Bolognese Swordsmanship, also sometimes known as the

Dardi school Bolognese Swordsmanship, also sometimes known as the Dardi school, is a tradition within the Italian school of swordsmanship which is based on the surviving fencing treatises published by several 16th century fencing masters of Bologna, As early a ...

, is a tradition within the

Italian school of swordsmanship The term Italian school of swordsmanship is used to describe the Italian style of fencing and edged-weapon combat from the time of the first extant Italian swordsmanship treatise (1409) to the days of classical fencing (up to 1900). Although th ...

which is based on the surviving fencing treatises published by several 16th century fencing masters of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, As early as the 14th century several fencing masters were living and teaching in the city: a maestro Rosolino in 1338, a maestro Nerio in 1354, and a maestro Francesco in 1385.

Overview

The Dardi school is named after Lippo Bartolomeo Dardi, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, who was licensed as a fencing master and founded a fencing school in Bologna in 1415, just a few years after

Fiore dei Liberi Fiore Furlano de Cividale d'Austria, delli Liberi da Premariacco (Fiore dei Liberi, Fiore Furlano, Fiore de Cividale d'Austria; born ca. 1350; died after 1409) was a late 14th century knight, diplomat, and itinerant fencing master. He is the ea ...

had completed his ''Fior di Battaglia''. The Dardi School constituted both the last great medieval Western martial arts tradition as well as the first great Renaissance tradition, embracing both armed and unarmed combat. No manuscript ascribed to Dardi himself survives, although his tradition became the foundation for the work of Antonio Francesco Manciolino and Achille Marozzo, both possibly students of famed Bolognese master Guido Antonio de Luca. The Bolognese masters whose treatises have survived shared a greater consistency of style, terminology and pedagogy with each other than with fencing masters of the period from other parts of Italy, thus justifying their treatment as a single school. The Dardi school focused primarily the single-handed ''spada da lato'' (side-sword) still used for both cutting and thrusting. The side-sword was used in combination with various defensive weapons, including a shield (''brocchiero'', ''rotella'' or ''targa''), a dagger, a gauntlet or a cape. The two-handed sword or '' spadone'' was also still taught, although losing its prominence. In addition, instruction on fighting with the

poleaxe The poleaxe (also poleax, pollaxe and other similar spellings) is a European polearm that was used by medieval infantry. Etymology Most etymological authorities consider the ''poll''- prefix historically unrelated to "pole", instead meaning " ...

and other

polearms A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee w ...

was given.

Sources

A treatise on the ''gintilissima arte del schirmire'' ("most noble art of fencing") by a "Bolognese anonymus" (''Anonimo Bolognese'') was edited by Rubboli and Cesari (2005). It is dated to the "very first years of the 1500s" by the editors, but others have placed it closer to 1550. It is a compilation preserved in a single manuscript version (in two parts), mss. 345/6 of the

Biblioteca Classense The Biblioteca Classense is the public library of Ravenna, Italy. In 1803, with the Napoleonic suppression of monasteries and religious institutions, a library was created to harbor the confiscated books. They were housed in the library of the Cam ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

. The ''Opera Nova'' of Antonio Manciolino was apparently first published in the early 1520s, but only a copy of the likely second edition, "newly revised and printed" in 1531, has survived. It was dedicated to

Luis Fernández de Córdoba, Duke of Sessa Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

(d. 1526), mentioned as imperial ambassador to

Pope Adrian VI Pope Adrian VI (; ; ; ), born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens (2 March 1459 – 14 September 1523), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523. The only Dutch people, Du ...

(r. 1522/23). ''Opera Nova dell'arte delle armi'' ("New Treatise on the Art of Arms") by Achille Marozzo was published in 1536 in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, dedicated to Count Rangoni. Considered the most important work on Italian fencing of the 16th century, it exemplifies techniques about fighting in a judicial duel with all the major weapons of the times and includes a large section on the conventions and rules of the duel. Angelo Viggiani's ''Lo Schermo'' was written around 1550 and published posthumously, ca. 1575. Giovanni dall'Agocchie, ''Dell'Arte di Scrimia'', 1572. This work is unusually clear, a significant amount of material on the theory of swordsmanship along with many specific descriptions of the fundamentals. Girolamo Cavalcabo (Hieronyme Calvacabo, Hieronimo Cavalcabo) was trained in the Bolognese school of fencing, possibly under Angelo Viggiani dal Montone, and seems to have traveled to London, England in the 1580s or 1590s. While in London, he wrote a treatise on the use of the rapier entitled ''Nobilissimo discorso intorno il schermo'' ("Most Noble Discourse on Defense"), published in 1597. In the early 17th century, he served as fencing master at the court of Henry IV of France to prince Louis (the future Louis XIII). Runacres, Rob. Treatise or Instruction for Fencing: By Hieronymus Calvacabo of Bologna and Patenostrier of Rome. Lulu, 2015.

References

External links

Bolognese GuardsBolognese Swordsmanship: The Dardi SchoolBolognese Swordsmanship (2006 class handout)
by Tom Leoni
Site dedicated to the study of the Dardi tradition
maintained by William E Wilson
Bolognese Masters at Scrimipedia

Marozzo.com
a website dedicated to the Bolognese Swordsmanship maintained by Ilkka Hartikainen
Sala d'Arme Achille Marozzo
the greatest schools for the study of Bolognese Swordsmanship in Italy {{HEMA Historical European martial arts

Swordsmanship Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...

Historical fencing