Folia archeologica 44.

Kovács S. Tibor: Török hatás a magyar fegyvereken a 15-17. században

242 KOVÁCS S. TIBOR The sabre, shown in Picture 6, Fig. 2 is moulded, and is made of silver. Its motifs are similar to the Turkish Rumi motifs, but the technique of preparation and the renaissance elemenst of the side-plates suggest to us that it is most probably a Hungarian work, made after a particular Turkish sabre. The number of weapons, made after both Turkish design and of Turkish origin are found increasingly in the material surviving up to our day from the 17th century. The caparison from the middle of the 17th century (Picture 7) is decorated with Rumi motifs and baroque flowers. A hallmark, with the letters IS can be seen on its plates. The mace of the Transylvanian prince, György Rákóczi II is shown in Picture 8, Fig. 1. Gilded silver saz leaves and hatayi flowers can be seen on the moulded mace. The letters MZ are the hallmark of Márton Szegedi, a goldsmith from Debrecen, who worked in the 1st half of the 17th century. "Porte-form" identifies a sabre made by Hungarian armourers after Turkish prototypes. One of the best variations of the "Porte-form" sabres can be seen in the 1. Fig. of Picture 9. The dominating Rumi motifs of the gilded silver show that the weapon was made after a Turkish sabre, ornamented with jade. The hallmark, made up of the letters IS, were stamped in two places on this sabre. Unfortunately, the master cannot be identified, but we know of a gilded silver cup from his workshop, made in the year 1638. We regard both the sabres of Balázs Kamuthy (Picture 10, Fig. 1) and of Ladislas Rákóczi (Picture 10, Fig. 2) as copies of Turkish works. Both weapons were made in the 17th century. Oil the sabre of Balázs Kamuthy we can see late renaissance elements. The Broadsword of Ladislas Rákóczi (Picture 11, Fig. 1) is ornamented by moulded and gilded silver saz leaves and hatayi flowers, but on the reverse of the scabbard baroque llowers can also be seen. The hallmark of István Gönczy, a master goldsmith (worked: 1642-1692) and the roof-mark of the town of Kassa, some lilies, are stamped on the sword. We know that Ladislas Rákóczi fell during the siege of Nagyvárad in the year 1664, so we can determine exactly that his sword was made during the years 1642-1664. We can see five gilded silver plates on the next sword, illustrated in Picture 11, Fig. 2, with saz leaves and hatayi flowers. We know about its parallel from the inventory of the estate of the Szirmay brothers in 1680: "Sabre, covered with silver and gold, on its red velvet scabbard five Turkishtype plates..." We believe that this sword is a Transylvanian copy of Turkish arms. The sidearm was presented to the Hungarian National Museum in the year 1902. (Picture 12) A similar, but less well-made, sword came into the Arms Collection of our Museum in the year 1934. The Turkish arms of the second half of the 17th century - especially the sabres and maces - are significantly different from the earlier Turkish arms. The Hungarian mace, made in the second half of the 17th century, seen in Picture 13, Fig. 1. could be the original prototype of the Turkish ribbed maces. The sword and sabre, shown in Picture 13, Fig. 2-3 were in the ownership of the Transylvanian aristocrat, Miklós Bánffy. Similar motifs can be seen on nielloed Turkish sabres. So, Hungarian arms had an influence on Turkish arms also: in practice we can speak about Turkish-Hungarian interaction. Finally, we must mention, that the Hungarian light cavalry not only took over the weapons of the Turkish light cavalry, but improved it too. Good examples of this are the pointed tuck, which was able to penetrate through the mail-shirt; and the helmet of the Hussars, which defended the head better than previous helmets of the Hungarian and Turkish light cavalry. Tibor Kovács S.