Weapons and armor of the Mongol warriors (part one)
From the bottom up I will throw you up like a lion
I will not leave anyone alive in your kingdom,
I will give fire to cities, lands and your lands. ”
(Fazlullah Rashid-ad-Din. Jami-at-Tavarih. Baku: “Nagy Yevi”, 2011. C.45)
The recent publication on the Military Review of the material “Why did they create a fake about the“ Mongolian ”invasion of Russia” provoked a plentiful, in a different way and can not be said, controversy. And some liked it, others did not. Which is natural. But in this case we are not talking about the substantive side of this material, but about ... "formal", that is, the accepted rules for writing this kind of material. In publications on historical topic, especially if the author's material claims to be something new, it is customary to start with the historiography of the issue. At least briefly, because “we all stand on the shoulders of giants,” or rather, those who were before us. Second, any a priori statements are usually proved by references to credible sources. As well as the allegations of adherents of the material that the Mongols did not leave a trace in military history. And since the VO site focuses precisely on it, it makes sense to talk about it in more detail, based not on mythical revelations, but on the data of modern historical science.
Fight of the Mongolian horse units. Illustration from the manuscript "Jami 'at-tavarih", XIV century. (State Library, Berlin)
We should start with the fact that there is hardly any other nation about which there was so much written, but in fact very little is known. Indeed, although the texts of Plano Karpini and Guillaume de Rubrucay Marco Polo [1] were repeatedly quoted (in particular, the first translation of Karpini’s work into Russian was published as early as 1911), we don’t, in general, give their written remarks has increased.
Conversation. Illustration from the manuscript "Jami 'at-tavarih", XIV century. (State Library, Berlin)
But we have something to compare their descriptions with, since in the East, Rashid ad-Din Fazlullah ibn Abul-Khair Ali Hamadani wrote (Rashid ad-Doleh; Rashid at-Tabib - “Doctor Rashid”) (approx. 1247 - 18 July 1318,) - famous Persian statesman, doctor and scholar-encyclopedist; former minister in the Hulaguid State (1298 - 1317). He is the author of a historical work written in Persian called “Jami 'at-Tavarih” or “Collection of Chronicles”, which is the most valuable historical source on the history of the Mongol Empire and Iran of the Hulaguid period [2].
Siege of Alamut 1256. Miniature from the manuscript "Tarih and Jahangushai". (National Library of France, Paris)
Another important source on this topic is the historical essay “Ta'rih-i Jahangushai” (“The History of the Peacemaker”) by Ala ad-Din Ata Malik ibn Mohammed Juvayni (1226 - 6 in March 1283), another Persian statesman and historian Hulaguid era. His work includes three main parts:
First: the history of the Mongols, as well as descriptions of their conquests before the events that followed the death of Khan Guyuk, including a story about the descendants of the Khans Dzhuchi and Chagatai;
The second: the history of the Khorezmshah dynasty, and here the history of the Mongol governors of Khorasan before 1258 is given;
Third: it continues the history of the Mongols until their victory over the Assassins; and tells about the sect itself [3].
The Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258. Illustration from the manuscript Jami 'at-Tavarih, XIV century. (State Library, Berlin)
There are archaeological sources, but they are not too rich. But today they are already quite enough to make evidence-based conclusions, and the texts about the Mongols, as it turned out, exist not only in European languages, but also in Chinese. Chinese sources, which in this case are referred to, are in the dynastic histories, in the data of state statistics and state chronicles. And here they are in detail and by years, with the thoroughness peculiar to the Chinese, describe both wars, campaigns, tribute paid to the Mongols in the form of rice, beans and cattle, and even tactical methods of warfare. The Chinese travelers who went to the Mongolian rulers also left their notes on the Mongols and North China in the first half of the 13th century. "Men-da Bei-lu" ("A complete description of the Mongol-Tatars") - in practice this is the most ancient source, written in Chinese on the history of Mongolia. This "Description" contains the story of the South Korean ambassador Zhao Hong, who visited Yanjin in 1221 with the commander-in-chief of the Mongol troops in North China, Muhali. "Men-da Bay-lu" was translated into Russian by V.P. Vasilyev as early as 1859, and for that time this work was of great scientific interest. However, today it is already outdated and a new, higher-quality translation is needed.
