Leeds International Medieval Congress
Cutting Edge Design – Squaring the Circle, The development of Theology and Mathematics in Sword Fighting Manuals from I33 to Newcastle.
In this paper I will explore the philosophy, theology and the eventual dominance of mathematics as the height of the understanding of
‘man’s relation to their body, their God and their arte.’
When William Cavendish, the Duke of Newcastle, penned his book the ‘Truth off the Sword’ from exile in Paris in the mid seventeenth century, distilling a lifetime of practical sword fighting and justifying his unique method with the help of the leading philosophers and mathematicians of the day, he thought he was describing the very
‘height of this art’.
Newcastle believed that his sword method was the very cutting edge of its day, he looked back at techniques and ideas in swordplay described in previous manuals and believed he was extolling virtues and methods that were based on science. His ideals were built upon the great learning of men like Leonardo Da Vinci, natural philosophers who sought to discover God’s overriding simplicity and beauty in creation.
At the tail end of the medieval period they would put the foolish ideas and animism behind them as they aimed to discover God’s mathematical truth which applied to all things.