Monte, Collectanea (1509)

Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea (“Collected Martial Arts and Exercises”) is a Spanish fencing manual by Pedro Monte printed in Milan in 1509.^[1] It was an attempt to capture the entire art of war, including all styles of armed and unarmed combat of which Monte was aware. Full information is available on Wiktenauer.

“In greater Britain, which nowadays is called England, they wrestle with linen cloths bound around the neck; after seizing it with their hands, they twist it around so much that sometimes they fall from choking.….

Furthermore, in both Britains, they never call it a fall unless the wrestler falls on his back; in trying to achieve this, the attacker will place many of his body-parts on the ground, afterwards saying he did it to defeat his opponent more harshly. This is in no way permissible, for they have essentially been defeated at the same time: if their opponent had tried to do such a thing to them, they would have never have allowed it without a fight. Those who disqualify other manners of falling aside from their own are clearly mistaken.

Forgeng, Jeffrey (2018); Pietro Monte’s Collectanea: The Arms, Armour and Fighting Techniques of a Fifteenth-Century Soldier. Boydell Press. Available to buy online.