Ethnographic Arms & Armour - about Balkan flintlock rifles

Here is a fragment of the work of my colleague Zoran Marcov about Oriental rifles and muskets. The book will be printed this summer.

The portable flintlock firearms’s crafting has been developed in the Western Balkan Peninsula under the influence of the Ottoman Turks, while the North-Italian armouries were extremely important when emphasizing the new types of arms defining the Balkan space. The džeferdar rifle belongs to the largest category of Balkan firearms named tančice, being considered, alongside of the ledenica pistol, the most beautiful Balkan firearm.

How Did the Balkan Rifles Develop during The Ottoman Domination

In the Ottoman Era, throughout the Balkan Peninsula, the powerful Oriental influence and the old European cultural heritage have paved the path for the development of some specific portable firearms, never known in other sides of the Ottoman Empire.
The flintlock firearms’s production in the Balkan weaponry workshops was strongly influenced by the armouries from Northern Italy. These rifles were executed in the Balkans starting with the mid-XVIIth century by local armourers named tufekdžije (Radović, 2002, p. 32).
The occidental rifles, especially the Italian ones used for hunting, represented the pattern of the future Balkan weapons during the XVIIIth and XIX th centuries.
The barrels and mechanisms of the North-Italian hunting rifles were highly-valued components in the Balkans. They were imported from Italy, initially asssembled in Albania and then in the whole Balkan space (Jeličić, 2001, p. 23). The Ottoman authorities prohibited the civilians, especially the Balkan Christians, to bear arms, and the legislation was much harsher during armed uprisings or conflicts. Given the facts, people in the Balkans started to develop clandestine weapon trades. From time to time, the Ottoman authorities tolerated these tradings, but usually they strongly forbade them, as a consequence of the political context of the era.
Since the importation of hunting rifles was not forbidden, the barrels of the Venetian hunting rifles came in large quantities. In the workshops and armouries throughout the Balkans, These barrels were decorated and assembled with other local components, leading to the development of new firearms types, characteristic for the Balkan Peninsula (Radović, 2002, p. 35).

Firearms Specific to The Balkan Sspace: the Tančice/Arnautke Trifles

A particular category of flintlock rifles was crafted in the Balkan Peninsula - tančice or arnautke. Tančice is a generic term covering a large scale of rifles used and, especially, crafted within the Balkan territory, particularly in the Central and South-Western parts, therefore the local name arnautke . However, when speaking about the tančice rifles, we should also consider that during the XVIIIth century, as well as at the beginning of the XIXth, the Balkan countries had imported a large amount of tančice/arnautke rifles designated to be exported there. Besides rifles, the Balkan countries imported from the Italians large amounts of barrels and mechanisms, items that were subsequently assembled by the Bosnian armourers. We can say with certitude that the tančice rifles imported from Northern Italy were not created according to a specific Italian design, as they were not realized for the occidental market, but their only purpose was exclusively to be exported to the Balkan Peninsula. Generally speaking, these arms were more qualitative than the ones realized/assembled in Kosovo, Albania or Bosnia, given the fact that the Italian workshops and armouries in the XVIIIth century were much more developed, proving a more superior production than the simple Balkan forges. When Bosnia was conquered by the Austro-Hungarians, the local Bosnian armouries were still using flintlock mechanisms (Kovač, 2009, p. 20).
According to the Serb, Croatian and Bosnian literature, the generic term tančica refers to a certain category of Balkan arms, represented by two types of rifles different in shape (we mainly refer to the shape of the stock and barrel); they only have in common the territory within they were crafted and used – the Western Balkan Peninsula. Therefore, we can assert that all the rifles that are not shishane , belong to the tančice group, although there is no criterion proving the fact that, in terms of shape, the džeferdar and karanfilka, can be related to the same weapon category (Kovač, 2009, p. 20).
When speaking about the tančice rifles, the long and thin barrel, the miquelet mechanism, as well as the thin and curved stock are defining characteristic but the decoration’s richness also indicates the rifle’s type. The tančice rifles are defined by precision and the remote firing and they were higly appreciated in the guerrilla struggles all over the Balkans during the Turkish domination (Radović, 2002, p. 36).
The tančices are mainly singularized by the shape of the stock. The other defining element of a rifle, the barrel, may not be considered here, although there are important differences between the shishane and tančice rifle barrels (shishana is provided with a much thicker and rifled barrel, while the tančica is a much thinner and longer smooth barrel in the inside), yet these differences are not compulsory, for instance, the paragun rifle, a variant of the shishane rifles, generally provided with thin and long barrels and smooth barrels in the inside.
Given the stock’s shape, the tančice rifles are divided in two types of weapons: the proper tančice including the roga, karanfilka and rašak rifles and the džeferdar and čibuklija rifles, more similar to the Italian hunting rifles than to the Ottoman Turkish ones. When speaking about the džeferdar and čibuklija rifles, the main element is not related to the shape of the stock (which is identical to the Italian one) but to the weapons’ ornaments, specific to the Balkan territory (Kovač, 2009, p. 20). Regarding the tančice rifles, we have to consider that this particular weapon category is typical only to the western Balkan Peninsula, at the time a territory under the Ottoman domination. Excluding the shishane rifles, which used to be more widely spread military weapons than the Balkan rifles, we can state that the tančice rifles were typical local Turkish products, characteristic for the mountainous areas where the Ottoman authorities had limited control.
In this regard, we may conclude that the tančice rifles reprezented highly original crafted weapons, having a popular design combined with the ancient feudal culture. Therefore, referring to the this kind of weapon’s tipollogy, we must consider it from the perspectives of an ethnographic weaponry category, culturally specific to the Western Balkans. Outside this territory, the tančice rifles were not sold in the Western world, being at least interesting for the Eastern Balkan Peninsula (Kovač, 2009, p. 21).

