The Art of Arms

Connor Kemp-Cowell: Wounds

Listener discretion is advised, this discussion contains accounts of graphic violence, real life trauma situations, and intense detail that might make some feel uncomfortable.
The following historical accounts of duels, warfare, and civic violence were used during this podcast.
Historical Accounts:
Account 1:
The siege continuing in this way, all the soldiers remained close together on the outside towards the castle for a stretch of bombard, defended by firm stockades and other ditches, and the people inside towards the market, in front of which there was a marvelous trench with excellent and safe shelters, and bastions suitable for the defense of the people. One day, when it seemed appropriate to the magnificent Galeazzo to ruin and destroy the mill of Messer Battista da S. Piero located in the Reno canal under the Galliera gate, which those of the castle used for their own use, he called me with some of his other friends, and said to me: Compare, I have decided to make an experiment. If we could burn and demolish the mill of my relative, because it is too necessary for our enemies, what do you think? I answered in the affirmative, so the order was given, and several very brave Bolognese and other brigades were called, and so we quietly went out of the Lamme gate, coming along the canal from which the water had been taken away, we damaged the mill, and then we entered it, finding many infantrymen who were guarding it, whom, mainly by me and other companions, attacked and fought, and we drove from there over a small bridge towards the castle. And while I was asking for fire to burn him, still standing at the door to keep the enemies at bay, behold, among them came one cursed by God, who looked like a devil, with fire in his hand, who with a loaded gun wounded me in the left arm with such a foul and obscene blow, that I dropped the shield from my hand, whereupon my companions, seeing me so badly injured, because I was almost stunned, took me away from there, abandoning the enterprise they had begun, and carried me to my houses to dress the wound. The doctor, finding that the lead ball had not come out of the arm because it remained in the elbow, had to make a cut from which with the pincers he extracted that piece of lead, which having entered the middle of the arm and had risen up to that part of the joint. Thus one gains fame by doing good for one's country, but benefits little or nothing from it, since I had to pay for the doctor at my own expense, and even go to the baths, and so the damage was entirely my responsibility.
—From The Chronicle of How Annibale Bentivoglio Was Taken and Removed From Prison, Then Killed and Avenged by Galeazzo Marescotti
Account 2:
Marescotti vs Canteoli Feud
And so it was, before the convent of the nuns of San Mattia, that my strenuous and brave brother Giovanni, although surrounded by many, intrepidly and valiantly died—defending himself like a lion, as we could offer him no assistance. As we were opposed by an exorbitant number of men.With great difficulty, and a few companions, I took refuge in the house of the aforementioned nuns, after receiving a few wounds—as happens to those who defend themselves—though none were of a nature to cause any significant damage.
—From The Chronicle of How Annibale Bentivoglio Was Taken and Removed From Prison, Then Killed and Avenged by Galeazzo Marescotti
Account 3:
On the 5th, the Duke was within a few miles of Urbino, then held by Bishop Vitelli, with a garrison of two thousand men, who, distrusting the inhabitants, summoned their militia to muster at S. Bernardino, and closed the gates as soon as the city had thus been cleared of its able-bodied men, refusing to readmit them on pain of instant death. The excluded citizens vented their indignation at this trick, in threats and abuse of the garrison from under the very walls, which at length provoked a sortie of four hundred infantry in order to disperse them. At this juncture, a squadron of one hundred cavalry, sent on by Francesco Maria under Benedetto Giraldi of Mondolfo, for the purpose of supporting the expected rising in his favour, arrived three miles below Urbino, and, whilst breathing their horses, heard that the enemy were abroad. Benedetto immediately left his little force in charge of his brother Annibale, and rode on with but five officers to reconnoitre. The adventure which followed, equally worthy of a bold knight-errant and a Christian soldier, must be told as in the Dialogue of his nephew Tranquillo. "Coming suddenly upon the detachment, about half a mile from the town, Benedetto exclaimed, 'Look there! as these are the first of our master's foes we have fallen in with, it would surely be a shame to let them get back to the city without a taste of us: I am therefore resolved to make a dash at them, and if you will follow me, by God's grace we shall have the first victory.' This said, he rushed into the midst of them, with vizor up and lance in rest, overthrowing many by the shock. His weapon having broken, he performed prodigies with his sword, and, aided by his followers, who had not shrunk from his summons, the enemy's leaders were slain, and their whole battalion dispersed in panic through the fields, where most of them were put to death by the excluded townsfolk, who had mustered at the first alarm. I, too, came up with our squadron, in time to cut off a good many of them; but I had little cause to congratulate myself upon that success, for, passing near my brother [Benedetto], he said to me, 'Annibale, I am killed.' Whereupon, looking towards him, I observed a cut in his face, and told him to fear nothing, as face wounds were not mortal; but he replied, 'It's worse than that, for I am run through the body by a pike.' At these words my heart seemed riven asunder; yet, in order not to alarm him, I desired him to cheer up, and commend himself to God Almighty, and to the most glorious Mother of the Saviour, and to vow his armour and horse to Loreto, adding that I too would offer a housing worth twenty-five ducats. 'I am content,' answered he, 'to give this horse, a gallant Turkish charger bestowed upon me by the Marquis of Mantua, along with these arms; but I have only one favour to ask of the Saviour of mankind, which is, that he will permit me to live long enough to confess myself.' As he said this an Observantine friar, who had on former occasions confessed him, came up, and, after thanking God for having heard his prayer, he summoned the monk, and returning to Cavallino confessed himself. There being no surgeon at hand, a gentleman of Mantua named Stigino cleansed the wound by suction, and ascertained that the bowels were not pierced, which afforded me much hope. I sent for many surgeons. The first that arrived was Maccione of Fossombrone, who dressed the wound with charmed bandages, a thing that much displeased my brother; and for conscience-sake he refused to be doctored in that way, until persuaded by a friar, who assured him there was no sin, seeing that there had been no diabolical incantation used; and, being told of numerous miracles effected by these cloths, he submitted to them, and ere long was restored to health."
—This is from Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino 1440-1630 by James Dennistoun
 
