The introduction of Western European-style armour into Serbia was an inevitable by-product of the country’s heavy reliance on German, Hungarian, Spanish and other foreign mercenaries, whose weapons and tactics they soon adopted to the extent that from the mid-14th century at the latest, until the fall of the despotate in 1459, the better-equipped Serbian men-at-arms would have been largely indistinguishable from their German and Hungarian counterparts, except in that they often lagged somewhat behind whatever contemporary trends prevailed elsewhere in Europe. Considerable quantities of armour were imported from Italy (Venice in particular) and Dubrovnik, that coming from the latter often originating in Germany.
Figure 70 is equipped in accordance with sources of the period 1370-1400, and wears bascinet, corselet, gauntlets and leg-harness. The corselet is in fact a toya, made of mail reinforced with iron splints, similar to the Near Eastern types already described under 8, 17 and 32. That mail and mail-based armours at first remained more popular in Serbia than plate would appear to be confirmed by Doukas’ description of the Serbian cavalry at Ankara in 1402 as being ‘encased in black armour’, a phrase which does not lend itself to plate but fits mail rather well. Doukas’ description of the battle also implies that the Serbians’ armour was relatively comprehensive, since he remarks that the Tartar arrows ‘did not manage... to inflict much damage’ on them, only on their horses. Though the latter were clearly unarmoured on this occasion, other sources state that horses were sometimes barded, horse-armour apparently being purchased principally from Venice. In addition several seals, such as that of King Tvrtko of Bosnia, show horses in housings, sometimes bearing escutcheons of the owners’ arms. However, horse-armour would probably have been limited to the very rich, who were in addition recognisable by their ‘sparkling’ armour and their silver and gilt decorated spurs and equipment. 70a, from the seal of Stephen Lazarevic (1389-1427), depicts a more ornate helm with crest and lambrequin, such as was apparently worn in battle by many Serbian noblemen. 70b, depicting another example, comes from the seal of a minor 14th century despot.
The remaining 2 figures both belong to the 15th century. 71 is from a statue in Dubrovnik erected in 1423, wearing an Italian armour of that date complete with lance-rest, pauldrons, plackart and short fauld of iron hoops. His shield, however, is an old-fashioned almond type. Figure 72, on the other hand, a mid-century Bosnian voivode (Krvoiev Misap), wears harness that is probably of German or Hungarian origin (though it could possibly be of Balkan manufacture), and carries a more modern rectangular shield bearing Hungarian-style arms. In Western Europe, of course, the use of shields by heavy cavalrymen had generally been abandoned by this date, but significantly they seem to have remained in use amongst Balkan cavalry throughout this era, probably in response to the Ottoman Turks’ heavy reliance on archery in battle. The helmets of both figures are added from other, Serbian, sources.
Arms generally comprised shield, lance (normally couched but apparently sometimes still wielded overarm or 2-handed in the 14th century), German sword, dagger and mace. Shields were generally either almond or heater-shaped or rectangular, sometimes bouched like that carried by figure 88; in addition the wing-shield described under figures 73 and 92 below was probably carried by some. Some Serbian light cavalry (see 94 and 95) continued to utilise more traditional round shields of silk - or leather-covered wicker with an iron or brass boss, and some of them may have continued to carry a composite or self bow in place of, or in addition to, the more usual lance even in the 15th century; however, if any did, their numbers must have been very small indeed.
World History