The Džeferdar Rifle, a Balkan Jewelry
One of the most beautiful tančica type Balkan rifle is the džeferdar. Its name is related to a Turkish term, cevherdar, deriving from a Persian word which, if translated word by word, means „decorated with gems” (Jeličić, 2001, p. 29). Referring to this rifle's name, Robert Elgood identifies the origin of the džeferdar term in the Arabian Persian word jauhar or johar, meaning „brilliance“ or „jewel“ (Elgood, 2009, p. 75). Initially, the was probably used to identify all the luxuriously ornamented rifles but, at the beginning of the XIXth century, the term came to be used only for a certain category of the tančice rifles, weapons whose wooden elements were completely covered with mother-of-pearl (Jeličić, 2001, p. 29). Jeličić is not very convinced about the theory articulated by historian Vejsil Ćurčić in 1944 (Ćurčić, 1944, p. 180), according to which the origin of the džeferdar term is related to the Damascus barrels used in their production. The Croatian author argues against the previous theory, proving that the Damascus barrels are used in different types of Balkan rifles, however none of these weapons was known as džeferdar although all of them were provided with the Damascus barrels. When referring to the term’s origin, Anđelija Radović, from the Military Museum Belgrade, considers that the džeferdar is terminologically mentioned at the end of the XVIIth century; this fact also indicates the early period of time when this type of weapon appears in the Balkans, the terminology being connected to the centre from Foča (Radović, 2002, p. 36).
The shape of the džeferdar is highly similar to the čibuklija rifle shape, the closest version to the Northern hunting rifle. The barrel’s shape and decorations are similar with the other tančice rifles, the only relevant difference is that the džeferdar’s barrel is shorter. Some džeferdars have zigzag decorations engraved on the barrels’ upper part. These were used to symbolize lightnings or snakes; on the rifles’ barrels there were decorations meant to protect the owners from forces of evil, curses etc. (Elgood, 1995, p. 98).
The Damascus barrels are highly qualitative, they are rust-fast and very beautiful too. The beautifully decorated barrels, with powerful Oriental influences, identified on the early džeferdar, support the idea that these barrels were produced in the Muslim centres from Herzegovina, especially in Foča, for a well-defined Muslim clientage, at that time having no connection with the Venetian Kotor (Elgood, 2009, p. 76). Whether we refer to the centre from Foča, we must mention the fact that the barrels produced here were well-known due to their special decorations, silver and golden incrustations in the barrels’ steel. Literature in the filed mentions dževerdani or dževerlije – jewels – the barrels which were probably the result of some partnerships completed among different production centres in Herzegovina (Elgood, 2009, p. 81).
The mechanism is also related to the miquelet type, yet there are some samples provided with a French mechanism . The rifle’s wooden elements are completely covered with white mother-of-pearl plates, diamond-shape, triangles, circles or semi-circles, stylized flowers etc. A characteristic element of these mother-of-pearl plates refers to the form of the plates’ margins, which are indented with some little cuts (Jeličić, 2001, p. 30). The mother-of-pearl, which used to assure the rifle's complex decoration, was imported from Italy and processed at Risan . The mother-of-pearl plates were fixed onto the weapon’s wooden elements with the help of some small brass nails (Radović, 2002, p. 37). Elgood considers that the mother-of-pearl’s appearance in the Balkans must be related to the Ottoman trade in the Mediterranean. Under these circumstances the mother-of-pearl might have been introduced in the Balkans due to the imperial capital Istanbul, where these incrustations on weaponry items had already been known before 1580. In this regard, Elgood mentions two of Sinan’s apprentices from Istanbul, Dalgich and Mehmet Aga who, at that time, were well-known due the mother-of-pearl incrustations applied on the firearms (Elgood, 2009, p. 75). The butt’s termination is generally covered with a wide plate made of silver or brass, decorated very beautifully (engraving, fret-saw etc). This type of decoration is specific to the space stretching between Dubrovnik and Boka Kotorska.
In time, due to its commercial freedom, this territory allured lots of handicraftsmen; among them skilful armourers from all over the Balkan Peninsula. The armourers had already come to the Balkan Peninsula at the end of the XVIIth century from famous cities such as Mostar, Trebinje, Podgorica, Foča etc. According to the censuses of the handicraftsmen from Herceg Novi, in the XVIIIth century, there were 22 armourers activating here and 16 in Kotor, then, in the XIXth century there were 29 certified armourers in Herceg Novi. It was still the XVIIIth century when, at Risan, they certified a native armourer from Foča (Elgood, 2009, p. 81). Herceg Novi is also known due to the local barrel production, given the model of the imported Italian ones. Considering the fact that this rifle type had been already produced in the Balkans, starting with the XVIIth century, the armourers from the inner Balkan Peninsula brought both this weapon type and its decorations to Boka Kotorska; these elements had gradually become the characteristics of the džeferdar rifles produced at Boka Kotorska. According to the archive documents from Kotor, the first džeferdars certified in documents develop between 1685 and 1689. The oldest džeferdars from Boka Kotorska, preserved in museums and particular collections, are dated at the beginning of the XVIIIth century (Jeličić, 2001, p. 30).

