Jeffrey L. ForgengPietro Monte's Collectanea: The Arms, Armour and Fighting Techniques of a Fifteenth-Century Soldier (Armour and Weapons)

This book has been a long while in the making and the devotion of the translator to making this work available is evident. For instance, Dr. Forgeng undertook translating the Book of Horsemanship by Duarte (also a fine book) to help him better understand the linguistic constructs apparent in Pietro Monte's difficult writing, having historically translated his own original Spanish manuscript into Latin, which this edition of the Collectanea presented by Forgeng comprises.Pietro Monte offers a wonderful insight into the mind of early Renaissance thinking, martial practice, exercise, and psychology. As much as the theory of the 4 humors may have been set aside over the centuries, it is apparent how important it was to Renaissance thought in this work and as much as it could be described comprised a kind of science in its own right, however flawed its conclusions ultimately are. It is important for the reader of this work to not skip those sections - you'll find little gems of insight into period methods and practices on exercise buried inside the long exegesis on how the complexions of humors are balanced.Monte's coverage of a wide variety of topics makes the work almost encyclopedic in nature. You'll find advice on armor, weapons, fertility, exercise, horseback riding, running, throwing, wrestling and more. Monte's martial advice is not so voluminous as to reconstruct an entire fighting system, but, Monte fills in many of the gaps in our current understanding and knowledge of techniques and methods for combat in the late 15th century and early 16th century. Monte speaking plainly on these topics also makes him easy to understand for a modern reader - thanks in no small part to the clear translation and annotations provided by Dr. Forgeng.Additionally, this easy read is aided by Dr. Forgeng not only being an accomplished scholar and translator, but also a martial artist and fencer in his own right with the competency to pay attention to the details of the very physical activities Monte describes. Rather than being dense and impenetrable, Forgeng has rendered Monte's prose into clear text.As for the quality of this book itself, it is a delight to hold in the hand. The cover art is inviting and evocative with its earthy tones and muted colors. The font size is easy to read and the formatting of the text and chapter headings are easy to browse for specific topics. Dr. Forgeng also wrote an extensive introduction which gives context and background on the author, as well as how this work fits into the corpus of Monte's very extensive works.Finally, the book contains a section of high quality illustrations providing additional context to Monte's time and place. Photos of museum examples of armor, combat and horseback riding provide a necessary element of visual aid to the topics discussed by Monte. These photos, along with the overall quality of the printing of the book, help to make the price-tag very reasonable.To conclude, The Collectanea is a book that has waited far too long to enter the modern English-speaking world. It shall offer many new insights to scholarship of this time period as people discover it, read it, and allow themselves to be instructed by the words of Pietro Monte.

This is a fascinating book, full of insights for any HEMA practitioner. At last it is available in translation.

Excellent, very useful book.

Magnífico trabajo del señor Forgeng