A Master Known Only Through His Own Words
Despite his treatise’s enduring influence on the reconstruction of historical European martial arts — in particular armizare — very little is known about Fiore dei Liberi himself. Our only reliable biographical source is the prologue he wrote, which survives in manuscripts.
Name and Origins
Fiore identifies himself differently across the three manuscripts: Fior Furlan de Ciuida dostria in the Getty, Fiore Furlan de Ciuida dostria in the Morgan, and Fior furlano dei liberi de Ciuidal dostria in the Pisani-Dossi — meaning “Fiore Friuli of the family of the Liberi from Cividale d’Austria,” commonly shortened to Fiore dei Liberi. The prologue records that his father was Sir Benedetto of the House of the Liberi from Premariacco. Both Premariacco and Cividale d’Austria (now Cividale del Friuli) still exist in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy; Cividale del Friuli appears to have been his final home.
“Devil’s Bridge Cividale” by Oberhbe is licensed under the public domain.
His Life and Training
Fiore gives no birth year, but scholars estimate he was born around 1350. He describes leaving Premariacco as a young man to study fencing across many provinces under Italian and German masters, and notes that he trained and fought for more than 40 years. If he began training around age 10 and started writing his treatise on 10 February 1409, he would have been roughly 60 years old at the time of composition.
The Flower of Battle
The Treatise and Its Patron
The Pisani-Dossi version names Nicolo III d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara, as the work’s patron — commissioning both the text and illustrations for his personal library. Fiore began writing on February 10, 1409, and completed the treatise approximately six months later.
The Manuscripts
Fiore Furlan dei Liberi da Premariacco (Italian, about 1340/1350 – before 1450), The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig XV 13, fol. 28, 83.MR.183.28