Settimo Del Frate - Obituary and possible birthplace

As a complement to my post from late last year Who is Settimo Del Frate?, I've gathered together some other information about Settimo Del Frate which provides a greater insight into the man's full military career.

Firstly, I present my translation of his obituary In memoria del Tenente Generale Settimo Del Frate ("In memory of Lieutentant General Settimo Del Frate"), taken from a 1919 issue of Rivista di Cavalleria, an Italian cavalry periodical:

History carves on its eternal plates the names of the men who rise to the top of the crowds, some for their great deeds, others for the volumes they wrote or the works they left, others for the eminent positions they reached; lastly, there are others who, like luminous beacons, shine on present and future generations through the intrinsic gifts of virtue and moral beauty.

Such was Lieutenant general Settimo Del Frate, whose death we sadly learned of last month. 

He was one of the few survivors of the ardent volunteers of ‘59 who, being protagonists of the first chapter of the History of Italian Independence, had the fortune of seeing its great conclusion: Settimo Del Frate forever closed his tired eyes from the watch of the last triumph for which he had fought as a young man. 

To the memory of the venerable veteran, who devoted a long career to his favourite arm, the cavalry owes a tribute of gratitude, and the Rivista di Cavalleria has the great honour of being able to also extol his name to those who, young of years, could not appreciate his outstanding virtues of mind and character, at the same time sending out a sad thought of condolences to the grandson of the late General Arturo Milanesi, commander of the 7th Cavalry Brigade, on whom he concentrated his friendly affections and his ambitions of an old cavalryman after the premature and painful loss of his son Cesare, a brilliant cavalry officer, laid to rest too soon. 

Born in 1832, Settimo Del Frate was 27 years old when the challenge issued to Austria by Vittorio Emanuele II in the name of the Italian people called the host of volunteers to arms; he left his studies, having already obtained a law degree, and rushed to enlist in the ranks of young Lombards that were welcomed by "Monferrato". — With the early Italic hopes being cut short in Villafranca, Del Frate remained in service and was promoted to second lieutenant in the Monferrato light cavalry, in which he would remain for eighteen years, that is, until his promotion to major. — Major in the "Alessandria" [cavalry regiment], lieutenant colonel in the "Firenze" [cavalry regiment], in 1887 he took command of the Saluzzo Light Cavalry, reaching the age limit in 1892 and putting an end to his industrious career. 

And industrious it truly was; that active industriousness not being fruitless efforts, but noble teachings and practical applications. For many years as aide-de-camp of Colonel Gerolamo Avogadro, whose name still rings in the ears of the few survivors of bygone times, Captain Del Frate devoted his study and activity, aside from in the faultless service and noble passion of fencing, to the perfection of the arms and equipment of the soldier. The result was: the sabre, weapon of the cut and thrust, invented and proposed by him and which the Ministry adopted; and the troop saddle which bears his name and whose essential part, the saddlebow, was studied by him so perfectly so as to make it, in the opinion of many, if well understood and correctly used, unequalled. 

He was a supporter and sponsor of the idea of giving the cavalry a powerful firearm, almost sensing or predicting the necessity of its wide use in the current campaign.
Having reached the rank of major, he deeply intuited the educational mission of the senior officer and to that he directed all his cares with an open mind, far ahead of his time, and predicting new horizons for his young employees, very different to the sterile pedantry of the time. — One of his old subordinates, having later risen to the top of the hierarchy, wrote of him: "Goodness, serenity, common sense, stability, he laid the path to be followed; he was an architect of the moral and intellectual revival which gave our army new life." 

What higher praise is possible? 

The seed that was cast was not lost; it slowly sprouted in the long and drab peacetime years, but it was quick to flourish in the sunlight of conflict. It blossomed superbly and bore fruit on the fields of Monfalcone, Pozzuolo, from the banks of the Piave to the Isonzo. 

In the soul of the valiant cavalrymen, the soul of the volunteers of ‘59 was instilled. The great heart of Settimo Del Frate had multiplied in a thousand hearts… and victory was ours.

F. E. B.

Some additional information can be gleaned from this article about an Italian politician named Enzo Moavero Milanesi. Among other things, this article talks about Milanesi's ancestry in his home town of Cavenago d'Adda, with his ancestors recorded as having lived there since at least 1460. Cavenago d'Adda is a small township of about 2000 people just outside of Lodi, in Lombardy.

How does this relate to Settimo Del Frate? Well, this article also mentions that Milanesi is in fact related to Settimo Del Frate, whose family owned a villa in Cavenago d'Adda that was named "Villa Bocconi Del Frate". Supporting this is the fact that Cavenago d'Adda appears to even have a street named after Settimo Del Frate ("Via Settimo del Frate", although Google Maps has it labelled as just "Via del Frate").

