probably the Baron of La Coruna who first thought of Shielding the bulls making them much harder to kill martistically while at the same time insulating the bull from distractions and crowd noises It is known that the first public display of what was then called Corrida Escuda took place in the Champions Arena on La Coruna in 1333 B G The Baron had asked his House Mata dors to fight the bull and all but two had refused saying quite rightly that as com moners they were completely unfamiliar with the techniques of shield fighting The two who did volunteer were the Master of the training school and his pnze pupil the then unknown Tial Both had had experience m shield fighting Master Barkan as part of his twin duties as Trainer of the Le\ y and Tial because Barkan had seen this development CORRIDA 168 CORRIN coming a long time before and wanted to be ready for it The Comda that day is still spoke of in hushed tones by aficionados of the ring It is said that the audience was stunned silent by the beauty of the pan- of battles fought that day, and did not utter a sound during either Corrida, but when each kill was made, the pandemonium in the stadium could not be controlled Both matadors made then names that day, and coutd have retired then and there as rich men, but neither did Both survived the Comda that day, but Barkan aghast at the level of competency required, resolved to continue his training programs at heretofore unknown levels, knowing that the old skills were now merely deadly delusions He was the first to tram die new breed of noble matadors, and under Barkan's instruction and Baron La Coruna's patronage, the Corrida underwent a renaissance that has continued to this day VARIATIONS OF THE TRADITIONAL COR RIDA There are as many different styles of Comda as there are Matadors' schools and there are usually several different schools on any given planet However, after the ascen won of Emperor Leto, fee so-called "Atreides Style" attained considerable prominence, since style in the Comda, like alt styles, was open to influence from die Impend Court Even though there is little evidence that anyone of the Imperial House ever practiced the Com da after the death of Mmtor Atreides, it is probably the departure of that House from Caladan to Arrakis, a world monumentally unsuited for the breeding of decent bulls, that caused this cessation, not any change of heart towards the Comda The development of an' 'Atreides Style'' without living Atreides practitioners was somewhat difficult, but did not maternity delay the more flamboyant matadors-as we know since the discovery, in the Rakis Finds of the eyewitness records of Duke Mmtor's fatal Comda, and Duke Leto I's famous response In addition to mere variations in style, there were some Houses that considered the Comda to be too tame, these tended to be outlying Minor Houses, though some of the Houses Major also were counted in this number These were the main practitioners of a