Girolamo Cavalcabo (known in France as 'Hieronyme' or 'Hieronymus') was a
Bolognese fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
master, teaching in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and later
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Egerton Castle
__NOTOC__
Egerton Castle M.A., F.S.A. (12 March 1858 – 16 September 1920) was an author, antiquarian, and swordsman, and an early practitioner of reconstructed historical fencing, frequently in collaboration with his colleague Captain Alfred ...
suggests that his father was Zacharia Cavalcabo, who published
Angelo Viggiani Bolognese Swordsmanship, also sometimes known as the Dardi school, is a tradition within the Italian school of swordsmanship which is based on the surviving fencing treatises published by several 16th century fencing masters of Bologna,
As early as ...
’s treatise in 1567; indeed, Castle believes that Viggiani was Hieronyme’s fencing master, though he gives no citation for this claim. At some point, Girolamo travelled to Rome, where he perhaps first came into contact by the
‘Agrippan’ system of guards; Brantôme in his memoirs mentions a "Hiéronime" teaching in Rome.
In 1597, Seigneur de Villamont translated Cavalcabo’s
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
'Treaty or Instruction for Fencing' into
French. Possibly because of this, Cavalcabo was appointed to the court of
Henry IV of France to teach the Dauphin (later
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
) and his brother Gaston D’Orleans; his son, César, was Master of Arms to the French Court until 1642. Girolamo Cavalcabo is mentioned in the diary of
Jean Héroard, the Dauphin's personal physician, including receiving a blow from his pupil, while adjusting the boy's foot.
[ éroard, Jean, Journal de Jean Héroard sur l'enfance et la jeunesse de Louis XIII (1601-1628)/ref>
Much of Girolamo's text can be found in the first section of 'Livre Des Leçons', a seventeenth century manuscript attributed to Pedro De Heredia, a Spanish governor of Brussels.]
Bibliography
*Hieronymus Calvacabo of Bologna and Patenostrier of Rome, ''Treatise or Instruction for Fencing'', trans. Rob Runacres, Lulu.com (2015),
*Rob Runacres, ''The Book of Lessons; The Historical Fencing Treatise Attributed to Pedro De Heredia'', Fallen Rook (2018),
References
Further reading
* Bolognese Swordsmanship Bolognese Swordsmanship, also sometimes known as the Dardi school, is a tradition within the Italian school of swordsmanship which is based on the surviving fencing treatises published by several 16th century fencing masters of Bologna,
As early as ...
Italian male fencers
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