencing" calls to mind familiar developed. images of a competitive sport, but in the past, rather Between 1500 and 1800 fencing was known as "the art than a sporting event, "fencing" referred to practical and science of defense." The books and weapons methods of self-defense. Early books on fencing, prior to included in The Academy ofthe Sword offer an overview of about 1800, were concerned with the proper handling ways in which fencing was taught and the arms with of weapons, which was an integral part of the education which it was practiced during these three centuries. of European noblemen. Formalized training in the use of arms was also widely practiced by sons of the middle class-burghers, merchants, and craftsmen. This democ­ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ratization of martial skills was due in part to the dissem­ ination of illustrated fencing books, written by the Valuable help regarding the history of fencing and foremost Masters of Arms-highly regarded profession­ fencing books was generously given by J. Christoph als who were skilled in the use of weapons. Amberger, Richard J. Gradkowski, and S. Matthew The earliest bookincluded here is a sixteenth-century Galas. Advice concerning translations was kindly manuscript copy of a fifteenth-century treatise, which provided by Stefano Carboni, Helmut Nickel, andJames deals principally with judicial single combat between D. Lavin. Our gratitude is also extended to Joseph A. armored opponents equipped with a variety ofweapons. Suarez, Esq., and The Armor and Arms Club of New Most fencing books ofthe sixteenth century are concerned York, whose support made this publication possible. 3 Books Hans Talhoffer German, recorded 1435-82 Fechtbuch (Fencing Book) Gift of Miss Marguerite Keasbey, 1926 26.236 This volume is a rare early-sixteenth-century copy of one sections devoted to the procedures for fighting judicial of the earliest surviving European fencing manuals, Hans combats both with and without armor, and the use of the Talhoffer's influential Fechtbuch (Fencing Book), written in weapons employed in such combats, including the highly 1443. Talhoffer was following a tradition established by specialized Stechschilde (thrusting shields), maces, long Johannes Liechtenauer, an itinerant master swordsman of swords, spears, and daggers. There are also sections on: the fourteenth century who recorded the secrets of his knife fighting and wrestling, the latter based on the meth­ fighting techniques in the form of cryptic verses. The ods of Ott theJew, a renowned wrestling master to the Talhoffer manuscript includes verses from Liechtenauer, archdukes of Austria. 4 Maximilian I, von Habsburg i\usDian,1459-1519 Weisskunig (The White King) Vienna, 1775 Weisskunig is an allegorical autobiography written by including the mastery of swordsmanship and other martial Maximilian (who reigned as king of the Romans from 1486 skills. Hans Burgkmair (1473-1531) designed 117 of the and as Holy Roman Emperor from 1493) and his private woodcuts, some of which are considered among his most secretary Marx Treitzsaurwein (d. 1527) beginning about accomplished works. One of many elaborate projects ini­ 1506. Illustrated with 251 woodcut prints, the book tells the tiated by Maximilian to perpetuate his memory, the book story ofMaximilian's life and describes his many talents, was not published in its entirety until this edition of 1775. 5 SEC 0 N DO i1 SECVITA EL SECO'NDO LIBRO ELo..VALE TRATTAj DE ABATTIMENTI DE ARME DA FILO VA RIATE LVNO DA LALTRO. ([cap.;',Chedinot:l Spada ePugnale. 'A V EST 0 SIE vnoabatrlmrnto moltoperfetto,pcr fure acortd~ '<--btede S ada Pugnale Bo(ogllefe:Nota che tu che vorrai infegna re he in ranede fare,a COl1ellate n5 fe po fure piu che in Ii feriri natu ralmentc.cioe mandrirto, crouerfo,e £locata,ma piu tc dico,chel fe p fare mol ti altri feriri,ma generalmcte quafi ogni h mo rira coll.Hora nota che ho fl:ra corro de funtalia bona/& ogli melTe,quc1e cofe che ame hannoparfe piu bre~ ue,& piu vole/per vno che haudTe acombattcte ache nora per regola vera, Achille Marozzo Italian, born 1484 Opera nova de Achille Marozzo Bolognese, mastro genera Ie de l'arte de l'armi Marozzo's stated aim was to explain the proper use of all (New Work by Achille Marozzo of Bologna, Master General weapons necessary to a man in defending his honor. He of the Art ofArms) includes the use of the sword alone and with a dagger held Modena, 1536 in the left hand or with different types of small shields or even with a cloak. (wrapped around the left arm); of two Marozzo was among the earliest in a long line of renowned swords (one in each hand); of the large two-handed Bolognese swordsmen who published influential fencing sword; and of various types of shafted weapons (spears, books. His Opera Nova was reprinted several times between pikes, halberds, etc.). One chapter is devoted to unarmed 1536 and 1568 and is considered the first printed fencing defense against the dagger. Marozzo also discusses the rules book to have received relatively wide distribution. governing formal single combat between noblemen. 6 Achille Marozzo Italian, born 1484 Arte dell'armi di Achille Marozzo Bolognese (The Art ofArms, by Achille Marozzo of Bologna) Venice, 1568 Published after Marozzo's death, the text, with some mod­ probably referring toJuan Manrique, chamberlain to ifications to reflect changes in fighting styles, remains basi­ Elizabeth Valois (1545-1568), queen of Spain. Fontana goes cally that of the Opera Nova of 1536.