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This book serves to give an understanding of the ways of the traditional Italian fencing schools with knives and sticks, thus contributing to their preservation.
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The Sword of the People
History, Culture, and Methodology of the Traditional Italian Knife Fight
by Roberto Laura
© 2020 Roberto Laura (English edition)
Cover design and illustrations: Roberto Laura and Irina Hutzler
Text: Roberto Laura
Editing: Roberto Laura
Translation and proofreading for the English edition: Aurelia Sedlmair, Dr. John Crescione, DC, and Joaquin “Jack” Montes
Publisher: tredition GmbH, Halenreie 40-44, 22359 Hamburg
ISBN: 978-3-7323-2866-6 (hardcover); ISBN: 978-3-347-05648-0 (e-Book)
The entire work is protected by copyright. Any use is prohibited without the consent of the publisher and the author. This applies in particular to electronic or other duplication, translation, distribution and public disclosure. Bibliographic information of the German National Library: The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography. Detailed data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
“For My Son Giuliano, My Wife Simone, and My Parents Alda Rosso and Bruno Laura”
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
A Quick Look at the History of Fencing in Italy
Foreword
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Gladiators
1.2.1 Regional Development
1.2.2 Commonalities
1.3 The Newly Kindled Spirit
1.3.1 Art and Literature
1.3.2 The City-States
1.4 With Sword and Dagger
1.4.1 Fiore dei Liberi
1.5 The Rapier and the Fencing School
1.5.1 Achille Marozzo
1.5.2 Camillo Agrippa
1.5.3 Nicoletto Giganti
1.5.4 Salvator Fabris
1.5.5 Ridolfo Capo Ferro
1.5.6 Ferdinando Alfieri
1.5.7 A Summary of the Technical Developments in Fencing, in so far as they Concern Popular Knife Fighting
1.6 The Possible Transitions from the Sword to the Knife
1.6.1 The Prohibition to Carry Weapons or Duel, and the Consequent Development of Knife Fighting
1.6.2 The Culture of the Common Folk
1.7 The Dagger and the Italian Military, the Arditi
1.8 Recapitulation
Chapter 2
The Weapons Schools of Southern Italy; a Historical and Cultural Overview
2.1 Introduction
2.2 First Cultural Influences in the Area, Legends, and First Evidence of Duels
2.2.1 The Knightly Puppet Theater
2.2.2 The Three Spanish Knights
2.2.3 The Song of the Mafia
2.2.4 Oppressed in their own Country
2.2.5 The Duel – First Evidence and Prohibitions
2.3 Possible Further Influences on the Fencing Schools of the South
2.3.1 Spain
2.3.2 Brigands
2.3.3 Criminal Syndicates:
2.3.3.1 The Camorra
2.3.3.2 The `Ndrangheta
2.3.3.3 The Mafia / Cosa Nostra
2.3.3.4 The Stidda
2.3.3.5 Sacra Corona Unita
2.3.4 The Gambling Games of the Society and Tattoos
2.4 Uomini di vita, uomini di malavita, and the bulli
2.5 The Influence of Catholicism on the Fencing Schools of Southern Italy
2.6 The tarantella, the pizzica-pizzica, and the imbrecciata
2.7 Recapitulation
Chapter 3
The Rules of the School, the Language, and the Society
3.1 Introduction
3.2 An Important Note
3.3 Pythagorean Influences
3.4 Jargon
3.4.1 Campania / Naples
3.4.2 Northern Apulia
3.4.3 Calabria
3.4.4 Sicily
3.5 Hierarchy and Graduations / Titles within the Schools or Clans
3.6 Dogmas
3.6.1 Overview
3.6.2 San Michele Archangelo, Saint Michael the Archangel
3.7 The Rules of Favella or even the Codici Sociali
3.7.1 Codice Sociale dei Aspromonte – the Social Rules of Calabria
3.7.2 Other Rules and Poetry; the Old Rules of Naples
3.8 Correspondence and Non-Verbal Communication
3.9 An “Actual” Case
3.10 Recapitulation
Chapter 4
The Two Paths: Dueling With and Without Conventions
