Polish chivalry. From Boleslav the Brave to Vladislav Jagiellon
Over Poland a bloody cloud hung,
And drops of red burn cities.
But the star shines in the glow of the past centuries.
Under the pink wave, heaving, the Vistula weeps.
Sergey Yesenin. Sonnet "Poland")
Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Today we continue to look at European military affairs from 1050 to 1350, a year that modern foreign historians consider to be the “era of chain mail”. Today our theme will be the knighthood of Poland. Well, we start with her stories...
The labors of Prince Meshko ...
The Polish state was formed in the X century under the rule of Prince Meshko from the Piast clan, who in 966 decided to convert to Christianity according to the Catholic rite. Prince Boleslaw the Brave (992 — 1025) finally united the Polish lands, so that by the 1100 year, Poland had almost the same territory as today, except perhaps Pomerania on the Baltic Sea and southern Prussian lands. However, here in Poland began the era of feudal fragmentation (1138 — 1320) and the internecine feud. And as was often the case in other lands, the appeal of Prince Wladyslaw the Exile in 1157 to Friedrich I Barbarossa for help led to the fact that Poland then became dependent on the German Empire for a hundred years. Polish medieval chroniclers are reproachful of the Germans for their arrogance, and also accused them of various intrigues. The Germans were called "locusts", and they were condemned for "malice." Chekhov chronicler Gall Anonymous accused of "perfidy" and "robbery." Rus got from him too. He attributed to her such unpleasant qualities as "wildness" and "bloodthirstiness." Only under Casimir III the Great in the middle of the XIV century, Poland was finally able to revive as a kingdom, and then in 1349, Casimir III was able to seize Galich and Lvov. After several trips to Chervonnaya Rus, in 1366, he was also able to capture Volyn and Podolia, adding fame and power to himself.
Friends who have become sworn enemies
For the history of Poland, the following event was of great importance: in 1226, the pagan Prussians attacked Mazovia, the central province of Poland. The Duke Konrad of Mazovia turned to the Teutonic Order, who became famous during the Crusades, for help. The knights, however, not only conquered these pagan tribes, but also acted "like a dog that bites the hand feeding it": having started building castles on Polish soil, they conquered the port city of Gdansk, and then took all northern Poland, declaring their land. Having strengthened in the huge castle of Malbork and controlling the trade of Baltic herring and amber, the Order soon became the main source of military power in the region.
Traditions and other people's traditions
As for military affairs, for the period of the formation of the Polish state in the north-western Slavs, historians point to the dominance of infantry over cavalry. The cavalry detachments were feudal squads, which was typical of Eastern Europe, and the infantry was the militia of the cities. By the beginning of the XII century, the coastal Slavs also had a lot of rooks on which, huddling together, they raided as far as Norway. The cavalry became more, but easy, and she used the tactics of the neighboring Prussians and Lithuanians. That is, the riders attacked the enemy at full gallop, threw darts and short spears and swiftly retreated. D.Nikol regards it as close to nomadic, not sedentary peoples. The only difference was that the riders did not shoot bows from the saddle. They had to fight with pagans-Prussians, Lithuanians, Samogitians both in summer and in winter, because it was in winter that they most often made their raids, driving people into captivity. Then the same tactics were adopted from them by the Knights of the Crusaders, who killed men, but tried to seize more women and children. At the same time, already in the 13th century, many Slavic princes of what are now the Baltic provinces of Germany became full members of the Christian German military aristocracy. Naturally, she could not touch the Polish knights and the idea of the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher. So, the Polish crusaders are already mentioned 1147 year, when the Polish Prince Vladislav went to the Outremer. Seven years later, namely in 1154, Prince Henrik Sandomirsky arrived there, taking part in the siege of Ascolon along with his knights. Returning to Poland, he invited the Knights of the Order of the Hospitallers to Malopolska, who founded their own Comtury here. In 1162, the Serbian-Luzhitsky prince Yaksa of Kopanitsa invited the Knights of the Knights Templar to Poland. A certain Polish knight had Gerland, being in Palestine, not only joined the Order of the Hospitallers, but reached a solid position in it. Many knights went to the East on their own. So, in 1347, a French diplomat Philip de Masere met in Jerusalem a Polish knight, Wojciech from Paws, who gave a strange, but quite knightly, vow to stand until the Saracens were expelled from the Holy Land.
Of course, the Polish Slavs had never been “Germanized” very much, but the fact that, starting from the 1226 year, they were under strong German influence and their military organization served as their main example - without a doubt. And then came the 1241 year, the defeat at Legnica, which showed how much for a rider means the ability to shoot a bow from a horse. But it did not change anything! Tradition is a tradition. Traditions of nomads from the East to the Poles were alien. Therefore, bows, although they were used from the X century, remained weapons only Polish infantry, but not riders! In the same X century, the military culture of the Poles was closer to German than to the culture of their neighbors, for example, in the same Pannonia. In addition, it was from Germany that most of the swords were imported to Poland, as well as spearheads and other weapons. True, some types of weapons, such as axes with long arms and helmets of characteristic outlines, remained a specific feature of their Slavic arsenal.
In the middle of the XII century, the Kingdom of Poland began to disintegrate into a number of small principalities, but this did not stop the process of "westernization." Crossbows began to replace bows as the main weapon for infantry, and cavalry equipment became almost the same as in Germany or in Bohemia, although somewhat more old-fashioned. However, there was also light cavalry, the tactics of which still showed some oriental features. Moreover, the Mongol invasion of Poland led to the fact that while maintaining the leading role of heavy cavalry, the role of light cavalry also began to grow. The Polish princes began to hire entire units of horsemen from the Golden Horde, and use their mobility to raid the enemy.
