New Rulers, New Rules? Changes in Military Equipment during the 13th and 14th Centuries in the Area of the Sanok Land

Piotr N Kotowicz,Paweł Skowroński

doi:10.23858/fah33.2020.004

Abstract

This paper discusses problems of changes in military equipment that was in use in the historical Sanok Land. Being situated in the borderland of Piast Poland and the Halych-Volhynia Principality, Sanok was located at the interface of two civilisations – Latin and Byzantine. This was naturally reflected in both the material and spiritual culture of this region which was incorporated into Kievan Rus’ in the 11th century and then became part of the Kingdom of Poland (Red Ruthenia) after 1340. A question asked by the authors is: did the change of state sovereignty in the mid-14th century and the appearance of colonists from the West result in popularisation of the ‘Latin’ model of weaponry or were medieval Rus’-style arms and armour still in use? On the basis of a confrontation of written, iconographic and archaeological sources which concern this region in the period between the 1st half of the 13th and the late 14th century the authors draw the conclusion that after the year 1340 some types which are characteristic for the Eastern European model of weaponry were replaced to a considerable degree by weapons evolving in the Latin sphere.

Highlights

This paper discusses problems of changes in military equipment that was in use in the historical Sanok Land
A question asked by the authors is: did the change of state sovereignty in the mid-14th century and the appearance of colonists from the West result in popularisation of the ‘Latin’ model of weaponry or were medieval Rus’-style arms and armour still in use? On the basis of a confrontation of written, iconographic and archaeological sources which concern this region in the period between the 1st half of the 13th and the late 14th century the authors draw the conclusion that after the year 1340 some types which are characteristic for the Eastern European model of weaponry were replaced to a considerable degree by weapons evolving in the Latin sphere
Lands conquered by Poland which later formed so-called Red Ruthenia became divided into four new land districts – Sanok, Przemyśl, L’viv and Halych (Fig. 1)