l’Arte Dell Armi

Lochlan Koulouris: A Soldiers Perspective

Lochlan Koulouris of Warriors of Ash, and Descendant Leather, joins Stephen and I to talk about his military experience, polearm fighting in formation, the awesome polearms his company produces, and so much more!
 
Check out Warriors of Ash Here: https://www.warriorsofash.com/
Descendant Leather Polearms: https://descendantleather.com/
 

Maestro Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Bentivoglio

 
Episode II
Attack of the Bentivoglio
 
The Pope has succeeded in conquering Bologna, but thanks to the cunning of the lady Ginverva Sforza Bentivoglio, hope is renewed. 
Hannibal, Guido, and Ermes have gathered an army of thousands and have positioned themselves on the border between Bologna and Modena.
 
Meanwhile the trouble is brewing. To the east, the forces of Giampaolo Baglioni, Ugo Pepoli and Lucio Malvezzi are preparing the city of Bologna for a siege. In the west, dark rumblings of Modense and Ferrarese forces mustering are circling the camps of the Bentivoglio supporters.
 
In this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi:
Maestro Wars Part 2: Attack of the Bentivoglio (0:0)
Marozzo's Sword and Cape Against Someone on Horseback: Featuring Eric Weiss (41:15)
Condottiere Spotlight: Melchiorre Ramazzotto  (1:19:30)
 
Stay Saucy My Friends!
 

Halloween Special: Necromancy, Torture, and Execution

Happy Halloween! Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. If I told you that there was a monastic throwdown in Bologna between 1450-1500 over the right of priests to summon demons to do their bidding, would you believe me? What if I told you witches and necromancers were high society, upper crust, fat cats in the Renaissance? Well, if that's not enough to get you in the spirit, maybe a little torture will hone your senses. 
 
In this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi:
Short Stories
A Brief History of Necromancy in Bologna (1450-1500)
Renaissance Torture
Renaissance Execution
Wrap-up discussion

Devon Boorman: Sword and Small Buckler

Devon Boorman of Academie Duello joins us to talk everything sword and small buckler!
Ever wondered why sword and buckler is a critical edifice of the Bolognese corpus? What tactical considerations a taller fencer or a shorter fencer need to make while fencing? We answer all of that and more in this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi. 
 
Want to learn more from Devon? Check out his blog, and Duello TV!
Blog: www.pathofthesword.com
Training Matrial: duello.tv
Marozzo's Sword and Small Bukler: https://youtu.be/3fLu2sby4bU

Richard Cullinan

In this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi, Stephen and Joshua talk to Richard Cullinan of Stocatta School of Defense in Australia. 

St. Petronius Day Special

Hey! Happy St. Petronius day!
 
In honor of the patron saint of Bologna, we decided to do a special episode featuring the history of the city from antiquity to the death of Sante Bentivoglio (which takes right up to the timeline we cover in Maestro Wars), along with some intresting facts spanning into the modern era. Then, we wrap it up with an interesting discussion on the attributes of the city that made Bologna unique in the Medieval and Renaissance world, namely its gates, and it's canals. 

Maestro Wars, Episode 1: The Papal Menace

On New Years Eve 1516 Count Guido Rangoni fought Count Ugo Pepoli in a duel on a field prepared for them by the Marquis of Mantua, Francesco Gonzaga. The duel was fought with sword and bronze guantlet. 
These two men feature prominantly throughout the fencing treatises of the Bolognese tradition. Both Ugo Pepoli and Guido Rangoni are hailed by Angelo Viggiani as paragons of the the art in his treatise Lo Schermo, Achille Marozzo dedicated his work, Opera Nova, to Guido Rangoni in 1536, and Giovanni dall'Aggochie dedicated his corpus, Dell'Arte di Scrima Libri Tre, to a later relative of Ugo Peopli, Fabio Pepoli in 1572. 
Part one of this seven part series initiates the exploration of these two men's lives, and the rivalry that inspired them to stake their lives in the barriers. 
 
After Episode Discussion:
Mancino da Bologna
Debate on the legacy of Pope Julius II
Sword and Small Buckler: Anonimo and Manciolino
 

Dr. Dori Coblentz: A Critical Analysis of Fencing Treatises

Dr. Dori Coblentz brings her perspective as a scholar of the history of technical communication, and applies her knowledge to the fencing manuals we all know and love. 

Greg Mele: Pedagogy, Pasta, Interpretation, Translation, and Condottieri

In this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi, Stephen and Joshua press Greg Mele on what it takes to structure a school, what constitutes a good interpretation, validating interpretations, how to deal with the challenges of interpretation, the value of history in WMA/HEMA and how that affects interpretation...
*Take a breath*
...What constitutes a good translation, the perils of translation,  how we should approach exisiting translations, creating new translations, and then we end it with our favorite Condottieri. *Whew* Boy, if this isn't the most informative two hours of your life!
Stay suacy my friends!

David Biggs: Stringere of Space and Manciolino

David Biggs is back! Following-up on our previous discussion, David and Josh dive deep into tactics, and suss out the secret sauce of Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova.