Thursday, March 7, 2013

Coverta within Fior Di Battaglia - Part 2


Continuing in the mounted plays, examining the parry. I started in the mounted section for a few reasons. Firstly, it seems this section contains a great deal of general instruction. Secondly, Fiore begins with mounted plays in two of his manuscripts. Third, I wanna.

Let us examine his first words on mounted play, r39.

"e si ò curta lanza più che lo compagno e si fazo rasone de rebatter sua lanza fora de strada zoè ala traversa overo in erto"
"and I count on beating his lance aside, ether obliquely or [Morgan: but not] upward, I will end up with an arm's length of my lance crossing and arm's length of his." - Tom Leoni

We are told to beat the lance away. Specifically we are to cross an arm's length of my lance to an arm's length of his. Which, given the lances depicted tells us that this beat is preformed approximately middle to middle. We are given no other instruction on how to defend - simply cross, middle to middle and beat obliquely - to the side. Here we see a possible word error in the Getty, as it states 'or upwards', however later it contradicts this advice and the Morgan tells us 'but not upward'. On v41 we see.

"Questo è un altro portar de lanza contra lanza. questo magistro à curta lanza e sì la porta in posta de donna la sinistra como voy vedete, per rebatter a ferir lo compagno."
"Anchora questo magistro porta la sua lanza in posta de donna la sinistra per rebatter la lanza che lo compagno gli vole lanzare. E quello rebatter ch'ello vole cum la lanza fare, quello cum uno bastone o curta spada far lo poria."
"This is another way to carry the lance against another lance. This Master has a short lance and carries it in Left Posta di Donna, as illustrated, to parry [beat] and strike."
"This Master also carries his lance in Left Posta di Donna to beat away the lance that his opponent is about to hurl at him. He could also preform the same defence with a staff or a short sword." - Tom Leoni

I curious about Tom's translation here, as the text clearly says 'rebatter', or 'beat'. So this becomes "beat and strike" not parry. Again, it seems we are told to beat. Further we are told that this beat will also work with a staff or short sword. Again we are given more general instruction and we are told to beat and then strike. More on r42.

"in dente di zenghiaro cum sua lanza, overo in posta di donna la sinistra, e rebatter e finire come si pò far in lo primo e in lo terzo çogho de lanza."
"Questo portar de spada contra lanza è molto fine per rebatter la lança cavalcando de la parte dritta dello compagno."
"in Dente di Cinghiaro with his lance, or in Left Posta di Donna; he could parry and strike as is possible in the first and third plays of the lance"
"This position of the sword against a lance is very good to parry [beat] the lance as you ride to the opponent's right side." - Tom Leoni

Again Tom translated rebatter to parry, instead of beat. If we use beat here then we are told to use the same beat and parry action from Dente di Cinghiaro that we were just told to use. Further we are told to do the same with a sword. Moving into the sword vs sword mounted plays on v43 we see.

"Anchora questa propria guardia de choda longa si è bona quando uno gli vene incontra cum la spada a man riversa come vene questo mio inimigo. E sapia che questa guardia è contra tutti colpi de parte dritta e di parte riversa, e contra zaschun che sia o dritto o manzino. E qui dredo cominzano gli zoghi di coda longa che sempre rebatte per lo modo ch'è ditto denanzi in prima guardia de coda longa."
"This same guard of Coda Lunga is good when the opponent comes with his sword on the riverso side, as does this one. Bear in mind that this guard counters all the blows both on the mandritto and the riverso side, and is usable against right - or left-handed opponents. We will now see the plays of Coda Lunga, from which you always parry [beat] as I have described in the first illustration of the guard." - Tom Leoni

So here we are told Coda Lunga can parry everything, any attack, from any opponent. We are further told exactly how to do this in the first illustration. To recap, beat and then strike. So far, the entire mounted section we have been told to beat away the attack. Lance or sword against all attacks. Moving on, r44.

"Questo è lo primo zogho che esse de la guardia de coda longa ch'è qui denanzi, zoè ch'ello magistro rebatte la spada dello suo inimigo, e mettigli la punta in lo petto, o vole in lo volto come qui depento."
"Questo si è lo segondo zogho ch'è pur di quello rebatter, io fiero costuy sopra la testa che vezo ben ch'ello non è armado la testa"
"This is the first play deriving from the guard of Coda Lunga, which we just saw: the master parries [beat] the opponent's sword and places his point in the opponent's chest or face as illustrate here."
"This is the second play, in which from a similar beating aside of the opponent's sword, I strike the opponent over the head, since I have observed that he is not wearing head armour." - Tom Leoni

I will not quote the rest of the sections on the sword plays here, as almost every single one contains the word beat. Fiore never once tells us to parry any other way, and constantly, repeatedly tells us to beat attacks away. I find my self in conclusion that, in as far as the mounted section is concerned, you defend your self with beats. I am aware that he has talked a lot on left sided guards, Coda Lunga, left Posta di Donna and Dente di Cinghiaro in particular. Thus far we have been provided very clear, explicit instruction on how to beat an attack away. Further we have been given no other instruction on how to parry, cover, deflect, stop or otherwise.

Next up I am going to jump into Sword in One Hand and see what Fiore has to say.

No comments:

Post a Comment