Download PDF | (History of Warfare 31) John Waldman - Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe_ The Evolution of European Staff Weapons between 1200 and 1650-Brill Academic Pub (2005).
268 Pages
FOREWORD
Walter J. Karcheski, Jr.
Of the wide array of medieval European and Renaissance weaponry the category comprised of those arms with offensive elements affixed to poles of various lengths is the one of which there has been the least research and publication. Variously known as polearms, hafted, shafted or staff weapons, these form an extremely varied, historically important and intriguing family of arms.
These include the spear, perhaps the oldest of all of Man’s offensive weapons, with roots that date back half a million years, and which in one form or another has been used almost universally the world over. Despite this great potential interest and historical importance, the study and publication of European staff weapons has lagged greatly when compared to that of other weapons, especially as regards those works published in the English language. Even in his monumental, five-volume magnum opus, A Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries, Sir Guy F. Laking devoted only two quite modest chapters to his study of the weapons. In the mid-1930s Charles Buttin prepared a series of important articles for the Musée de l’Armée in Paris. While these covered many of the weapons and provided much useful information that drew upon a number of primary sources, Buttin’s articles were not wellillustrated, were available only via a limited circulation, and were published only in French. Since the nineteenth century many articles have appeared in the specialist literature of arms and armor journals and periodicals.
However, these tended to focus on single types of staff weapons, often focusing on a single aspect of their history, or military use. Such articles were largely in languages other than English, limiting their value and usefulness to many contemporary readers, who are also often without ready access to these relatively obscure and often hard-to-find works. In more recent years there has been only the occasional, limited monographic study, and the only attempt at a serious overall survey, Mario Troso’s Le armi in asta delle fanterie europee (1000–1500), was written in Italian, and hard to obtain. Some historians also appear to have considered staff weapons to be of secondary interest.
This was perhaps due to the fact that with few exceptions, they were not “knightly” arms, and thus were perceived as less worthy of serious study. However, the role and importance of certain staff weapons such as the halberd and the long spear or pike in the rebirth of professional infantry forces in Europe during the fifteenth, sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries has been long recognized. This makes the need for a sound, Englishlanguage monographic study of European medieval and Renaissance staff weapons even more critical. The fact that staff weapons were for the most part the arms of the common foot soldier, and sometimes of irregular troops or even the peasantry, adds to the complexity of their study. A particular weapon might be referred to by several names, or erroneously associated with another type, with the error perpetuated by generations of students and scholars.
Over the years many collectors and students of military history, and some Englishspeaking arms historians have expressed their desire to see the subject dealt with in detail in the form of a monographic study, and the fog of misunderstanding and misinformation lifted. Dr. Waldman is the first to have taken on the task head-on. He has drawn upon the best of the secondary source literature, but most importantly, the primary sources, both written and artistic, and coupled this with his extensive personal knowledge of the actual weapons themselves. He has consulted with curators and collectors internationally, and visited the major (and some minor) public collections in the Americas and in Europe. Many of the reference sources and images of the arms in use are little-known outside of specialist circles, or have never been examined in this context.
As evidenced in the chapters of this well-researched, well-written and extensively illustrated book, he has, for many readers, “lifted the veil” of the lack of knowledge of the development, manufacture and use, and the period nomenclature of a great many staff weapons. He modestly states that his is not the definitive work on the subject. Nonetheless, this important book will prove of considerable value and interest not only to collectors of antique arms and armor, but also to social and military historians, those interested in the historical technology of metalworking, and art scholars of the medieval through Early Modern periods. Focusing on the “golden age” of staff weapons—those centuries of the Later Middle Ages until the dawn of the seventeenth century—Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe will be a valuable reference work to libraries, museums and a range of audiences.
Walter J. Karcheski, Jr. Chief Curator of Arms and Armor Frazier Historical Arms Museum Louisville, Kentucky, USA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply indebted to a large number of people for their help and encouragement. Among them are, Jürg A. Meier, conservator and curator of the collection of the castle of Grandson, Arms and Armor expert for Sotheby’s Zürich and formerly of Galerie Fischer in Lucerne, whose scholarship is well known and who has provided me with valuable information on early pieces, and taken the time to read and critique the manuscript, Donald J. La Rocca and Stuart Pyhrr of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their tireless cooperation and permission to examine the non-exhibited staff weapons at the museum, and especially to Mr. La Rocca for his highly constructive comments and criticism on this project, as well as his material contribution of articles and for facilitating the use of photographic material for the book.
