“And what were the swords in Russia? They say a lot about the Europeans, but they are silent about the Russians.
- It's a conspiracy! We, the authors, have sworn this secret not to reveal to anyone!
If we describe swords in terms of typology, then yes, boring, monotonous and uninteresting.
- Vyacheslav Olegovich! Subterfuge will not help !!! We are waiting, sir !!!"
(From the correspondence on the site)
"… I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
(Matthew 10:38)
The history of weapons. I'll start with a small lyrical digression. Such writings as the very first, taken into the epigraph, about Russian swords were always surprising. It would seem that in the age of the Internet, this is generally impossible. Well, you, type in a search engine "Russian swords" or "articles and books about Russian melee weapons", or "dissertations on Russian melee weapons", or A. N. Kirpichnikov "Russian swords of the XI-XIII centuries", or A. N Kirpichnikov, AF Medvedev "Armament". And there will be so many things for you that you will not contradict to read. But - no, it is necessary to write obvious stupidity, just to write.
Personally, I am not interested in this topic and here's why.
At one time, back in the 70s of the last century, I read many works of authors of that time about ancient Russian weapons. Written in heavy, purely scientific language. I made my way through their jungle, and made a number of conclusions for myself, one of which is not to write on this topic. And to give links to these fundamental, "Soviet", extremely reliable research. Because … Whoever needs it, he can do it. And those who are used to jumping on the tops do not need this: they will open and close.
By the way, I can say the same about myself. I am interested in interesting (funny pun - interested in interesting) topics that are little known to our reader, information on which does not require hard work. And so that there is a beautiful, visual visual series that pleasantly enlivens any dry text. There is no such thing - in front of you, dear, the Internet. And in it there are dissertations, and monographs, and articles in the journal "Soviet Archeology" - you go there!
The fact is that there is actually a lot of information on Russian swords.
Archaeologists have excavated 30 thousand kurgan complexes (!) And compiled a detailed card index of all the complexes in which armor and weapons of the 9th – 14th centuries were discovered. And there are 1,300 burials and 120 more settlements in it. Moreover, 40 domestic and some foreign museums have finds from them: more than 7000 items of weapons and military equipment of the 9th - first half of the 13th centuries, found during excavations in more than 500 settlements.
The weapons found on the territory of Russia are documented by at least 85–90%. In total, the same Kirpichnikov recorded artifacts and their fragments (now there are more): swords - 183, scramasaxes - 10, daggers - 5, sabers - 150, spearheads - 750, almost tips of sulits - 50, battle axes - 570 and about 1000 workers, maces (and six-fighters) - 100, 130 flails, thousands of arrowheads and about 50 crossbow bolts. And also parts of complex bows, quivers and other accessories for a bow or crossbow. Of the armor, 37 helmets, 112 chain mails, separate parts of 26 plate and scale armor (270 elements in total) are cataloged. And also bracers and knee pads. And 23 fragments from shields. Horse equipment: a bit - 570, individual parts - 32 headbands (700 parts), a horse mask, the remains of 31 saddles (130 parts), 430 stirrups, almost 590 spurs, 50 parts of whips.
Well, those interested can read about all this in the most detailed way in the following works:
There are interesting dissertations, and not Soviet times, but today:
So it is not necessary, flaunting your own ignorance, to write that "no one writes." You … With the Internet you need work and you will be happy! Moreover, all this is in Russian. I can agree that working with foreign-language websites of museums, libraries and universities is much more difficult.
Swords in the mounds of the XI-XII centuries. found rarely. Kirpichnikov explains this by the fact that not a sword, but a spear and an ax were the main weapons of battle. In doing so, he refers to sources such as miniatures and chronicles. And to this it is impossible to add anything new. In total, seven swords were found in the burials, some were found by chance, and most of them were found during excavations of southern Russian cities that perished during the Mongol invasion (for example, only in Kiev, 8-9 swords were found). This means that this weapon belongs to the XIII century.
In addition, the finds show that swords of all types were known in Russia, which were used at that time in Western Europe, and swords with a disc-shaped pommel prevailed. A sword in burial is also rare because of the Christian burial rite. Only pagans endow the dead with household items. As for the photographs of all these, then … on them we can mainly see rusty scrap metal, which is not at all interesting to a layman.
Such is the "fundamental" entry turned out.
And now it makes sense to talk about the typology of Ewart Oakeshott and its reflection in medieval miniatures. The most interesting thing is that by profession he was not a historian, but an amateur and amateur. But he began to collect and study medieval swords and succeeded in this business. Became a specialist! He published many articles and three monographs, which became the foundation for all subsequent work in this area. But most importantly, he created a typology of swords, which is based on the features of the shape of the blade and its proportions, that is, on the ratio of the size of the blade and the handle. It is clear that it is quite complex scientifically. It has its own "formula", types, subtypes and families. But in general, it is quite simple: swords from 1050 to 1350 are for cutting, swords from 1350 to 1550 are for thrusting. The first are against chain mail. The second are against lat. At different times, the blades differed in their section, and the handles - in the length and shape of the pommel. And… that's it!
Now let's turn to miniatures from medieval manuscripts. And let's see what they can tell us?
Here is a miniature from the famous Stuttgart Psalter. On it are warriors with swords very similar to … the swords of the Vikings, although we have typical Franks in front of us. And the fact is that, although such swords are called "by the people" "the swords of the Vikings," they appeared in the Frankish empire during the Carolingian era. It's just that these swords in Christian France of the VIII century disappeared from the burial inventory, but the bulk of Frankish-made blades of this time was found in the pagan burials of the Viking era in Scandinavia. But in continental Europe, these are accidental finds mainly in river beds. E. Oakeshott classifies them as "type X", although their pommels, of course, could be different.
Under Charlemagne, the price of such a sword (traditionally called "spata" or "long sword") together with the scabbard cost seven solidi (today about 1300 US dollars). That is, it was a relatively expensive weapon, although not as exclusive as in the days of the Merovingians. Charlemagne pointed out in his capitularies that as soon as a man could maintain a war horse, then he should also have armor and a sword. That is, by the end of the 9th century, the sword became a rider's weapon along with a spear.
Many swords of the 10th century, belonging to the "type X", were issued with an inscription on the blade "Ulfbert". Usually such swords are 90 cm long. The blade is about 77 cm long and weighs about 1.3 kg.
The "Ha" swords became longer, the valleys were narrower, and they were made from the 11th to the 13th century. Some swords are very long (you can see it in the miniature too!) And reach a length of 112 cm. Weight is about 1, 4 kg. According to Oakeshott, it is a sword of the transition period from the Viking Age to the "knightly sword".
We now turn to the classics of images of the medieval war of the XIII century - "The Bible of the Crusader", it is the "Bible of Saint Louis" (or as they used to say: "Holy Father") or "The Bible of Matsievsky". Apparently, the author of the miniatures was a warrior himself, knew military affairs in detail and did his best. He even painted the wounds on the sides of the horses, caused by spurs, and even then he painted all the weapons and armor in his miniatures and could not count. Moreover, there are very original copies. However, our main thing today is swords. And here they are in front of us in the illustrations from this manuscript …
Oakeshott's XI blade is 85–95 cm long and has a distinct edge. It belongs mainly to the 12th century. But … "the main one." That is, if not "main", then they could be applied later.
We emphasize that all these swords are chopping. Departure from this destination would start with Type XII.
But about them and about all that came after, we will tell you next time.
