{"id":4366,"date":"2016-05-05T16:11:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T15:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ageaeditora.com\/?p=469"},"modified":"2016-05-05T16:11:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T15:11:45","slug":"brevissima-historia-da-verdadeira-destreza-em-portugal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/2016\/05\/05\/brevissima-historia-da-verdadeira-destreza-em-portugal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A very brief history of the Verdadeira Destreza<\/em> in Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u00abA very brief history of the Verdadeira Destreza in Portugal\u00bb by
\nManuel Valle Ortiz, Den\u00eds Fern\u00e1ndez Cabrera
\nSantiago de Compostela: AGEA Editora, 2016.<\/p>\n

Destreza<\/i> literally means “skill” or “expertise” in both Spanish and Portuguese. However, in the context we are studying it also meant specifically “the skill of the sword” and destro<\/i> or dextro<\/i> (a “skillful person”) would be equivalent to our modern term “fencer”. In contrast, the term esgrima<\/i> (the modern word for “fencing” in both languages) had very negative connotations in those centuries.<\/p>\n

Notably, in the Iberian Peninsula between the XVII and XVIII centuries the dominant fencing school \u2014which favored a rationalist, constructivist approach, using str\"godinho-capa-web\"ictly formal logic and geometry to build its fenencing architecture\u2014 was called Verdadeira Destreza<\/i> <\/i>e Ci\u00eancia das Armas <\/i>(literally meaning “the True Skill and Science of Weapons”) or simply Destreza<\/i>. In contrast, the fencers who did not heed the instructions and mandates that the masters of the Verdadeira Destreza<\/i> taught were labelled as dextros vulgares <\/i>or dextros comuns<\/i>. (“vulgar”, “lay” or “common” fencers) These common fencers were, at least partially, descendants of earlier tradition(s) which were erradicated by the Verdadeira Destreza<\/i> officially promoted from the Castilian crown. The known treatises of Destreza Vulgar<\/i> (Pedro de la Torre, Francisco Rom\u00e1n, etc.) that once existed were lost, with the notable exception of Godinho’s\u00a0Arte de Esgrima<\/i><\/a> (recently published in critical edition by AGEA Editora).<\/p>\n

This Verdadeira Destreza<\/i> system was created in the late sixteenth century by the Sevillian Jer\u00f3nimo S\u00e1nchez de Carranza, who in his book Filosof\u00eda de las armas y de su Destreza<\/i> establishes a set of principles that will be incorporated in various forms in many of the fencing treatises that in the Iberian Peninsula will be written until the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n

The very Jer\u00f3nimo S\u00e1nchez de Carranza had relationship with Portugal, participating in 1582 in the process of annexation of Portugal to the imperial crown of Philip of Habsburg (which would become Filipe I of Portugal) in the Algarve campaign as captain-general (field marshal) of cavalry under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. He received a Commendation of the Order of Christ, using since then the title of Comendador<\/i>. There are also several witnesses, not confirmed, that mention him as fencing master for King Dom Sebasti\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

In any case in Portugal, as in other peninsular kingdoms, there was a system for granting Fencing Master titles through a public office: the Grand Master (Mestre Maior)<\/i>, appointed by the King. At the end of the sixteenth century and early seventeenth the curriculum for the Fencing Master examination was, if we take Godinho’s\u00a0Arte de Esgrima<\/i><\/a> (1599) as reference, closer to the common fencing.<\/p>\n

\"\"We know of several works grouped in the Manuscrito de <\/i>Coimbra<\/i> (last third of the seventeenth century, published as\u00a0Destreza das Armas<\/em><\/a> in our classical collecion) which deal with Verdadeira Destreza<\/i>, including\u00a0Las Cien Conclusiones<\/i><\/a> (originally written in 1608) and\u00a0Modo F\u00e1cil y Nuevo<\/i><\/a> (1625), both written by Pacheco, and the M\u00e9todo de ense\u00f1anza de Maestros<\/i> (1639), by Diaz de Viedma \u2014all of them translated into Portuguese and attributed to Luis Seixas da Fonseca, without mention of their true authors.<\/p>\n

\"oplosophia-capa-web\"The first originally Portuguese text that we know which belongs, without doubt, in the Verdadeira Destreza<\/i> is Oplosophia<\/a>,<\/i> by Diogo Gomes de Figueiredo, written in 1628 but never published. This work shows a profound influence of Carranza’s teachings, in contrast to the theory and practice of Pacheco followers.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Tratado das Li\u00e7\u00f5es da Espada Preta<\/a>,<\/i> by Thomas Luis (1685), contains a number of materials using Verdadeira Destreza <\/i>terminology, but is overall quite eclectic regarding technique. It also adds some instructions regarding behavior in fencing salles for students and teachers, customs, and some anecdote.<\/p>\n

\"marte-capa-web\"In the late seventeenth century or early eighteenth century we can date a manuscript known as\u00a0Li\u00e7\u00f5es de Marte<\/i><\/a> which has no date or author. The content is essentially a very clear and easy to read glossa<\/i> on Pacheco’s Nueva Ciencia<\/i> (1672, posthumous work).<\/p>\n

\"manuescrito-capa\"Bound in the same volume as Li\u00e7\u00f5es de Marte<\/em> we found the Manuscrito da Espada<\/em><\/a>, which can be datted approximatedly to 1676. It gathers 64 techniques, or feridas<\/em>, described with their counter-techniques. It shows a heterodox mixture of Verdadeira Destreza and resources belonging into the common or vulgar fencing.<\/p>\n

Another work that also belongs to the Verdadeira Destreza<\/i> is the manuscript 1768 titled Compendio dos <\/i>F<\/i>undamentos da <\/i>
\nV<\/i>erdadeira <\/i>D<\/i>estreza<\/i> attributed to Jos\u00e9 de Barros Paiva e Morais Pona. It is actually a translation of the Compendio<\/i> by Ettenhard (1675).<\/p>\n

\"\"Finally, in 1774,\u00a0Espada <\/i>Firme<\/i><\/a> <\/i>by Martin Firme blends new concepts imported from from French fencing, although the terminology and basis of Verdadeira <\/i>Destreza<\/i> are recognizable.<\/p>\n

It is not until the books published in the nineteenth century that all trace and memory of the Verdadeira Destreza<\/em> finally disappears.<\/p>\n

Until today.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This brief article describes the history of Verdadeira Destreza in Portugal between the XVI and XVIII centuries. It presents the fencing scene as it probably was at the time, sets context for the apparition of Verdadeira Destreza and its eventual displacement of the older common fencing style and lists and describes the known sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[14,19,23,25,27,33,36,38],"class_list":["post-4366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destreza-comum","category-verdadeira-destreza","tag-carranza","tag-diniz-cabreira","tag-figueiredo","tag-godinho","tag-manuel-valle-ortiz","tag-portuguese-destreza","tag-thomas-luiz","tag-verdadeira-destreza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agea.campusconexion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}