Glossary

Pedagogical structure

Master magistro / magister

A crowned figure who anchors a tactical situation. In practice almost every Master in the book is a Remedy Master: he shows the remedy to a given attack, and the plays that follow him elaborate it. The crown marks the Master; the crown is the visual sign of the governing position.

Remedy Master magistro rimedio; "King and Remedy"

The Master considered as the answer to an attack. The dagger is organized into nine such Masters (also called "Kings"), each answering a different grip or line; the longsword and the other weapons repeat the device. A remedy generates a family of plays.

scholar scolaro; scolari

A figure wearing a garter (worn below the knee) who performs a play that flows from his Master's remedy. Scholars are numbered relative to their Master ("the third play of the First Master"), and the book cross-references them constantly across weapons.

player zugadore

The opponent: the one who attacks the Master and is acted upon. In the plays, "I" is usually the Master or scholar and "you" is the player.

Counter Master / counter magistro contrario; contrario

A figure wearing both crown and garter who shows the counter that defeats a Remedy Master and his scholars. The counter is the third term of Fiore's basic unit: attack → remedy → counter.

counter-counter contra-contrario

A further reversal that defeats the counter, performed by a Fourth Master/King. The Getty preface defines it in the abstract and immediately limits it: "few plays in the art go beyond the Third Master; and if more are made, they are made with danger." Note the witness split — the dagger's actual counter-counter plays ([Dagger 26], [Dagger 27]) survive only in the Pisani Dossi; the Getty carries no text for either, so the prose family's dagger stops at three terms (attack → remedy → counter) even though the Getty's own preface names a fourth.

play zogho (çogo)

A single technique or exchange, the unit the book is built from and numbers. A "play of grappling", a "play of the sword". Fiore keeps his plays secret except from sworn scholars ([Preface]).

cover coverta / coperta

A defensive action that closes the line, from which the Master immediately works. In Fiore a cover is not a static parry but the first half of "cover-and-strike": it is made in order to strike, bind, or take from it (e.g. the Sixth Dagger Master's crossed-arm cover, [Dagger 74]; the longsword covers of the wide play).

The segno and the four virtues

the Seven Swords / Segno segno di bataglia

The emblematic figure of a man with seven swords radiating from and around him, signifying the seven blows of the sword, ringed by four animals signifying four virtues. It frames the art conceptually before the plays begin ([Preface, "Seven Swords"]).

prudence avisamento (Lat. _prudentia_)

the lynx (lovo cerviero), who sees best and sets everything "by compass and by measure" (a sesto e a misura). The measuring, deliberative virtue.

celerity presteza (Lat. _celeritas_)

the tiger, so swift to run and turn that the bolt from the sky cannot outstrip it. Speed of hand and foot.

audacity ardimento (Lat. _audatia_)

the lion, who bears the boldest heart and invites all to battle. Boldness in the commitment.

fortitude forteza (Lat. _fortitudo_)

the elephant, who carries a castle and does not kneel or lose his stride (vargo). Structural strength and stability. (The four are named uniformly across the manuscripts; only the Getty's prose list momentarily reorders them. See the Note at [Preface, "Seven Swords"].)

Blows (colpi) and thrusts

blow colpo

A strike of the sword. The system recognizes six cutting blows plus the thrust, and personifies each group as speakers in the longsword Introduction ([S2H 8]–[S2H 11]).

descending blow fendente (_colpi fendenti_)

A downward cut that "cleaves the teeth and comes down to the knee", passing through the guards and returning to guard "from stride to stride" ([S2H 8]).

rising blow sottano (_colpi sottani_)

An upward cut from the knee to the forehead, along the same path the fendenti descend; it often finishes in the Long Guard ([S2H 9]).

middle blow mezano (_colpi mezani_)

A horizontal cut "through the middle", true edge from the forehand side and false edge from the backhand ([S2H 10]).

thrust punta

The point attack, "cruel and mortal", running up the centre of the body. Fiore counts five kinds: two from above, two from below, one from the middle ([S2H 11]).

forehand mandritto

A blow from the right (sword-hand) side.

backhand riverso / roverso

A blow from the left side.

true edge dritto taglio

The front/long edge; the mezano from the forehand uses it ([S2H 10]).

false edge falso taglio

The back/short edge; the mezano from the backhand uses it, as do several armored and close actions.

the Peasant's Blow colpo di villano

A powerful fendente the Master lets the player throw, voiding it and answering — named for the untrained fury of the swing ([S2H 33]–[S2H 34]).