Duels:
Account 1:
Bandini & Bertino vs Martelli & Dante: Kiss the Sword
Related Historical Sources
Account 2:
Guasco vs Doria Duel: A Savage Duel
Related Historical Sources

The Real Martin Fabian

Your Step-by-Step Guide to HEMA Deification
 
Elite competitor, ardent scholar, artist, and entrepreneur Martin Fabian joined Stephen and Joshua to talk about HEMA.
If you’ve ever wondered what the journey to becoming one of the best competitive fencers in HEMA looks like from an aspect of training, preparation, competition and textual interpretation, this is the podcast for you!
 
https://open.substack.com/pub/theartofarms/p/the-real-martin-fabian?r=1e0ent&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Aaron Miedma: The Duel; Context and Culture

About Aaron: 
Aaron was introduced to swords as a participant in the first National Stage Combat Workshop run by Fight Directors Canada in 1993. In 1998, he traded the theatrical for the historical and took up Italian Rapier. In 2002 he began studying the Lichtenhauer tradition as one of the founding members of Anyhau (now Ironwood Sword School in Kingston, ON). In 2005 he also began dabbling in the study the Fiore’s system of Martial Arts. The next year Aaron began his intensive study of Imperial Close Combat techniques of the Great War, which formed the core of MA studies at the Royal Military College of Canada and the topic of his first book Bayonets and Blobsticks, the Canadian Experience of Close Combat 1915-18 (2011). His studies turned back to the Renaissance with the publication of a translation of Nicoletto Giganti’s first Rapier treatise in 2014. Since then, his eye has been cast back into the sixteenth century by his doctoral studies of the duel in sixteenth century Italy. As a consequence, he has begun dabbling in the Bolognese school of fighting arts.
 
