Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae 30 (2017), Pp
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Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae 30 (2017), pp. 11-17 FASCICULI ARCHAEOLOGIAE HISTORICAE FASC. XXX, PL ISSN 0860-0007 DOI: 10.23858/FAH30.2017.001 AleksAnder Bołdyrew* THE BOW IN THE BORDERLAND IN THE 16th CENTURY A bstract: After finishing a long-term conflict with the state of the Teutonic order (1521, 1525), the Polish foreign policy directed its focus to the East, which resulted in the necessity to reorganise the armed forces, at least partially. It translated, among other things, into changes in the military technology. The latter, in turn, had to be gradually adapted to the unique military culture which dominated in the Eastern and South-Eastern theatre of military operations. Among many symptoms of these changes, some can be observed in the area of weaponry. This was a natural process, observed also in other territo- rial and temporal contexts, which normally took place after two different war customs had met. In the 16th century Eastern and South-Eastern theatre of military operations, a perfect example is offered by the abandonment and later the return to using the bow and arrow in combat. Keywords: history of warfare, arms and armour history, early modern history Central 4 locations influence the hinterland, shaping its vanguard of these phenomena. The direction of the move- social and economic aspects, as well as the administrative ment of goods, including cultural goods belonging to the and military structure. In the case of a borderline, there area of material culture is reversed. Thus, the peripheries is an even more interesting coincidence. Borderline areas of centres, that is, the Crown and Lithuania on the one hand remain under the influence of two centres which compete and Muscovy on the other hand, had to function simulta- with each other. Additionally, if a borderline lies at the neously as correlative (for the centres) borderline military meeting of not only two conflicts but also, in a longer tem- subsystems and blend into a shared peripheral subsystem. poral perspective, the meeting of two cultures, the quan- This subsystem might be described as a form of adapta- tity and – as we should suspect – the quality of processes tion to the environment, but not only the biological one (as which take place in the area are multiplied. This is espe- defined by processual archaeology for example). From the cially the case if the dispute is fuelled not only by differ- point of view of contextual analysis, the described exam- ent political, dynastical or territorial interests, but also by ple confirms the proposition of the lack of universality of an admixture of ideological argument with a religious tinge certain behaviours. This is due to the fact that each time 3 (the latin west and the „Greek” east). In such a situation, the local „flavour” was determined by the cultural 7 context . a characteristic borderline culture is born, which includes In this case this context was different than the assump- military culture. The path (method, way) to its origination tions worked out during long-term military disputes with is cultural diffusion, understood ex definitione as having the Teutonic Order, or dynastic struggles fought in the area 1 multiple 5 forms . of Bohemia and Hungary by the Polish army. Under normal (peaceful) conditions, the hinterland Of course, it was not only artefacts which came to 2 is a broadly-defined resource area for the 6 centre . During the hinterland area under threat of or engulfed in warfare. war, it is the centre which becomes such an area, providing Along with them, there came an entire set of techniques of resources and materials to the hinterland, and with them using them. However, as it was mentioned before, the hin- a sort of modus operandi, a „style of life” or even „style terland participates in creating borderline culture, which is of usage”. Then, the hinterland represents the centre as the characteristic for the local conditions. Thus, since the cul- ture is formed via cultural diffusion, it must be assumed that an equally important phenomenon is the adoption * Institute of History and International Relations, Fac- of artefacts and their usage methods from the other side. ulty of History and Philology, Jan Kochanowski University, [email protected] 1 Bołdyrew 2014, 550-557. 2 Moździoch 1999, 7. 3 k aczanowski and kozłowski 1998, 15-16. 