Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 16th May 2010, 03:07 PM

I have been anxiously awaiting the 'comments'

and wanted to hold off on one of my 'treatises' as long as possible. It appears the waiting period is now past, so I will add this before the thread descends into the abyss.

The Mamluks are of course a key element in the early ancestry of the kaskara, and thier conservativism in things military certainly brought their broadswords into Sudanese awareness as they entered into these regions. The development of the curved sabres associated of course with the Mamluks from the Napoleonic period took place concurrently with use of the broadsword in earlier times in limited degree, but overall, the use of the Mamluk broadsword seems to have continued long after the crusades.

The flight of Mamluk survivors into Dunqulah in 1517 certainly increased the Mamluk traditions in Sudanese regions, which had certainly been present before these times, and created the medieval style military traditions that set the stage for the later European perceptions in the 19th century. In the much romanticized journalistic styles of the Victorian period, the description of these warriors in comparison to knights of the crusades was there for the taking.

The reinforcing of these Mamluk traditions occurred again in the Sudan after the 'Massacre of the Citadel' in Egypt, and again, the diaspora of Mamluks to the regions of Sudan. These same military traditions were diffused out of these regions far to the west via trans Saharan trade routes to other parts of Africa known for medieval style arms and armor traditions, such as the Kingdom of Kanem-Bornu and of Nigeria. While the kaskara did not largely become part of these traditions to the west, in most cases, its Saharan cousin, the takouba, certainly did.

It was the increase of availability of European broadsword blades entering these trade routes that created the development of the broadswords known
today as the kaskara, and in distictly varying degree in the Sahara, the takouba.

That would be the 'Readers Digest' version. The complexities inherently associated with these developments would constitute a book in itself.
Now, to the archives

Also, for the readers out there interested in the kaskara, I would bring to your attention the post by RDG on kaskaras held in that museum in York as well as the occasional examples posted by Stephen Wood. At this time both of these are still on the visible page so I would recommend catching them before they drop down.

16th May 2010, 03:07 PM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,194	I have been anxiously awaiting the 'comments' and wanted to hold off on one of my 'treatises' as long as possible. It appears the waiting period is now past, so I will add this before the thread descends into the abyss. The Mamluks are of course a key element in the early ancestry of the kaskara, and thier conservativism in things military certainly brought their broadswords into Sudanese awareness as they entered into these regions. The development of the curved sabres associated of course with the Mamluks from the Napoleonic period took place concurrently with use of the broadsword in earlier times in limited degree, but overall, the use of the Mamluk broadsword seems to have continued long after the crusades. The flight of Mamluk survivors into Dunqulah in 1517 certainly increased the Mamluk traditions in Sudanese regions, which had certainly been present before these times, and created the medieval style military traditions that set the stage for the later European perceptions in the 19th century. In the much romanticized journalistic styles of the Victorian period, the description of these warriors in comparison to knights of the crusades was there for the taking. The reinforcing of these Mamluk traditions occurred again in the Sudan after the 'Massacre of the Citadel' in Egypt, and again, the diaspora of Mamluks to the regions of Sudan. These same military traditions were diffused out of these regions far to the west via trans Saharan trade routes to other parts of Africa known for medieval style arms and armor traditions, such as the Kingdom of Kanem-Bornu and of Nigeria. While the kaskara did not largely become part of these traditions to the west, in most cases, its Saharan cousin, the takouba, certainly did. It was the increase of availability of European broadsword blades entering these trade routes that created the development of the broadswords known today as the kaskara, and in distictly varying degree in the Sahara, the takouba. That would be the 'Readers Digest' version. The complexities inherently associated with these developments would constitute a book in itself. Now, to the archives Also, for the readers out there interested in the kaskara, I would bring to your attention the post by RDG on kaskaras held in that museum in York as well as the occasional examples posted by Stephen Wood. At this time both of these are still on the visible page so I would recommend catching them before they drop down. Last edited by Jim McDougall; 16th May 2010 at 08:20 PM.