Please let me know when it will be available from where I could find this book.
Regards

Cerjak
Sergiu

The portable flintlock firearms’s crafting has been developed in the Western Balkan Peninsula under the influence of the Ottoman Turks, while the North-Italian armouries were extremely important when emphasizing the new types of arms defining the Balkan space. The džeferdar rifle belongs to the largest category of Balkan firearms named tančice, being considered, alongside of the ledenica pistol, the most beautiful Balkan firearm.

How Did the Balkan Rifles Develop during The Ottoman Domination

In the Ottoman Era, throughout the Balkan Peninsula, the powerful Oriental influence and the old European cultural heritage have paved the path for the development of some specific portable firearms, never known in other sides of the Ottoman Empire.
The flintlock firearms’s production in the Balkan weaponry workshops was strongly influenced by the armouries from Northern Italy. These rifles were executed in the Balkans starting with the mid-XVIIth century by local armourers named tufekdžije (Radović, 2002, p. 32).
The occidental rifles, especially the Italian ones used for hunting, represented the pattern of the future Balkan weapons during the XVIIIth and XIX th centuries.
The barrels and mechanisms of the North-Italian hunting rifles were highly-valued components in the Balkans. They were imported from Italy, initially asssembled in Albania and then in the whole Balkan space (Jeličić, 2001, p. 23). The Ottoman authorities prohibited the civilians, especially the Balkan Christians, to bear arms, and the legislation was much harsher during armed uprisings or conflicts. Given the facts, people in the Balkans started to develop clandestine weapon trades. From time to time, the Ottoman authorities tolerated these tradings, but usually they strongly forbade them, as a consequence of the political context of the era.
Since the importation of hunting rifles was not forbidden, the barrels of the Venetian hunting rifles came in large quantities. In the workshops and armouries throughout the Balkans, These barrels were decorated and assembled with other local components, leading to the development of new firearms types, characteristic for the Balkan Peninsula (Radović, 2002, p. 35).

