Changes in Military Equipment during the 13th and 14th Centuries in the Area of the Sanok Land
Kotowicz P. N., Skowroński P. New Rulers, New Rules? Changes in Military Equipment during the 13th and 14th Centuries in the Area of the Sanok Land // Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae” №33. 2020
- It is difficult to determine unequivocally what the weaponry of warriors of Halych-Volhynia looked like in the Pre- and Post-Mongol Period. Despite many years of archaeological excavations and the acquisition of an enormous assemblage of finds related to this problem, no monographic work on this issue has been published so far. This role is regrettably not fulfilled by a short study on this issue by V. Petehyrych. The monograph of weaponry in early medieval Lesser Poland by P. Strzyż solely discusses the western borderlands of this duchy. However, there are many detailed studies (whose value varies with regard to source criticism) discussing individual categories of weaponry, assemblages of finds from examined sites (chiefly strongholds), as well as individual discoveries of arms and armour. We do not have a generalised work on the weaponry of Halych-Volhynian warriors in the light of written sources and iconography, either. This role is certainly not fulfilled by an otherwise valuable study by M. F. Kotliar, in which the author paid a lot of attention to Halych and Volyhnia matters. However, there are a few smaller works concerning military affairs in the times of King Danylo of Halych and his successors.
- In the ‘old’ provinces of the Kingdom, the nobility were obliged to participate in military expeditions ‘in the best way they can’ in exchange for lands they possessed. This resulted from Article 17 of the Statutes of Greater Poland issued by Casimir the Great. However, land grants for nobility in Ruthenia implied a detailed specification of military duties of grantees. According to some researchers, this was caused by the king’s attempt at greater control over the scope of military service in newly annexed territories.
- Within the context of our considerations of special interest is also the ethnic origin of persons to whom the mentioned charters apply. There is no doubt that we are dealing with representatives of two cultural zones: the Eastern and the Western one. It is certain that Hriczko Zarouicz of Daliowa who served as armatus cum hasta was Ruthenian. However, a brief description does not specify his set of armament. It cannot be excluded that brothers Thodor (Teodor?) and Nestko from the village of Wenkowe who were to serve as shooters were also Ruthenians. In their case it is of interest that they could come both with crossbows and with bows and this is the only case where the latter kind of projectile weapon was mentioned.
More numerous mentions are no doubt related to persons from the Latin sphere. According to Adam Fastnacht, a prominent researcher of the medieval history of the Sanok Land, among the mentioned grantees the following persons were Polish: Jakub Iskra in Iskrzynia, Stefan son of Wojost in Stara Wieś, and Stanisław Toka in Lubatowa. It seems that Jaśko Puskowski in Pisarowce, Przybysław (who came from the Łęczyca Land) son of Fal in Jabłonica Ruska, Jachnik Dziewieczka in Długie, and Pietrasz of Falkow (in the Sandomierz Land) in Szczepańcowa may have also belonged to this group. Nevertheless Fastnacht says that the following persons were Germans: Dythmar in Równe, Barthold Tyczner (whose origin, according to this researcher, can be related to the Moravian town of Titschein) and Hanzel in Królik Polski. This group can probably also encompass Mikołaj son of Reymann in Rymanów, and perhaps Falko of Krosno, too.
There are also a number of names which do not determine ethnic origin, although they seem to imply the Latin cultural sphere (“Petrus”, “Martinus”, “Paulus, Jacobus et Nicolaus”, “Michael et Iacussius”, “Gregorius”, “Mathias”). What we know about brothers Piotr and Paweł who received grants in Srogów Niżny, Dydnia, Jurowce and Temeszów is that they came from Hungary. This, however, does not determine their ethnicity.
The defensive armament of combatants from the Latin cultural sphere, among whom there were both lancers and shooters, was strongly diversified. Apart from universal elements, such as, for example, mail, there were also such ones that seem to be characteristic of the Western military model. Among these there are coat of plates armour and perhaps also kettle hats and gauntlets.
- To sum up, it must be said that the analysis of available sources allows us - in our opinion - to assume that after the incorporation of Halych Ruthenia by Casimir the Great in the mid-14th century there was a significant change in the armament of warriors in the territory of the Sanok Land in the 2nd half of the 14th century. Local elements which can be seen in the archaeological finds and in the iconography of the 13th-, and early 14th century and which are related to the Eastern European model of armament (such as lamellar and scale armours, conical helmets, flails, maces, bows) were replaced to a great degree by weaponry which evolved in the Latin sphere (coat of plates, kettle hats, plate defences of limbs, crossbows as weapons of mounted shooters). This was caused not only by the settlement of nobility and colonists from the Kingdom of Poland, Silesian Duchies, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire, who brought in new sets of military equipment, but first of all by the introduction of a model of military organisation that was new in these territories. However, it is worth stressing that influences from the Western European cultural sphere with regard to arms and armour can be seen in the territory of Halych-Volhynia much earlier, but to a much smaller degree. At the present stage of research, we are not able to determine whether and what elements of Eastern European military equipment that was characteristic of the period before the mid-14th century survived in this territory in the period in question. It is worth paying attention to the fact that possible Ruthenians who were mentioned in sources - Thodor and Nestko - could participate in military expeditions with bows.
