Tales of the French duels: Duel des Mignons
The accounts of the famous Duel des Mignons in 1578.
Tales of the French duels: Blame the Italians
An excerpt of Brantôme’s Discours sur les Duels, tracing the origins of the new duelling habits to Naples.
Tales of the French duels
This post is an introduction for a series of contemporary accounts of late 16th century French duels.
Lovino est en ligne
Le manuscrit de Lovino est disponible en ligne !
Lovino is online
The Lovino manuscript is now online!
S’entraîner avec armes tranchantes, dans le passé et à présent
Ce court article est une discussion des conseils de Viggiani sur l’entraînement avec des armes tranchantes, focalisé sur les différences entre les contextes historiques et modernes.
The Valuable Lovino
The manuscript treatise by Giovan Antonio Lovino does not get the attention that it deserves. The two parts of this richly illuminated 16th century treatise have a number of original features that make it essential for a study of fencing in these times.
A Plan of Thibault’s Académie de l’Espée
In this post, I share a rough plan of Thibault’s huge treatise intended to help navigate it.
Training with sharps, present and past
This small article is a discussion of Viggiani’s advice on training with sharp swords, focusing on the differences between the modern and the historical context.
Feeling and Sight
This post provides contrasting quotes about the two main modes of perception used in a sword fight, their properties and how they should be used. Comparing two historical approaches also gives some perspective on the tactical variety that can be encountered even in relatively close traditions that operated in the same context.