Firearms Specific to The Balkan Sspace: the Tančice/Arnautke Trifles

A particular category of flintlock rifles was crafted in the Balkan Peninsula - tančice or arnautke. Tančice is a generic term covering a large scale of rifles used and, especially, crafted within the Balkan territory, particularly in the Central and South-Western parts, therefore the local name arnautke . However, when speaking about the tančice rifles, we should also consider that during the XVIIIth century, as well as at the beginning of the XIXth, the Balkan countries had imported a large amount of tančice/arnautke rifles designated to be exported there. Besides rifles, the Balkan countries imported from the Italians large amounts of barrels and mechanisms, items that were subsequently assembled by the Bosnian armourers. We can say with certitude that the tančice rifles imported from Northern Italy were not created according to a specific Italian design, as they were not realized for the occidental market, but their only purpose was exclusively to be exported to the Balkan Peninsula. Generally speaking, these arms were more qualitative than the ones realized/assembled in Kosovo, Albania or Bosnia, given the fact that the Italian workshops and armouries in the XVIIIth century were much more developed, proving a more superior production than the simple Balkan forges. When Bosnia was conquered by the Austro-Hungarians, the local Bosnian armouries were still using flintlock mechanisms (Kovač, 2009, p. 20).
According to the Serb, Croatian and Bosnian literature, the generic term tančica refers to a certain category of Balkan arms, represented by two types of rifles different in shape (we mainly refer to the shape of the stock and barrel); they only have in common the territory within they were crafted and used – the Western Balkan Peninsula. Therefore, we can assert that all the rifles that are not shishane , belong to the tančice group, although there is no criterion proving the fact that, in terms of shape, the džeferdar and karanfilka, can be related to the same weapon category (Kovač, 2009, p. 20).
When speaking about the tančice rifles, the long and thin barrel, the miquelet mechanism, as well as the thin and curved stock are defining characteristic but the decoration’s richness also indicates the rifle’s type. The tančice rifles are defined by precision and the remote firing and they were higly appreciated in the guerrilla struggles all over the Balkans during the Turkish domination (Radović, 2002, p. 36).
The tančices are mainly singularized by the shape of the stock. The other defining element of a rifle, the barrel, may not be considered here, although there are important differences between the shishane and tančice rifle barrels (shishana is provided with a much thicker and rifled barrel, while the tančica is a much thinner and longer smooth barrel in the inside), yet these differences are not compulsory, for instance, the paragun rifle, a variant of the shishane rifles, generally provided with thin and long barrels and smooth barrels in the inside.
Given the stock’s shape, the tančice rifles are divided in two types of weapons: the proper tančice including the roga, karanfilka and rašak rifles and the džeferdar and čibuklija rifles, more similar to the Italian hunting rifles than to the Ottoman Turkish ones. When speaking about the džeferdar and čibuklija rifles, the main element is not related to the shape of the stock (which is identical to the Italian one) but to the weapons’ ornaments, specific to the Balkan territory (Kovač, 2009, p. 20). Regarding the tančice rifles, we have to consider that this particular weapon category is typical only to the western Balkan Peninsula, at the time a territory under the Ottoman domination. Excluding the shishane rifles, which used to be more widely spread military weapons than the Balkan rifles, we can state that the tančice rifles were typical local Turkish products, characteristic for the mountainous areas where the Ottoman authorities had limited control.
In this regard, we may conclude that the tančice rifles reprezented highly original crafted weapons, having a popular design combined with the ancient feudal culture. Therefore, referring to the this kind of weapon’s tipollogy, we must consider it from the perspectives of an ethnographic weaponry category, culturally specific to the Western Balkans. Outside this territory, the tančice rifles were not sold in the Western world, being at least interesting for the Eastern Balkan Peninsula (Kovač, 2009, p. 21).

