It has been quite some time since this blog has consulted the opinions of the prolific Radaellian crusader Jacopo Gelli. As someone with fierce convictions in several topics, it is natural that many would in turn also have strong opinions of him, both positive and negative; regardless of how one may feel about him, however, it is hard to deny that he commanded a large audience in the period, and his writings are at least entertaining to read. Nowhere else is this latter fact more true than for the booklet featured here today, his 1894 work In difesa di un morto; ovvero agonia del metodo ufficiale ('In defence of a dead man; or agony of the official method').
***Click here to read the full translation***
The 'dead man' in question is, of course, none other than Giuseppe Radaelli, whom Gelli has once again stood up to defend in the face of what he feels are false and unfair personal insults towards the late master. Gelli's primary accusation is that Parise and the Rome Master's School of appropriating Radaelli's method by teaching it at the school but passing it off as Parise's work. In addition, he maintains that despite the recent reforms to the cavalry regulations, many high-ranking military personnel are in full support of Gelli's condemnations of Parise's method and reforms.
Very little of what Gelli touches on in this booklet will be new to readers, as many of his talking points appear in his previous publications; however, what does make this particular booklet interesting is that he makes ample use of personal testimonies from third parties. Although most of the names are withheld (unsurprising given the damning accusations being made), Gelli quotes current and former instructors of the Master's School to prove that sabre fencing is not being taught there as per Parise's treatise, and quotes several letters he had received from various amateurs, fencing masters, and military officers voicing their support for Gelli's arguments.
But perhaps the most damning testimony of all is one of the few that is not anonymous. Following the publication of Resurrectio, Gelli received a letter from Achille Angelini complaining that he was being unfairly targeted by Gelli and other Radaellians for approving Parise's treatise through the famous government Commission from 1883, over which Angelini presided. In his defence he maintains that while he was very favourable towards the section on the sword, he did not approve of the sabre material, going so far to call it a 'negation of God'. Although subsequently pressured by the rest of the Commission to give a positive score to both the sword and sabre sections, Angelini claims to have sent a separate report of his own, along with the official Commission report by Fambri, in which he gave his true thoughts on Parise's sabre method. This letter was apparently ignored, and was supposedly not even read by anyone at the Ministry.
To further support all this damning evidence, Gelli quotes liberally from another colourful writer we have encountered previously: the Neapolitan journalist Enrico Casella. Gelli sees in Casella a valuable ally with an 'impartial' voice of criticism for Parise, being a Neapolitan and an old associate of the Parise family. No doubt his favourable opinions of the Radaellians are also very welcome on Gelli's part.
After briefly going over the large amount of money spent in maintaining the Rome Master's School in comparison to its previous iterations, Gelli finishes his work with an ultimatum addressed squarely at Masaniello Parise: either admit that Radaelli's method is taught at the Master's School and cease appropriating his teachings, or prepare to be sued in court by Gelli himself for unlawful use of Radaelli's intellectual property. It should not be too surprising to know that Parise never did respond to Gelli, nor am I aware of any court case involving the two.
Gelli's campaign in support of Radaellian fencing did not end with this booklet, but it was certainly the last publication of any kind by him that focused solely on attacking Parise and his school in the name of Radaellian fencing. His efforts to reframe the evolution of fencing centred on Bologna and northern Italy (opposing the ideas of Neapolitan fencing being a continuation of Italy's oldest traditions) continued to appear in his magazine articles on fencing and his 1906 book L'Arte dell'Armi in Italia, but In defence of a dead man would end up being Gelli's final pitched battle in the war for Radaellian redemption, a fight which was still carried on in many ways by his companions for decades to come.