I therefore feel that it is not unreasonable to assume that Cavenago d'Adda is Settimo Del Frate's birthplace, or at least where he lived for a large part of his life.

Translation - Ultima Parola sulla Risorta Questione Angelini-Masiello by Achille Angelini

This latest translation is an essay by General Achille Angelini entitled Ultima Parole sulla Risorta Questione Angelini-Masiello intorno alla Scherma della Sciabola del Defunto Maestro Redaelli ('Final word on the revived Angelini-Masiello matter regarding the sabre fencing system of the late Maestro Radaelli'), which was published in 1888.

Click here to read it

Angelini claims he was spurred into writing this after reading Masiello's divisive introduction to his 1887 fencing treatise. In this introduction, Masiello heavily criticises the commission which replaced Radaelli's sabre method with that of Parise, and also justifies his undying support for the Radaelli's principles in spite of all this. Angelini himself states that a large number of arguments contained in this essay of his were taken straight from his 1877 booklet Osservazioni sul maneggio della sciabola secondo il metodo Radaelli ('Observations of the handling of the sabre according to the Radaelli method'), with some additions dealing with quotes from Masiello's 1887 treatise.

It is predominately this article that Jacopo Gelli is responding to in his booklet Resurrectio, where he takes apart all of Angelini's obtuse logic.

An interesting thing to note is that Angelini mentions various articles written in defence of Radaelli's system by Del Frate, Arista, Masiello and others in the journals l'Esercito italiano and l'Italia militare between 1876 and 1878.

Special thanks to Chris Holzman for providing me with the scans of this document.

Radaelli's Horseback Sabre Method

**EDIT: A full translation of the cavalry regulations by Chris Holzman is now available here**

As a follow-up to my post from a few months ago in which I released the first volume of the Italian Ministry of War's 1873 cavalry regulations, I have written up a rough English translation of the section detailing the use of the sabre on horseback, which you may view with the following link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m7GTEBnKkXLFt6RQUYCxbn6PRDLjbusZS0WntB6CGqw/edit?usp=sharing

Those of you familiar Masiello's 1891 manual La Scherma di Sciabola a Cavallo will notice the extreme similarity between Masiello's method and that detailed in this manual. Nevertheless, the 1873 cavalry regulations provide some other details that the reader may find interesting. I have also provided a summary of this cavalry system below. For further reading, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Holzman's translation of Masiello's aforementioned cavalry manual.

Guard Positions

The manual gives three guard positions, with all of them being "similar to the guard of 3rd" in Radaelli's system. It only describes the forward guard however, which has the grip above the bridle hand, the point in the direction of the left shoulder, and the edge facing down. The other guards are to the right and the left, which I can only assume are just the normal 3rd guard but with the arm on the right or left side.

Parries

The parries that are used on horseback are those of 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, low 3rd, low 4th, semicircle parry to right, and semicircle parry to the left. The parries of 1st to 6th are the same as those described in Del Frate's 1876 text, whilst low 3rd and low 4th are more similar to Rossi's versions of those parries, with the grip next to the right hip for low 3rd, and next to the left hip for low 4th.

The "semicircle" parries are the same as Masiello describes in his horseback sabre manual, and are used to parry thrusts from bayonets and lances. They are performed by holding the arm and sabre straight up, then vigorously swinging the sabre in a circle, finishing back in the starting position, ready to strike a downward blow.

Cuts

The cuts are distilled down into descending and horizontal cuts. The descending cuts are performed in the same manner as Radaelli's coupés, and are aimed either at the opponent's head or bridle hand. The horizontal cuts are exactly the same as Radaelli's two molinelli to the face. Note the complete absence of the molinelli to the head and the rising molinelli. In all the blows, the cavalryman must also lean their body in the direction of the blow to increase its power and reach, supporting themselves by leaning on the horse's neck with their bridle arm.

Thrusts

Thrusts are performed either horizontally to an opposing cavalryman's chest or abdomen, or downward towards infantry. The cavalryman brings their elbow back to the line of their shoulders, the sabre in line with the forearm, then thrusts in the desired direction with the supporting movement of the torso.

The Charge

The first row of cavalrymen are in the position described above for the thrust, with their elbow drawn back and the sabre pointing forward in line with the forearm. The second row is in the position of parry of 5th.

Amendment to Radaelli's Low Parries

Since publishing my last post entitled "Radaelli's Low Parries", I have come across new information that compels me to write an amendment to my interpretations, specifically regarding the parry of low 3rd. This new information comes in the form of scans of the original 1876 text (in Italian), which can be found here.