I am beholden to him also for proofreading portions of the manuscript, and adding his very helpful and sobering comments. Ian Eaves, whom I met through Mr. La Rocca, is a storehouse of information and encouragement. Dirk Breiding, also of the Metropolitan Museum was responsible for the connection with Brill Publishers and supplied me with art references with which I was not familiar. Claude Blair, whom I had the great pleasure of meeting, pointed me towards some important reference sources that I was unaware of. The kindness of Matthias Senn of the Landesmuseum in Zurich, in allowing me to examine and photograph the wonderful early pieces in the collection, is very much appreciated. I wish to thank Marianne Berchtold, the curator of the weapons collection in the Historical Museum of Bern for her time and cooperation, also Franz Egger, curator of arms and armor of the Historical Museum of Basel, for permission to examine and photograph groundfinds in storage; and particularly Martin Sauter, restorer in the Basel museum, for his time and patience in locating the off-site items, and finding archival photographs with their histories. The kindness and continued cooperation of Franziska Heuss in the Kupferstich Kabinet of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel is much appreciated, as is that of Dr. Marco A.R. Leutenegger, director of the Museum Altes Zeughaus in Solothurn and his permission to use the museum’s photographs produced by its restorer and photographer. It was a great pleasure to meet and talk with Dr. Sylvia Mattl-Wurm of the Historische Museum der Stadt Wien through whose efforts I was able to see and photograph parts of the vast collection in storage (with the help of the custodian, Herr Gapp). Dr. Günter Düriegl, the director of the museum was instrumental in connecting me with Dr. Mattl. Thanks also to Dr. Christian Beaufort-Spontin, the director of the Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer in Vienna for his suggestion to contact Matthias Pfaffenbichler, curator in the same institution, who shared his knowledge and the museum’s inventory with me. I appreciated the cooperation of Dr. M.L. Schaller of the Zentralbibliothek Luzern, whom I persuaded to send me its photograph of a page of the Diebold Schilling Chronicle. Dr. Alfred Geibig, director of the Veste Coburg, although not personally present, had the kindness to ask Mr. Wernhofer, the museum’s restorer to host me during my visit. K. Corey Keeble, curator of Western Art and Culture at the Royal Ontario museum in Toronto, was most kind, helpful and encouraging. Ms. Carla Pirani of the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe in Bologna gave me her time in locating original engravings containing staff weapons. Mr. Jonathan Cotton, curator of prehistory at the Museum of London, suggested relevant sources for Bronze Age “halberds.” Mr. Walter Karcheski formerly of the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, and currently chief curator of the Frazier Historical Arms Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, opened the Worcester collection for me, and gave his valuable time and comments, and introduced me (by letter) to Dr. Peter Krenn, director of the Landeszeughaus Graz, who was most cooperative during my visit there. To him also, I owe special thanks for reading the final manuscript for the Leiden, Netherlands publishing house, Brill, and offering invaluable advice and numerous corrections. Mr. Julian Deahl, Senior Acquisitions Editor for Brill, was the first to take interest in my work, and Mrs. Marcella Mulder, Assistant Editor, was kind enough to walk me through the lengthy publication process. Ms. Barbara Edsall, registrar of the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, kindly supplied me with an important photograph and information. Mr. Kent dur Russell, director of the Higgins, was most cooperative as was Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng, its curator. Ms. Sue Reid and Ms. Page Hamilton of the department of prints and drawings in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston were helpful in locating relevant prints for my use. Father Sigisbert, the librarian of the Benedictine cloister library in Engelberg, Canton Obwald, Switzerland, located codex 339 for me and permitted the reproduction of illustrations from it. In the Scandinavian countries, Mr. Nils Drejholt, curator of Arms and Armor at the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm was gracious with his time, information on Swedish arms manufacturing and photographs, as was Ms. Nina Heins in the department of photography for producing new ones. Mr. Fred Sandstedt of the Armémuseum also in Stockholm provided printed materials, information on military history and files on the collection, which was temporarily closed for restoration. I could not avail myself of Mr. Bengt Kylsberg’s offer to visit the collection at Skokloster Castle for lack of time. In Copenhagen, Ms. Åse Højlund Nielsen, curator of the medieval collection at the Danish Nationalmuseet, helped me obtain photos of an unusual weapon in that collection. Mr. Michael Hielscher, director of the Tøjhusmuseet in Copenhagen, arranged in his absence, access to staff weapons, and permission to use a photograph in this book. Magister Karin Leitner of the Alte Galerie in the Joanneum in Graz helped me secure an important photograph. Ms. Francesca Consagra, curator of prints and drawings at Vassar College provided material for my use. Mr. Ian Ashdown of the Center for Restoration and Conservation, in his capacity as restorer for the collection in the Castle of Grandson, kindly showed me the weapons in the storage area and the main collection. A debt of gratitude is due to my friend Evelyne Tiersky, who translated letters, discussed the text and made it more readable. My friend Dr. George Snook is partly responsible for the inspiration to write this book, and has never failed in the early days, to prod me into activity when I have lagged. His wife, Lee, was of help in locating books and articles in libraries both near and far. Christine Pratt, of Dark Horse Photographics, developed and printed many of the black and white photos. Last but not least, the book would surely not have been acceptable for publication without the careful editing by both Walter Karcheski (as I previously mentioned), and Dr. Kate Sampsell, whose commands of the English language, composition and history are profound.
