Il Fior di Battaglia · Lo Segno de la Spada
The Segno
The Sign of the Sword. Fiore set it at the head of his book. A single figure that holds the whole art: the seven blows a sword can make, and the four virtues a swordsman must carry.
Step into any of the four virtues to hear the creature speak.
This Master with these swords signifies the seven blows of the sword. And the four animals signify four virtues, namely, sighting, speed, fortitude and boldness. And who wants to do well in this art must have all parts of these virtues.Fiore dei Liberi · Il Fior di Battaglia · Getty MS
I Sette Colpi
The Seven Blows
Every stroke of the longsword is one of seven. Six are cuts; the seventh is the thrust. The seven swords of the sign are these. They are laid out in full in The Seven Swords: Fiore's Lines of Attack.
- TwoFendentiThe Descending Blows
We are the fendente. And in the art we cut skilfully from the teeth down to the knees.
The great cleaving blow, falling from the shoulder. One from the right, one from the left. The most powerful strike in the system.
- TwoSottaniThe Rising Blows
We are the colpi sottani, and we go from the knees to the middle of the forehead in the same path that are made by the downward cuts.
The fendente’s path in reverse, rising from below. It lifts a blade aside, or strikes up beneath the arms.
- TwoMezaniThe Middle Blows
We are the colpi mezani, so called because we go through the middle of the downward blows and the under blows.
The horizontal cut, level between the descending and the rising. True edge from the right, false edge from the left.
- OnePuntaThe Thrust
We are the thrusts, cruel and deadly. And our path is in the middle of the body between the groin and the forehead.
The single line straight up the centre. It is the blow Fiore feared most, for a cut wounds the surface but a thrust goes through.
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