Getty 35r
The section closes with the Getty alone: the Counter Master who breaks the Remedy and every scholar under him, the scholar who completes the counter, and then two plates that are not plays at all — specifications for the two swords fit for armored fighting.
This is the counter (contrario) of the Master who is the Remedy, and of all his scholars. For it is a true thing that every counter that is made against the Remedy Master breaks the play of the Remedy Master and of all his scholars — and this I say of the lance, axe, sword, dagger, and grappling, and of all the art. Let us return to speak of the Remedy Master. This Counter Master puts his left hand behind the right elbow of the player who makes the cover of the Remedy Master [sic], and turns him by force so as to strike him from behind, as you will see hereafter.
- This is the counter to the Remedy Master and all his scholars — the entire family from [SwordArmor 8] onward.
- Before any technique, Fiore states the general law: every counter made against a Remedy Master breaks that Master's play and all his scholars' plays — and he extends it by name to "lance, axe, sword, dagger, and grappling, and of all the art".
- The technique: put your left hand behind his right elbow.
- Turn him by force, so his back comes round.
- Strike him from behind — which is [SwordArmor 28].
The elbow lever a third time ([SwordArmor 11], [SwordArmor 25]). The Getty's wording muddles the roles here — it calls the man being turned "the player who makes the cover of the Remedy Master", but the cover is the Remedy's own action, and the man turned is the one making it. (Flagged in Sword in Armor translation.)
the Getty's wording confuses the roles ("the player who makes the cover of the Remedy Master"); the man being turned is the one making the Remedy's cover. Translated as written.
I am the scholar of the Counter Master who is before me, and I complete his play. When the player is turned, immediately I strike him from behind under his right arm, and beneath the mail collar (camaglio) in the nape of the head, or — with reverence — in the buttocks, or under the knees, or in another place that I find uncovered.
- The player has been turned by [SwordArmor 27].
- Immediately strike him from behind, under his right arm.
- Or beneath the mail collar (camaglio), in the nape of the head.
- Or — and Fiore apologizes for saying it, "with reverence" — in the buttocks.
- Or under the knees.
- Or, in general, any place you find uncovered.
The list is not a set of techniques but an inventory of the gaps in a harness, read from behind. This is the armored logic at its plainest: the counter's job is not to strike but to present a surface — turn the man, and the target set above is what appears.
This sword serves as sword and as axe. It should not be sharpened from the crossguard (elzo) to within a span (somesso) of the point; from there forward it should cut and have a fine point, and the [sharpened] edge should be a span in length. And the little roundel (rodeletta) that is below the crossguard should be able to run down to within a span of the point, and no farther. And the crossguard should be well tempered and have a good point, and the pommel should be heavy; and those points should be well tempered and well sharpened. And the sword should be heavy behind and light in front, and should be of a weight of five to seven pounds. And according as the man is big and strong, accordingly he should arm himself.
- Not a play: a specification. This plate and [SwordArmor 30] describe the two swords fit for armored fighting, and nothing in either is an action.
- The design premise, stated first: "this sword serves as sword and as axe" — one weapon for both roles.
- The blade: unsharpened from the crossguard to within a span (somesso) of the point; only that last span cuts, and it carries a fine point.
- The roundel (rodeletta) below the crossguard must be able to run down the blade — as far as a span from the point, and no farther.
- The crossguard: well tempered, and with a good point.
- The pommel: heavy; and those points well tempered and well sharpened.
- Balance: heavy behind, light in front.
- Weight: five to seven pounds.
- Fitting: "according as the man is big and strong, accordingly he should arm himself" — the specification scales to the man rather than fixing a standard.
Every requirement answers a play. A blade left blunt over nearly its whole length is one a gauntleted hand can take hold of anywhere ([SwordArmor 9]'s low grip; [SwordArmor 30] states the reason outright), and the pointed crossguard and heavy pommel are what [SwordArmor 16]–[SwordArmor 18] and [SwordArmor 21] strike with. The sword is built for the section it closes.
