ing both in it and against it profoundly changed individual combat. More-
over, social and technological forces severely affected the conditions under
which combat took place. As a result, throughout the Renaissance, Mas-
ters of Defence began to more systematically study and analyze fighting in
an effort to raise the art of combat to a higher degree of sophistication and
effectiveness. Crucial changes came about with the convergence of, among
other factors, the discarding of heavy armor (primarily due to the advent
of firearms), the reduced role of the individual warrior on the battlefield,
and the rise of an armed urban middle class.
In this environment, Renaissance Masters of Defence began to teach
fencing and fighting both publicly and privately. Specialized civilian fight-
ing guilds and Schools of Defence began to thrive. Masters such as Joachim
Meyer, Jeronimo de Carranza, Henry de Sainct Didier, D. L. P. de Narvaez,
Salvator Fabris, Joachim Koppen, Francesco Alfieri, Jacob Sutor, and oth-
ers became highly regarded experts. They approached their craft seriously,
earnestly, and scientifically. Martial arts masters, who traveled and tutored
widely, arose both from the gentry and the lower classes. Italian and Span-
ish instructors of the new rapier ultimately became the most admired. The
intellectual climate of the Renaissance influenced their profession, in that
geometry, mathematics, and philosophy played major roles in their styles.
The history of European arms and armor is one of established conti-
nuity marked by sudden developments of forced innovation. Renaissance
sword blades were generally lighter than medieval ones, and the thrust was
used to a far greater extent during the Renaissance. The fundamentals that
early Renaissance masters built upon were not entirely of their own inven-
tion, however. They called upon a long-established foundation from me-
dieval fighting methods. Like much of the progress in Renaissance learning
and scientific advance, their art was based on principles that had been es-
tablished for centuries.
The Bolognese master Achille Marozzo, one of the most significant
masters of his day, was one of the first to focus on the use of the thrust over
the cut. He produced two manuals on fence, Opera Nova(1536) and Il
Duello(1550). His countryman, Camillo Agrippa, was another to focus on
the thrust over the cut, and in 1553 produced one of the earliest rapier
manuals, “His Treatise on the Science of Arms with a Philosophical Dia-
logue,” which received wide acclaim after being translated into English.
These masters, among others of their day, revealed methods that reflected
the transition by early Renaissance martial artists to civilian cut-and-thrust
swordsmanship and the emerging emphasis on urban self-defense.
By the late 1500s the vicious new slender civilian thrusting sword, the
rapier, became the favored dueling weapon. In 1595 Master Vincentio Savi-
olo wrote “His Practice in Two Books,” one of the first true rapier manuals,322 Masters of Defence