Civil strife Illustration from the manuscript "Jami 'at-tavarih", XIV century. (State Library, Berlin)
There is also such a valuable historical source, as “Chang-chun jen-jen si-ju” (“Note on the journey to the West of the righteous Chiang-chun”) - dedicated to the journeys of a Taoist monk in Central Asia during Chingiskhan's western march (1219 — 1225 yy.). A full translation of this work was made by PI Kafarov in 1866, and this is the only complete translation of this work for today, which has not lost its significance today. There is “Hey-da Shi-lue” (“Brief information about the black Tatars”) - an even more important source (and the richest!) Of the information about the Mongols in comparison with “Men-da Bei-lu” and “Chang-chun chen- jen hsi ji. " It is a note of two Chinese travelers at once - Peng Da-ya and Xu Ting, who visited Mongolia at the court of Ogedei as part of the South Hun diplomatic missions, and put together. However, in Russian we have only half of these notes.
The enthronement of the Mongol khan. Illustration from the manuscript "Jami 'at-tavarih", XIV century. (State Library, Berlin)
Finally, there is the Mongolian source itself, and a monument of the Mongolian national culture itself of the thirteenth century. “Mongolian Un Niucha Tobchan” (“The Secret History of the Mongols”), the discovery of which is directly connected with Chinese historiography. It tells about the ancestors of Genghis Khan and how he fought for power in Mongolia. It was originally written using the Uigur alphabet, which the Mongols borrowed at the beginning of the 13th century, but it came to us in transcriptions made in Chinese characters and (fortunately for us!) With an accurate word-for-word translation of all Mongolian words and a brief commentary on each of the paragraphs written in chinese.
Mongols. Fig. Angus McBride
In addition to these materials, there is a significant amount of information contained in the Chinese documents of the Mongol rule in China. For example, “Tung-chzhi tyo-ge” and “Yuan dian-chang”, which contain decrees, administrative and judicial decisions on various issues, starting with instructions on how to slaughter a sheep according to the custom of the Mongols, and ending with the decrees that ruled in China Mongolian emperors, and descriptions of the social position of various classes of the then Chinese society. It is clear that, as primary sources, these documents are of great value for historians studying the time of Mongol rule in China. In short, there is an extensive layer of sources in the field of Sinology, which are directly related to the history of medieval Mongolia. But it is clear that all this must be studied, as, indeed, any branch of the history of the past. “Cavalry attack on history” according to the type “came, saw, won” with links to only one of Gumilyov and Fomenko and K (as we often see in accompanying comments), in this case is completely inappropriate.
Mongol drives prisoners. Fig. Angus McBride
However, it should be emphasized that, starting to study this topic, it is much easier to deal with secondary sources, including those that are based not only on the study of the primary written sources of European and Chinese authors, but also on the results of archaeological excavations conducted by the Soviet and Russian scientists. Well, for the general development in the history of their homeland, we can recommend volumes of the series “Archeology of the USSR” laid out in the open access by the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, published during the period from 18 to 1981 year. Well and, of course, for us the main source of information is the PSRL - the Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles. Note that today there is no real evidence of their falsification, neither in the era of Mikhail Romanov, nor Peter I, nor Catherine II. All this is nothing but the fabrications of amateurs from folk-history, not worth a damn. The most interesting thing is that everyone heard about the chronicle stories (the latter, by the way, not one, but many!), But for some reason very few people read them. And in vain!
Mongolian with onions. Fig. Vine Reynolds.
As regards the weapon research topic, an important place is occupied by the research of a number of Russian historians recognized both in Russia and abroad [4]. There are entire schools created by famous historians in selected universities of our country and have prepared a number of interesting and significant publications on this topic [5].
Very interesting work "Weapon and armor. Siberian weapons: from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages ”, published in 2003, was written by A.I. Sokolov, at the time of its publication, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who has been involved in archaeological research in Altai and in the steppes of the Minusinsk Basin [20] for over 6 years.
One of the books by Stephen Turnbull.
The Mongolian and English-speaking historians who published in the Osprey Publishing House, and in particular, such a well-known expert like Stephen Turnbull [7], paid their attention to the topic of military affairs. Acquaintance with the English-language literature in this case is twice as profitable: it gives the opportunity to get acquainted with the material and improve in English, not to mention that the illustrative side of the Osprey publications has a high level of authenticity.
