Excerpts on the history of European fencing (translation of a fragment from the treatise by Jeronimo de Carranza)

Abstract

The publication contains the first Russian translation of the Renaissance treatise “On the Philosophy of Arms and its Mastership” by Jerónimo de Carranza. This treatise is considered to be a starting point of a new trend in European theory of fencing combat that was named Destreza (the word meaning “mastership, art”). As an object of investigation and reconstruction primarily within the framework of historical fencing, Destreza, is mainly known from the abridged versions of Carranza's art as retold by French and Spanish masters of fencing (Narvaez, Thibault). However, Carranza's composition, consisting of Prologue, introductory verses and the treatise itself that includes four dialogues, still lacks a modern scholarly edition. That is due, partly, to the excessive (as both contemporary and posterior critics see it) philosophical scope of the treatise that claims not only to produce a detailed technical manual for fencing combat, but to create a specific science of mastering swordcraft. This noble science is based both on philosophical foundations combined with natural sciences, and on Christian ethics as well.