First, a Personal Remark
4.1 Impressions of a Duel
4.2 A Definition
4.2.1 Appicceco
4.2.2 Raggiunamento
4.2.3 Questione
4.3 Examples of Classic Confrontations with the Knife
4.4 The One Great Commonality
4.5 Cultural, Technical, and Tactical Peculiarities – Schools of the Hall
4.6 Cultural, Technical, and Tactical Peculiarities – Systems of Defense
4.7 Recapitulation
Chapter 5
Schools of the Hall or Duel: Regional Developments in Apulia
5.1 Introduction
5.2 According to the Rules of the School: the Secret Knife Schools in Apulia
5.2.1 Regional Allocation
5.3 The Knife Tradition from Manfredonia, or the School of the Knights of Humility
5.3.1 Overview
5.3.2 La Scuola, the School
5.3.2.1 Curriculum
5.3.2.2 Gymnastics
5.3.2.3 Didactics – the Way of the Forms
5.3.2.4 Didactics – the Way of the Figures
5.3.2.5 Didactics – the Way of the Thrusts
5.3.2.6 The Tirata – the Free Fight or the Challenge
5.3.3 Regole di Scuola - the (Technical) Rules of the School
5.3.3.1 Saluto
5.3.3.2 Giro / Girata
5.3.3.3 Chiamata
5.3.3.4 Uscita con sparata di colpo
5.3.3.5 Mezzzo ponte
5.3.3.6 Parata chiusa
5.3.3.7 Schiacciamento / Schiacciata
5.3.3.8 Quartiatura
5.3.3.9 Mezza galeotta, mezza galeotta del mancino, galeone
5.3.3.10 Catenella
5.3.3.11 Specchietto
5.3.3.12 Chiusure
5.3.3.13 Calci
5.3.3.14 Fuori Colpo
5.3.3.15 Special Features
5.4 The Scherma Salentina: Knife Fencing from Salento
5.4.1 Introduction
5.4.2 The Interview
5.4.3 A Narrative
5.5 Recapitulation
Chapter 6
Schools of the Hall or Duel: Regional Developments in Sicily
6.1 The History of Sicily
6.2 The Numerous Secret Schools of the Knife in Sicily
6.2.1 Introduction
6.2.2 The Knife Duel in Italian Verism
6.3 The Big Five and a Hybrid - A General Overview
6.3.1 Scuola siracusana – The Knife and Stick Tradition from Syracuse
6.3.2 Scuola fiorata – The Flowery School
6.3.3 Scuola ruotata - The Circling School
6.4 The scuola ruotata - A Closer Look
6.4.1 Overview
6.4.2 The Lessons – a Brief Technical Introduction Coltello stretto
Coltello largo
Colpi d`attacco
Colpi d`assalto
Passi giranti
Quattro angoli
6.4.3. The piante – The Fighting Stances respectively Guards
6.5 Recapitulation
Chapter 7
Schools of Defense: Regional Developments in Apulia
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The System
7.2.1 The icons of the System – the Knife and the Rosary
7.2.2 The Method of the Knife with the Cord
7.2.3 Didactics
7.2.3.1 The Nominees
7.2.4 Pose, the Fencing Positions
7.2.5 First Steps: Grip Variants
7.2.6 The Mostranze
7.2.6.1 First Steps I: The Salvos
7.2.6.2 First Steps II: Spassi – the Passing By
7.2.6.3 First Steps III: The Irrational Side
7.2.7 The Knife in Conjunction with Other Objects
7.2.8 The Monsignore – The Reverend
7.2.9 The improvvisata – System-specific Sparring
7.3 Recapitulation
Chapter 8
Bastone genovese – The Genoese Stick
8.1 A General Introduction to the Methods of the North
8.2 The bastone genovese: An Introduction
8.3 The Ancient Two-Handed Stick from Genoa
8.3.1 The Nature of the Stick and a Very Rough Overview of Techniques
8.4 The Walking Stick
8.5 The Unarmed Arts of the Genoese
8.6 The Bone Crusher, desfa osse
8.7 The Knife – scherma du tagan zeneisê
8.7.1 Basic Techniques of the Knife School
8.8 Recapitulation
Chapter 9
Traditional Knives for Dueling and Defense
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Genoa and Corsica
9.2.1 Genoa
9.2.2 Corsica
9.3 Latium
9.4 Campania
9.5 Basilicata
9.6 Calabria
9.7 Sicily
9.8 Recapitulation
Acknowledgments
Vita
Images
Bibliography
Introduction
“With this project, it should be noted that in all of southern Italy, since the beginning of rural life in Rome, the knife was not looked upon as a treacherous weapon but as the sword of the people.”
– Conrado Tommasi Crudeli, La Sicilia nel 1871, Florence 1871
This book serves to give an understanding of the ways of the traditional Italian fencing schools with knives and sticks, thus contributing to their preservation. It does not, however, claim to be the complete and final word on the subject.
But how should one tell the story of the Southern Italian Knife? Until a few years ago, these ancient arts were still veiled in shadow to the uninitiated. It is a history of secrecy, of omertà. Oaths and covenants, as well as the fear of retribution, but also the pride of belonging to a secret and chivalrous society, prevented the secrets of the blade from penetrating into foreign ears. The fear of leaving traces, being unmasked or exposed, and as well illiteracy, which was present in the lower social strata of Southern Italy in the 19th century, also produced a culture of pure oral tradition. And so my research for this book, which I had already been thinking of for many years, began in the dark.
At first it was all marked by speculation. Over the course of years, I therefore dealt not only physically, but also mentally and academically, with this subculture of my country of birth. I read books that, at first glance, have less to do with the subject matter of the knife, but rather devote themselves to the history, art, and culture of Italy. To be able to weigh what a substance is, or what it is not, one should know everything to which it relates. And only through this knowledge can the probable be distinguished from the unlikely. And so, I followed all tracks and rumors, like a lynx that spots even the smallest hint, or like an owl, listening to every whisper, no matter how silent. And the fact that this search was so mysterious only made it more appealing. It could not be any less mysterious because of the lack of documentation or scant written evidence. (That was the “why,” to walk on) Thus, I embarked on this journey, the first of many journeys now. I met Masters, and even those who only called themselves the same. I accompanied some of the good ones for a little while. I still work with some of them today.
And thanks to these masters and explorers; pioneers, who can be regarded as a link from the past to the modern age, a new world opens up today with its own culture, with its own traditions, with its own history, but also with its own values and rankings. But despite all the pioneering achievements and publications on the subject, Italy yet remains a terra incognita to this day in the field of martial arts.
Therefore, I would like to bring the reader a little closer to this hitherto “unknown world”. This work is not merely a representation of movement patterns, techniques, principles, and tactics. I discuss the possible historical developments and the cultural aspects of folk Italian fencing to the extent my knowledge allows and as far as I deem the content necessary and interesting. The book is therefore also not overloaded with images; it rather puts the content in the foreground. Without a basic understanding of the historical contexts of an era, its culture and traditions, and for the mentality of the respective population, a weapon art develops into something soulless. It becomes a pure instrument of death, and thus a dead art. Also, I do not believe that without a trace of cultural knowledge deep passion can arise. However, the Italian weapon arts are far more than mere fencing. They fascinate by their expression of strength and elegance, by their rhythm, and by their cultural depth. Culture and spirit can be marked urbane or rustic. They are partly religiously inspired or originate around myths and legends about soldiering or chivalry. They have also been heavily influenced by the southern Italian crime syndicates.
They also contain recognizable patterns. Depending on the region, the dance-like character of the movements is more sophisticated, the attitude more proud or grounded. But the common denominators are always visible: one moves lightly along a circle, traversing it on straight lines or ellipses. Fighting from guards (fencing positions), facing the opponent in a profile stance, and the straight thrust, the point to point connection, are the central methods of all schools and systems.
The didactic is clearly articulated and usually runs in lanes or is composed of various figures in a form. Basically, the quality of this work of the people can be compared to art forms that were popular among the Bourgeoisie, such as the Ballet. One must understand both the spiritual orientation of the respective cultural group and the technical-tactical tools of the art in order to truly become aware of the value of these arts and, therefore, be able to grasp their essence.
