Treatise or Instruction for Fencing: By Hieronymus Calvacabo of Bologna and Patenostrier of Rome

By Rob Runacres

In 1597 the great French traveller Seigneur de Villamont translated a fencing manuscript by his teacher, Girolamo (in French ‘Hieronyme’) Cavalcabo of Bologna, along with a shorter piece by Paternostrier of Rome. This treatise seems to have brought Cavalcabo to the attention of the French court and he, and later his son César, would be invited to teach the future Louis XIII. This treatise may represent survival of the great fencing tradition of Bologna, and could have influenced the development of French swordplay in the early seventeenth century. Now translated into English, this treatise offers an insight into the fighting style of the period.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326164690

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Treatise or Instruction for Fencing: By Hieronymus Calvacabo of Bologna and Patenostrier of Rome

Treatise or Instruction for Fencing

By Hieronymus Calvacabo of Bologna and Patenostrier of Rome

Translated into French by Lord Villamont in 1597

Translated into English by Rob Runacres

Introduction

Girolamo (in French ‘Hieronyme’) Cavalcabo was a member of a Bolognese family, possibly an offshoot of that which controlled Cremona in the Middle Ages.  Egerton Castle suggests that his father was Zacharia Cavalcabo, and that he published Viggiani’s treatise in 1567; indeed Egerton Castle believes that Viggiani was Hieronyme’s fencing master.  However, given that Viggiani died in 1552 and that the elder Cavalcabo published the second edition of Viggiani’s treatise in 1588[1], the dates do not seem to tally and Egerton Castle cites no sources for this.  At some point Hieronyme travelled to Rome, where he perhaps first came into contact by the ‘Agrippan’ system of guards[2]. Brantôme in his memoirs mentions a ‘Hiéronime’ as well as a ‘Patenostrier’:

‘But I have seen take place in our court of the bravest and valiant gentlemen who were there and who had acquired vast time glory weapons, that some young man lately come from Italy and freshly taught the sword by the Patenostrier or Hiéronime or Frantz, or Tappe, or Flaman, or Sieur d'Aymard, child of Bourdeaux, certainly gallant men’

[3]

Briorst et al postulate that it was at Patenostier’s salle that he met the great traveller Seigneur de Villamont who, in 1597, would translate Cavalcabo’s treatise into French, along with a shorter piece by Paternostrier. However, there is no indication that Cavalcabo was a student at that salle and he may have been instructing in his own right[4]. Nevertheless, while the meeting place is assumed, Conrad von Einsidell, who translated the French translation into German in 1611, states that Villamont was Cavalcabo’s student for 10 years, and from this it may be assumed that Villamont was intimate with Cavalcabo’s system.

[5]

Comparison with the Italian manuscript of Cavalcabo’s work, held as Italian 1527 in the BNF, Paris[6], shows Villamont’s transcription to be extremely close to the original, with some minor alterations taking into account differences in the languages. The Italian manuscript itself appears to be a copy due to numerous sentences repeated and then crossed out; it also does not contain Paternostrier’s treatise. Villamont’s translation may not have originated with this copy. Currently, further analysis is being undertaken in concert with Francesco Lodà of Accademia Romana d'Armi.

Whether through fame of the translated work or in his own right, Cavalcabo was appointed to the court of Henry IV of France to teach the Dauphin (later Louis XIII) and his brother Gaston D’Orleans. In this he was succeeded by his son, César, who was Master of Arms to the French Court until 1642. The duration of Cavalcabo’s office is difficult to assess; César in noted to have received 300 livres for the period 1609-10 as Tireur d’armes du Dauphin, not as Maître[7], suggesting Cavalcabo was still in place.[8] Dancie in 1623 when writing about the best fencing masters in France states

‘…as for Mr. Geronyme, I do not want to deprive him his reputation which is very great.’

[9]

Which might suggest Cavalcabo was still at court sometime close this date. However Dancie goes on to say

‘And we French are obliged to his late father, for the sword and dagger, and to Monsieur Patenostrier for the single sword of all the great inventions of fencing, of which we are imitators and they the inventors.’

Therefore Dancie had probably confused Cesar with the elder Cavalcabo; Dancie makes no mention of any fencing master in his manuscript which dates to pre 1617. With the current lack of evidence, Hieronyme’s ‘end date’ can only be placed between 1610 and 1623.

Patenostrier is more obscure. A Maestro bearing his name is mentioned in passing in several accounts such as Dancie (see above). Brantôme mentions him several times in addition to the quote above possibly indicating Cavalcabo; on one occasion he wrote that a certain Aubanye received tuition from Patenostrier in single sword, who was ‘very excellent in this art’[10]. De Montaigne in the records of his travels of 1580-81 says

‘On Monday I was to dine at the house of Mr. Silvio Piccolomini well known for his virtue, and in particular the science of fencing… He despises all