Chapter Seven: Sword & Cloak
It has now become time to discuss equipping the arm as well as the hand. For good reasons we will discuss the defensive arms, beginning with the cloak, which we can use to parry similar to the way we use a dagger to parry. The cloak is particularly suitable because it is commonly worn, can be used by anyone, and can be placed among those arms both gripped and worn. This is the classification described in Book One, and the cloak crosses both these classes as it is both worn and gripped. There are many ways to use the cloak, and we will discuss these here as succinctly as possible.
First note that you can either drape the cloak about your arm or grip it in your hand; whether you wish to grip it or drape it, you may do this in a few different manners.
1. You may take the cloak in the middle, grip it in your fist without wrapping it any further, and make sure the hood ends up inside the arm. Here the hood will function as a counterweight.
2. You may take the cloak by the hood and wrap it to the inside of your arm.
3. When you are wearing the cloak and it is spread out, grab the part of the cloak over your left shoulder with your first two fingers. Allow the cloak to fall completely onto your arm; or else you may turn it, by putting both hands towards your kidneys, then grabbing the cloak and bringing the left hand back to its original place. In this action you will have gathered up all the cloak.[1]
4. You may employ the fourth method of getting a part of your cloak to hang over your left arm when you are wearing the cloak. Do this by grabbing the inside edge with your left hand and letting the part of your cape that is on your right shoulder drop, either pulling or throwing the left side of the cape that is close to your back and gathering it all on your arm or in your fist if you prefer.
5. You can also grasp the cape around the middle part in front of you with both hands, and then turn your right hand inside out, spinning the cloak over your head and so redoubling the cape around your left hand. That done, turn it over your arm and over your hand.
6. You may also grab the cloak by the left front edge with your left thumb pointed outwards and let the cloak drop to your side. Gather it up with your left arm by turning your arm and gathering it up behind your back while at the same time reaching for your sword.
7. The next method requires that you have your cloak folded in from the left edge, not on your arm as previously mentioned but on your left shoulder. From there let it fall by your right side and place your left hand towards your kidney, not to the inside, but to the outside of your cloak and gather it on your arm while you reach for your sword.
8. The eighth method is like the seventh. Use this method when your cloak is folded in from the left edge. Unlike the seventh method, here the right side will be under your arm, your hand will be on your sword and the left border of the cloak will point at your right shoulder. Grab the part that is on your shoulder with your left hand, pulling it down while also drawing your sword up and out, continually turning the left inside portion of the cloak across your back and over your arm.
Note that all these ways of equipping yourself with your cloak can be done quickly and extemporaneously. But if you are not in a hurry and are instead going to fight in an enclosure or you are leaving a room with the intent to fight, then there is a most beautiful and useful method of folding the cloak in several layers according to its width, making it cover your left arm from the elbow to the wrist and leaving the hood on the outside. To do this, place the cloak on your arm, letting your hood hang on the inside. Start from the base of your cloak, turning the hood under your elbow and then spread the cloak across your lower arm. Finally, place the tip of the hood in your left hand. This is a very convenient and elegant method for making your cloak ready to serve in your defense, but as mentioned above you must have time to set your cloak in this way.
Fighting with the Sword & Cloak
Now that I have demonstrated the ways that you may utilize to grip and place the cloak, I must teach you how to use it. You will use the cloak like the dagger but be advised that the cloak is inferior to the dagger, because it does not defend from a distance. The dagger goes beyond the hand and accompanies the sword with the full length of its blade, and thus supports it, while the cloak does not extend past the arm. Also, when you get close to your opponent you can wound them with a dagger and this you cannot do with a cloak. Essentially the dagger is a weapon and made of iron, and the cloak is just a garment.
The cloak burdens and impedes the arm and does the same to the body. Your cloak can get easily tangled and fall, leaving your arm and hand uncovered. When it hangs down, your cloak can become entangled in your feet and cause you to fall. The tip of a sword can pierce the cloak with ease, and a cut to the head can easily slice through the cloak; and these two are both natural and thus common attacks. The dagger generally lacks these weaknesses of the cloak. Even those daggers that are imperfect are still not so imperfect as the cloak.
When using the cloak, you should be more defensive because the cloak requires more assistance[2] than does the dagger. In addition to the advantages that the dagger holds over the cloak, the dagger also never blocks the eyes. But unless you are well-trained in the skill of observation, you will lose the complete freedom of your vision when you try to defend your head with your cloak.
You can also change the dagger from your left hand to your right hand while the cloak must remain where you initially placed it, except for those wishing to throw the cloak.