Even so, my intent is to raise questions:
• Questions about why, especially in the southern Italian regions, there has been a development of folk knife fencing?
• What were the needs that ultimately led to the development of these fencing schools?
• To what extent were these arts consistent with the cultural realities of their time?
• To what extent did mental clarity, natural movement patterns, efficient combat logic, pragmatism, or even a specifically European spirit and a new relationship with aesthetics have an impact on these developments?
• Where do the factors come from that make an art form become a form of art?
Furthermore, it is near to my heart to draw attention to possible influences which occurred predominantly in the regions which now form the native country of the folk schools of the knife and the stick. For even if circumstantial evidence is ultimately not proof, they, as a recurring pattern, contribute, at least to a legitimate assumption.
In the course of this book, the specific cultural characteristics of these traditions are also discussed (critically, of course). It is especially the aspect of the chivalry which has stamped the character as well as the myth of some of the Italian knife and stick schools. This trait, which distinguishes many folk Italian fencing schools from those of other cultures, is subject to the codice d’onore, the Code of Honor. Secrecy also played, and continues to play, a major role. Some of these fencing schools were influenced by social strata, secrecy, and membership in so-called “Inner Circles”. Others came from times and circumstances that required the mere ability to defend themselves. They are secretly matured arts shaped by experience, pride, and blood.
If one believes some of the stylistic heirs today, the Italian schools or fighting systems can basically be divided into two categories: the fencing schools of the Salle1 and the pure systems or schools of the street2.
Since all Italian knife-and-stick fencing traditions are not academic schools, but rather simple folk schools, it is no longer possible to understand when these traditions emerged. The pertinent traditions are to be enjoyed with caution. An exact scientific review is no longer really possible due to a lack of sources.
I am not concerned here with the evidence of any disputes in backyards or pubs, or illegal duels on abandoned farms. Duels and armed disputes took place in almost all strata of Europe in the 19th century, but there was no official dueling of the lower strata. Especially before the middle of the 19th century – but also afterwards – these were only held in Italy in secret. Duels were allowed to be played openly predominantly by the middle-class bourgeoisie. Serfs were not allowed to duel.
On the contrary, I am concerned with definitive proof of a traditional methodology and didactic approach, that is, evidence of the existence of precise technical instruction. And that’s a big difference in terms of well-founded documentation. A “duel”, or a random knife fight, would have been able to easily take place between untrained street fighters, without them ever having received any technical instruction.
In order to enhance their own school or to give it a mystical touch, legends about chivalry and honor were created, which were passed down from generation to generation. The legends became a product of the culture in which they were created. However, this development can only be found in a few of the so-called fencing schools with a dueling convention. Most of the Italian fencing schools are quite matter-of-fact and admit to the lack sources for any of their histories or legends. However, one should also be aware that a lack of evidence is not proof that a narrative must be false. Assumptions, no matter how interesting, should accordingly be identified as such, but at the same time, unless there is clear evidence to refute them, they should not be excluded from the outset as impossible. Exactly in this differentiated way will I proceed in this book.
To give the reader a clearer idea, some of these schools and systems are described in more detail. I have learned, and continue to learn, these arts from different masters, some of whom can nowadays be considered, in some ways, as style heirs of their family or system branch. Also, I will speak extensively only about the schools and systems that I was allowed to get to know. To speak or speculate about systems and traditions that are beyond my personal knowledge, I would consider being presumptuous. Besides, it would testify to a lack of intellectual integrity. The book contains a single exception to this, but I have clearly identified it as such. And I would like to mention that, precisely in order to avoid mistakes due to a lack of knowledge, I let the icon of this school speak for himself. This means that I will merely quote an interview with the last great master of this art3, after having obtained permission to do so, of course.
The 21st century allows us to view these combat systems primarily from the perspective that they are merely a historical and cultural curiosity, no longer studied out of necessity. The aspects of learning and understanding are in the foreground today, rather than pragmatism. Furthermore, the friendly exchange which now connects various practitioners serves to enhance the analysis and development of the art. This research also allows the curious to embark on a cultural journey, to travel around the different corners of Italy, to experience different ways of thinking, and to taste the culinary delicacies of Italy. And by virtue of this complexity, which resembles a microcosm, this art also allows, if one wishes it, an interesting anthropological approach to its study.
