The Bolognese Tradition: Ancient Tradition or Modern Myth?
Abstract
This article discusses the modern interpretation that Bologna produced a distinctive regional martial tradition, based on the existence of similar treatises. It examines the assumption that a series of fencing masters formed a distinct lineage and that their martial practices formed a tradition separate to martial forms outside of Bologna. As a case study, it also considers the 'Viridario' of Giovanni Filoteo Achillini, a poem that contains instructions on the use of sword an buckler, written in 1504 and asks why this apparently unknown treatise was not used by its author to promote a Bolognese tradition.
References
Manuscripts
Altoni, Francesco di Sandro, Monomachia ovvero Arte di Scherma, ca. 1539-1569, Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, MS II.iii.315
Anonymous [Anonimo Bolognese], [ca.1500-1550], Ravenna, Biblioteca Classense, Manoscritti 345-346
Cavendish, William, The Truth of the Sword, London, British Library, MS Harley 4206
Lovino, Giovan Antonio, Modo di cacciare mano all spada, ca.1580, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Italien 959
Vadi, Fillipo, De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi, ca. 1482 – 1487, Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, MS Vitt.Em.1324
Liberi, Fiore de'i, Fior di Battaglia, ca. 1404, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 13
Printed Sources
Achillini, Giovanni Filoteo, Viridario (Bologna: Hieronymo di Plato, 1513)
Agocchie, Giovanni dall’, Dell’Arte Di Scrimia Libri Tre (Venice: Giulio Tamborino, 1572)
Alberti, Leandro, Historie di Bologna (Bologna: Bartholomeo Bonardo & Marc’Antonio Grossi, 1541)
Alidosi, Giovanni, Li dottori forestieri, che in Bologna hanno letto teologia, filosofia, medicina, & arti liberali, con li rettori dello studio da gli anni (Bologna: Nicolo Tebaldini, 1623)
Alessandri, Torquato D’, Il Cavalier Compito (Viterbo: Giralomo Discepolo, 1609)
Briccio, Giovanni, Avisi Necessarii Per difendersi dall’Inimico in molti modi, Secondo varij accidenti che possono occorrere (Venice: Francesco Grossi, 1613)
Carranza, Jerónimo Sánchez de, De la Filosofia de las Armas y de su Destreza y la Aggression y Defensa Cristiana (Sanlucar de Barrameda, 1582)
Citolini, Alessandro, La Tipocosmia (Venice: Vincenzo Valrisi, 1561)
Clavelli, Guglielmo Alessandro de Novelieri, Nomenclatura italiana, francese e spagnuola (Venice: Barezzo Barezzi, 1629)
Doni, Anton Francesco, La libraria del Doni fiorentino (Venice: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1550)
Doni, Anton Francesco, La libraria del Doni (Venice: [no publisher], 1577)
Garzoni, Tommaso, La piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo (Venice: Gio. Battista Somascho, 1586)
Ghirardacci, Cherubino, Della historia di Bologna (Bologna: Giouanni Rossi, 1596)
Howell, James, Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary (London: J.G. for Samuel Thomson, 1660)
Manciolino, Antonio, Opera Nova (Venice: Nicolo d’Aristotile, 1531)
Marcelli, Francesco Antonio, Regole Della Scherma (Rome: Dom. Ant. Ercole, 1686)
Marozzo, Achille, Opera Nova (Modena: Antonio Bergolae, 1536)
Montaigne, Michel de, Oeuvres de Michel de Montaigne (Paris: A. Desrez, 1837)
Narvaez, Luis Pacheco de, Libro de las grandezas de la espada (Madrid : Juan Iñiguez de Lequerica, 1600)
Narvaez, Luis Pacheco de, Engaño y desengaño de los errores que se han querido introducir en la destreza de las armas (Madrid : Imprenta del Reyno, 1635)
Pallavicini, Giuseppe Morsicato, La Scherma Illustra (Palermo, Domenico d’Anselmo, 1670)
