Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza


Don Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza,, Jerónimo de Carranza, Hieronimo de Carança, 1539, Sevilla, Kingdom of Savilla, The Kingdom of Castile and León 1600 / 1608 ) – Sevillian nobleman, humanist, scientist, one of the most famous fencers, the creator of the Spanish school of fencing – Destreza. The author of the treatise on fencing "The Philosophy of Arms" . Carranza created the ideal of a poet and a warrior, which became the main life guide of a nobleman.
His work on fencing is the beginning of the fighting style in Spain, which lasted almost 300 years.
Jeronimo de Carranza, as the founder of Destreza, is also called "the pioneer of the science of handling weapons." His work was continued by his followers: pupil Don Luis Pacheco de Narvaez and Dutchman, master of fencing Gérard Thibault d'Anvers. It was they who invested in the battlefield philosophical, intellectual and moral ideals, continued to develop the School of Spanish fencing.

Biography

Hidalgo Jerome Sanchez de Carranza was born in Seville around 1539.
Educated at the universities of Seville and Salamanca.
In the early 1560 he arrived in the city of Sanlucar de Barrameda where he entered the service of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán and de Zúñiga Sotomayor, the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia. Together with the Duke participated in the invasion of the Algarve, part of the military campaign that eventually led Philip II of Spain to the Portuguese throne. For his services to the Spanish crown, Carranza became a knight, and then was appointed commander of the order of the image of Christ.
During this period of his life Don de Carranza wrote his famous treatise "The Philosophy of Arms".
In 1584 he moved to Madrid, where he worked as a judge. Five years later he was appointed governor Honduras. In Honduras, he faced the treasurer Gregorio Santiago and Gaspar de Andrade, the bishop of Komayagui, who later was accused of corruption. In 1595, he defeated a group of French privateers who landed near Puerto Caballos. At the end of the governorship in 1596, he moved to the city of Santiago de Guatemala, where he took the vacant position of a lawyer.
He died probably in Guatemala about 1608.

Family

Another Sanlucaré with Catalina Perez de Aguilar had several children, but never married. Two of his sons went with him to Honduras: the eldest son of Hil Sanchez de Carranza and Geronimo Sancho de Carranza.

"The Philosophy of Arms"

Jeronymo de Carranza wrote his treatise "The Philosophy of Arms", during the service at the court of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. The only publication of the book took place in 1582 in Sanlucar de Barrameda, where the court of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia was located. "The philosophy of weapons" is a humanistic dialogue dedicated to the presentation of a new art of fencing. "The philosophy of weapons and the art of owning it" is the name given to the author by his work, because he does not just describe the new system of fencing, but does it with a bias toward philosophy. In his treatise Carranza also touches on medicine, mathematics, geometry, ethics, created the concept of philosophical fencing esgrima filosófica, or combat philosophy, unique in the European history of martial arts.
Participants in the dialogue, following Plato and his Renaissance followers, including Castiglione, he also borrowed a number of dialogues. There are four of them with the treatise, where conversations are held about the true art of fencing. Under the fictitious names of the interlocutors are himself Carranza, the poet Fernando de Herrera, the humanist Juan de Mal Lara and the doctor Pedro de Peramato.
Jeronimo de Carranza invests in the formation of the ideal of a warrior, the master of a certain medieval meaning. "Hombre de letras" is a scientist, a knowledgeable, well-read person capable of applying science, describing his sphere of knowledge with the help of an extensive scientific and intellectual apparatus, comparing this volume with other sciences, and literally decorating it in an entertaining form. This, of course, corresponds not only to the humanistic goals of the era, but with all the desire of Carranza and his readers to build the philosophy and science of the new system of fencing.
As the master of the Spanish school of fencing mentions, the follower of Pacheco de Narvaez, D. Gomez Arias Porres in his treatise "Summary of this Destreza on the management of the sword":

Monographs