Apart from the bastone genovese, I have deliberately left out other fencing traditions I know to exist in northern Italy, since the source material seems to me to be insufficient and too speculative, but also because I do not consider my knowledge of these systems sufficient to be able to judge them conclusively. The reasons why I still mention this tradition, I have set out in Chapter 8 accordingly.
And because some masters and style heirs have already planned or published a book themselves at this time, I will explain their schools only to the extent that I do not anticipate and spoil the content of these works4. In addition to the hypothetical history of these arts, I will explain their principles as well as some technical peculiarities.
The book is structured as follows:
Chapters 1 and 2 highlight the possible historical development of the art, including the potential influences of the criminal clans of the 19th century. Chapter 3 gives an insight into the rituals and vernacular of the clans discussed, as well as some schools of the Knife. Chapter 4 distinguishes the fencing schools of the Knife with a dueling convention from the fencing schools of pure self-defense. Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 present regional schools and systems of the folk Italian knife fight. Chapter 9 presents a selection of traditional dueling knives from Central and Southern Italy. A model from the north of the peninsula and one from France are also presented, because they provide context to the content of this book. The end of the book includes Acknowledgements, a list of the Images used and a Bibliograpy.
I was conscious of the Italian rules of upper and lower case: Italian words are therefore written in lowercase, unless they are at the beginning of a sentence or are names of people or places. This makes it easier for the reader to read, as it allows him to better distinguish between technical terms and people. I have based the structure of the book on a scientific approach, where each chapter receives a digit first. The thematic sub-items are marked as such by consecutive digits after a decimal point as necessary.
In this sense, I wish the reader a pleasant and interesting journey into the different eras and corners of Italy, the historically significant Apennine Peninsula in southern Europe.
Roberto Laura
1Scuole da sala; Fencing schools with additional dueling convention.
2Sistemi da difesa or scuole da strada respectively scuole sporche.
3 See Chapter 5.
4 See Chapters 5 to 8.
Chapter 1
A Look at the History of Fencing in Italy
Possible Influences on the Weapon Schools of Southern Italy
“And, above all matters, one thing you should mark well and know, is that only one Art is the Sword, and though it may have been invented and devised some hundreds of years ago, that it is the basic core of all the arts of fencing.”
Anonymous around 1390 (Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg)
Foreword
First things first: If you have not yet been interested in the history of historical fencing, take some time to study the fencing tradition of Italy, the mother of all subsequent regional interpretations in the Mediterranean Peninsula, and also of modern Olympic fencing. It’s worth it; for the development of fencing in Italy is, firstly, part of the cultural identity of Europe (the development of the German fencing school and that of Italian fencing were closely connected), and secondly, the schools and systems of the folk knife are based on the principles that were discovered and perfected throughout the history of Italian fencing.
Historical fencing, which is very well documented in contrast to the folk arts, can therefore be considered as the cultural and spiritual source of our folk traditions. Whether the influences were derived directly or whether they had an indirect influence on the folk knife schools as a cultural component of a fighting style cannot be clearly understood. What counts is that these influences can be found in the folk traditions with stick and knife almost one to one. So in order to better understand what pillars our traditions may be based on, it is worth looking at these few leads.
1.1 Introduction
Scherma, the Italian word for fencing, is actually a term of German or at least Germanic descent. In the early Middle Ages, one said schirmen instead of fencing. The Italians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Portuguese adopted this idea, which referred in this context to the shielding, the guarding, or the protecting of one’s own body, and formed the term schermire. A Meister des Schirmens (Master of the Shield[ing]) was therefore a man who knew how to protect himself with a weapon. Thus, the term schirmen or schermire was less concerned with an ability to attack. All Italian folk traditions of the knife also consider self-protection as the maxim of their approach. This and other tactical considerations, as well as a visual relationship, may combine these two lines of weaponry, the historical fencing arts with those of the Italian folk knife and stick fight.