Stow, John, Annals or a general Chronicle of England (London: Thomas Adams, 1615)
Viggiani, Angelo. Lo Schermo, (Venice: Giorgio Angelieri, 1575)
Villamont, Jacques de, Les Voyages du Seigneur de Villamont (Paris: Louis Messier, 1595)
Vizani, Pompeo, Di Pompeo Vizani gentil'huomo bolognese Diece libri delle historie della sua patria (Bologna: Gio. Rossi, 1596)
Secondary Sources
Battistini, Alessandro, and Niki Corradetti, ‘Income and working time of a Fencing Master in Bologna in the 15th and early 16th century’, trans. Luca Dazi, Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 4/1 (2016), 153-76
Burke, Peter, The Fortunes of the Courtier (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995)
Carty, Carolyn M., ‘Albrecht Dürer's Adoration of the Trinity: A Reinterpretation’, The Art Bulletin, 67/1 (1985), 146-53
Castle, Egerton, Schools and Masters of Fencing: From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century (London: C. Whittingham & Co., 1885)
Dallari, Umberto, I Rotuli dei Lettori Legisti e Artisti dello Studio Bolognese dal 1384 – 1799, vol. 1 (Bologna: Fratelli Merlani, 1888)
Dunkelman, Martha, ‘What Michelangelo Learned in Bologna’, Artibus et Historiae, 35/69 (2014), 107-35
Dupuis, Olivier, ‘A new manuscript of Joachim Meyer (1561)’, Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 9/1 (2021), 1-14
Fratus, Stephen, With Malice and Cunning. Anonymous 16th Century Manuscript on Bolognese Swordsmanship (Raleigh: Lulu, 2020)
Gelli, Jacopo, L'Arte dell'armi in Italia (Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'arti Grafiche, 1906)
Giordano, Maria Luisa, ‘Le Annotationi della volgar lingua di Giovanni Filoteo Achillini (1536)’, Corpus Eve [online], DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/eve.113
Grendler, Paul F, ‘The University of Bologna, the city, and the papacy’, Renaissance Studies, 13/4 (1999), 475-85
Jaquet, Daniel, Karin Verelst and Timothy Dawson, eds. Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books, Transmission and Tradition of Martial Arts in Europe (14th – 17th Centuries) (Leiden: Brill, 2016)
Lines, David A., ‘Papal Power and University Control in Early Modern Italy: Bologna and Gregory XIII’, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 44/3 (2013), 663-82
Leoni, Tom, The Complete Renaissance Swordsman (Wheaton: Freelance Academy Press, 2010)
Leoni, Tom, Marozzo Book 1 (Raleigh: Lulu, 2018)
Leoni, Tom, Viggiani: Lo Schermo. Book III, English Translation with Original instructions (Raleigh: Lulu, 2019)
Lucioli, Francesco, ‘A “Phoenix” Nel “Viridario”. Fortuna Letteraria di un Trattato di Mnemotecnica’, Lettere Italiane, 59/2 (2007), 262-80
Mele, Gregory D., ‘Fighting Arts of the Renaissance - Bologna: City of Swordsmen’, Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010): pp. 249-50
Mérignac, Émile, Histoire de l'escrime dans tous les temps et dans tous les pays, Tome 2 (Paris : Rouquette, 1886)
Orioli, Emilio, ‘La Scherma a Bologna’, Resto del Carlino, 20-21 May, 1901
Pons, Salvador Salort, ‘A letter of introduction for Velázquez in Bologna’, The Burlington Magazine, 154/1314 (2012), 616-19
Rose, Colin, A Renaissance of Violence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Swanger, W. Jherek, A Treatise on the Science of Arms, with a Philosophical Dialogue, by Camillo Agrippa: An Annotated Translation (Raleigh: Lulu, 2013)
Swanger, W. Jherek, The Duel, or the Flower of Arms for Single Combat, Both Offensive and Defensive, by Achille Marozzo (Raleigh: Lulu, 2018)
Swanger, W. Jherek, The Art of Defence: on Fencing, the Joust, and Battle Formation, by Giovanni dall’Agocchie (Raleigh: Lulu, 2018)
