Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi, 15th Century Swordsmanship of Master Fillipo Vadi

[Sir William]

I just picked this up via sale on the Armour Archive website; this was translated by Luca Porzio and Gregory Mele.  Has anyone else had a crack at it yet?  I got it because in viewing the classifieds I realized that I did not own any books on swordsmanship.  Knighthood, battle tactics, medieval fiction, arms and armor, but nothing about actual usage.

http://www.amazon.com/Arte-Gladiatoria-Dimicandi-Century-Swordsmanship/dp/1891448161

[Sir Edward]

I don't remember if I picked that one up or not. I haven't looked that heavily at the Italian version of the sword arts, though really they're not that different than the German.

[Sir James A]

I have it, but I've been unsuccessful in actually reading it yet. I will try to take a peek tonight or tomorrow and give a brief overview of it.

[Sir William]

Well, I have it sitting next to my favorite reading chair...but I've not been doing much reading in it of late.  Red Dead Redemption has been taking up much of my free time these past few days.

[Sir Wolf]

dont got it hmmmmm

[Das Bill]

Sorry for the late reply. Been too busy to go online much as of late.

This is a translation of Vadi's 15th century Italian treatise. It's in the same tradition of Fiore di Liberi, though it isn't 100% exactly the same art (in the way that you can have different branches of Tae Kwon Do that are mostly the same, but with some variations in the names of stances and techniques, etc). It's an excellent first hand resource for anyone studying that tradition, and it's an excellent reproduction of a medieval manuscript. It is not, however, a "how to" book, but rather a treatise to showcase the art (sort of like a resume for Vadi to present to a potential patron).

[Sir William]

Still worth a read, no?  I picked it up because I've never actually read any books on historical (or modern for that matter) swordsmanship.