Hi,

As many other people, I'm like the design of the schiavona quite a lot. I searched the internet, but couldn't really find anything related to the fighting style used with the schiavona.

I realise there are is a huge variation in blade forms and that the fighting style was probably different for the various types of blades, but I still wonder if there is there anything known on how it was typically used. Was it used in combination with a shield (rondella? targa?) a parrying dagger? or some other style?

J.B.

There's actually not quite so many variations as you may think.

A schiavona can be used fairly well with a buckler or targe, and (with accommodations for the basket hilt) fairly standard single-hand sword techniques. Messer could apply as well, or dussack.

Really there are only so many things you can do with a sword in hand. A schiavona would be well suited to basket-hilt techniques, but if you wanted to add a little Oriental flair to it you could consider looking at Ramtazafar (I think that's the term), Persian martial arts, and drawing some inspiration from their movements.

It's probably going to be quite similar to contemporary Italian side-sword stuff. I doubt the schiavona would have needed an entirely new swordsmanship system designed for it since it was basically just a pretty conventional Renaissance cut-and-thrust sword with a fancy hilt.

Although it's a bit early for a schiavona, I imagine George Silver's Brief Instructions upon my Paradoxes of Defence sections on the short, single sword might work suitably.