Treatise

ARMORUM Archive Record
Treatise Catalogued Reviewed

Libro de las grandezas de la espada

Treatise 1600 Spanish Spain

Luis Pacheco de Narváez

Major Spanish destreza work by Don Luis Pacheco de Narvaez. Gelli emphasizes the engraved title frame, the portrait, the woodcut figures, and the work's central place in the polemical development of the Spanish school after Carranza. Castle gives fuller copy detail for the 1599-1600 Pacheco de Narvaez Libro de las grandezas de la espada, including printer, bookseller, portrait, and 155 diagrams. Thimm likewise preserves the long title-page form for the same Madrid 1599-1600 witness.

Vigeant 1882 treats the 1600 Libro de las Grandezas as one of the major Spanish witnesses, describing its portrait, woodcut apparatus, and the variation between surviving copies. He judges Pacheco's success in Spain comparable to that of Saint-Didier in France and Agrippa in Italy.

1 Editions
1 Resources
0 Holdings
7 References
Bibliographic Overview
TitleLibro de las grandezas de la espada
AuthorLuis Pacheco de Narváez
Earliest publication date1600
LanguageSpanish
CountrySpain
Document typeTreatise
Authority statement
Luis Pacheco de Narváez
Swordsmanship Sword
Authority Roles
Author
Luis Pacheco de Narváez
Edition History
Libro de las grandezas de la espada 1600
CityMadrid
PublisherHeirs of Juan Iñíguez de Lequerica
PrinterLicenciado Várez de Castro
Format
Pages[23], 319, [9] leaves, [1] leaf of plate
Dimensions20 cm
Madrid, 1599-1600. Gelli notes variant copies, a woodcut title frame, portrait, and abundant diagram woodcuts, and frames the work as a major but deeply polemical destreza monument. Thimm also preserves the fuller title-page wording for this same witness.

Vigeant 1882, pp. 99-100: Madrid, por los herederos de I. Iniguez de Lequerica, 1600. In-4 with woodcut title-frontispiece, author portrait, two woodcuts outside the text, and numerous small woodcuts within the text; copies vary, some with the master's portrait and an ornate title.

Quality phase 101n: final residual explicit imprint linked; ambiguity was retained where the source does not distinguish agent role or place.

Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico Madrileño and Museo Canario descriptions checked in quality phase 162 (2026-08-15): [23], 319, [9] leaves plus one portrait leaf; quarto, 20 cm; title border, author portrait and diagram woodcuts. Colophon identifies Licenciado Várez de Castro as printer.
Digital Witnesses
Wiktenauer article - Libro de las Grandezas de la Espada (Luis Pacheco de Narváez)
HTML OCR
Wiktenauer · open
Linked during Wiktenauer editorial batch 10 on 2026-07-17.
Scholarly References
Castle entry CAS-P036-E005
Castle (1892)
Egerton Castle, Schools and Masters of Fence, from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century. With a complete bibliography. New and revised edition. London: George Bell & Sons, 1892.
Pages 36 · Entry CAS-P036-E005
Gelli entry GEL-P257-E002
Gelli (1890)
Jacopo Gelli, Bibliografia generale della scherma con note critiche, biografiche e storiche.
Pages 257-258 · Entry GEL-P257-E002
Leguina entry LEG-P105-E001
Leguina 1891 (1891)
Enrique de Leguina, Libros de esgrima españoles y portugueses. Indice formado por Don Enrique de Leguina, Baron de la Vega de Hoz. Madrid: Impr. y Lit. de los Huerfanos, 1891.
Pages 105-106 · Entry LEG-P105-E001
Thimm entry 1548
Thimm (1896)
Carl A. Thimm, A Complete Bibliography of Fencing and Duelling.
Pages 234 · Entry 1548
Thimm entry 1549
Thimm (1896)
Carl A. Thimm, A Complete Bibliography of Fencing and Duelling.
Pages 234 · Entry 1549
Thimm entry 1550
Thimm (1896)
Carl A. Thimm, A Complete Bibliography of Fencing and Duelling.
Pages 234 · Entry 1550
Vigeant entry VIG-P099-E001
Vigeant (1882)
Arsène Vigeant, La Bibliographie de l'escrime ancienne et moderne. Paris: Imprimé par Motteroz, 1882.
Pages 99-100 · Entry VIG-P099-E001