Pietro Monte (''Pietro del Monte, Pietro Monti'', Latinized ''Petrus Montius''; 1457–1509
[Fontaine 1991.]) was a
master of arms
Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to ...
who lived in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in the late 15th century. He may have been either
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
or Italian by birth.
He was acquainted with
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
.
[Anglo (1989). Anglo's "taught Leonardo darts" is based on a note by Leonardo reminding himself to consult Monte on the question of calculating the trajectory of a dart propelled from a sling.]
He is mentioned in
Baldassarre Castiglione
Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico (; 6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529),Dates of birth and death, and cause of the latter, fro, ''Italica'', Rai International online. was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissanc ...
's ''Libro del Cortegiano'' as the teacher of
Galeazzo da Sanseverino, described as "the true and only master of every form of trained strength and agility".
[ed. Opdyke, Leonard Eckstein (1903)]
The Book of the Courtier
Monte is assumed to have compiled at least four
combat treatise
Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, specifically designed to be learnt from a book. Many books detailing specific techniques of martial arts are often erroneously called manuals but were written as treatises.
Pro ...
s in the 1480s. His ''De Dignoscendis Hominibus'' was printed in 1492, but the others remained unpublished until his death in 1509, when they were edited by one
Giovanni Angelo Scinzenzeler as ''Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea'' (known as ''Collectanea'' for short) and as ''De Singulari Certamine Sive Dissentione'', ''De veritate unius legis et falsitate sectatrum''. Milano 1509 (2nd ed. 1522). Two of Monte's manuscripts also survive, one kept in the
Escorial library as MS A.IV.23 (written in Spanish), the other in
Biblioteca Estense
The Biblioteca Estense ('' Estense Library''), was the family library of the marquis and dukes of Este. The exact date of the library's birth is still under speculation, however it is known for certain that the library was in use during the fourte ...
as Codex Estense T.VII.25 (written in Italian).
Monte was a ''condottiere'' who served in many armies with his military skill. Although his works are written in Latin, they served to teach multi-lingual armies of the time.
Monte's system of fencing predates the classical
Italian school of swordsmanship
The term Italian school of swordsmanship is used to describe the Italian style of fencing and edged-weapon combat from the time of the first extant Italian swordsmanship treatise (1409) to the days of Classical Fencing (up to 1900).
Although the ...
(the
Dardi school later in the 16th century). He was famous during his own time, but his system does not appear to have directly influenced his successors, and his work was largely forgotten.
He prefers ascending cuts over descending ones, and cuts from the right over cuts from the left, but considers the thrust (''stocchata vel puncta'') the most effective of all.
He recommends combining a series of cuts followed by a thrust "to finish".
Monte is forgotten as a fencing master, but remembered as an Italian ''war hero'', as he would rather die than leave the place he was ordered to defend. According to Sansovino the French King Louis XII sent out to search for the body of Monte on the battleground to have him buried with royal honours. According to historians, if everybody would have done his duty like Monte Venice would have won the battle near Agnadel.
[Fransceso Guicciardini: ''La historia d'Italia''. Venice 1563, Vol. 3, p.209.]
See also
*
Dardi school
References
*Anglo, Sydney, ''The man who taught Leonardo darts. Pietro Monte and his lost fencing book.'' Antiquaries Journal LXIX, 1989. pp. 261–78.
*Anglo, Sydney, ''The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe'' Yale University Press, 2000, pp. 25ff.
* Bascetta, Carlo. ''Sport E Giuochi : Trattati E Scritti Dal XV Al XVIII Secolo''. Milan: Il Polifilo, 1978.
* Fontaine, Marie-Madeleine, ''Le condottiere Pietro del Monte, philosophe et écrivain de la Renaissance, 1457-1509''. Geneva-Paris: Slatkine, 1991.
External links
The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts - essayDe dignoscendis hominibus interprete G. Ayora Corbubensi
(microfilm copy)
*https://archive.today/20130916133253/http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/topics/sources/Monte_Collectanea/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monte, Pietro
15th-century Italian writers
1457 births
1509 deaths
Historical European martial arts