In Del Frate's description of the parry of low 3rd in the 1876 text, Holzman's translation reads:

"The grip should be hip high and in the direction of the flank approximately eight inches ahead of it."

Since Holzman's use of the word "flank" was somewhat ambiguous to me, I relied on Del Frate's 1868 description:

"...the sabre with the grip at the height of the left flank about one palm away..."

Thus I concluded that Holzman was intending to mean the left flank. However, I now know this to be untrue and that the original Italian states:

"...l'impugnatura all'altezza e in direzione del fianco destro 20 centimetri circa avanti..."

That is, with the grip in the direction of the RIGHT flank. It does not seem unlikely that Radaelli may have slightly tweaked the parry of low 3rd between the publication of the two manuals, therefore I am inclined to believe that the change from left flank to right was intentional.

As a result of this information, the photos depicting my interpretation of the parry of low 3rd in the original post now show the grip too far to the fencer's left. Although this is not a dramatic change, it does feel noticeably easier to perform than my original interpretation. Apologies for this error.

Radaelli's Low Parries

*** EDIT: New information has caused me to tweak my interpretation of the parry of low 3rd. Please refer to my amendment for this updated interpretation. ***

Whilst my previous post contained a discussion of an interpretation based almost entirely off its illustration in the plates, in this post I shall go in the opposite direction and even contradict the plates somewhat. Here I will outline my interpretations of Radaelli's parries of low 3rd and 4th and attempt to demonstrate some instances where I feel the illustrations fail to accurately portray the techniques as described in the text.

The two parries in question are illustrated in Del Frate's 1876 manual like so (images from Holzman's translation):

The plates in the '68 manual are also very similar:

Position of the Parry of Low 3rd

Position of the Parry of Low 4th

The only real noticeable difference between these plates is the seemingly more retracted arm in the parry of 4th low in the 1868 plate as opposed to the corresponding 1876 plate. Apart from that, the consistency that these plates show would normally be indicator to me that the depictions show are accurate. However, this does not seem to be the case when they are compared to Del Frate's textual descriptions of the parries. Here's the excerpt from Holzman's translation of the 1876 text:

Parry of Low 4th

From the parry of 5th - Low Forth!
Carry the right foot backward one good pace to the rear of the left with the heel raised from the ground, bending the knee. Incline the body over the left leg, and at the same time, move the sabre nearly across the body with the grip at the height and direction of the right hip, about eight inches [20 cm] away from it. The blade tip should be shoulder high and in line with the left shoulder, with the edge turned toward the ground.

Parry of Low 3rd

From the parry of 6th - Low Third!
Assume the body position described in the parry of low 4th, and without changing the position of the sabre, lower the arm so that it is nearly in front of the body diagonally, with the point shoulder high and to the right of the right shoulder, with the edge turned toward the ground. The grip should be hip high and in the direction of the flank approximately eight inches [20 cm] ahead of it. The arm should be bent and supported by the flank, with the elbow somewhat behind the body.

And here's the descriptions of the parries from the 1868 text (my translation):

For the execution of the parries of low 3rd and 4th and 2nd, the student is placed in parry of 6th, since that is the position from which one passes more naturally and easily to these different parries, and then at the command:
Low-third - The right foot is brought a good pace behind the left with the heel lifted off the ground, both knees bent, the weight of the body on the left leg, the sabre with the grip at the height of the left flank about one palm away, the point turned outside, the edge turned towards the ground, the elbow supported by the flank, the sabre, in other words, is almost across the body.

For the parry of low 4th, the student will resume the position of parry of 6th, then at the command:
Low-fourth - After having brought the right foot behind the left as described for the parry of low 3rd, the sabre is carried almost across in front of the body so that the grip is in the direction and at the height of the right flank about a palm away, the point of the blade at the height of the head, slightly to the left, the edge towards the ground.

Apart from the slightly cleaner sentence structure in the 1876 version, the two texts describe these parries very similarly. If one is to perform these parries as described, the differences between the text and the illustrations start to become quite obvious.

The illustration of the parry of low 4th in the 1868 manual appears to be the only one that abides by its respective description. In the others, we can observe that:

• The point is too high
• The grip is too far forward
• The grip is sometimes held too high

If we are to then attempt to perform these parries as the text describes, as opposed to what the plates show, we perhaps end up in positions similar to these:

 Parry of Low 3rd

Parry of Low 4th

As our handsome model shows, the hilt is much closer to the body than what the plates show, providing better coverage to the whole body. You may also notice that with the hilt being on the opposite side of the body as the direction in which the strike is coming, the body and arm are protected if the strike ends comes in vertically upwards as opposed to at an oblique angle. An interesting note about this parry of low 3rd is that it is the only parry in the Radaellian system that involves extension of the wrist (also observed by Jacopo Gelli in Resurrectio).

