Domenico Angelo

Who was Domenico Angelo?

Domenico Angelo, fencing master, was born in Leghorn, Italy, as Angelo Domenico Malevolti Tremamondo.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Angelo was the first to emphasize fencing as a means of developing health, poise, and grace. As a result of his insight and influence, fencing changed from an art of war to a sport." It also calls his treatise, L’École des armes a "classic".

Soon after arriving in England he established Angelo's School of Arms in Carlisle House, Soho, London. There he taught the aristocracy the fashionable art of Swordsmanship which they had previously had to go the continent to learn, and also set up a riding school in the former rear garden of the house. He was fencing instructor to the Royal Family. One of his tenants at Soho Square was the composer Johann Christian Bach, harpsichord instructor to the Queen.

With the help of artist Gwyn Delin, he had an instruction book published in England in 1763 which had 25 engraved plates demonstrating classic positions from the old schools of fencing.

He then handed that school over to a son, and established himself at Eton, where his family continued to teach fencing for three more generations.