This other sword should cut along its whole length, except that from the crossguard toward the point, at the two parts [i.e., two-thirds along], in the middle of the third toward the point, it should not cut at all — over as much space as a hand with a gauntlet can amply fit into. And likewise it should be fine of edge and of point. And the crossguard should be strong, and pointed, and well tempered; and the pommel should have a good point, and should be heavy.
- The alternative sword: it cuts along its whole length — the opposite choice from [SwordArmor 29].
- Except for one patch: about two-thirds down from the crossguard, in the middle of the last third toward the point, it does not cut at all.
- The patch is sized by its purpose, and Fiore gives the purpose as the measurement: as much space as a hand with a gauntlet can amply fit into. This is the half-sword grip, specified by the hand that takes it.
- Otherwise: fine of edge and of point.
- Crossguard: strong, pointed, well tempered. Pommel: heavy, with a good point.
- The clause locating the unsharpened band is obscure as written; the sense is a blunt patch partway down the blade, wide enough for the gauntleted grip. (Noted in Sword in Armor translation.)
The two swords answer one problem two ways. [SwordArmor 29] gives up the edge almost entirely and keeps a span of point; [SwordArmor 30] keeps the edge and gives up a hand's width of it. Both keep the pointed crossguard and the heavy pommel — the parts the plays actually use.
the passage on where the blade is left unsharpened is obscure; the sense is an unsharpened patch partway down the blade, wide enough for a gauntleted half-sword grip. Translated as written.
Glossological analysis
- contrario ([27]) — the counter; and here Fiore states its scope as a law: a counter breaks the Remedy Master's play and every scholar's play beneath him, "of lance, axe, sword, dagger, and grappling, and of all the art". The most general statement of the principle in the book.
- camaglio ([28]) — the mail collar / aventail hanging from the helm over the neck; what the scholar strikes is the gap beneath it.
- la coppa dela testa ([28]) — the nape, the back of the head (lit. the "cup" of the head).
- cum riverencia ([28]) — "with reverence", i.e. saving your presence — a politeness formula apologizing for naming the buttocks in a book addressed to a Marquis. The same courtesy attends the axe's powder ([Axe 16]).
- discoverto ([28]) — uncovered: the operative word of the whole armored art. The target is never the man but the place his harness leaves open (the same sense as [Grappling 20]–[Grappling 21], where "uncovered" means unvisored).
- somesso ([29]) — a span, the hand-measure from thumb-tip to little-finger-tip; the unit Fiore uses both for the sharpened tip and for the roundel's travel.
- rodeletta ([29]) — the little roundel, the disc on the blade below the crossguard that shields the hand — and specified here as sliding: it must run down the blade to within a span of the point, and no farther.
- elzo / pomo ([29], [30]) — crossguard / pommel, both required to be pointed, tempered, and heavy. The specification is the plays' bill of materials.
Manuscript comparison
- The Getty alone, to the end. [27]–[30] exist in no other witness: the Morgan's sword-in-armor ends at 11v-d ([SwordArmor 25]), the Pisani Dossi's at 26b-d, the Paris's at 17v-b. Only the Getty gives this section a Counter Master at all — in the Morgan the counter is [SwordArmor 25], which the Getty lacks, and which the verse witnesses replace with a different play.
- Two counters, two elbows. The Morgan's counter ([SwordArmor 25]) beats the player's left elbow aside with the left arm, or turns him by that elbow with the left hand. The Getty's Counter Master ([SwordArmor 27]) puts the left hand behind the right elbow and turns him. Same hand, same lever, opposite elbow — and different aims: the Morgan's opens him where he stands, the Getty's spins him to be struck from behind. Both are the counter to the same cover.
- The sword specifications have no counterpart because they cannot. [29]–[30] are not plays; they are among the very few passages in the corpus where Fiore says what a weapon should physically be rather than what to do with it — the other being the powder-filled axe and its recipe ([Axe 16]–[Axe 17]), which likewise survive as text only in the Getty. A couplet has no room for a tolerance, a weight range, and a temper.
- Illustrations. All four are Getty figures (35r-a…d), necessarily. [29] and [30] are also the only plates in the section whose text points at an object rather than at a man: "this sword", "this other sword".