Guards (poste)

guard posta / guardia

A defined sword-and-body configuration from which actions are generated. Fiore's guards are functional: "according to how we stand and are posted, we give the demonstrations of working one against the other" ([S2H 12]). Guards similar to one another are mutually counters, except the point-in-line guards, where the longer reach strikes first ([S2H 1]).

the twelve longsword guards —

The two-handed sword promises twelve guards ([S2H 12]) and every witness delivers twelve — but not the same twelve. Shared by all: Full Iron Gate (tutta porta di ferro), Woman's Guard on the right (posta di donna la destra), Window Guard (posta di fenestra), Middle Iron Gate (porta di ferro mezana), Long Guard (posta longa), Forehead Guard / the Crown (posta frontale / corona), Boar's Tooth (dente di zenghiaro), Short Guard (posta breve), Woman's Guard on the left (posta di donna la sinistra), Long Tail (posta di coda longa), Two-Horned Guard (posta di bicorno). For the twelfth the witnesses part: the Getty omits the Queen's Guard ([S2H 19]) and closes instead with the Middle Boar's Tooth (dente di zenghiaro mezana, [S2H 25]); the Morgan, Pisani Dossi, and Paris keep the Queen's Guard and have no Middle Boar's Tooth. Each arrives at twelve by a different route ([S2H 12]–[S2H 25]).

pulsative guard posta pulsativa

A guard classed as "beating/striking": one that initiates, delivering blows (the Woman's Guards, the Full Iron Gate) ([S2H 12], [S2H 14], [S2H 22]).

stable guard posta stabile

A guard that holds its ground and can await and receive (Middle Iron Gate, Boar's Tooth, Short Guard, Long Tail) ([S2H 16], [S2H 20], [S2H 21], [S2H 23]).

unstable guard posta instabile

A guard that is transitional, its threat lying in what it becomes (Window, Long Guard, Forehead, Two-Horned) ([S2H 15], [S2H 17], [S2H 18], [S2H 24]). (The three-way pulsativa/stabile/instabile labelling appears only in the Getty, in its play headings — the Morgan carries near-identical prose with no labels at all, and neither verse witness has them. It is one manuscript's editorial layer, not shared doctrine; see Technical grouping §1.)

Iron Gate porta di ferro

The low forward guard, point down and forward; "full" (low and central) and "middle" (point in line) variants. The Full Iron Gate is a strong awaiting guard that "passes with a cover and goes to the close" ([S2H 12]); the grappling section also has an Iron Gate ([Grappling 4]).

Woman's Guard posta di donna

A high guard with the sword drawn back over the shoulder, on the right or left, with a "high" (soprana) form; strong in cover and deceptive, "you will believe I strike with a blow, and I strike with a thrust" ([S2H 7], [S2H 14], [S2H 22]).

Boar's Tooth dente di zenghiaro

A low guard delivering rising thrusts "like the tusk of the boar"; also a grappling guard ([Grappling 3], [S2H 20], [S2H 25]).

weapon-specific guards —

The dagger, spear, sword-in-armor, and mounted sections each name their own guards (e.g. the armored Short Guard the Serpentine posta breve la serpentina and True Cross vera croce, [SwordArmor 2]–[SwordArmor 3]; the spear's own poste). The same guard-names recur with weapon-appropriate function.

Sword actions

crossing incrosar; incrosada

The meeting of the blades, and the point from which a Master's family of plays issues. The wide play's Masters cross at the point (in punta de spada, [S2H 27]) and at the middle (a meza spada, [S2H 29]); the close play's Master names no measure ([S2H 49]). Crossing-place therefore does not divide wide from close play, despite the common formula — see Technical grouping §3.

wide play zogho largo

Combat at the wider crossing, resolved largely with the sword: covers, exchanges, strikes to the exposed openings ([S2H 26]–[S2H 47]).

close play zogho stretto

Combat once the fighters have come near, resolved with binds, grapples, pommel-strikes, disarms, and abbreviated actions ([S2H 48]–[S2H 68]).

