Interesting Kaskara from the Askeri Museum

[TVV]

When visiting the Askeri Museum a few weeks ago, I found this sword. The museum claims that it is a Byzantine 15th century sword, which it most definitely is not. As a rule, the curators in the Askeri never really cared about proper attribution, so the misattribution is not surprising.

To me, it looks like a kaskara, potentially an earlier one and with an interesting silver hilt. I wonder of anyone is familiar with the markings in the base of the blade.

[Edster]

To me this sword is not a Kaskara, likely "invented" in mid-19th C. The handle has none of the design elements of a kaskara. The cross guard is close and looks like those cast brass elements from Egypt most common on acid etched blades during the late Mahdist era. (I can't recall just now the name).

Don't know about the mark on the blade.

Design elements of the hilt are similar to ancient Islamic swords like the one in Askari Museum attached. (Sorry I can't extract an image of the grip to show. Maybe Tim can give me a hand.)

http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/...ps489036f4.jpg

Regards,
Ed

[TVV]

Thank you for responding Ed. The sword you linked to is an Omani sword with a hilt, which is quite acrhaic in form, inspired (or unchanged for centuries) from early Islamic forms.

Here is a link to a sword posted by Kubur some time ago, with a brass hilt and a crossguard similar in style:

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showpost.p...3&postcount=20

Teodor

[Jim McDougall]

It seems to me that there numbers of 'Sudanic' swords which while not in the traditional kaskara form entirely, were comprised on some elements and often using the kinds of blades produced during the Anglo-Egyptian condominium or somewhat before.

These were often reflecting the Ottoman influences which had been established in Mamluk Egypt into 19th century and these conventions and stylistic tendencies prevailed. In my opinion, the acid etched thuluth calligraphy on weapons during the Khalifa period derived from Mamluk metalwork conventions situated in Sudan earlier in the century. It seems reasonable the same type of followings would apply to various swords in degree, especially those for any sort of prestigious use.

Attached is the sword Teodor noted from previous post from Kubur.
My example of 'Sudanese'(?) shamshir, seemingly following these traditions. The blade is the Turkish 'beyez'? I dont recall the term used.

Ed, I recall those same types of swords you mention, and the cast twirled grips but cannot place where the references are either. As noted they seem Anglo-Egyptian period, and that mark looks like the steel stock type trademarks seen on some kaskaras made with this material early 20th during the Condominium. It does seem in these Turkish museums there is a degree of innovation in exhibits.

[Edster]

Jim,

I agree. From the Egyptian "conquest" of Sudan in 1821 until the Mahdiya beginning in 1885 there was a considerable different kinds of swords deployed in Sudan. The Funj mounted guards used imported Arabic-style sabers for 300 years until defeated in 1821. The Mamluks of Muhammad Ali's army was manned by 4,000 Albanians and other nationalities plus various mercenaries who passed through. They had their own styles of weapons. Likely like your fine saber example posted. During the 64 year period there was ample opportunities for captured swords to be adapted and styles to be to be shared and hybrids to develop and survive among the hated Turkiyah occupation soldiers and the native Arabized Sudanese tribes.

Within this period it seems that the native Sudanese tribes had the stronger culture and developed the straight bladed kaskara, grip and cross guard style, and it became more or less fixed. I am nor aware of trophy swords from the Mahdiya Era to be anything other than the kaskara as we know it today.

Best regards,
Ed

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks very much Ed, especially for the kind words on my anomaly saber, which I do believe was a creation in the Turkiyah period and mid 19thc. probably in regions of Khartoum to Sennar.

Most notable is the characteristic flare of scabbard tip. This some years ago was surmised by a friend who was an archeologist in Sudan to likely be an affectation from the ancient Meroe kingdom apparently adopted from iconography by Funj rulers.

I hope I might add some thoughts from my research of years ago, and run them by you, in hopes that they are at least somewhat correct, and that you might edit with your extensive knowledge on this history.

The Mamluk influences remained key through these regions, and it seems their metalworking traditions prevailed in these areas from Dongola to Sennar.

I believe there was considerable trade in from the port of Suakin on the Red Sea, including trade blades etc. There was mention of the Shendi market as a central trade entrepot handling much of this activity. The nominal evolution of the kaskara form in the scattered 'bush empires' of predominantly Baggara tribes is apparently the source of the term kaskara loaned from thier language. Naturally the typical term used is simply sa'if.

The Egyptian and Turk presence in Khartoum were part of the slave oriented commerce in Sudan which was part of the impetus of the Mahdiyya in 1881. If not mistaken, it seems there was only nominal presence of the sword with tribal forces in the initial campaigns with tribal warriors until they had captured numbers of arms, mostly guns.

Apparently at this point there was a profound development of more swords of munitions grade in the manner of the established broadswords of the upper classes in the Funj Sultanate traditions.

