Book Reviews

Italian Rapier Combat,
by Ridolfo Capo Ferro, edited and presented by Jared Kirby. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 2004. ISBN 1 85367 580 6. 148 pp.; 10 1/2” x 7 3/4”; 50 b&w illustrations; hardbound. $39.95.

This book is the latest to capitalize on the continuing and growing interest in the study of Western martial arts techniques and personal combat manuals from the High Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and into the 17th century.

This edition, the first released by a major publisher in English, is a slight hybridization of the editions of 1610 and 1629, which differed largely in the background treatment of their plates. The difficulties encountered by Mr. Kirby et al., in translating the text into accurate, comprehensible English are documented, and they must be complimented for their effort and attention to detail. Until now, students had to be content with imperfect, photocopied editions with 17th century Italian text, or those with modest translations. Capo Ferro’s book has been acknowledged to have been the first clear and straightforward manual to present fighting techniques. Of course, this must be qualified by the caveat that he, like others writing at the time, assumed a basic understanding and knowledge of sword fighting on the part of their original audience. The first part of the book provides a general discussion of defense and theoretical aspects of swords and their use.

It is the second part in which most readers will have the greatest interest. In more than 40 beautifully executed and rather graphic plates, this presents a range of moves for use of the rapier alone; the rapier in concert with a parrying dagger (so-called “left hand dagger”); the rapier used with the circular shield known in Italian as a rotella; and the use of the rapier together with the civilian cloak. All but one plate illustrates right-handed fighters, but Capo Ferro wisely included one page on how to deal with the unexpected left-handed opponent. The various moves are described from a practical standpoint (cuts are noted as being more powerful and better-controlled when delivered downward from above), but not without a certain amount of seemingly indecipherable jargon. However, the reader need not fear, as the compilers have prepared a useful and generally easily understood glossary as part of the front matter. Of particular interest are the attention given to the pace, or “tempo” of the swordsman, the position of the head and eyes (these, the reader is advised, should be on the adversary’s sword hand) and the movement and positioning of the body itself. The compilers have chose to keep footnoting to a minimum, but it would have been good to have included descriptions of the different forms of shields referred to in the text (the rotella shown, as well as the targa and brocchiero) and how they would have been used.