Knighthood of the medieval Balkans
And to which kingdom to cleave:
Will I take the kingdom of heaven?
Will I take away the kingdom of the earth?
If now I choose a kingdom,
I will choose the kingdom of the earth,
Brief is the kingdom of the earth,
The Kingdom of Heaven will be forever ...
“Death of the kingdom of Serbian. Song
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. How did the knights of the Balkans differ from the knights of Western countries, what features in the weapons did they possess?
Last time we finished considering the military affairs of the Lower Lands, the Outremer, as it was then said in Europe. Today our path lies north. Passing Byzantium (there will be a separate story about it) we will find ourselves in the Balkans - “the underbelly of Europe”, at first glance it seems to be its distant outskirts, but in fact “a direct route to its very heart”. Yes, but what was so interesting there in the period in question, from 1050 to 1350, the year? But about this now and our story goes ...
Many mountains, nations and religions
The medieval Balkans were as fragmented as they are today. Most of the inhabitants of this region were Slavs, including Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Bosnians, Dalmatians, Croats and Slovenes. Of these, the last four groups before the Ottoman conquest were mostly Catholics. But after the Ottoman conquest, most of the same Bosnians gradually adopted Islam, but it is interesting that in medieval Bosnia there already existed a significant non-Christian minority. They were Bogomils, followers of the version of the Manichaean faith, which previously existed in eastern Anatolia and, like the heresy of the Albigensians or the Cathars, became widespread in southern France. Residents of medieval Dalmatia were partly Italians, both in culture and in speech. The Wallachs - the semi-nomadic ancestors of modern Romanians lived in a large part of the territory of the Balkans, including some of the western and southern parts of the peninsula. The relief of this territory was heavily cut. There are a lot of mountains, valleys between them, along the coast there are many islands where you could hide from any conquerors. In Croatia alone, there are 1145 large and very tiny islands. It was a real pirate paradise in which pirates could feel at home.
Consequences of the Crusades
At the beginning of the 11th century, most of the western Balkan peninsula, with the exception of parts of Slovenia and Croatia, was part of the Byzantine Empire. By the time of the First Crusade, after the independence period, the Croats were under Hungarian rule. After the Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople in 1204, the entire Balkan region shattered even more. Northern and western Greece was divided between the small princedoms of the crusaders and the Byzantine despots of Epirus. For example, the same Albanians soon in these conditions were able to win independence, but by the middle of the XIV century. Serbia conquered a significant territory from the Danube to the Gulf of Corinth, and the Albanians again lost it. The southern Italian kingdom of Naples at this time actively participated in what is happening on the lands of Greece. Well, the principality of the Crusaders occupied only a relatively small part of southern Greece, while Venice and Genoa fought for control over most of the Greek islands surrounding the peninsula to control maritime trade.
When the "top" move away from the "bottom"
Culturally and even politically, Byzantium, of course, had a strong influence on most of the Balkan Peninsula. However, during the period under review, the influence of Western and Central Europe had an increasing influence on the western lands of the region, especially in military matters. The mountains were ideal for building castles, and the valleys for breeding thoroughbred horses. Well, locks are knights, and knights cannot be knights without horses. Therefore, for the development of chivalry and chivalrous military art, this region turned out to be ideal. Therefore, Western influence laid down here on the “good soil”, and occurred through the expanding Hungarian kingdom and the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik), which was the main channel for the import of Italian weapons and armor. Then it fell into Bosnia and into areas further east. In addition, the military elites of the western part of the Balkan Peninsula turned to the West not only for the supply of weapons, but also on a broader political plane, which gradually isolated them from the majority of the local Orthodox population, which remained largely "anti-Franco" and "anti-Catholic." A fairly common situation arose, when the “upper ranks” perceived a foreign culture, while the lower classes still remained purely local and traditional. There is a rift between the mobility and the mass of the people. And over time, this very alienation was to play a very important role during the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. Only here at that time nobody thought about it. People of that time couldn’t even come to their heads ... Everyone lived exclusively “according to the will of God”! But chivalry here was the same as everywhere else!
But this is a very interesting artifact. The fact is that in the ancient world the tips were cast, bronze and vtulchatye. Medieval opposite - iron and petiolate. This is a medieval tip, but pedunculated. And also made of bronze. That is, those who manufactured it had problems with iron, but bronze was enough, but they knew only petioles. Pour vlulu they did not think! (National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade)
Homeland shield with a slanting upper edge
Bosnians, being closer to the Adriatic coast and to Italy, were even more influenced by the West than the Serbs, especially in military matters. Apparently, Bosnia was independent from the beginning of the XII century and until 1253, when it fell under the rule of the Hungarian crown, and before being included in the ephemeral Serbian empire of the XIV century, King Stephen Dusan. It was a relatively poor, geographically isolated and, of course, stormy, in terms of social relations, mountainous area, in which archaic forms of warfare and very specific weapons remained for a long time. there was a kind of equipment. For example, somewhere here in the middle of the XIV century a equestrian shield appeared, known as the “Bosnian Scutum”, which was distinguished, firstly, by its upper edge, sloped from left to right and from top to bottom, and secondly by its design. Very often, its surface was decorated with the wing of a bird of prey, either painted or real, from feathers!