exchange of thrusts scambiar di punta

Answering a thrust with a thrust by passing and turning the hand, so the Master's point arrives while covering the incoming one ([S2H 37]).

breaking of the thrust romper di punta

Beating the incoming thrust down and to the ground with a fendente and stepping in, "breaking" it rather than exchanging ([S2H 39]).

false thrust punta falsa

A feigned thrust that draws the parry and is converted, a deception of the point ([S2H 45]).

taking of the sword tor di spada

Disarming the opponent of his sword. The longsword close play systematizes three takings — high (soprano), middle (mezano), low (sottano) — mirroring the three locks ([S2H 75], [S2H 77], [S2H 78]); [S2H 68] is called "the break of every sword-taking".

beating aside rebattere

Striking a thrown or thrusting weapon out of line, e.g. the second longsword guard "against thrown weapons" ([S2H 3]).

Binds, locks, and grappling

grappling abrazare

Unarmed fighting for holds and takedowns; Fiore's foundation, and the close-range grammar reused in every weapon ([Grappling]). The Iron Gate boasts that grappling underlies "lance, poleaxe, sword, and dagger" ([Grappling 4]).

hold presa; prese

A grip or seizure of the opponent's body or weapon. "Holds with advantage" (prese avantazade) are the goal; a hold that gives no advantage is not worth taking ([Grappling 1]).

lock ligadura

A binding of the opponent's arm or weapon that immobilizes and threatens it. Three named forms recur across grappling, dagger, and sword.

upper lock ligadura soprana

A binding that shuts the arm high; strong, allows disarm, takedown, or dislocation ([Dagger 55], [Dagger 58]–[Dagger 59], [Dagger 85]).

middle lock ligadura mezana; chiave mezana

The arm shut across the middle so the opponent "cannot cause trouble"; its canonical reference is the third play of the First Dagger Master, [Dagger 19], cited from many later plays ([Dagger 74], [Dagger 84]; [S2H 64]).

lower lock / strong key ligadura sottana / di sotto; chiave forte

The strongest binding, expressly equated with the strong key and called "the key of grappling": "with such a lock, armored or unarmored, one can give death… whoever enters it cannot get out" ([Dagger 54], and the reference at [Dagger 76]). Note that Fiore ties the "strong key" to the lower lock, not the middle.

key chiave

A synonym for a lock at a given level (lower, middle); the "key" metaphor stresses that once shut, the opponent cannot open it.

break rotura; roture

A breaking of a limb or of the opponent's hold.

dislocation dislogadura; dislogare

Forcing a joint out of place, one of the grappling/dagger finishers alongside breaks and locks ([Grappling 3], [Dagger 58]).

Turns and steps

stable turn volta stabile

Turning the sword or body in place, playing to front and rear on one side without stepping ([S2H 1]).

half turn meza volta

Turning by a single step forward or backward to play on the other side ([S2H 1]).

full turn tutta volta

Circling one foot around the other, the fixed foot as pivot ([S2H 1]).

passing passare

Stepping through, the rear foot advancing past the front; the principal offensive step.

returning tornare

Stepping back to the prior stance.

advancing acrescere

Gaining ground with the front foot.

withdrawing discrescere

Yielding ground with the front foot. Passing, returning, advancing, withdrawing are "the four things in the art" ([S2H 1]).

stride vargo

A pace/step; the fendenti "return into guard from stride to stride" (di vargo in vargo) ([S2H 8]).

Measure, tempo, and states

measure misura

Distance, treated with the lynx's "compass and measure" (a sesto e a misura) ([Preface, "Seven Swords"]). Fiore reasons about measure concretely (the too-far cut that cannot reach) rather than as an abstract doctrine.

tempo / time tempo

An actionable opening in the opponent's motion; Fiore exploits times (the slow cut, the committed thrust) but does not theorize tempo as heavily as later point-fencers.

armored fighting armizare / armezare

Combat in harness, which shifts priorities toward the thrust to the gaps, half-swording, and grappling/disarms ([SwordArmor], [Axe]). See Technical grouping.

half-sword —

Holding the blade with the left hand at its middle for a controlled armored thrust, introduced as the fourth longsword guard "in armor, against the dagger" ([S2H 5]) and pervasive in [SwordArmor].