Basic Tartar dress comprised sheepskins — usually black — in winter, and in summer coloured kaftans described by Pero Tafur (writing of the Crim Tartars of Kaffa) as made of ‘the delicate silk of those parts, very elaborately worked, like the Moors’. These were short-sleeved and split at the sides. In addition tight or baggy trousers, boots, and an assortment of tall fur, felt and sheepskin hats were worn. This costume is portrayed in many 14th-15th century Western sources; figure 145 is based on a picture in Bertrandon de la Brocquiere’s ‘Voyage d’Outremer’ of 1455, but identical figures can be found in, for instance, the Polish ‘Legend of St Jadwiga’ of c.1353 and the mid-14th century French ‘L’Histoire des Rois d’Orient’, as well as 14th century editions of Marco Polo. In the latter the kaftan is almost invariably white, the hat white or coloured, and the shirt red or yellow. The kaftan and shirt usually have embroidered borders. Figure 146, on the other hand, wears a distinctly more Asiatic costume, with an outer kaftan that is clearly either quilted or made of leather, possibly as a form of armour. He is a Kalmuk tribesman, from a drawing of c.1438 by Pisanello.
Their principal weapon was the composite bow — much longer than that in use amongst the Turks, Persians and Indians, and firing a heavier arrow to a shorter range — plus a comprehensive armoury of secondary weapons which included sabre, mace, kistien, axe, nahaj and knife. 16th century authorities add that many in addition carried a lance ‘like a boar-spear’, seemingly of reasonable length, probably about 10 feet. Shields were mostly round, wooden with an iron rim and boss in the case of the larger ones or of osiers covered
In silk, leather or fur in the case of the smaller buckler variety, though usually still with an iron boss. In the late-15th century, following the Ottoman conquest of the Crimea, the Hungarian wing-shield was apparently adopted from the Turks (for which see 92a).
World History
