Pietro Monte

Who is Pietro Monte?

Pietro Monte was a master of arms who lived in Milan in the late 15th century. He may have been either Spanish or Italian by birth. He was acquainted with Leonardo da Vinci.

He is mentioned in Baldassarre Castiglione's Libro del Cortegiano as the teacher of Galeazzo da Sanseverino, described as "the true and only master of every form of trained strength and agility".

Monte is assumed to have compiled at least three combat treatises in the 1480s. His De Dignoscendis Hominibus was printed in 1492, but the others remained unpublished until his death in 1509, when they were edited by one Giovanni Angelo Scinzenzeler as Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea and as De Singulari Certamine Sive Dissentione. Two of Monte's manuscripts also survive, one kept in the Escorial library as MS A.IV.23, the other in Biblioteca Estense as Codex Estense T.VII.25.

Monte's system of fencing predates the classical Italian school of swordsmanship. He was famous during his own time, but his system does not appear to have directly influenced his successors, and his work was largely forgotten. He prefers ascending cuts over descending ones, and cuts from the right over cuts from the left, but considers the thrust the most effective of all. He recommends combining a series of cuts followed by a thrust "to finish".