Heavy Mongol warriors. Fig. Vine Reynolds.
Having become acquainted, even if very briefly, with the historiographic basis of the Mongolian [8] military art, you can already consider it as a whole, leaving references to each specific fact for purely scientific works in this area.
To begin, however, the story of the Mongolian armament should not be from a weapon, but ... from a horse harness. It was the Mongols who guessed to replace the bit with the psalm with the bit with the large outer rings, the snaffles. They were at the ends of the rod, and already to them were fastened headbands and tied the reins. So, bits and bridles acquired a modern look and remain as such today.
Mongolian bits, snaffle rings, stirrups and horseshoes.
Improved their saddles. Now the bows of the saddles began to do so in order to get a wider base. And this, in turn, made it possible to reduce the rider’s pressure on the back of the animal and increase the maneuverability of the Mongolian cavalry.
As for throwing weapons, that is, bows and arrows, then the Mongols mastered them skillfully, as noted by all sources. However, the very design of their bows was close to perfect. They used bows with a frontal horn cover and "padded" extremities. According to archaeologists, the distribution of these bows in the Middle Ages was associated precisely with the Mongols, so they are often even called "Mongol". The frontal pad made it possible to increase the resistance of the center part of the bow for a fracture, but on the whole it did not reduce its flexibility. A kibit of onions (reaching 150 — 160 cm) was assembled from several kinds of wood, and from the inside it was reinforced with plates from the horns of the unmarried ones — the goat, the tur, the bull. Tendons from the back of a deer, elk or bull were glued to the wooden base of the bow from the outside of the bow, which increased its flexibility. In the Buryat masters, the bows of which most resemble the ancient Mongolian ones, this process took up to a week, since the thickness of the tendon layer should have reached one and a half centimeters, and each layer was pasted only after the previous one was completely dry. The finished onions were pasted over with bark, tied into a ring and dried ... for at least a year. And just one such bow was needed for at least two years, so at the same time, probably, many bows were put into the reserve at once.
Despite this, bows often broke. Therefore, the Mongol warriors took with them, according to Plano Karpini, two or three bows. They probably also had spare bowstrings needed in different climatic conditions. For example, it is known that a string of twisted sheep intestines serves well in the summer, but does not tolerate the autumn slush. So for successful shooting at any time of the year and the weather needed a different bowstring.
Finds and their reconstruction from the museum Zolotarevskogo settlement near Penza.
Tensioned onions in a way that was, however, known long before the Mongols appeared on the historical scene. It was called “the way with the ring:“ Going to pull the bow, they take it ... in their left hand, put the string for the agate ring on the thumb of the right hand, the front joint of which is bent forward, keep it in this position with the help of the middle joint of the index finger pressed to him, and stretch the string as long as the left hand extends, and the right hand comes to the ear; having marked his goal, they take away his index finger from the big one, at that very moment the bowstring slides off the agate ring and throws an arrow with considerable force (Uk. Soch. AI Solovyov - S.160).
Jade Archer Ring. (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
Almost all written sources that have come down to us mark the skill with which the Mongol warriors used onions. “It is very dangerous to start a fight with them, because even in small clashes with them there are so many dead and wounded, like others in big battles. This is a consequence of their dexterity in archery, since their arrows pierce almost all types of protective equipment and shells, ”wrote Armenian prince Gayton in 1307 year. The reason for such a successful shooting was associated with the high striking qualities of the Mongolian arrowheads, which were large in size and were distinguished by great sharpness. Plano Carpini wrote about them like this: "The iron arrowheads are very sharp and cut on both sides like a double-edged sword," and those that were used "... for shooting birds, animals and unarmed people, three fingers wide."
Arrowheads, found on the Zolotarevskoe settlement near Penza.
The tips were flat in cross section, petiolate. There are asymmetrically rhombic tips, but there are also those who have the striking part of a straight, obtuse or even semicircular shape. This is the so-called cut. Less common are two-horned, served to shoot at horses and the enemy, not protected by armor.
Arrowheads from Tibet, XVII - XIX centuries. (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
It is interesting that many large-format tips had a zigzag or “lightning” section, that is, one half of the tip protruded slightly above the other, that is, in a section resembled a zigzag of lightning. It has been suggested that such tips could rotate in flight. But is it really no one checked.