INTRODUCTION This book deals primarily with the origins of hafted weapons and their development during the expansionist and turbulent period in European history shortly after the turn of the first millennium. Some of the facts relevant to this period can be summarized, if only in a brief way, leaving out specific political-historical references and emphasizing the social and demographic ones. Geopolitical changes during the period under discussion were rapid in the small and not-so-small dynastic states, while population sizes, despite natural setbacks such as reduction by wars, the plague, and adverse climatic changes, were increasing. For example, the population of the Helvetic tribes in what is now Switzerland doubled between the early and late Middle Ages, from about 400,000 in the tenth century to 800,000 in the fourteenth.1 It is at this time that major efforts of intentional primeval deforestation were occurring, and the resulting emergence of farmlands with their increased food supply, along with increased utilization of the mining of ores as well as the improvement of trade routes, helped to bring about these population growths and related migrations. One finds already at about 1100 A.D. a rapidly improving infrastructure for travel, that is, reasonably good roads that were physically safe from natural hazards in the mountains, bridges to cross torrents, rivers, and chasms, and an evolving system of hostels and taverns for comfort. These amenities decreased the high risk of traveling, especially for traders and merchants. The newfound advantages were, however, somewhat offset by the institutions of tolls initially set up to pay for improvements made, and soon corrupted by the local lords or landowners as a means of monetary gains, with often no actual improvements being made. Companies of bandits and armed robbers from all levels of social life also constituted an ever-present danger to tradesmen, travelers and pilgrims on these routes. In short, where in the early middle ages cities, towns, and hamlets were relatively isolated, separated by vast forests, rivers, and mountains that were difficult to traverse, a few hundred years later, with significant reductions of those barriers, trading prospered. In the late Middle Ages; circa 1400, the inhabitants of these rural and urban centers could now count on an adequate food supply from the new farmlands created out of forests that now produced opportunities for both agriculture and animal husbandry. Central Europe had at last undergone the same changes that the classical world had, more than a millennium before, and as a consequence of these changes, Europeans could look from the problems of subsistence to those of expansion and might. The major urban centers of the late middle ages began to accumulate vast wealth for their ruling classes, who, impressed with their own power, expressed their greed for expansion with military campaigns against neighboring states. One of the most typical examples of such expansionist desire occurred in the latter part of the fifteenth century in the duchy of Burgundy under one of the richest men in the world; Charles the Bold. What Charles tried and failed to do by armed conquest, his son-in-law Maximilian did by politically advantageous marriages. Maximilian was far more successful than Charles in accumulating territory, despite the fact that he was constantly at war and on the verge of bankruptcy .
