Folia archeologica 54.
Kocsis László - Mráv Zsolt: Egy késő római sisak arcvédő lemezének töredéke Dunafalváról (Bács-Kiskun megye)
SZAB I.YÁK A KÉSŐ KÖZÉPKORI MAGYARORSZÁGON 297 SABRES IN LATE MEDIEVAL HUNGARY The sabre types of the Conquest period disappeared from the artefactual material during the 11 t h century. The sabres of the Árpádian Age and the Angevin period all have a Petcheneg or Cumanian ancestry, in other words, they did not develop from Hungarian types. There are no finds or visual documents from the 11 t h to the mid14' 1' century conclusively proving the use of sabres by Hungarians. The miniatures of the Chronicon Pictum, produced around 1360, include several depictions of sabres (Fig. 1). The weapons have a pommel resembling the ones on contemporaneous swords, their hilt is fairly long, while their cross-guard is short and rod shaped. Sabres resembling the pieces appearing in the Chronicon Pictum can be seen on the 14 l h century frescoes narrating the legend of St. Ladislas. Genuine sabres of the type depicted in the Szepesmindszent fresco appear among weapons from the late 14 l h century onward (Fig. 2). The high number of sabres in the 15th century can be linked to the Ottoman Turkish conquest of the Balkans. The most typical I Iungarian sabre of the 15 t h century was the type with S shaped cross-guard, fitted with a hilt and a blade modelled on Turkish pieces (Figs 3-4). Sabres with S shaped cross-guard generally have a blade with a prominent back edge along the lower third. This blade type differs markedly from the type appearing in 14 l h century depictions. Sabres with S shaped cross-guard can be demonstrably associated with the Ottoman Turks, as shown, for example, by one of Sultan Mehmed II's sabres (Fig. 5). During the reign of King Sigismund, I Iungary's two principal enemies were the Ottoman Turks and the Hussites. The wars waged against them had a profound impact on the way in which the military was organised, as well as on armour and armaments, a process that can best be observed in the use of sabres. Sabres with S shaped cross-guard evolved under Turkish influence, while the Hussites played a key role in the dissemination of peasant knives, a weapon typically wielded by burghers and peasants. In Hungary, peasant knives whose length was virtually identical with that of contemporary swords (Fig. 6) appeared in the armament of the serfs recruited for the defence against the Turks in the earlier 15 l h century and among the soldiers of the Hussite movement. Sabres fitted with the hilt of peasant knives became popular too during this period (Figs 7-8). The straight blade of peasant knives was increasingly often replaced with a curved sabre blade during the late Sigismund period following the spread of sabres. This tendency can also be observed among the Czech mercenaries employed in Hungary from the 1440s. The perhaps best illustration of this is the threat addressed by the Czech mercenaries to the town of Bártfa in the mid-15' 1' century (Fig. 9). These weapons, the typical equipment used by the infantry, can be likened to the German messer and the Czech tesak. Although slightly modified, these weapons enjoyed continuous popularity in the 16 t h century, as shown by Albrecht Dürer' s Fechtbuch from 1512 ( Fig. 10). The appearance of sabres with S shaped cross-guard in the earlier 15 t h century can be linked to the Ottoman Turkish expansion and the growing importance of the Hungarian light cavalry. Hussars of southern Slavic origin are mentioned as early as 1432, who served for a pay of six forints in the Szörény Banate, the region most stricken by Turkish incursions. Expelled from their homeland, the Serbs fleeing the Turkish advance found their main source of livelihood as defenders of the Hungarian border. The southern Slavic Hussars were equipped with sabres of the Turkish type, targe shields and pikes, while bows were the principal weapons used by the Hungarian light cavalry. From the mid15th century, the I lussar tactics began to replace the archers in Hungary, as shown, for example, by the coat-of-arms of
