Fiore dei Liberi : "Flos Duellatorum", 1410

Availalble Online and Printable Fiore Resources

The resources listed below are considered important and useful for the student's education of Fiore, in particular, when he/she is preparing to challenge for the scholler rank. Most of the resources are in pdf format, and therefore, can easily be printed on a local printer. The visual presentation of the Getty's treatise online is more difficult to print, but does provide the student with publically available images of the Getty's version, although, not in high resolution. As more online resources become available, these will be added to the listing below. If a Fiore resource is discovered and is available online, please do inform AEMMA by email by clicking .


Journal of Western Martial Art
Journal of Western Martial Art
( JWMA )
09/08 David M. Cvet - A Brief Examination of Fiore dei Liberi's Treatises Flos Duellatorum & Fior di Battaglia
An examination of Fiore's life based on currently available material and a brief comparative analysis of the Pisani-Dossi, Morgan's and Getty's versions of Fiore's treatises.
07/08 Russ Howe - Fiore dei Liberi : Origins and Motivations
A comprehensive exploration of the life of Friulian swordsmaster, Fiore dei Liberi, who was born mid-14th century, died early 15th century, and the politics of the period and area in which Fiore grew up, learned the art while traveling throughout Europe.
01/05 David M. Cvet - The Measure of a Master Swordsman
A detailed examination of one of the earliest known swordsmasters of the late 14th and early 15th century, of a page known as "sette spada" from the treatise written by Fiore dei Liberi in 1410 illustrating the combative attributes required of a skilled fighter stemming from an allegorical interpretation and symbolism of beasts.
06/03 Matt Galas - The Flower of Battle - A Medieval Italian Fencing Manual
The article examines a manuscript, written in 1410 by a swordsmaster by the name of Fiore dei Liberi, providing details of Liberi's past, brief examination of self defence against a knife (dagger), longsword, armoured combat and mounted combat.
06/02 Robert Lovett - Principles of Fiore Dei Liberi's Martial System
Fiore dei Liberi of Cividale d'Austria was a medieval swordsmaster, born sometime between 1340 and 1350 in Cividale del Friuli, a small town on the river Natisone in Italy. This article is based on his writings, specifically his treatise entitled "Flos Duellatorum" written between the years of 1409 and 1410.
02/01 Peter Kautz - Fiore dei Liberi's 7 Rules of Wrestling
In his 1410 book Flos Duellatorum (The Flower of Battle) Fiore tells us that in his time he met "1000 men who would call themselves masters; though if their skills were combined, you would not have 4 good students, let alone one True Master", and that he wrote his book at the end of his life because there was simply no one around who was as skilled as he was, or who knew so many kinds of techniques.

Click to view a colour version of the BNF's
  • Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) has kindly made available online a recently discovered by Ken Mondschein in the spring of 2008, a fourth version of Fiore's works, entitled "Florius de arte luctandi", MSS LATIN 11269. The manuscript consists of 44 plates containing illustrations accompanied with short captions (2-3 lines) somewhat similar to the Pisani-Dossi version. The illustrations appear to be painted in which the color scheme and styling appear to be similar to the illustrations in Vadi.
  • For convenience, a pdf file has been created containing the images. Fair warning, the quality of the images available from BNF online are poor at best. Click ==> here <== to view/save the pdf file. (pdf file, 6.2MB)

Click to view a colour version of the Getty's
  • The Getty has produced an online presentation of the colour version of MS. LUDWIG XV 13. The treatise is described as: Tempera colors, gold leaf, silver leaf, and ink on parchment bound between pasteboard and covered with light brown calf.
  • Note: Getty does offer a CD-ROM containing high-resolution digital images of the Getty's manuscript. It is adviseable for anyone conducting serious research into Fiore's works should pursue purchasing a copy from the Getty. The CD-ROM was priced at approximately $212 USD (price may change). Further information can be obtained by mailing your request to: Ms. Michelle Keller, Manuscripts Department, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1000, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1687, USA. Make your reference for the "Fior di Battaglia - Hi Res JPEGs (CD)".
    Click on the image on the left to view the Getty presentation of Fiore.

Click to view the Getty's and PD's translation
  • This project is designed to bring together the work that The Exiles have been involved in since the late 1990s. The project has been essentially to bring together those works that are attributed to Fiore dei Liberi. The site has translations of both Getty's and PD versions, and is updated periodically with more of the manuscripts as they become available. Click on the "wyvern" to access the material available on the Fiore Project. Some of the available documents are listed below for your convenience.

Click to view Liberi's entire Novati version of the manuscript - 42.4MB
  • A complete digital file (pdf format - 42.4MB) of the Novati/Pisani-Dossi version is available for viewing or download, courtesy of David Peck (Chicago Swordplay Guild) and William Wilson (Tattershall School of Defence) by clicking on the Tattershall logo left.

Click to view Matt Eastons summary
  • Matt Easton, et al., "Fiore dei Liberi" - A useful summary of what is known about Fiore and the four versions of the known works. This page gets updated periodically when new information becomes available. Click here to access a printer friendly version of the same page (in pdf format: 362KB).

Click to view Liberi's entire Novati translation of the manuscript
 
  • Click on the shield left to view a complete online English translation of this (Novati) version of Liberi's treatise offered by the "Knights of the Wild Rose" to the WMA community. Note: The Knights of the Wild Rose website no longer exists, and therefore, their interpretation and presentation of Flos Duellatorum is no longer available. However, a "backup" copy of the same presentation has been archived on the AEMMA website for your continued exploration and study by clicking on the Knights of the Wild Rose's arms (shield) on the left.

Click to view an informative video on Fiore and his treatise
  • Click on the image on the left to view an interesting video created in Italy depicting Fiore's treatise. Some of the interpretations are bang-on, while others are different than AEMMA's interpretation. The verbiage is in English, and the video production is quite good. A choice of downloading a file 31.7MB in size, or for a higher resolution file wieghing in at 163.7MB. For more information on the video, contact the producer of the video:

Overview | About Fiore | Comparative Analysis | Online and Printable Resources | Fiore Publications | Flos Duellatorum


Copyright © 2008 Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts (AEMMA)
Released: October 20, 1999 / Last updated: October 30, 2012