After the fall of Khartoum, and the subsequent death of the Mahdi, the Khaliph faced issues with maintaining the impetus of the jihad, and needed to create regalia which perpetuated the 'magic' of the Mahdi. Therefore, using the immense stores of industrial equipment and supply left at Khartoum by Gordon, he created an arsenal at Omdurman. In these shops there were many artisans, foreign and others skilled with the Mamluk metalworking tradition.
In my opinion, this is where the creation of the profusely acid etched decoration of kaskaras as well as sundry other weapon forms began in large scale, though it seems there had been some degree of this earlier outside this motivation.

As many of the Ansar warriors in the forces were conscripted from other tribal regions, numerous weapon forms were included in the types used, and many of these were also covered in the Thuluth calligraphy motif. This was actually comprised of various passages from the Quran, but in repetitive fashion, augmented by interspersed invocations and exhortations toward the Mahdi. In essence, each weapon was imbued by the magic of the Mahdi, and assurances of angelic support to the warriors for their flights to paradise.

These types of weapons were among the many that became trophies and sounvenirs after Omdurman and the other residual actions at the fall of the Caliphate 1898. The ubiquitous kaskara swords were of course the primary weapon forms brought back from the Sudanese campaigns, as with this example, as noted, c. late 1880s and likely from Omdurman shops.

Note the Hausa moons (dukari) indicating this was likely blade from that source as it seems most of these were.

I hope this perspective of the kaskara context is somewhat viable, and adding it here is as much trying to regain my own understanding from memory as sharing it for context in this discussion.

All best regards
Jim

[Edster]

Jim,

A complex list of queries. I'll try to respond after a fashion.

A group of Mamluk "refugees" fled to the Dongola region of N. Sudan in 1812 and influenced the area until 1820 when the Egyptian drove them out. One source says only 300 remained and fled to the South. The refugees were soldiers and I doubt they instituted metal working traditions. It seems that only superficial accounts of the Mamluk-in-Sudan and what happened to them after Dongola exist, no scholarly works I am aware of. Seems a fertile area for some serious research.

Dongola and areas south down to Khartoum was inhabited by three Christian kingdoms from after Meroe until the advent of the Funj. They likely inherited and preserved Meroitic metal working traditions. The last kingdom was the Alodia with capital at Soba near today's Khartoun. It fell to the Funj c.1504. Remnants moved south to near the Sudan-Ethiopia border and founded the Fazaghali Kingdom. They lasted until taken over by the Funj in about 1685. A the bottom of the attached Wiki file is a 1821 pic of a Fazaghali man with a sword scabbard with a bulbus tip and a cross guard like the kaskara. This suggests that the kaskara originated in the East rather than the West/Darfur area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Fazughli

Apparently, the native sword making era was late in coming to Sudan. Traveller's narratives from as early of c.1700 states that the Funj used Schiavonesca broadswords favored by Hungarian & Venice during the 15-16 C. perhaps made in Serbia. Interesting trade connections. Others report large number of European blades imported from Cairo. See pp. 17-20 in my paper on Kaskara Cross Guards attached. Osman Digna supposedly told the Hadendawa of Kassala area to make swords for the Mahdiya.
http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/...ara_guards.pdf

Yes, Gordon had a first class machine shop in Khartoum that was moved to Omdurman. The Khalifa had Greek and other artisans keep the river steamers running and even tried to reload rifle ammo. No doubt that spear heads and knives were made there as well. Maybe some sword smiths were recruited as well, but since spears and javelins were the main weapons, most elite warriors likely already had a sword from the zillions of imported blades already in-country. Also, the village blacksmith made tool & simple weapons, but likely didn't have the necessary skills to make a proper forged and heat treated sword.

Thuluth decorated swords were made in Omdurman. While the thuluth etching was on some proper imported blades as is yours, most blades look to me to be from sheet steel with imported cast brass cross guards. For the most part they were for religious purposes not a fighting weapon.

I think I've read that after the Battle of Omdurman the Brits buried piles of Mahdist weapons outside of town. Would be great to find and excavate the spots.

Some times I feel like we are like blind men attempting to describe an elephant as we try to understand the Kaskara and swords in Sudanic history.

Best regards,
Ed

[Changdao]

When reviewing the history of the kaskara and swords in Sudan, one must also turn towards Ethiopia. In Gondarine era paintings one can see relatively frequently swords that do look quite similar to kaskaras, except with somewhat different pommels (that do look bulbous).

There is also a direct connection to Sudan, as we are told by a witness report from 1647-1649 that:

When we reached the king (Emperor Fasiladas/Fasilides), his court had already lined up in that building, and the courtiers, i.e. the ministers and others, had dressed up in the most splendid attire and the most stately splendour, being dressed in gowns of silk brocade embroidered with gold, and silk gowns which fill the onlooker with amazement at the unusual art and extreme remarkableness. Around their waists they had put golden girdles, set with marvelous stones and precious gems, which they possess in this world, and we - if God permits - shall possess in the next. They had also in their hands swords from Sunnar, inlaid in the same way with the choicest pure gold. They rush after these splendours, which are quicker to disappear than the receding shadow. They had thus lined up in that assembly, standing in the most beautiful arrangement with their perfect forms according to the lenght of their bodies as God had created them

[Jim McDougall]

Ed,
I cannot say enough on how powerfully elucidating your synopsis' on this history is, and regardless how many decades I have tried to grasp the true history of the kaskara.......I remain completely and relatively a novice
Truly, it is breathtaking, and its as if lights are being turned on all over the place.

