Most of the biographical information we have on Fiore comes from his own manuscripts, though there is important information found in civic records. Fiore is believed to have lived between 1350 and 1420, but the exact dates of his birth and death are not known.
In the introduction to MS LUDWIG XV 13, he begins:
"In his youth, Fiore the Friulan from Cividale d’Austria, son of the late Sir Benedetto of the noble family of Dei Liberi of Premariacco in the dioceses of the Patriarch of Aquileia, wanted to learn the arts of arms and of combat in the lists. He wished to learn how to use the lance, the axe, the sword, the dagger and how to wrestle; he wanted to learn combat on foot and on horseback, both with armor and without." (Translation: Tom Leoni, Fiore de' Liberi's Fior di Battaglia, available on-line)
After this rather formal beginning, in which he also extols the virtues of his patron, Niccolo d'Este III, ruler of the principalities of Ferrara and Modena, his tone shifts to a more colloquial note for the rest of his manuscript. He tells his audience of his years of training with Italian and German masters, how he became sought after as a teacher of arms, and of the five duels he fought:
"Out of envy, some Masters challenged me to combat with sharp swords in a gambeson and without any other defensive weapon besides a pair of chamois gloves. The reason was that I had refused to associate with them or to reveal to them any parts of my art. This happened no less than five times, and all five times I was compelled by honor to fight in strange places, far away from relatives or friends and without anything to rely upon besides God, the Art, myself, Fiore, and my sword. By the grace of God, I came through each time with my honor intact and without any physical injuries. " (Translation: Tom Leoni, Fiore de' Liberi's Fior di Battaglia, available on-line)
In 1383, a Maestro Fiore de Cividale, dimicator (“fencer”) was listed in Udine as a commander in the civil war on the side of the alliance of towns in the Friulian Civil War (an allianace which included his birthplace of Premariacco). Fiore was placed in charge of the crossbowmen and town artillery, and his duties included procuring arms for the defense of the towns. In Udine, Cividale and Premariacco today there are streets named "Via de Fiore dei Liberi" in his honor, though specifically what the towns are grateful for is unclear.
In 1395 he can be placed at a duel fought in Padua between one of his students, Galeazzo da Montova, and the famous Marshall Bouccicault of France. The duel was over an insult delivered by Bouccicault, accusing the Italians of cowardice. The lords of Padua and Mantua were in attendance, and intervened, ending the fight. The two met again in a duel in 1406, fighting with lances on horseback, and Galeazzo was the victor. Bouccicault recovered from his wounds, and was captured by the English at Agincourt in 1415 and died an English prisoner in 1422.
In 1399 Fiore was recorded in civil records in Pavia. After this his association with Niccolo III d'Este begins, although the nature of their relationship is unclear. Fiore's manuscripts, dedicated to Niccolo, entered the Estense library, but there are no payments or land grant receipts citing Fiore in the Estense records.
Famous Students of Fiore
Fiore tells us of six of his students, all knights or squires (squires were fighting noblemen who were not knighted; in equipment, training and employment they were virtually indistinguishable from knights). Each of the six was well-known in his day, and are still known to history, as condotierri - mercenary captains of arms in late Medieval Italy. They are:
• The previously-mentioned Galeazzo da Mantova: "the famous, valiant and hardy knight Galeazzo di Capitani from Grimello, better known as Galeazzo da Mantova," who fought Marshall Bouccicault in Padua. Galeazzo was a member of the famous and powerful Gonzaga family, and his relative, Francesco Gonzaga, was the lord of Mantua.
• Piero del Verde, a German knight, who fought Piero della Corona, also German, in Perugia.
• Nicholas von Urslingen, another German knight, who fought Nicholas the Englishman in Imola.
• Lancilotto da Beccaria, a squire from Pavia, who fought six passes of the blunted lance on horseback, "against the valiant
• Giovannino da Baio, a squire from Milan, "who had to face the valiant German squire Schramm for three passes of the blunted lance on horseback in the castle of Pavia. The same also had to fight three blows of the axe, three of the sword and three of the dagger—on foot—in the presence of the noble prince and lord the Duke of Milan and her ladyship the Duchess, as well as numerous other lords and ladies."
• Azzo da Castelbarco, knight, who fought in separate combats Giovanni Ordelaffi and the knight Jacomo di Boson.
In claiming these men as his students, Fiore is assuring Niccolo that his claims to skill as a teacher are not boasts, but grounded in a reality that his patron could readily understand - and as readily verify. You don't use a powerful and important man such as Galeazzo da Montova as a reference if you can't back it up.