Giacomo di Grassi, "His True Arte of Defence...", 1594

Notes on Giacomo di Grassi

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Courtesy of Leuven University Press,
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Giacomo di Grassi was an Italian fencing master who wrote his first fencing manual, entitled "Ragione di adoprar sicuramente l'Arme, si da offesa come da difesa", in 1570. The text was later translated into English and published again in 1594, entitled complete (using the original spelling - "/" indicates line breaks in the original title) as "DiGrassi, His True Arte of Defence / plainle teaching by infallable Demonstrations / apt Figures and perfect Rules the manner and / forme how a man without other Teacher or / Master may safelie handle all fortes of / Weapons as well offensive as defensive: / With a Treatise / Of Disceit or Falsinge : And with a waie or / means by private Industrie to obtaine / Strength, Judgement and / Actiuitie." Giacomo di Grassi was one of the three premiere Renassiance fencing masters known during the period of Elizabethan England.

The treatise is comprised of 99 images, including front and back covers and a couple dozen illustrations, probably wood cuts. The weapons covered in his treatise include sword, spear and two-handed sword and the pike. He details the principles behind thrusts across all weapons, favouring the thrust over all other forms of attacks by any of the weapons examined. Di Grassi uses several illustrations to describe footwork and angles of attack to ensure success in piercing the body of the opponent.

Click to view information on the Corble Collection CDAny desire to publish this material elsewhere or for profit must be pre-approved by UB München. However, the manuscript is available on the CD in digitized form. Click on the image for more information on ordering the Corble Collection CD. The colour images are courtesy of K.U.Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek.

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Table of Contents of the First Part

Table of Contents of the Second Part

click to view more information on the Corble Collection CD
Courtesy of Leuven University Press,
email: for more information on obtaining "En Garde! A Selection from the Corble Collection" CD

Other References:

  1. Credits: This is an electronic version copied from a facsimilie of the original text created by Patri Pugliese. Work undertaken during August/September 1996. Contributors are Patrick Swanson (Elric Dracwin) and Tom Hudson (Giovan Donato). Jennie Radovsky (Kerdych Goch) scanned the images during October 1997.
  2. Index to DiGrassi, His True Arte of Defence. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Last accessed November 2, 2009.
  3. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Giacomo di Grassi. Last accessed November 2, 2009.

 
Copyright © 1998 Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts  (AEMMA)
Released: November 9, 1998 / Last updated: November 4, 2009