A very interesting shield from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. True, it refers to the 1500 year, but nevertheless it is a typical "Bosnian Scutum." The description of the shield indicates that such shields with a characteristic rear edge were used by Hungarian riders. In the 16th century, such shields were adopted in many Eastern European countries by both Christian and Islamic horsemen. The elongated top edge of the shield served to protect the back of the head and neck from being hit by a saber, which has become the main cavalry weapon in this region. On the outer side of the shield is depicted the sword of the prophet Muhammad with a double blade, and on the inner side - the Crucifixion and the iron of the Passion. This unusual combination of Islamic and Christian symbols suggests that the shield was used in the tournament by a Christian warrior dressed in Muslim fashion. In these Hungarian-style tournaments, participants donned Hungarian and Turkish costumes and used sabers to cut down feathers attached to the helmets of their opponents and to the sharp corner of their painted shields. Even at a time when the Turkish armies were a constant threat to Eastern Europe, the opponents of the Turks imitated their costume and tactics, they were so impressed.
Do you want to shoot a bow? First get off your horse!
Croatia, united with the Hungarian kingdom on the basis of almost equal rights in 1091, has remained part of the Hungarian state up to our days. Therefore, it is not surprising that the military affairs of Croatia, as well as the armor and weapons of its medieval army, echoed the military affairs of Hungary, although there was no element of archery from a horse in it. That is an important element of the tactics of the steppe origin, which distinguished the Hungarian horsemen from the horsemen of other Western countries, as well as our distant ancestors, too. It is from here, by the way, that another reason for the hatred of the Slav warriors by the Western knights comes from. They considered it disgraceful to shoot a bow from a horse into a warrior of equal social dignity, and where it was impossible to do without it, they hired Turkopules. European horse archers before taking on the bow had to get off his horse, so ... not to insult the noble animal! And then ... it seems the same knights, but they are fighting in violation of all the rules of knightly art, that is, they win "wrong". But the Hungarians are also “wrong”, although they were Catholics. And here and not Catholics, and allow themselves such. "Yes, they are worse than pagans and Muslims, by God!"
Dalmatians and Slovenes - the most "pro-Western" of all
More is known about Dalmatian weapons and armor than about other Balkan regions, because more documentary sources have been preserved. The cavalry was almost identical to the cavalry of the West, and especially Italy. Infantry, primarily archers with simple and complex bows, and later with crossbows, played a very important role in this urbanized and seaside region. The importance of infantry has increased especially since the beginning of the 14th century, when Dalmatian cities had to contend with their internal Balkan neighbors. Therefore, they actively imported a variety of weapons and armor from Italy. In particular, Ragusa (Dubrovnik) imported firearms from Venice as early as 1351 in order to protect itself from attacks from Hungary.
The most unconditionally pro-Western of all the Balkan peoples in terms of military equipment were the Slovenes. They inhabited the provinces of Karniola, Styria, and, until the area was Germanized, Carinthia. After all, it was the Holy Roman Empire that somehow managed to stop the invasions of the Hungarians in the X century. And then only Western Istria was located outside the Empire, and under the rule of Venice. So the penetration of western culture into this region was carried out very quickly and not without reason.
Albanian Stradiotti
Albanians also dominated many of their closest neighbors throughout most of the Middle Ages. The coastal cities of Albania experienced the decline of the cities of the period of the early Middle Ages, remaining major shopping centers until the end of the XI century. Where the lands were under Byzantine rule, local warriors served as stradiot under various categories of Byzantine leadership. By the way, the feeling of national identity was made difficult for Albanians by the fact that some of the Albanians were Catholics and others were Orthodox. Albanian independence was won around 1190, but then lost again in 1216. This was followed by a wave of increased military influence from Italy and France, which at first was happily received by the local feudal lords. However, this influence, say the same Anjou monarchy, never spread beyond the coastal plains and cities, and in the highlands still existed its own, local culture. In the XIV century, the influence of Albania spread far to the south, to Thessaly, and long dominated the region of Epirus. When at the beginning of 1330, Albania fell under the power of the Serbs, this territory could put at least 15 000 horsemen, of which about one thousand were real knights, but the rest of 14 were lightly armed warriors who had a spear, a sword, and in case of mail. All these troops usually fought under the Venetian flag in Italy of the XV century, where they were known under the Italian name Cradioti.
Thus, prior to the beginning of the Turkish conquest in the Balkans, this was a region of quite European military culture and traditions, on the one hand influenced by Byzantium, and on the other, Italy and the Holy Roman Empire. National "motives" existed somewhere in the mountains, and the essence of spiritual contradictions was the conflict between Catholics and Orthodox. The region was more monolithic in cultural terms and more to the West than to the East, which, by the way, did not change even after 669 years!
Использованная литература:
1. Nicolle, D. Arms and Armor of the Crusading Era, 1050 - 1350. UK L .: Greenhill Books. Vol.1.
2. Verbruggen, JF, The Art of War of Europe on the Middle Ages from the Eight Century to 1340. Amsterdam - NY Oxford, 1977.
To be continued ...
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
- Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of Outremer
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of the South of Italy and Sicily 1050-1350.
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Part of 11. Knights of Italy 1050-1350.
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Part of 10. Knights of the Kingdom of Arelat
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Part of 9. Germanic effigii
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Part of 8. Knights of the Holy Roman Empire
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Part of 7. Knights of Spain: Leon, Castile and Portugal
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of Spain: Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia (part 6)
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. CH 5. Knights of France. Central and southern areas
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of Ireland (part 4)
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of Scotland (part 3)
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knighthood and knights of England and Wales. Part of 2
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knighthood and knights of northern France. Part of 1
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