An analysis of Radaelli's engagement and invitation

When I was recently looking through the beautiful plates in Del Frate's 1876 manual (a common pastime of mine), I noticed something that doesn't seem to have been discussed before (at least on the internet) in regard to Radaelli's system. While initially thinking it was merely an imperfection on the part of the illustrator, I soon realised that it cannot be a mistake due to its appearance in multiple instances, including Del Frate's '68 manual. What I am referring to here is the slight forward lean of the fencer on the left in the image below:

Engagement in 2nd (1876 version)

Although not obvious at first, the fencer's rear leg appears to be somewhat extended, and the front leg is bent past where it would normally be when on guard.

To remove the doubt that it was not just a mistake of the illustrator, the same phenomenon can be observed in Del Frate's earlier manual:

Engagement in 2nd (1868 version)

Nor is it a matter of the image's perspective, as the '68 plates also show it on the opposite side:

Engagement in 4th (1868 version)

Perhaps, then, Radaelli advocated for the fencer engaging the blade to shift their weight forward slightly. This could serve to increase the pressure on the opponent's blade (making the blade easier to deviate off line), but perhaps to also act as a "pre-lunge"; that is, committing some of your weight forward to make the proceeding lunge faster, but not committing so much as to make it too hard to react should the opponent act first.

What I find even more interesting than this is that this lean can also be seen in the one doing the invitation in both manuals:

Invitation in 2nd (1876 version)

Invitation in 2nd (1868 version)

This slight forward inclination of the body is supported by the description of the invitation in the '76 manual (translation Holzman):

"An invitation is made with the sword and body without blade contact and seeks to cause your adversary to commit to an action so that you can be ready with a riposte."

With this description and the measure at which the two fencers in the plates are placed, I am inclined to believe that Radaelli intended the invitation to be a discrete action similar to the engagement, as opposed to a state that you lie in to provoke the opponent to approach and attack you. Instead of opening a line with the sabre and waiting for the opponent to come in and attack, perhaps Radaelli intended the invitation to be a somewhat aggressive action, quickly coming into lunge distance while leaving a line open. The lean here would probably serve to imitate the body position taken for the engagement, thereby increasing the threat felt by the opponent and their likelihood of attacking. However, this is evidently not meant to be as aggressive as the engagement, as Del Frate goes on to say:

"The invitation also differs from the engagement in that the movement is executed with less speed and energy."

That is, enough speed to pressure the opponent into acting, but still retaining the ability to give a timely and appropriate response to their action.

Whether or not this subtle aspect of the engagement and the invitation will give any advantage to the one who utilises it, I am in no position to say. Now that I have begun changing how I perform these actions to match my interpretation, perhaps I may be able to present my findings some time in the future.

There may be much of this that is not new to other aficionados of the Radaellian method, but I thought it would at least be good to get my ideas out in public so that they have the opportunity to be scrutinised.

1873 Italian Cavalry Regulations

***NOTE: A full translation of this text is now available here, courtesy of Chris Holzman.***

Below you will find a link to scans of the first volume of a military cavalry manual entitled Regolamento di esercizi e di evoluzioni per la cavalleria (basically "Regulation exercises and movements for the cavalry"), published by the Ministry of War in 1873.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B90B1IqWDLowNUhYTFU1MHVoejg

This manual contains various exercises for cavalry troopers training in the Italian army. Most importantly, at least in relation to this blog, are the exercises related to the handling of the cavalry sabre both on foot and on horseback. Although the manual is only attributed to the Ministry of War, the sabre method shown on foot is distinctly Radaellian. Furthermore, the section detailing the use of the sabre on horseback shows great resemblance to Masiello's cavalry system (See Holzman's Sabre Fencing on Horseback, 2015), which he supposedly based off Radaelli's cavalry method. Therefore I do not think it unreasonable to assume that this manual does indeed contain the direct application of Radaelli's method for the cavalry.

For those of you who have read Jacopo Gelli's Resurrectio (translation provided in here), you may remember Angelini citing an "1873 Regulation Exercise" to claim that Radaelli advocated the prioritisation of offending over parrying when on horseback. What I have published today is indeed the manual Angelini was referring to (the passage he references is on page 81), and while it is highly unlikely that Radaelli wrote this manual himself, Angelini's belief that he did supports the assumption that Radaelli at least had something to do with the system presented.

In addition to these sabre exercises, the manual also contains gymnastic exercises, exercises for handling the lance, troop movements on foot, methods of judging distances, and sheet music for bugle calls.

Special thanks to Bibliotecha Statale di Cremona for providing the scans.