9. Disordinata

The term "disordinata" appears in three fencing manuals connected with the Military Fencing Masters School of Rome, in both coverage of the foil and of the sabre.   The coverage in each manual varies slightly from that of the other two, allowing us to piece together a fuller understanding of the term, the actual technique, and its tactical application.

Classical period blade technique is rich with compound actions, starting with a feint, possibly following feints, and ending with a final attack.  Two and three tempo attacks of this type are common, and four tempo not completely rare - for example, the current edition of the Academy's Classical Fencing Actions Project Catalog includes 13 three and four tempo actions initiated by the disengage alone.  

Generoso Pavese (the first description of the Military Fencing Masters School technique published in  English in the United States), Masaniello Parise (Holzman's translation), and Salvatore Pecoraro and Carlo Pessina (Holzman's translation) all address the disordinata.  They all define the technique as an attack of more than two feints, with two being executed on the advance before the initiation of the lunge, followed by one and the final attacking tempo in the lunge.  Each describes the number of feints differently.  Parise speaks of 3 feints, Pavese of more than 2 feints, and Pecoraro and Pessina described the action as having not less than four movements.  

In addition to the basic definition, each source contributes to understanding the disordinata: 

A.  Tactical Employment:

Pavese (1905):  It is done to disorder the defense by confusing the opponent.  The series of quick feints makes it difficult for the opponent to determine when the fencer will actually attack.

Pecoraro and Pessina (1912): It can only be used against an opponent of impressionable character who attempts to parry rather than counterattacking.

B.  Vulnerability:

Parise (1884):  The disordinata is not recommended because it is vulnerable to the opponent's action in tempo, including the stop thrust, appuntata, disengage in tempo, imbroccata, inquartata, and passata sotto.

Pavese (1905): The fencer must be alert to a counterattack while the feints are in progress.

Pecoraro and Pessina (1912):  It is even less recommended than the double feint because of the easy access it gives to the counterattack.

C.  Expanding the Technique:

Pavese (1905):  Two feints are executed on the advance unless the fencer initiates a raddoppio.  Pavese does not explain how additional feints are to be added.

All of the sources describe the disordinata as being a complicated action, and all describe that complication as making it vulnerable to a variety of counterattacks. Considering the large number of multiple tempo attacks that have been identified by the Classical Fencing Actions Project, the cautions against use of the disordinata because of its complexity are interesting.

Copyright 2019 by Walter G. Green III

Disordinata by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.