In the southern Italian art of fencing with the knife there are schools of the two circles. One can therefore run around the opponent or hold their position. Mostly the thrust is used as a lethal action, while the slash takes on other tactical roles. Also, one speaks of school, not of system1. Furthermore, these traditions – in the truest sense of the word – are very figurative. They mainly live on elegant sequences of movements and guards or pose/piante2, all of which have one or more tactical ideas behind them. The didactics of these schools are based on the practice of precisely specified pathways, or routines, whose individual elements are also literally called figures or lessons3, depending on the region. These figures or lessons are initially divided into individual intermediate steps in order to then gradually put the steps back together.
One finds that similar didactic, tactical, and technical characteristics to related Italian systems, or to the various weapon types that were in use regionally, are already partially found in antiquity, certainly in the Middle Ages, but especially in the Renaissance and the Baroque. This chapter focuses its attention on demonstrating these common patterns and thereby stimulating the reader to get a better picture of the extent to which the folk schools of southern Italy are a cultural continuation of these older, ancestral traditions. The objective of this first chapter is therefore to try to explain how, or in what way, this elegant game of figures, which corresponds to a movement ideal and a mentality of bygone days4, may have perhaps been influenced by the historical fencers. Other influences, mainly cultural, I discuss in Chapter 2. I want to start with a little excursion into antiquity. Into an era that might have laid the first steps towards developing a southern Italian fencing identity.
But first, it should be noted that this chapter provides only a very crude representation of developments in historical fencing, as well as artistic and spiritual-philosophical developments, from antiquity to the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and to the beginnings of the Baroque period, so that with mental clarity, they were able to reduce all information available down to only the necessary information required. Although the ultimate compelling evidence of a consistently trained tradition is not available, the presence of strikingly similar patterns within the region indicates that a conceptual and technical predecessor of folk traditions with knife and stick might have existed. If you want to look more deeply into the history of the Renaissance, I recommend the book The Renaissance in Italy: Social History of a Culture between Tradition and Invention by Peter Burke. All those who would like to deal primarily with the fencing history and technique of Italy, especially those of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, or the Baroque period, I refer to specialized works, such as those personally known to me and by renowned authors in the field5.
1.2 Gladiators
It is said that the gladiatorial fights sprang from the dead. In the XXIII song of the Iliad, Homer already describes fighting games in honor of Patroklos, slain by Hektor:
“Achilles with his companions approached Patroclus, wailing and mourning, and called to throw Hector on his face at the funeral camp. That night, Patroclus appeared to him and asked for burial. In the morning the Achaeans brought wood for the pyre. Patroclus was carried out, with his hair curls in heaps, and burned with the other dead victims. Boreas and Zephyros fed the fire. The next morning, Patroclus’ bones were placed in an urn and buried, until such time as Achilles’ bones can be added, in a Provisional Hill of Honor on the site of the pyre. Gambling games were then held in honor of the dead; Chariot races, boxing, wrestling, running, weapons fights, ball throwing, archery, and javelin throwing.”
If one follows the work of Maurus Servius Honoratius (short Servius), a late Roman grammarian, who was known among other things for his comments on Virgil, the gladiatorial games served as a substitute for human sacrifices at funeral ceremonies:
“It was custom to sacrifice prisoners on the tombs of brave warriors. When the cruelty of this custom was evident to all, it was decided to let gladiators fight in front of the tombs […]”
At this point I do not want to work up the story of the gladiators. Also, specialist literature already exists that deals with this regard. I recommend the books Gladiators, Life and Death Fighting Games by Alan Baker; Gladiators by Stephen Wisdom and Nic Fields, and Gladiators: The Game of Death by Marcus Junkelmann. Rather, I would like to draw attention to a few parallels between the culture of the gladiators and that of the folk knife schools. Since we lack a continuous history of tradition, this is a legitimate and useful way in which to study the phenomenon of the fencing art, to show some significant patterns that have been often repeated in this region in particular. It is only from a broad perspective that possible commonalities and developments can be discovered.
