Folia archeologica 54.

Kocsis László - Mráv Zsolt: Egy késő római sisak arcvédő lemezének töredéke Dunafalváról (Bács-Kiskun megye)

298 KOVÁCS S. TIBOR Péter Huszár and Gergely Nagy from 1466 (Fig. 11). In the later 15

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h century, the sabre fitted with a peasant knife hilt was an infantry weapon, while sabres with an S shaped cross-guard were used by the Hungarian light cavalry. The mass employment of southern Slavic Hussars as mercenaries in the later 15th century led to the spread of Turkish type sabres used by southern Slavic Hussars in the Hungarian light cavalry too. One fine example of these Turkish weapons is a Gothic sabre in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum (Fig. 12). The role of Hussars increased significantly from the late 15th century in Hungary, and the Turkish sabre used by the Hussars became popular among the Hungarian nobles, as well as in the royal court (Figs 13-14). From the early 16

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h century onward, the light cavalry and a part of the infantry too were equipped with Turkish sabres, while the other two sabre types gradually went out of use. Translated by Magdalena Seleanu