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Camillo Agrippa (1520 – 1 January 1600) was a noted fencer, architect, engineer[1] and mathematician[2] of the Renaissance. He is considered to be one of the greatest fencing theorists of all time.
Camillo Agrippa | |
|---|---|
 Camillo Agrippa's portrait, found on his Treatise | |
| Born | 1520 Milan, Italy |
| Died | 1 January 1600 Rome, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Known for | Fencing theorist, architect, engineer, mathematician |
| Notable work | Treatise on the Science of Arms with Philosophical Dialogue (1553) |
Biography
editThough born in Milan, Agrippa lived and worked in Rome, where he was associated with the Confraternity of St. Joseph of the Holy Land and the literary and artistic circle around Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.
He is most renowned for applying geometric theory to solve problems in armed combat. In his Treatise on the Science of Arms with Philosophical Dialogue (published in 1553), he proposed dramatic changes in the way swordsmanship was practised at the time. For instance, he pointed out the effectiveness of holding the sword in front of the body instead of behind it. He also simplified Achille Marozzo's eleven guards down to four: prima, seconda, terza and quarta, which roughly correspond to the hand positions used today in the Italian school. He is also regarded as the man who most contributed to the development of the rapier as a primarily thrusting weapon.
Agrippa was a contemporary of Michelangelo, and the two were probably acquainted (or so Agrippa claims in his later treatise on transporting the obelisk to the Piazza San Pietro). Based on an inscription in a copy of Agrippa quoted in the last edition of the bibliographic dictionary by Jacques Charles Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur des livres (1860–64), some of the copperplate engravings for the book were attributed to Michelangelo, but modern art historians believe the unknown engraver is more likely to have come from the school of Marcantonio Raimondi.
There is evidence indicating that Agrippa's work may have been the inspiration for the Spanish school of swordplay (commonly referred to as Destreza).[citation needed] Don Luis Pacheco de Narváez claims that Don Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza based his text on the work of Agrippa in a letter to the Duke of Cea in Madrid on 4 May 1618.[citation needed] This seems to be reinforced by a common use of geometry in both systems.
In popular culture
editAgrippa is mentioned in the film The Princess Bride during the swordplay scene above the Cliffs of Insanity when Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and Westley (Cary Elwes) (then dressed as the Dread Pirate Roberts) engage each other in swordplay. Early during the interchange, Westley theorizes that his Thibault effectively neutralizes Inigo's Capo Ferro technique, but Inigo counters, "unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa... which I have!"
Works
edit
- Dialogo sopra la generatione de venti, baleni, tuoni, fulgori, fiumi, laghi, valli et montagne (in Italian). Roma: Bartolomeo Bonfadino. 1584.
- Trattato di transportare la guglia in su la piazza di s. Pietro
- Treatise on the Science of Arms with Philosophical Dialogue.
- Dialogo del modo di mettere in battaglia presto et con facilità il popolo di qual si voglia luogo (in Italian). Roma: Bartolomeo Bonfadino. 1585.
- Nuove inventioni sopra il modo di navigare (in Italian). Roma: Domenico Gigliotti. 1595.
References
edit- ^ Lyons, Mathew (17 March 2022). "Camillo Agrippa and the Renaissance Art of Fencing". Mathew Lyons. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "Camillo Agrippa" (PDF). Period Manuals. Northern Arizona University. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- De Boni, Filippo (1840). Biografia degli artisti. Venezia: Gondoliere.
- Mazzuchelli, Giammaria (1753). "AGRIPPA (Camillo)". Gli scrittori d'Italia, cioè Notizie storiche e critiche intorno alle vite e agli scritti dei letterati italiani (in Italian). Vol. I/1. Brescia: Giambatista Bossini. pp. 211–212.
External links
edit- Barni, Gian Luigi (1960). "AGRIPPA, Camillo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 1: Aaron–Albertucci (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Works by Camillo Agrippa at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Camillo Agrippa at the Internet Archive
- The Number of Motion: Camillo Agrippa's Geometrical Fencing and the Enumeration of the Body - Academic article by Ken Mondschein.
- Trattato Di Scientia d’ Arme, con un Dialogo di Filosofia - Treatise on the Science of Arms with Philosophical Dialogue. Online version in PDF
- Dialogo del modo di mettere in battaglia - Dialogo di Camillo Agrippa milanese del modo di mettere in battaglia presto & con facilità il popolo di qual si voglia luogo con ordinanze & batagglie diverse. Online Version
- [1] Archived 2008-06-15 at the Wayback Machine - Leonardo Lombardi, "Camillo Agrippa's Hydraulic Inventions on the Pincian Hill (1574-1578)", in Waters of Rome, Occasional Journal (5), 2008.
- Ken Mondschein's English translation of Agrippa's Treatise on the Science of Arms.