Swanger, W. Jherek, The Fencing Method of Angelo Viggiani Lo Schermo, Part III (Raleigh: Lulu, 2017)
Tlusty, B. Ann, The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
Altoni, Francesco di Sandro, Monomachia ovvero Arte di Scherma, ca. 1539-1569, Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, MS II.iii.315
Anonymous [Anonimo Bolognese], [ca.1500-1550], Ravenna, Biblioteca Classense, Manoscritti 345-346
Cavendish, William, The Truth of the Sword, London, British Library, MS Harley 4206
Lovino, Giovan Antonio, Modo di cacciare mano all spada, ca.1580, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Italien 959
Vadi, Fillipo, De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi, ca. 1482 – 1487, Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, MS Vitt.Em.1324
Liberi, Fiore de'i, Fior di Battaglia, ca. 1404, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 13
Printed Sources
Achillini, Giovanni Filoteo, Viridario (Bologna: Hieronymo di Plato, 1513)
Agocchie, Giovanni dall’, Dell’Arte Di Scrimia Libri Tre (Venice: Giulio Tamborino, 1572)
Alberti, Leandro, Historie di Bologna (Bologna: Bartholomeo Bonardo & Marc’Antonio Grossi, 1541)
Alidosi, Giovanni, Li dottori forestieri, che in Bologna hanno letto teologia, filosofia, medicina, & arti liberali, con li rettori dello studio da gli anni (Bologna: Nicolo Tebaldini, 1623)
Alessandri, Torquato D’, Il Cavalier Compito (Viterbo: Giralomo Discepolo, 1609)
Briccio, Giovanni, Avisi Necessarii Per difendersi dall’Inimico in molti modi, Secondo varij accidenti che possono occorrere (Venice: Francesco Grossi, 1613)
Carranza, Jerónimo Sánchez de, De la Filosofia de las Armas y de su Destreza y la Aggression y Defensa Cristiana (Sanlucar de Barrameda, 1582)
Citolini, Alessandro, La Tipocosmia (Venice: Vincenzo Valrisi, 1561)
Clavelli, Guglielmo Alessandro de Novelieri, Nomenclatura italiana, francese e spagnuola (Venice: Barezzo Barezzi, 1629)
Doni, Anton Francesco, La libraria del Doni fiorentino (Venice: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1550)
Doni, Anton Francesco, La libraria del Doni (Venice: [no publisher], 1577)
Garzoni, Tommaso, La piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo (Venice: Gio. Battista Somascho, 1586)
Ghirardacci, Cherubino, Della historia di Bologna (Bologna: Giouanni Rossi, 1596)
Howell, James, Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary (London: J.G. for Samuel Thomson, 1660)
Manciolino, Antonio, Opera Nova (Venice: Nicolo d’Aristotile, 1531)
Marcelli, Francesco Antonio, Regole Della Scherma (Rome: Dom. Ant. Ercole, 1686)
Marozzo, Achille, Opera Nova (Modena: Antonio Bergolae, 1536)
Montaigne, Michel de, Oeuvres de Michel de Montaigne (Paris: A. Desrez, 1837)
Narvaez, Luis Pacheco de, Libro de las grandezas de la espada (Madrid : Juan Iñiguez de Lequerica, 1600)
Narvaez, Luis Pacheco de, Engaño y desengaño de los errores que se han querido introducir en la destreza de las armas (Madrid : Imprenta del Reyno, 1635)
Pallavicini, Giuseppe Morsicato, La Scherma Illustra (Palermo, Domenico d’Anselmo, 1670)
Stow, John, Annals or a general Chronicle of England (London: Thomas Adams, 1615)
Viggiani, Angelo. Lo Schermo, (Venice: Giorgio Angelieri, 1575)
Villamont, Jacques de, Les Voyages du Seigneur de Villamont (Paris: Louis Messier, 1595)
Vizani, Pompeo, Di Pompeo Vizani gentil'huomo bolognese Diece libri delle historie della sua patria (Bologna: Gio. Rossi, 1596)
Secondary Sources
Battistini, Alessandro, and Niki Corradetti, ‘Income and working time of a Fencing Master in Bologna in the 15th and early 16th century’, trans. Luca Dazi, Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 4/1 (2016), 153-76
