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Originally Posted by TVV
Interesting reserach Ibrahim.
There are hisotircal sources that mention templars, which aided the Georgians at Didgori, but I am yet to see any sources about the opposite - Georgians travelling to the Holy Lands as mercenaries to the Latins. That does not mean it did not happen, but I would be interested in learning more about this with the proper historical argumentation.
It would also be interesting to see any parallels between the use of the buckler in Oman and the use of bucklers in India and Persia.
Personally, I am not sure if the sword and buckler technique originated somewhere and then spread out from Spain and Scotland to Rajhastan, or if it was independently developped in various places. A small, round shield is a very intuitive form, and the development of fighting technique with it and a sword does not seem that unique to require a single origin.
Regards,
Teodor
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Salaams Teodor~
Thank you for your constructive comments. I take your point since occasionally quite unrelated tribal structures appear globally and it is easy to conjecture buckler shield development as purely coincidental...However~
The Buckler is in the Omani Funun from the start of the Ibathi movement in what we generally consider as
751 AD. in Oman... though earlier if you take the start date of Islam proper.
Transition to the central sector which I include the Holy Land, Lebanon etc was through trade, war and religious pilgrimage. Via Mecca and direct. By sea and land routes; tried and tested.
Georgians and Europeans therefore would have viewed the system and likely came up against it and copied the form on any of the dozen or so crusades (Knights Templar, FreeMasons, Knights of Saint George et al)
System 133 the famous European Buckler and Sword style from the documents available appears to be from between the 10th and 13th Century... not before… so the Europeans developed it at the right time to agree with my assumption that it came to them from the Mediterranean.
My supposition on transmission is therefore: Oman, Mecca, Jerusalem, Lebanon (where it died out in 1970) Thence to Georgia and Europe via 2 different groups in about the 12th 13 th C..
Regarding India I think that may be linked though Oman has taken no bladed weapons to my knowledge (other than isolated firearms) from there. By that I mean of the hundreds of excellent different weapons in the Indian Armoury I see none that have traversed to Oman (though there may be odd individual pieces) The style is Omani.
There are many reasons why but the main one is, I believe, enthroned by the simple principle of "it it works dont change it". Combine that with the virtual sacrasanct nature of the Sayf ~ The Old Omani Battle Sword which lasted plus of 1000 years alongside the Terrs Buckler shield. These 2 pieces of kit are Iconic and virtually heraldic symbols in the Omani tradition reaching back to the 8th Century. Antony North describes in vivid detail the nature of Arab arms which once accepted changed very little down the centuries; Islamic Arms and Armour.
Naturally I view Indian, Sri Lankan and Persian steel production as having a potential bearing on Omani weaponry though actual "sword style" is completely different and the shield is African in nature hailing from Zanzibar (though you can say from African coastal regions)
Some point to the Khanjar as being Indian however the word itself like the word for the straight sword (Sayf) are
pure Arabic words.
Pinpointing the origin of the Khanjar may be the subject of a different post however it may never be accurately uncovered.
I suspect however that it began here and evolved into the Indian vocabulary of weapons in about the 15/16th Century via trade etc. Backing my claim is the appearance in one specific pageant where Jebali dancers in the southern province of Oman (Dhofar) practice with it to music in a similar way to the Sayf exponents though I have not a clue (yet) to the time scale on that. The Metropolitan Museum puts the appearance of Khanjars in India to the 16th Century.
~I would, however, only like to mention this on passing since it is off theme slightly (my fault) and to return to the main argument regarding Buckler and Sayf transfer of technology and style to Europe~
I point to the Holy Land and the Crusades, the Omani trade links, known camel routes, sea trade routes, practices, pilgrimages, pageants and wars combined with what we know of the technique and its identical Omani name in Lebanon 40 years ago of
"Sayf wa Terrs" and therefore I suggest, that since it began here 500 years before the European book was written on the system that it probably evolved from Oman between the 8th and 13th Century A.D.
I welcome any constructive views and once again thank you Teodor for your important input.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.