Getty 43v
The hinge of the whole section. Two plates of a single guard — the Long Tail — shown first against the lance and then against the sword, carrying between them the section's rule for which way to beat and the promise of four plays. Everything from [Mounted 15] to [Mounted 23] comes out of this page, and [Mounted 22] exists to counter it.
This carry of the sword is called the guard of the Long Tail (posta de coda longa), and it is very good against the lance and against every hand-held weapon, riding on the right side of one's enemy. And keep well in mind that thrusts and backhand blows should be beaten outward — that is, across (ala traversa) and not upward — and descending blows (colpi de fendenti) should likewise be beaten outward, lifting the enemy's sword a little; and then one can do the plays according to the figures depicted.
- Carry the sword in the Long Tail (posta de coda longa) — held back and low on the right, the blade trailing.
- Ride on your enemy's right side. Stated again, as at [Mounted 7].
- It is offered against the lance and every hand-held weapon, i.e. as the general mounted guard, not a specialty.
- The rule of the beat, which is the doctrine this plate exists to state: - Thrusts and backhand blows → beat them outward, across (ala traversa) — not upward. - Descending blows (colpi de fendenti) → beat them outward as well, but lift the enemy's sword a little as you do.
- Having beaten, do the plays that follow.
- The verse names what those plays are, and the count is exact — four: strike with the thrust, strike with the cut, throw him from horseback, and take his sword. [Mounted 15]–[Mounted 19] deliver all four in order.
The Getty gives the mechanics and no inventory; the verse gives the inventory and no mechanics. Read together they are the syllabus for the next three folios.
Again, this same guard of the Long Tail (coda longa) is good when someone comes against you with the sword on the backhand (a man riversa), as this enemy of mine comes. And know that this guard opposes all blows of the forehand side and of the backhand side, and every man whatsoever, whether right-handed or left-handed. And here behind begin the plays of the Long Tail, which always beats aside in the manner said before, in the first guard of the Long Tail.
- The same guard, the Long Tail — the text is emphatic that nothing has changed ("this same guard", "this very guard").
- New threat: an enemy coming at you with the sword on the backhand (a man riversa), rather than with a lance.
- Fiore then makes the guard's claim as wide as it will go: it opposes all blows of the forehand and of the backhand, and every man whatsoever, right-handed or left-handed.
- Beat as taught in [Mounted 12] — the plate refers the mechanics back rather than restating them ("which always beats aside in the manner said before, in the first guard of the Long Tail").
- The plays begin here behind: this sentence is a pointer, and [Mounted 15] picks it up.
- The verse adds the one caution on the page: whoever would do those four plays must first know how to guard himself against false feints (viste false).
Doctrine, not technique: [12] and [13] are one guard given twice, and the second plate's work is to declare its scope and hand off to the plays.
Glossological analysis
- posta de coda longa ([12], [13]) — the Long Tail: the sword carried back and low on the right, the blade trailing behind like a tail. A stable guard in the longsword's classing ([S2H 23]; Glossary) — it awaits and receives, which is exactly what it does mounted. It is the section's master guard: the Getty calls [12] the "first guard of the Long Tail", implying [13] is the second.
- ala traversa vs in erto ([12]) — across vs upward, the section's standing pair (cf. [Mounted 2]). Here it hardens into a rule with an exception: beat everything across, but for descending blows lift the enemy's sword a little while doing it.
- colpi de fendenti ([12]) — descending blows, the cuts that "cleave the teeth and come down to the knee" ([S2H 8]). The one blow-class on this page given its own handling.
- a man riversa ([13]) — on the backhand, i.e. from the left side (Glossary, riverso). Distinguish from riverso tondo at [Mounted 22], which is a specific blow rather than a side.
- dritto o manzino ([13]) — right-handed or left-handed. Manzino (mod. mancino) = left-handed. The claim to cover both is rare in the book and is made here for a mounted guard.
- viste false (PD, [13]) — false feints; vista is a show/appearance, not a "view" or a "visor". The mounted equivalent of the punta falsa ([S2H 45]) — and the only mention of deception in this section.
- quatro zoghi (PD, [12], [13]) — the four plays: thrust, cut, throw from horseback, taking of the sword. The verse states the curriculum that the prose then executes at [Mounted 15]–[Mounted 19].
- conperacion (PD, [13]) — a comparison: the verse declines to rank the two Long Tail guards, on the ground that the man who knows and can do more will win with either.
Manuscript comparison
- The verse witnesses carry the syllabus; the prose carries the mechanics. This is the page where the division of labor between the families is starkest. The four plays are named only in the Pisani Dossi and the Paris — the Getty and Morgan never count them, though both then proceed to teach exactly four. The rule of the beat (across and not upward; lift a little for fendenti) is only in the prose — the couplets never mention it. Neither family is complete on its own here.
- The Paris is unusually generous. Its [12] runs to five lines, itemizing the four plays where the Pisani Dossi takes four and the prose takes none: the point that strikes "outright", the cut that "will hew your exposed limbs", going "from your seat", and going "without your sword" — then closing with the Pisani Dossi's own disclaimer, "rarely has this method failed a man". The two verse witnesses are here at their closest, one clearly rendering the other (Manuscript comparison §6).
- A small divergence at [12]. The Morgan says the guard is good "contra lanza e sp[ada], e contra ogni arma manuale" — against lance and sword and every hand-held weapon. The Getty omits the sword from the list, though its own [13] then spends a whole plate on the guard against a sword. The Morgan's list is the one the section's contents support.
- The Paris has no [13]. So the "right-handed or left-handed" claim and the viste false caution reach us from only three witnesses and two witnesses respectively.
- Illustrations. [12] is shown from the Getty (43v-a, 43v-b); [13] from the Pisani Dossi (31b-c, 31b-d). The two plates therefore show the same guard in the two traditions' hands, one page apart.