1.2.1 Regional Development
The Gladiators, as well as the families and clans of organized crime and the structured schools of the knife, were particularly flourishing in southern Italy. In terms of gladiators, the well-known schools were in Capua, Pompeii (both Campania), and Rome, that is, in central and southern Italy. The northern school in Ravenna, which had one of the largest gladiator schools, was the exception. The Gladiator used a non-military art to stabbing an opponent, a development that was absolutely impossible to find anywhere else in the world.
1.2.2 Commonalities
What the wooden training knife was for the knife fencer in southern Italy, or even today as the fusto or the paranza is, the rudis (wooden sword) already had been for the Gladiator. However, there is no compelling connection here, as technically, at that time there was hardly any other way to protect yourself from injury than to resort to wooden weapons.
The rudis, the wooden replica of legionnaires and gladiators.
The gladius itself, the short sword that gave the gladiator its name, is another possible bridge, since it was so not unlike a long dueling knife of the 19th century in length and shape. But even here I see no compelling cultural proximity to a knife. The affinity for the short blade becomes clearer through the pugio, the dagger, which was used by the Retiarius (as a secondary weapon), but especially by the Dimachaerus. The latter fought either with two swords or two daggers at the same time. A similar development has existed since the mid-19th century in the area around Salerno, where the simultaneous use of two knives was part of the tradition.
The gladius, the sword of legionnaires and gladiators.
In a troop of gladiators one spoke of a familia, a family, as is still the case today in organized crime or in certain Southern Italian knife schools. It should be noted, however, that this is more due to the culture of the language rather than to common fencing roots. Gladiators did not speak of a training ground or hall, but rather used the word ludus, meaning school. The knife and stick traditions from Rome to Sicily still use the word “school” today6. This is not only for the system, but it also describes the place where the lessons take place. Yet, in the north of Italy, in former Cisalpine Gaul, the still existing folk fencing traditions do not use this term anymore. But, all of this may still be pure coincidence.
However, in the end, in my view, the most important indication, together with the commonality of regional distribution, is the great cultural parallel. And here I would like to quote directly from Alan Baker’s recommended book7:
“[…] The training was in precise, almost scientific pathways and included the learning of a series of figures divided into individual phases. However, a gladiator had to take care not to follow the trained movements too closely, because the audience easily recognized this and would complain that his fighting was too “by the book" without showing a style of his own.”
This strict form of instruction can still be found today, to my knowledge, mainly within the knife and stick schools of southern Italy. It testifies to a striking fencing-cultural closeness, at least with regard to didactics. Although such striking similarities are not clear evidence of a kind of multi-era spanning fencing identity, they nevertheless, together with their geographic proximity, provide clues for a certain interrelation8.
1.3 The Newly Kindled Spirit
Some souls revered antiquity and made every effort to revive or “resurrect” it. It was the birth of the Renaissance or, as it should rightly be called, the Rinascimento; a development that flourished in Florence and Rome. Many of the French expressions used today in modern fencing, as well as in colloquial language, were only introduced into the language at the beginning of the 19th century. Previously, Italian was the language of the educated, and it is still used today in musical terminology and even in the accounting field, among others.
The immediate forerunners for the Italian schools of the knife fight, however, may originate from the 15th to the 18th century. The intellectual framework, which the fencers were once moved to rethink, perhaps had its beginning in Italy of the 15th century, wherein, as I said, the exact chronology, in the absence of documentation must remain speculative.
The straight-ahead path, (that of the accurate thrust), was already present on the peninsula even in ancient times. One finds its traces mainly in the Roman army. For example, in the first century BC, Caesar was already demonstrably training the Legionnaires in weapons craft. Vegetius described in the 5th century AD, the training of recruits in dealing with the gladius9. Here it must be remembered that Vegetius’ Epitoma rei militarii is not a factual report. He writes it, reminiscing of the “good old days”. Whether the Legionaries were actually drilled to use only the thrust, we do not know for sure. It is rather unlikely though, because in the fray, once a formation is dissolved, the slash gains quite a tactical advantage; and the Romans were the best military tacticians and practitioners of their time. At the time of Augustus, the considerably longer spatha, the battle sword of the Romans, was introduced. This name has since continued in Italy as spada, to the present day.
1.3.1 Art and Literature
Rinascimento
