I was wondering who the figure with the beard and golden crown was - turns out it might be a depiction of the author himself! (According to this [1], which also has a full translation.) I love this bit from his preface:
"I say that when I taught this art I taught it secretly, so that no other person was present except for the student and some close relatives.
Also, it happened that when others were present they stayed with Sacramental promise not to divulge the plays they saw from me, Fiore.
And most of all I was wary of fencing Masters and of their students. And they invited me, the Masters, out of envy, to fight with sharp and pointed swords in an arming jacket, without any other armour except for a pair of chamois leather gloves, and all this had happened because I did not want to practice with them nor teach them anything of my art.
And this accident happened five times, so that I have been requested ['called out']. And five times, for my honour, I have had to fight in strange places, without relatives and without friends, not trusting others, but in God an the art and in myself, Fiore, and in my sword. And by the grace of God I, Fiore, remained with honour and without scars upon my person."
"I say that when I taught this art I taught it secretly, so that no other person was present except for the student and some close relatives.
Also, it happened that when others were present they stayed with Sacramental promise not to divulge the plays they saw from me, Fiore.
And most of all I was wary of fencing Masters and of their students. And they invited me, the Masters, out of envy, to fight with sharp and pointed swords in an arming jacket, without any other armour except for a pair of chamois leather gloves, and all this had happened because I did not want to practice with them nor teach them anything of my art.
And this accident happened five times, so that I have been requested ['called out']. And five times, for my honour, I have had to fight in strange places, without relatives and without friends, not trusting others, but in God an the art and in myself, Fiore, and in my sword. And by the grace of God I, Fiore, remained with honour and without scars upon my person."
[1] http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Fiore_de%27i_Liberi