Girolamo Cavalcabo
Bolognese fencing master
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Biography
Egerton Castle suggests that his father was Zacharia Cavalcabo, who published Angelo Viggiani’s treatise in 1567; indeed, Castle believes that Viggiani was Hieronyme’s fencing master, though he gives no citation for this claim.[1] 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.[2]
In 1597, Seigneur de Villamont translated Cavalcabo’s manuscript 'Treaty or Instruction for Fencing' into French.[3] Possibly because of this, Cavalcabo was appointed to the court of Henry IV of France to teach the Dauphin (later Louis XIII) 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.[4]
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), ISBN 978-1-326-16469-0
- Rob Runacres, The Book of Lessons; The Historical Fencing Treatise Attributed to Pedro De Heredia, Fallen Rook (2018), ISBN 978-0-9934216-5-5
