Folia Historica 31. (Budapest, 2016)

I. KÖSZÖNTJÜK A 80 ÉVES T. NÉMETH ANNAMÁRIÁT - Kovács S. Tibor: A „konstábler bot" és a „huszas" buzogány. A középkori buzogányok és kései utódaik Magyarországon

Herman Ottó Museum of Miskolc undertook excavations near the site of the Battle of Muhi, in 1241 between Hungarian and Mongol forces. Approximately 50 metres from the cemetery of the 13th century Muhi village two skeletons were uncovered in a pit (Grave 4062). The burial contained the following finds: bit, 2 arrowheads, iron knife sheath, iron belt buckle, a purse decorated with chainmail rings and 8 silver coins of Béla IV (1235-1270) minted between 1235 and 1241. The most significant object from an armour history point of view, was an iron mace which is the exact parallel of one from the collection of the Hungarian National Museum. (Fig. 3.)

The Cuman population fleeing from the Mongols settled in Hungary in 1239. They brought in their typical armour, including the mace. These steppe type maces and the varieties developed from them in Hungary came to light in abundancy both in Hungary and abroad. (Fig. 5.) The word "buzogány" (mace) in modern Hungarian is no doubt of Cuman origin. Before the settlement of the Cuman people the word "bot" was in use, which proves this type of weapon was known.

The next step of the development of maces is the occurrence of the so called "Gothic" maces in the early 15th century. They were made of iron in full and had 4—6 square, protruding forged spikes, with a metal projections below and above. The iron handle is either circular, or square in cross section, but occasionally it can be spirated. Many examples can be found among the maces from Hungary. (Fig. 6.)

In Hungary the collection of antiquities, including weapons became very fashionable among the higher classes from the early 19th century. The well-known antiquarian of his era, Sámuel Litteráti Nemes (1794—1842) opened a shop at Pest (Budapest) as well in 1835 already. Because of the high demand Litteráti started to forge sabres and maces, mainly with the names of different Transylvanian princes. The Hungarian National Museum has four such pieces in its collection, that were made in the first half of the 19th century. (Fig. 8.)

After the Russian suppressing of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence against the Habsburgs (1849) the - temporarily - chance to restore constitutional order came first only in 1860. In this year the same Leopold Rottenbiller (1806-1870) was the mayor of Pest as in 1848. The voluntary constable unit organized by the mayor was adorned with a Cuman type, star-shape headed mace. (Fig. 7.) Its prototype was the not the piece in the Museum but the mace still in use by the head of the neighbouring Jász-Cuman territory.

During the World War I (1914-1918) the mace appeared in large numbers and in a variety of forms in the trenches of the Italian front lines. The Hungarian Royal 20th Honvéd Infantry Division even depicted this popular weapon, the "twenty", on its cap-badge. The mace might have got this name after the number of the division or according to another explanation, because the first varieties were tacked with 20 horseshoe nails. (Fig. 10.) After the World War I, in Hungary governed by Admiral Miklós Horthy (1920-1944) the role of the mace is insignificant, especially compared to Poland, where the president, the generals and major officers often received maces as gifts. In Hungary, on the central part of the Great Hungarian Plain, in the Nagykunság the "fellowrod" ending mainly in a globular, brass head, was still known around 1920. One of its varieties, as mentioned earlier was similarly star-shape (12 knobs) as the

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