The Džeferdar Rifle, a Balkan Jewelry
One of the most beautiful tančica type Balkan rifle is the džeferdar. Its name is related to a Turkish term, cevherdar, deriving from a Persian word which, if translated word by word, means „decorated with gems” (Jeličić, 2001, p. 29). Referring to this rifle's name, Robert Elgood identifies the origin of the džeferdar term in the Arabian Persian word jauhar or johar, meaning „brilliance“ or „jewel“ (Elgood, 2009, p. 75). Initially, the was probably used to identify all the luxuriously ornamented rifles but, at the beginning of the XIXth century, the term came to be used only for a certain category of the tančice rifles, weapons whose wooden elements were completely covered with mother-of-pearl (Jeličić, 2001, p. 29). Jeličić is not very convinced about the theory articulated by historian Vejsil Ćurčić in 1944 (Ćurčić, 1944, p. 180), according to which the origin of the džeferdar term is related to the Damascus barrels used in their production. The Croatian author argues against the previous theory, proving that the Damascus barrels are used in different types of Balkan rifles, however none of these weapons was known as džeferdar although all of them were provided with the Damascus barrels. When referring to the term’s origin, Anđelija Radović, from the Military Museum Belgrade, considers that the džeferdar is terminologically mentioned at the end of the XVIIth century; this fact also indicates the early period of time when this type of weapon appears in the Balkans, the terminology being connected to the centre from Foča (Radović, 2002, p. 36).
The shape of the džeferdar is highly similar to the čibuklija rifle shape, the closest version to the Northern hunting rifle. The barrel’s shape and decorations are similar with the other tančice rifles, the only relevant difference is that the džeferdar’s barrel is shorter. Some džeferdars have zigzag decorations engraved on the barrels’ upper part. These were used to symbolize lightnings or snakes; on the rifles’ barrels there were decorations meant to protect the owners from forces of evil, curses etc. (Elgood, 1995, p. 98).
The Damascus barrels are highly qualitative, they are rust-fast and very beautiful too. The beautifully decorated barrels, with powerful Oriental influences, identified on the early džeferdar, support the idea that these barrels were produced in the Muslim centres from Herzegovina, especially in Foča, for a well-defined Muslim clientage, at that time having no connection with the Venetian Kotor (Elgood, 2009, p. 76). Whether we refer to the centre from Foča, we must mention the fact that the barrels produced here were well-known due to their special decorations, silver and golden incrustations in the barrels’ steel. Literature in the filed mentions dževerdani or dževerlije – jewels – the barrels which were probably the result of some partnerships completed among different production centres in Herzegovina (Elgood, 2009, p. 81).
The mechanism is also related to the miquelet type, yet there are some samples provided with a French mechanism . The rifle’s wooden elements are completely covered with white mother-of-pearl plates, diamond-shape, triangles, circles or semi-circles, stylized flowers etc. A characteristic element of these mother-of-pearl plates refers to the form of the plates’ margins, which are indented with some little cuts (Jeličić, 2001, p. 30). The mother-of-pearl, which used to assure the rifle's complex decoration, was imported from Italy and processed at Risan . The mother-of-pearl plates were fixed onto the weapon’s wooden elements with the help of some small brass nails (Radović, 2002, p. 37). Elgood considers that the mother-of-pearl’s appearance in the Balkans must be related to the Ottoman trade in the Mediterranean. Under these circumstances the mother-of-pearl might have been introduced in the Balkans due to the imperial capital Istanbul, where these incrustations on weaponry items had already been known before 1580. In this regard, Elgood mentions two of Sinan’s apprentices from Istanbul, Dalgich and Mehmet Aga who, at that time, were well-known due the mother-of-pearl incrustations applied on the firearms (Elgood, 2009, p. 75). The butt’s termination is generally covered with a wide plate made of silver or brass, decorated very beautifully (engraving, fret-saw etc). This type of decoration is specific to the space stretching between Dubrovnik and Boka Kotorska.
In time, due to its commercial freedom, this territory allured lots of handicraftsmen; among them skilful armourers from all over the Balkan Peninsula. The armourers had already come to the Balkan Peninsula at the end of the XVIIth century from famous cities such as Mostar, Trebinje, Podgorica, Foča etc. According to the censuses of the handicraftsmen from Herceg Novi, in the XVIIIth century, there were 22 armourers activating here and 16 in Kotor, then, in the XIXth century there were 29 certified armourers in Herceg Novi. It was still the XVIIIth century when, at Risan, they certified a native armourer from Foča (Elgood, 2009, p. 81). Herceg Novi is also known due to the local barrel production, given the model of the imported Italian ones. Considering the fact that this rifle type had been already produced in the Balkans, starting with the XVIIth century, the armourers from the inner Balkan Peninsula brought both this weapon type and its decorations to Boka Kotorska; these elements had gradually become the characteristics of the džeferdar rifles produced at Boka Kotorska. According to the archive documents from Kotor, the first džeferdars certified in documents develop between 1685 and 1689. The oldest džeferdars from Boka Kotorska, preserved in museums and particular collections, are dated at the beginning of the XVIIIth century (Jeličić, 2001, p. 30).[/QUOTE]