It is believed that with such massive shear it was customary to shoot with a canopy. This made it possible to hit warriors without armor standing in the back rows of dense constructions, and it was also hard to injure horses. As for the soldiers in armor, massive three-, four-sided or completely round, awl-shaped, armor-piercing tips were usually used against them.
The small-sized tips of the rhombic form, formerly popular even among the Turks, were also met and can be seen among archaeological finds. But the three-lobed and four-lobed tips with wide blades and holes punched in them in the Mongolian time practically ceased to occur, although they were very popular before that. Addition to the tips were bone "whistles" in the form of a double cone. They were made through a pair of holes and in flight they made a shrill whistle.
The pursuit of running. Illustration from the manuscript "Jami 'at-tavarih", XIV century. (State Library, Berlin)
Plano Carpini reported that every Mongolian archer had with him "three large quivers, full of arrows." The material for the quivers was birch bark and they contained about 30 arrows each. The arrows in the quivers for weather protection were covered with a special case - tokhtuem. The arrows in the quivers could fit and tips up and down, and even in different directions. It was customary to decorate quivers with horny and bone patches with geometric patterns and images of various animals and plants.
Quiver and nalud. Tibet or Mongolia, XV - XVII centuries. (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
In addition to such quivers, arrows could also be stored in flat leather cases, with their shape resembling beams with one straight side, and the other curly. They are well known for Chinese, Persian and Japanese miniatures, as well as for their exposure in the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin, and among ethnographic material from the regions of Transbaikalia, Southern and Eastern Siberia, the Far East and the Western Siberian forest-steppe. Arrows in such quivers were always laid with their feathers upwards, so that they protruded out more than half of their length. Wore them on the right side so that they do not interfere with riding.
XVII century Chinese quiver (Metroliten Museum, New York)
Bibliographic list
1. Plan Carpini J. Del. History of the Mongals // J. Del Plano Carpini. History of the Mongals / G. de Rubruk. Journey to the East / Book of Marco Polo. - M.: Thought, 1997.
2. Rashid ad-Din. Collection of chronicles / Per. from Persian L. A. Khetagurova, editorial and notes by prof. A. A. Semenova. - M., L.: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952. - T. 1, 2,3; Fazlullah Rashid al-Din. Jami-at-Tawarikh. - Baku: "Nagyl Evi", 2011.
3. Ata-Melik Juvaini. Genghis Khan. History of the Conqueror of the World = Genghis Khan: the history of the world conqueror / Translated from the text of Mirza Muhammad Qazwini into English by J. E. Boyle, with a preface and bibliography by D. O. Morgan. Translation of the text from English into Russian by E. E. Kharitonova. - M .: "Publishing House MAGISTR-PRESS", 2004.
4. Gorelik M. V. Early Mongolian armor (IX - first half of the XVI centuries) // Archeology, ethnography and anthropology of Mongolia. - Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1987. - S. 163-208; Gorelik M. V. Armies of the Mongol-Tatars of the X-XIV centuries: Military art, weapons, equipment. — M.: Eastern horizon, 2002; Gorelik M.V. Steppe battle (from the history of military affairs of the Tatar-Mongols) // Military affairs of the ancient and medieval population of North and Central Asia. - Novosibirsk: IIFF SO AN USSR, 1990. - S. 155-160.
5. Khudyakov Yu. S. Armament of medieval nomads of South Siberia and Central Asia. - Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1986; Khudyakov Yu. S. Armament of the nomads of South Siberia and Central Asia in the era of the developed Middle Ages. - Novosibirsk: IAET, 1997.
6. Sokolov A.I. "Weapons and armor. Siberian weapons: from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. - Novosibirsk: "INFOLIO-press", 2003.
7. Stephen Turnbull. Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 (ESSENTIAL HISTORIES 57), Osprey, 2003; Stephen Turnbull. Mongol Warrior 1200-1350 (WARRIOR 84), Osprey, 2003; Stephen Turnbull. The Mongol Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281 (CAMPAIGN 217), Osprey, 2010; Stephen Turnbull. The Great Wall of China 221 BC – AD 1644 (FORTRESS 57), Osprey, 2007.
8. It is clear that the Mongol army was never multinational, but was a motley mixture of Mongol-speaking, and later Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes. Therefore, the very concept of "Mongolian" in this case carries a more collective than ethnic content.
To be continued ...
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