Burke, Peter, The Fortunes of the Courtier (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995)
Carty, Carolyn M., ‘Albrecht Dürer's Adoration of the Trinity: A Reinterpretation’, The Art Bulletin, 67/1 (1985), 146-53
Castle, Egerton, Schools and Masters of Fencing: From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century (London: C. Whittingham & Co., 1885)
Dallari, Umberto, I Rotuli dei Lettori Legisti e Artisti dello Studio Bolognese dal 1384 – 1799, vol. 1 (Bologna: Fratelli Merlani, 1888)
Dunkelman, Martha, ‘What Michelangelo Learned in Bologna’, Artibus et Historiae, 35/69 (2014), 107-35
Dupuis, Olivier, ‘A new manuscript of Joachim Meyer (1561)’, Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 9/1 (2021), 1-14
Fratus, Stephen, With Malice and Cunning. Anonymous 16th Century Manuscript on Bolognese Swordsmanship (Raleigh: Lulu, 2020)
Gelli, Jacopo, L'Arte dell'armi in Italia (Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'arti Grafiche, 1906)
Giordano, Maria Luisa, ‘Le Annotationi della volgar lingua di Giovanni Filoteo Achillini (1536)’, Corpus Eve [online], DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/eve.113
Grendler, Paul F, ‘The University of Bologna, the city, and the papacy’, Renaissance Studies, 13/4 (1999), 475-85
Jaquet, Daniel, Karin Verelst and Timothy Dawson, eds. Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books, Transmission and Tradition of Martial Arts in Europe (14th – 17th Centuries) (Leiden: Brill, 2016)
Lines, David A., ‘Papal Power and University Control in Early Modern Italy: Bologna and Gregory XIII’, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 44/3 (2013), 663-82
Leoni, Tom, The Complete Renaissance Swordsman (Wheaton: Freelance Academy Press, 2010)
Leoni, Tom, Marozzo Book 1 (Raleigh: Lulu, 2018)
Leoni, Tom, Viggiani: Lo Schermo. Book III, English Translation with Original instructions (Raleigh: Lulu, 2019)
Lucioli, Francesco, ‘A “Phoenix” Nel “Viridario”. Fortuna Letteraria di un Trattato di Mnemotecnica’, Lettere Italiane, 59/2 (2007), 262-80
Mele, Gregory D., ‘Fighting Arts of the Renaissance - Bologna: City of Swordsmen’, Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio Inc, 2010): pp. 249-50
Mérignac, Émile, Histoire de l'escrime dans tous les temps et dans tous les pays, Tome 2 (Paris : Rouquette, 1886)
Orioli, Emilio, ‘La Scherma a Bologna’, Resto del Carlino, 20-21 May, 1901
Pons, Salvador Salort, ‘A letter of introduction for Velázquez in Bologna’, The Burlington Magazine, 154/1314 (2012), 616-19
Rose, Colin, A Renaissance of Violence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Swanger, W. Jherek, A Treatise on the Science of Arms, with a Philosophical Dialogue, by Camillo Agrippa: An Annotated Translation (Raleigh: Lulu, 2013)
Swanger, W. Jherek, The Duel, or the Flower of Arms for Single Combat, Both Offensive and Defensive, by Achille Marozzo (Raleigh: Lulu, 2018)
Swanger, W. Jherek, The Art of Defence: on Fencing, the Joust, and Battle Formation, by Giovanni dall’Agocchie (Raleigh: Lulu, 2018)
Swanger, W. Jherek, The Fencing Method of Angelo Viggiani Lo Schermo, Part III (Raleigh: Lulu, 2017)
Tlusty, B. Ann, The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
Published
2023-05-15
How to Cite
Runacres, R. (2023). The Bolognese Tradition: Ancient Tradition or Modern Myth?. Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 10(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.36950/apd-2022-002
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Copyright (c) 2022 Rob Runacres
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