Product Review

The manuscript of Il Fior di Battaglia is in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms Ludwig XV 13. It is dated to about 1410, and was written by Fiore dei Liberi. This book is a complete representation of the Art of Arms (armizare), on foot, on horseback, in armour, out of armour, wrestling, dagger, sword, spear and pollax. Even wrestling on horseback! The book is written in Italian, and there is no translation, introduction or commentary included in this edition.

We have made one change to the current binding. It is obvious from the content that folio 38 should be bound between folia 14 and 15, so we have placed it there, but retained the folio numbers for the convenience of modern scholars accustomed to the current page order as bound. We have produced this facsimile from scans in the public domain, which you can find online at wiktenauer.com. It is as close to the size of the original manuscript as possible with current print-on-demand technology. Our intention in publishing it is to produce an affordable reproduction that duplicates as closely as possible the experience of handling and owning the original, but at a reasonable price.

This is indispensible reading for any scholar of medieval history, swordsmanship, medieval and renaissance combat, or re-enactment.