Your simile on the blind men and elephants hardly includes you

Changdao, thank you for this valuable insight as well. Blades and swords were coming into Ethiopian regions, via Harar and of course other entrepots. The conflicts up to and including the Mahdiyya involving Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) are often overlooked in the comprehensive study of these times.

The Battle of Gallabat in 1889 resulted in the death of their king Yohannes IV and the uneasy relationship between Menelik who took power and the Khalifa. The presence and use of the kaskara was already well established in Ethiopia by then, and many examples have Ge'ez script on the blades.
I remember many years back, a friend who was Eritrean shared with me videos of ceremonies involving native warriors dancing with kaskaras and the familiar hooked daggers of Mahdist times. He was Beja, and noted the ancestry of his people while being in Eritrea, extended of course well into Sudanese regions.

Thank you again for these entries guys!!! ED would you pulleeese write a book! Your research is the most comprehensive and revealing ever.

[Edster]

Changdao,

Good observation!! The Kingdom of Fazughli was a connection between the Funj and Ethiopia. The possible Ethiopian influence on the kaskara are shown on p. 10-11, Figs. 10, 11 & 12 of my Kaskara Cross guard paper linked in the above post.

Best,
Ed

[Edster]

Thanks, Jim. I do love journeys down the Kaskara internet rabbit hole. It's a fun place to roam about for an ASD.

Keep ahead of the hounds,
Ed

[Edster]

Jim,

I went back down the Rabbit Hole. Here's an article on the fate of the Mamluks in Sudan. Pretty well got whittled away over the years. Fought local tribes. Apparently didn't develop a polity. Some returned to Egypt for pardons, some were killed and others pardoned.

A. E. Robinson, 'The Mamelukes In The Sudan', Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 5 No. 2 1922, pp.88-94

Link:
https://www.sudanmemory.org/image/SN.../#topDocAnchor

Best,
Ed

[Jim McDougall]

It is a heck of a rabbit hole Ed!!! and it seems the deeper we go, the more intriguing and exciting, and more and more perplexing.....curiouser and curiouser !!!

However intrepid researchers like you specializing find the path.......this article is with brilliant insights into the Mamluk mystery. I seem to have had long held notions that due to the clear influences in aspects of Sudanese arms and material culture from Mamluk culture, that they had perhaps artisans in these areas in Dongola etc producing items.

I had felt that the acid etched thuluth conventions found in Mamluk metalwork led to the profuse covering of weapon surfaces with this was with Mamluk influence. The numbers of foreign blades and weapons coming into the Shendi markets probably through Suakin seemed to me likely blades and other items which would receive this treatment.

While my thoughts toward the kaskara (and other weapons) covered in thuluth at Omdurman were later, after the death of the Mahdi, I thought that perhaps the Caliph had seized on the notion as a means of effectively reinforcing his power and magic in these kinds of regalia. As has been noted, these were not intended necessarily as combative weapons, but votive elements carried by the religious figures who inspired and directed warriors while there to tend to the required attentions to the fallen. Also, these items reflected ecclesiastical authority.
This was of course a jihad, and these warriors were the 'Ansar'.

So it appears the processing and production of these weapons in the shops at Omdurman were from workers already established there, many were foreign, including numbers of Greeks who had been situated in Khartoum before its fall. So the production of these thuluth covered arms was not by Mamluks, though likely with influence from Mamluk metalworking traditions.

The volume of materials held in the shops at Khartoum was enormous, as Gordon had profound designs in building and the upkeep of infrastructure in Sudan. It seems the arsenal and affiliated shops were spared in the destruction of the city, with most materials and machines moved across to Omdurman.

There must have been some degree of sheet steel on hand, as many of the weapons known to other tribes who had conscripts and slaves in the Ansar forces seem to have been duplicated and decorated in thuluth are known, many of such commercial material.

This article that you attached is remarkable, and prompted a distant memory of a poem I saw many decades ago, and made an impression. I think it was called 'leap of the Mamluk' and I can still see the illustration of a Mamluk horseman in that action. In this article, it describes this supposed event, and the kind of hyperbole that becomes lore from an article in 'The Spectator' (16 Nov 1907) titled 'The Mamelukes Leap'.

It is complex history through this rabbit hole! but fascinating, and for those of us ever intrigued by the iconic and mysterious KASKARA!

All the best
Jim

[Edster]

Jim,

I just now reading "Travels in Nubia" 1819 by Burckhardt. having wadded through the intro. I think Nubia part starts on p.113 after a long intro in Roman numerals. His accounts are the main reference in Robinson's article and maybe there are a few gems therein that he neglected to mention.

https://ia800602.us.archive.org/6/it...ubia00burc.pdf

Ed