Wallachian Swords of the 15th Century: What Types?

[Samik]

Hi all ,

I came across a pretty neat website dealing with orthodox iconography / fresco's and the like http://www.orthodoxphotos.com

There is a number of wall paintings and fresco's from Romania that depicts warriors armed with swords. I may be shooting a bit blind here as unfortunately most of those pieces are not given a date (and one cannot be sure if they are relevant to 15th century). Any help from you guys in dating those marvelous works of art would be helpful

Here we go :

Stills from the life of St. John the New - Voronet Monastery Fresco - Romania :



Note both the sabre and hand-and-a-half sword with somewhat unique looks (i.e. The "green" part on the sword ; the "sword-like" hilt on a sabre + the somewhat strange/intriguing shape of the yelmen)






Blade grabbing here , do however note the somewhat shorter lenght on the crossguard (not that it would be out of place in the "latin" world but nevertheless..)






Here we have an interesting figure armed with both sabre and a composite bow; take note of his somewhat "fancy" hat. Could this be one of the infamous Kipcak/Cuman people ?

......to be continued

[Samik]

Part 2 :


Moving onto Sucevita Monastery Fresco - Romania



Unfortunately this one is a bit smaller. Note the Turks, that are apparently slaughtering some folks. Two of them are seemingly from the Jannisary corps , as their pointy headwear indicates. The man in the middle seems to use a straight sword in a two handed way (?) , whereas the Jannisary on the right uses what seems to be a sabre-proper.




Probably a "Warrior Saint". His sword bears a great resemblance to another one drawn in a fresco from Pec, Serbia. (The one i posted in the "Volga Bulgarians" thread)


Next comes

St. Dimitrie Church Frescoes, Suceava, Romania





I am guessing probably another one of those "warrior-saints" ; his sword however is very interesting ; note the slightly curved crossguard and slender blade, that shows a striking resemblance to some of the more wester late medieval/early renaissance cut and thrust swords



No swords shown , but the picture is rich on polearms and armour. Note the man-at-arms at the front that carries a composite or even a longbow?(!)


The last (but not least) duo of pictures comes from

Probota Monastery Frescoes, Romania




A scene of beheading. Note the gilded hilt and the following cleaning of the sword blade.




A beautiful fresco. This one containts both the "Romanesque" armour , circular ( similar to kalkan-turkish) shield, spears but most importantly swords. The military figure in the center seems to carry ,judging from the somewhat canted hilt a sabre (or if you take into consideration the lenght of the hilt it could even be a long/hand n a half sword?). The last thing to note is the angel under Christ's left arm , that is definately holding a sabre (unfortunately the picture is a bit small , but one can see the gilded crossguard and a dark hilt/pommel)

Enjoy folks , there is much more at http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Icons_...es/index.shtml , its a pity though that no dates are given.

All the best ,
Samuel

[Emanuel]

Haha I was going to scan pics from this monastery. Voronet was built during the reign of Stefan the Great, and the frescos are contemporary, so end 15th century.

The second picture you show Samuel, is from the life of St. Nicholas.

Here are two from the martyrdom of St. Stephen. It represents the trial and stoning of Stephen in Jerusalem, but the authoritative figure, Saul of Tarsus, is dressed in Ottoman fashion. The mob that "stones" Stephen is here shown with clubs. The hat that sort of falls to the side is actually Romanian/VLach/Moldovan. Another hat type is conical slanting backwards. That also has quite a bit of history in eastern Europe.





Emanuel

[Emanuel]

I found a number of studies on mediaeval arms in the Romanian principalities. They corroborate that the peasant army was armed with axes, maces, bows and polearms, and only the boiers had swords. One author mentions that these were produced in Brasov and that they had a "distinctly Romanian look" but the fool neglects to include pictures of said swords .

Another study on arms and armour in Transylvania demonstrates that weapons were most strongly influenced by western Saxon tradition and were of the straight double-edged variety. Only much later did curved sabres catch on in Transylvania. This leaves out Valahia...again I'm inclined to think that both sabres and straight swords were equally available to Vlad III and his contermporaries.

I'm waiting on another book on 15th century crafts and manufacturing.

Emanuel