Here you can find historical fencing manuals and related material that I have translated into English. Everything I offer for download is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, but included plates and illustrations may fall under different licensing.
Nicoletto Giganti – Scola, overo teatro (1606)
To my knowledge this is the only complete translation of Nicoletto Giganti’s Scola, overo teatro (“School, or theatre“), as it contains both Giganti’s dedication and a forward written by Almoro Lombardo. Additionally, I have included my translation of marginalia left by an 18th century reader in a 1628 copy now held in the Austrian National Library.
Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri – Lo spadone (1653)
Originally appearing as the third part of Alfieri’s L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada (“The Art of Handling the Sword Well“), this short work deals with the greatsword.
Francesco Antonio Mattei – Della scherma napoletana (1669)
Francesco Antonio Mattei’s Della scherma napoletana (“Neapolitan Fencing“) is a 1669 treatise on the fencing tradition he traces to Giovanni Battista Marcelli and which he learned from his brother, Giovanni Mattei. It is divided into two Discourses, discussing rapier and dagger in the first and the single sword in the second.