Wallachian Swords of the 15th Century: What Types?

[Gonzalo G]

Originally Posted by pallas

on a semi related note, ive been wondering how the kipchak/cumans became heavily armored cavalry as mamelukes when they had no tradition of it on the crimean steppes??? was this a tradition handed down from the ayyubids/fatimids and the kipchak/cumans where trained to adapt to it or did the kipchaks actually have a tradition of havily armored cavalry that im not aware of? sorry if this is a dumb question, ive been on a quest lately to find good historical reading material on the mamelukes (mainly the bahri dynasty, it seems the circassian burj dynasty was an era of decline for the mamelukes) but havent had much luck.

I agree with Teodor. Furthermore, we must be careful to define the kipchaks, or other nomad warrior people, in base of exclusively ethnic considerations. Usually the nomad warriors were grouped as confederations of tribes of diverse origins. Attila´s warriors were not only huns, but also alans and goths, among others. In the introduction of the Codex Cumanicus it has been said that ‘…the question of Cuman-Qipçaq ethnogenesis has yet to be completely unraveled. Even the name for this tribal confederation is by no means entirely clear.’

‘A variety of sources equate them, in turn, with the Qangli, one of the names by which the easternmost, Central Eurasian branch of the Cuman-Qipcaq confederation was known….These tribes included Turkic, Mongol and Iranian elements or antecedents. ‘

Some tribes of the kipchak confederation probably came from the border with China and had a wide contact with chinese military inventions, and also had relations with the Gökturk Khaganate, which unified in a single confederation almost all the nomad tribes of eastern Central Asia. Since old times the turks used lamellar ‘heavy’ armour, as it can be seen in some representations of turkic warriors from that period. Turks were also known for their specialty in iron working. The first bugar capital, Pliska, with strong turkic presence and mostly, but not exclusively, due to it, was an important armory production center.

Kipchaks occupied a great territory of the eurasian steppe, and also had contact with the kazars, another confederation integrated with turkic elements, among others, which used to wear helmets, maille hauberks and lamellar cuirasses. Contacts with the military technology of Bizantium also should be taken on account. Members of the Bahri dynasty, the first dynasty of Mamluks in Egypt, were Kipchaks, which gives us an idea of the armour used by them.

Yes, they knew very well and used the arms and armour of the heavy cavalry, though the light mounted archer still was important in their ranks.
Eurasian-Central Asian nomads were not as primitive as we can think. In fact, they were very sophisticated in many ways. Ways related with war and survival in a very competitive environment. Many arrived to the occident because they were the less apt and were expelled from the steppe by the best, and even so many times they seemed invincible before the eyes of the occidental peoples. They carried more than few military inventions much time before the europeans knew about them, including siege machines, military technologies associated with the cavalry and the horse, suspension systems to carry the sword and an the unsurpassable techniques related with the bow and the military use of the archery. It has been questioned if the nomads made their swords. The turks made them, very aptly. Central Asia also seems to have been one of the old and few producers of wootz in the world.
Regards

Gonzalo

[Samik]

Hello again ,

Not really Wallachian but perhaps its interesting to point out the Thuroczy chronicle (dated circa 1490) , that shows a scene from The Battle of Baia
(Moldvabányai csata in hungarian) that pitted Stefan cel Mare against Mattias Corvinus.






Note the men-at-arms on Hungarian (left) side armed mostly with poleaxes (dismounted) and lances (mounted).

The Moldovians have mounted boiers (?) armed with lances (note the pointy helmets that contrast with the more "germanic" sallets of the hungarian soldiers) and straight (long)swords (the cavalryman on the rightmost side).

The most interesting is the Moldovian foot , that is armed in a sword and shield/target fashion. The blades on the weapons are curved (and it also appears that they have crossguards , hence they cannot be considered "short polearms" and the like) , that could indicate they might be .. well sabres ??

Cheers ,
Samuel


P.S: Im going on holidays for a week and a half , so have fun without me ; I also hope for and look forward to see more Fresco pics and info from you Emanuel

[Gonzalo G]

On the left side the arms and armour looks very german-ish to me.

[robinpeck]

I visited Romania in the mid 1970's, toured all around the coutry in a car and on the way back to the capital I remember climbing a small mountain in the Transylvanian Alps north of Bucharesti...it was a total ruin except for one small building in which sat a government official. On the wall was a portrait painting of Vlad the Impaler (Draculea) and in the center of the room was a glass case containing what was labeled as Vlad's sword. I forgot my camera in the carpark at the bottom of the mountain...and I don't remember what it looked like except that I have a vaque memory of it being a sabre type.

St. Stephen of Hungary's sword is obviously a Norse import.

[Samik]

Apologies for the thread necromancy but I stumbled upon this painting of Dürer titled "Die welsche Trophäe" . Its a part of the famous Triumph of Maximilian, in which other "trophies" are also included (e.g. equipment of a Bohemian pavisier or an early Hungarian hussar etc)
I have only recently came to a realization that "welsche" actually means Wallachian in German!

The piece is dated 1518:




I recommend checking the original in high-resolution
http://www.zeno.org/Kunstwerke/B/D%C...%5D?hl=welsche

(just click on the picture to enlarge)

Its arguably an "exotic" take on a fairly standard European man-at-arms kit. Yet the addition of the strange closed-helmet as well as the round shield makes it somewhat more original. The lance appears to be of the classic western knightly type. The sword has a huge pommel as well as strangely curved quillions, but nothing that would be out of place in south-eastern Europe (there are similar arming swords in both Kingdom of hungary , Balkans as well as northern Italy; see my post in the "genoese/pisan/venetian weapons" thread ), note however the two big "ears" that the bollock-dagger has on its pommel (again a typical feature on weapons coming from SE-europe; Rumelian Yatagans as well as Daggers "ala stradiota" feature them as well).

Overall a splendid painting and very close to the period in question, I can't understand how is it possible that I haven't came across it earlier.

Regards,
Samuel