About This Episode:
We had to hold off on releasing this one, because we brought up Joeli’s Liechtenauer research. This recording took place back in January.
If you're curious about the Bolognese Carnival celebrations, go check out the article that I finished after I was done researching the subject.
 
Carnival 1562
 
Don't mind our hypothetical posturing about our good friend Johannes Liechtenauer, we were having fun with some exclusive knowledge.
If you're interested in reading a great book that adds a lot of depth to this conversation, be sure to check out The Sixteenth Century Italian Duel by Fredrick R. Bryson {it's available on-line for free here, or on Amazon as a reprint}:
Link
Keep your eyes peeled for an epic breakdown about the brutal duel between Cristoforo Guasco and Niccolò Doria, by Stephen Fratus out in the next few weeks.

Joeli Takala: The Real Johannes Liechtenauer

Check out the first installment of Joeli's written research here: 
 
https://open.substack.com/pub/theartofarms/p/studying-the-birth-of-the-liechtenauer?r=1e0ent&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Herbert Schmidt: The Medieval and Renaissance Buckler

Check out Herbert's Books!
The Medieval and Renaissance Buckler
Catalogue of European Bucklers 
 

Liam H. Clark: A Journey to Stasbourg

In this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi, Stephen and Joshua go on a journey across the Alps to visit the Bolognese master Giacomo da Basel--err, Joachim Meyer. We're going to Strasbourg with our brilliant tour guide Liam H. Clark. Have you ever wondered how Fechtshule worked, what other fencing masters were active during Meyer's lifetime or the differences between Marxbruder and Freifechter then this is the episode for you!
 
Evergreen Historical Fencing Substack
Liams Source Documents
 

Niccolò Menozzi: The Spadone Project

Do you like big swords? Yea, we know. We all do! Well, if you do, you're probably familiar with The Spadone Project, it's phenomenal, how could you not be? Now meet the man behind the curtain, Niccolò Menozzi! In this episode Stephen and Joshua sit down with Niccolo to tackle the tropes and the misnomers of the two handed sword. We dive deep into the historical use of the weapon on the battlefield and in duels, and discover all of the intricacies that differentiate these beautiful weapons. 
 
Check out and support Niccolò's work here: https://thespadoneproject.com/

Jean Chandler: Guilds

Jean Chandler is one of the most dedicated researchers HEMA has to offer. He's absolutely brilliant! He's also a pretty incredible human being. If you want to learn more about guilds, Renaissance commerce, and martial traditions, this is the episode for you!
Check out Jean's website here: https://jeanhenrichandler.com/

Dr. Guy Windsor: Teaching, and a survey of Vadi and Fiore

This episode marks l'Arte dell Armi's 20,000th download!!! We wanted to extend our heartfelt gratitude to you our listeners for engaging with this podcast! We greatly appreciate you, and look forward to bringing you more content in the future! Stay saucy my friends!
 
We had the honor of sitting down and talking to Dr. Guy Windsor.  This lively discussion highlights teaching, developing teachers, teaching hacks, running a school as a business, before transitioning into Fiore, Vadi, Capoferro and beyond. It was a truly insightful conversation and we're looking forward to having Guy on the podcast again in the near future, we still have so much to discuss. Note that Joshua had to take care of his son through the first part of the episode but managed to pop-in for the second half.
 
You can find all of Guys work at:
https://swordschool.com/
Take virtual classes with Guy at:
https://swordschool.teachable.com/
Find his books at:
https://swordschool.shop/
 

Jack Gassmann: Martial Culture, Context and Crossbows

Jack Gassmann is both an accomplished academic and historical fencer, a true jack-of-all-trades, he's lived a life full of historical exploration in about every capacity you can possibly imagine, including stunts and film. Stephen and I sat down with Jack and tried to understand what it might've been like to lead crossbowmen on horseback. You won't want to miss this! Stay tuned to the end for a special 20%-off offer on Jack's new table top game, Forces of Virtue!
https://masterstrokegames.com/