11 AleksAnder Bołdyrew Only after analysing a complete set of these factors it will distance from the enemy, promoted the formation of horse it be possible to draw a picture of the borderline military armies which suddenly appeared and disappeared in vast culture as regards the weaponry and its sets used in combat steppes, forests or marshlands. As a matter of fact, written there. This military culture originated as a result of a clash sources often mention a sudden appearance of the enemy, of „military traditions” from two centres with divergent its offensive action and response of the assaulted party only and opposing political interests, which were pursued in during the pursuit. a reciprocal conflict. In confrontation with such an opponent, it was neces- Obviously, an exhaustive analysis of this phenomenon sary to gradually modify one’s military tradition, weapon- would exceed the limits of this article. This is why this ry and tactics. In such case, it becomes reasonable to adopt study is merely devoted to a single kind of ranged weap- the already proven solutions. As regards individual weap- ons, that is the bow and arrow in all its varieties identified onry (on the part of the Polish-lithuanian Commonwealth), in the borderland of the Crown, the Grand duchy of lithu- one of such elements was the return to the use of the bow ania, the Grand duchy of Muscovy, and Moldavia, or – in and arrow, which have previously been abandoned due to the typical language of military history – the Eastern and better functional parameters of the gun. However, in a new South-Eastern theatre of military operations during the environment, the bow once again became equal in con- rule of the last members of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The venience (and mainly in it) to the gun, which was probably chronological scope of this work is arbitrary, as the dis- decisive for its common use. Numerous source references cussed phenomena were shaped during a period of many allow typological and formal questions to be clarified6, al- years and the same may be said about their gradual disap- though the lack of theoretical works seriously restricts re- pearance. while it is possible to provide an exact date, con- search possibilities7. firmed by a written source, of the first mention of a match- Bows appear frequently in registers of hired troops. lock gun in the hands of the Polish soldiers, or the moment However, army officials did not record the presence of when the gravioris armaturae type of cavalry armour was a bow but instead used the word sahaidak, sahaid, sahai, abandoned, it is hardly feasible to precisely date the pro- sah or сагайдакъ8. This term (sajdak, sahajdak) is explicit cess of returning to the use of bow and arrow by the sol- and, as it is known, it meant a set of covers used for trans- diers of the Commonwealth in the 16th century. porting the bow and arrows. The weapon itself was carried Admittedly, stanisław sarnicki wrote that the bow and in a pouch (łubie) suspended from the belt or saddle, and arrow is a „[…] famous, defensive and quick […]” weap- the arrows were kept in a quiver. The record ‘sajdak’ (sa- on4. However, we must not forget that in the conditions of hajdak) also indicates the bow type used by the so-called the western european style of warfare (e.g., during the kozaks in the enlisted cavalry, because this way was only so-called „Prussian war” of 1519-1521) this quick weapon used for transporting Asian style bows, that is, composite could not meet the requirements of the battlefield, which recurve or double recurve bows. It is worth stressing that was already absolutely dominated by individual and team- a schematic image of this weapon is found in one of wood- operated black-powder firearms. Besides, Sarnicki added cuts used as illustrations for the work by S. Herberstein9. that: „[…] jakże rusznice nastały, także jednak jego mnie- This study, being the outcome of the emissary’s journey to manie nieco jest zniżone, bo z rusznicy jednak dalej ugodzi the Grand duchy of Muscovy, was partially devoted to de- […] [when the matchlock gun was introduced, the bow and scribing Russian customs, including the military traditions. arrow’s importance decreased somewhat, as the matchlock The woodcut shows a bow pouch and an Eastern style gun will reach farther]”5. quiver, suspended from a rope stretched between columns It should thus be a natural consequence of hand-held visible in the background. Interestingly enough, the wood- guns and artillery becoming widespread that neuroballistic cut shows a certain characteristic feature of quivers used weapons would be abandoned. Generally, this was the case, in the East. The visible discoid bottom of the quiver made although not for the unique area of the Eastern borderline it a rigid container, which allowed a considerable quanti- of Poland in the 16th century. It was there that, in accord- ty of arrows to be kept in it10. However, it must be noted ance with the rule mentioned at the beginning of this paper, military cultures of two different centres met. A dominat- ing feature of warfare in the East was that it was based on 6 To avoid repetitions, I intentionally do not discuss al- highly mobile light cavalry, whose tactics was adjusted to ready known facts about the bow in medieval and early modern Central europe.