The political maneuvers typified by Charles’ and Maximilian’s ambitions necessitated the use of armed force: in the period under discussion, Europe in one location or another, was almost constantly at war. The empires of Alexander the Great and Charlemagne attest to the fact that warfare and military conquest were not new to Europe, but that in the early part of the second millennium, technology had reached a somewhat greater degree of sophistication and craft in which the development of arms and armor was no mean part. The war machine had evolved by circa 1350 from the pre-medieval and medieval form of feudalism where landed knights had been led by nobility who had little regard, if not utter contempt, for the concept of a peasant infantry—to one in the later middle ages powered mainly by a respected infantry. That infantry model provides the framework of this book; it discusses the weapons most favored, and found most effective, by the foot soldier. As the importance of the infantry increased, the peasant foot soldier and his weapons, specifically staff weapons, eclipsed the sword-and lance-wielding knightly horseman. The book also concerns itself with not only the staff weapons’ impact on the structure of armies, but also with their use and forms, and relies on the study of the surviving objects, as well as texts and illustrations found in chronicles, manuscripts, and books. As with many other objects throughout history, cultural artifacts change with time as society itself changes. The purpose, and therefore the significance of staff weapons, was modified continuously from their inception throughout their rise and decline. During the latter period, most of the weapons became ceremonial, that is, symbolic; they are known for their decoration and the great variety. These surviving and mostly late forms are in modern times much publicized and prized for their artistry and visual impact, both by collectors and museums. They are not, however, the subject of this book, which will focus on the often confusing nomenclature, military significance, techniques of manufacture, and above all chronological development of staff weapons, especially halberds, where this is discernible, in the period up to circa 1650. By far the greatest difficulty, in writing a book of this sort, is the association of a weapons’ name to a given illustration. That is to say that manuscript or other illustrations, almost never have an accompanying text to identify or describe the particular weapon in question. It is usually by the association of known historical facts with a contemporary illustration, and series of similar illustrations that the rational identification of a given arm is made. Even the best descriptions in the modern literature on staff weapons are usually not specific enough to make positive identification, and often a work will add what previous authors consider synonyms at the end, thus muddying the waters even more. When a reasonable association has been made, as is attempted in this book, one can then work both forward and backward, relying on specific changes in the weapon’s morphology that are expected, knowing general stylistic trends, and the related history. Using this methodology, the book tries to be as specific as possible. Past works are quoted not merely because they are in print, but to make a point and to extract from them significant observations. Only the most widely used types of weapons are discussed. Many subtypes exist, which are not really insignificant, but found limited use in battle, and lack the military importance of the major weapons which comprise the greatest volume in this work. So, for instance, the sponton-halberd which is a very late combination of a diminutive partisan and a halberd, having use only in the military ranking system of the seventeenth century and later, is given little more than mention, as it has no real combative use, and as with all other staff weapons of that period, had become obsolete in the field of battle.
The arms that will be discussed most fully, are those used by the Swiss. This has two reasons; the first is that Swiss hafted arms have been the principal focus of personal studies for many years. The second is that because of their particular political and geographic history, the Swiss were at their greatest power using these arms against their continuously invasive neighbors, the Habsburgs (as well as, early on, against each other), and much of the development of some of the most important types of staff weapons occurred in this very centrally located part of Europe. One must not, however, think of “Swiss” in the modern concept; as in the formative years of the confederation that we are dealing with, these tribes were anything but homogeneous, either geographically or politically, and often sections (cantons) of the modern country were on opposite sides of the strife. The nuclear states of the later nation, bound together by a treaty in 1291, added on additional states for mutual protection over several centuries. In theory, at least, a critical survey of all extant staff weapons in the world would find no two to be identical, minor variations being evident in weapons even from the same workshops. If this sounds unreasonable, it should be remembered that all weapons of this period were literally hand made, portions by master craftsmen, parts by apprentices or journeymen, in workshops perhaps within one city, or perhaps hundreds of miles apart. Countless small towns throughout Europe have small exhibitions in town halls or local museums dealing with local history and mostly but not always using archaeological finds. Those near castles, ruined or not, as well as those near sites of battles, or on the banks of rivers are even more likely to have excavated ground or river finds of, among other things, weapons. Although many of these weapons have been published, there is as yet no mechanism by which these objects can be collated and studied as a group. One would have to spend years traveling to see them all. The author has not gone to this length, of course, but has made an effort to personally examine as many as possible of these