It should be noted that the Polish knighthood - the nobility, very quickly borrowed all the Western knightly customs and traditions and very knightly military tradition fit very organically. National courtly novels about Walcezhe Udal, about Peter Vlast appeared, and the spirit of wandering and thirst for adventure led to the fact that already XII-XIII centuries. there are reports of Polish knights who served in the courts of foreign rulers, for example, in Bavaria, in Austria, in Hungary, as well as in the Czech Republic, Saxony, Serbia, in Russia, and even in pagan Lithuania. Knight Boleslav Vysoky, for example, participated in the campaign of Frederick Barbarossa to Italy and in the tournament, organized directly under the walls of the besieged Milan, and he performed so successfully that he was approved by the emperor himself. Coats of arms in Poland, as signs of knightly dignity, appeared a little later than in Western Europe, where they had been known since the 12th century. However, already in the XIII century, the first images of the coats of arms in Poland are found on the seals of the princes, and in the XIV century, the coats of arms belonging to Polish knights could be found in many coat of arms of Western Europe. That is, it means that the Polish knights came to these countries, participated in the tournaments held there and the heralds had to include them in compiled coat of arms, so to speak, “to posterity as an example.” Accordingly, many knights of France, England, Spain, not to mention Germany, came to Poland, promising to fight pagans. And here a wide field of activity opened up for them, since there were more than enough pagans here! This situation was very well described in Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel The Crusaders. It also shows how the Polish knights themselves “Westernized” on one side, did not differ from European knighthood with their clothes, weapons, or customs, but on the other, they still remained Poles in their hearts! Interestingly, the Polish coats of arms were more “democratic” than Western ones, were not so much personal as family (sometimes one emblem had several hundred families!) And for a long time, according to the principle of noble equality, had no signs of dignity, for example, images of a crown or miter.
"A beautiful helmet - all over the head!"
In the historical period we described in Poland, two types of helmets were used, which is confirmed by archeological data. The first - “the big Polish” was a helmet of the eastern type; they were made in ... eastern Iran (!), Usually richly decorated - usually covered with gold or copper sheet. Almost conical in shape, these helmets were assembled from four segments with rivets. The heads were crowned with a bush, for a horsehair sultan or a feather. The lower edge of the helmet crown was reinforced with a rim, to which the chain mail barmitsa was fastened, covering not only the neck, but also part of the face. Question: how are they in the X-XIII centuries. got from Iran to Poland? It is believed that at first they were delivered to Russia, where they also had distribution, and from there they went to Poland and Hungary. Apparently, it was a status element of armament, so that such helmets could be ordered in batches. Well, let's say, princes for their squad, to impress wealth on the neighbors. A total of four such helmets were found in Poland itself, two in Western Prussia, one in Hungary and two in western Russia. One such helmet is on display at the Royal Arsenal in Leeds, England. By the way, such close ties between Europe and Asia are not surprising in this case. Remember the bas-reliefs on the famous column of Trajan. There we see Syrian archers in the characteristic helmets of the "Oriental". Yes, the Roman Empire (Western) fell, but Byzantium could well continue to export popular weapons, go to Russia it could by the Caspian Sea and the Volga, so ... "war - war, and trade - trade." So it was and always will be. On the other hand, the Poles could well themselves establish the manufacture of models of oriental weapons, which they were fond of. Why not?
The second, or Norman type of helmet, is known in Poland for two artifacts found in the Lednitsky and Orkhovsky lakes. They are also conical, but solid-walled, without ornaments, with a nasal protective plate. There is a small hook on the helmet from the Lake of Lednice on it, apparently in order to hook on it the chain mail barmitsa covering the face. And again, this could be both “helmets from the North” and their copies of local production.
Then, among the riders, the so-called “big helmet” begins to be used, which we see on the seal of Prince Casimir I (c. 1236) - and this is the very first image of such a helmet we know in Poland.
Polish Grand Slam (Polish Army Museum, Warsaw)
Kolchugi and brigandine for cavalry and infantry
Polish shields and even their remnants have not survived to our time. There is not a single chain mail of the early Middle Ages. But there are written reports that chain mail in Polish lands was used, and the first mentions of such armor as brigandine refer to the first half of the 13th century. Thus, a warrior dressed in it is depicted on the seal of Prince Henry II the Pious (1228-1234). We also see a warrior in the brigandine and on the seal of the duke Bernard of Shveydnitsa (ca. 1300 and 1325).
Interestingly, even in the XIV century, Polish troops still included a large number of infantry. For example, it is known that the army led by Vladislav I Loketek (Lokotkom) in 1330 year, according to chronicles, consisted of 2100 riders in "heavy armor", 20 000 riders of light cavalry, and about 30 000 infantry soldiers with a variety of weapons.
The first documentary mention of the use of handguns in Poland dates back to 1383, but there is every reason to believe that it was used before. But already under King Vladislav II Jagiellon (1386 - 1434), various types of artillery appeared in Poland in a multitude. Mostly gunners were townspeople, but among them it was possible to meet representatives of the nobility class.
Использованная литература:
1. Nicolle, D. Arms and Armor of the Crusading Era, 1050 - 1350. UK L .: Greenhill Books. Vol.1.
2. Sarnecki, W., Nicolle, D. Medieval Polish Armies 966-1500. Oxford, Osprey Publishing (Men-At-Arms # XXNX), 445.
To be continued ...
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
- Knighthood of medieval Hungary
Knighthood of the medieval Balkans
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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