Note that when you throw the cloak, you may either throw the whole thing or retain a part of it. You may throw it at your enemy’s head, as how Lisimachus cast his clamide at the head of the Lion.[3] You may also throw the cloak at your opponent’s sword hand and then strike them as has been previously described.
Now if you are on the receiving end of this, if your opponent throws a cloak at you, then you must be sure it does not land on either your hand or on your sword. And you should also take care that if the opponent is throwing a cloak over your head, then you should move away from the cloak in the opposite direction from which it was thrown, so that it cannot cover your head or envelop your sword hand or the sword itself. A failure to do so will give your opponent the opportunity to strike you. Defend yourself against the thrown cloak by avoiding it or by pushing it off with your left arm or also by blocking it and avoiding it at the same time, always seeking to attack your enemy on their left side, according to the rule.
There exists much debate about where one should place the cape, whether you should hold it in your hand or wear it over your arm. One opinion holds that you should hold the cloak extended in front of your body so that you may throw it with more force and throw it more securely. The method most proven to me is that described in a little work written for the Most Illustrious Lord, Valerio Orsini,[4] about whom we will inquire more in this work.
When you are holding the cape in your hand, then it may well suit to hold it behind you. But when it is wrapped around your arm, then it is pointless to hold it behind you. When you wear the cloak about your arm then its main purpose is defense, and obviously the cloak cannot defend you if it is behind you, unless you are to use it to try to hinder the opponent’s sword hand, which is not much of a defense. As the cape makes an imperfect defense, it stands to reason that it should seek assistance, and so be near those things that can assist it. As the only assistance can come from your weapon, then it stands to reason that you should keep your cloak close to your sword, so that you can use it with the most security.
Now if you were to say that the cloak could start from behind you and then come forward to assist you in defense, I would have to tell you that you could do no such thing in time, since the cloak would have to travel too far. And besides no one appreciates just how weak the cloak really is, since it is made for wearing and not for defense. The cloak owes its imperfection to this very fact. If you wish to get the best use of your cloak, you must support it with something more perfect, which must be the sword. Only the sword can remedy the imperfection of the cloak.
Holding the cloak near the sword offers another advantage if you intend to throw it, for it is much more useful to throw the cloak when it is before you. When the cloak is behind you, then you can only throw it from one side, either from below, above, or across the middle. But if you have it in front of you, then you can throw the cloak from either your right or your left side. When the cloak is before you, the enemy will have less time to evade the cloak or bat it aside. And of course, when you have a cloak in front of you, then you can also deflect your opponent’s cloak with your own cloak in a timely manner. You cannot hope to do this when you hold your cloak behind you.
It is true that you can throw the cape with more force when it is held behind you. But what of it? What slight benefit you gain in the throwing of your cloak with more momentum cannot compare to the disadvantage in the time taken to actually throw the cloak. It is far more difficult for an opponent to avoid the cloak when they have little time to react like they will experience when you keep the cloak closer to them. Nor is there any benefit in speed from throwing a cloak harder. While a cloak coming from a greater distance will have more force, your cloak will still reach your opponent more quickly when you throw it from a shorter distance.
When you hold the cloak behind your body three disorders can occur:
1. You may wish to use the cloak for self-defense but be unable to, since it would take too long for you to position the cloak in front of you.
2. Those who wish to defend from a wider distance will become vulnerable to a feinted attack from their enemy, a situation far safer for the one feinting, than the one waiting for it.
3. Lastly the one keeping the cloak behind themselves will have to depend more upon the sword for defense, disrupting your timing and causing you to lose opportunities.
I confess that the cape provides but little defense, but do not take this to mean that you ought not to use it for your protection. If you were going to adopt that reasoning, then you would also have to conclude that it was better to trust your feet than to trust your hands, and that it was better to flee than to fight. Therefore, keep the cloak in front of your body, not as a total defense, but as a weak one. And you should thus profit from all the advantages you can derive from it.
[1] It is not clear what relationship this second way of grabbing up the cloak has to the first. Both are listed under the same ordinal in a numbered list in the manuscript.
[2] Presumably from the sword
[3] Lisimachus (Lysimachus) was either a philosopher or a bodyguard of Alexander the Great. At one point he angered Alexander who had him thrown to the lions, but Lysimachus defeated this lion, and according to this version of the story, he did it by throwing his cloak or clamide over the lion’s head and stabbing it.
[4] Valerio Orsini (1504-1550) was a well-known Italian condottiere. There is currently nothing known about this little work dedicated to him.