lesser-known but often very important examples. Early specimens in private collections are important also, but are often inaccessible and their origins are mostly obscure; doubtless they are not much more than a fraction of the material in the collective town exhibits. The length of chapters in this book is an indication of the assessment of both the importance of the weapon, and of the amount of surviving documentary evidence, including contemporary pictorial material. This is not to say that other weapons were not important, just that there is less available evidence concerning them, as well as fewer of the surviving arms themselves. They may have been dropped from use, or been converted, with changes, into guard or parade arms. Their importance in civil life is enhanced however, because they often became a vehicle for the decorative arts, involving masters of not only crafts such as goldsmithing, but also of the arts of engraving, damascening, etching and silver inlay—often on blue black metallic ground.2 Some of these masters; Daniel Hopfer of Augsburg for example, were also skilled in the graphic arts on paper. The principal weapon discussed is the halberd, because it—in conjunction with the longspear (“Langspiess” in German) was one of the primary weapons used by the armies involved in the wide-ranging shifts of power that occurred across Europe between 1250 and 1550. Firearms, to be sure, which were developing during the last half of this time period, overshadowed hafted weapons by the mid-sixteenth century, although longspears in a somewhat shortened version, at this time known as pikes, were used in the early seventeenth century to protect the marksmen during the reloading maneuver. Conservatives, nonetheless clung tenaciously to the belief that hafted arms as well as some other non-firearms should be stocked in the town arsenals, and so in present times we see some strange bedfellows in surviving arsenals such as in Graz, Austria and Solothurn, Switzerland: halberds of a fourteenth century form alongside longspears of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 5 meters (16 feet) in length, matchlocks, wheellocks, flintlock pistols, and long arms of various periods, not to mention mail shirts and armor whose dates of manufacture span more than a hundred years. This all to our good fortune, as in so many other instances, intentional destruction of outdated or “archaic” objects deemed useless, occurs, and we are left only with pictorial and occasional written references to those objects. Documentary evidence by such persons as ambassadors and other observers exists, to what would appear to be large numbers of specialized weapons. Nicolo di Savri, the Italian ambassador to England, noted in 1513 that 12,000 holy water sprinklers were carried by the English at that time. Whether indeed such large numbers of this now rarely found weapon did exist, is a matter of conjecture, as we can assume that no matter how impressed di Savri was, he did not actually count those weapons personally. Where we find greater accuracy is in the logbooks of the arsenals and in town records, as these weapons had to be paid for, and the books balanced.3 Other difficulties encountered in accurately describing weapons and their variations include the liberties a given artist takes with his subject matter (not to mention the bias in interpreting, say, the outcome of a given battle, or the guilt or innocence of a well known and influential person), and the degree of artistic skill, or the span of time elapsed between the episode depicted and the execution of the work of art.
One can, however, draw rational conclusions after having studied enough of an artist’s oeuvre, and by knowing in whose employ or under whose patronage the artist worked. Identification of the precise form of a weapon and tying it to a date may indeed place it close to the time and place where a weapons smith created it, but this analysis cannot be performed on the basis of merely finding it in a dated illustration. Weapons of a given form may not only be manufactured unchanged over a very long period of time during which newer forms are also being made, most likely by other workshops; but much older forms may persist as well. Dating is therefore a difficult matter and it should be understood that this book attempts to tie in the form with its earliest appearance, unless otherwise noted.
A survey of various works of art shows that artists sometimes accurately depict weapon forms some 100 years or so apart in design, as being used, at the same time.4 That is, they can; but just as often they do not, and depict historical events from remote times as if they were happening in the latest style of their own time. This lack of historical and stylistic perspective is readily understood when one realizes that printed matter was scarce and concerned itself mainly with religious, philosophical and moral issues—and hardly with issues of style. The whole concept of style and art history is relatively modern. There is however, a slow progression in stylistic accuracy by the seventeenth century; examples to point to are some the Biblical works of Rembrandt in which pale robes clothe the figures in the manner of the near East, but more often than not, seventeenth century styles are seen on important figures to indicate wealth or prominence, and military clothing and weapons are either sketchy and vague or more frequently distinctly sixteenth or seventeenth century.
The etching “Ecce Homo” of 1635, also known as “Christ before Pilate” is an example of this. It is decidedly Oriental in character, and this is explained by the fact that Rembrandt had studied the world of Orientalism both from books such as by the historian Flavius Josephus, and by old pictorial representations that he had access to. Thus the artist-scholar begins to incorporate history into art, which in turn depicts history. As this material is put together, it appears that there are more unanswered questions and speculation than one would wish, but the work does hopefully serve as a foundation for future research and amplification.
Link
Press Here
0 التعليقات :
إرسال تعليق