Warfare in Medieval Poland
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (February 2020) |
Warfare in Medieval Poland covers the
Periodization
In the military history of Poland in the Middle Ages one has to separate three different periods: early, transitional, and late, each demarcated by the reign of particular princes and kings. The early medieval period was enclosed between times of Mieszko I and Bolesław III Wrymouth, the transitional period spanned the times of the Fragmentation of the State to the rule of
There are some difficulties with establishing the time-frame of the epoch, and the territory of the state, especially in the earliest period, and in the time of
In the
Polish medieval battles, fought mainly (though not only) in the territory of Poland, were distinguished by:
- tactics (from the end of the 14th century) different from those of the Western Europe - with the use of natural obstacles and the manoeuvre;
- spontaneity, impetuosity, and discontinuation of the chivalric fighting code (knight against knight, henchman against henchman) for, instead, the total war, which the Polish knight adopted during frequent border conflicts in the East, and wars with the Teutonic Knights, originally invited by the duchy of Masovia but soon taken steps against their Polish hosts, who although had only about 1200 brethren in Livonia and Prussia in the early 15th century, were able to hire an army of mercenaries form western Europe strong enough to endanger the much bigger Duchy of Lithuania and the stronger Kingdom of Poland.[8]
Battles of the Middle Ages in Poland - not counting such battles as
Armament
The basic weapon of the European knight was the sword and the spear (heavy, thrusting weapon). Besides these, a typical arsenal included a number of small armaments from daggers to battle axes, maces, horseman's picks, and many others. The Polish sword was no different than swords used in the West – it was straight, with a blade 80–120 cm long, 1,0 - 1,8 kg of weight, having an almond-shaped pommel and a bar crossguard.[11] The spear, in Poland of the time referred to as "wood" (pol. drzewo), was 3,5 - 4,5 m long, had a spearhead of lancet-like or leaf-like shape, but there were also heavier, armour-piercing rhomboid spearheads.[12]
Defensive armament -
Different armament was used by infantry, which marched onto the battlefield in close order formations of shield-bearers covering heavy cavalry detachments, or mobile units of bowmen and cross-bowmen, and sometimes irregulars, who used different weapons specialized to fight both foot soldiers and cavalry: (war hammer, war scythe, glaive, fork, flail, morgenstern, guisarme, halberd, bardiche). Defensive armaments of the infantry consisted of shields (wooden, round or oval, through light bucklers, up to heavy pavises), quilted jackets and gambesons or brigandines. A characteristic helmet of the foot soldier was the kettle hat - an iron hat with board brim. Earlier infantry units wore conical helmets, later sallets, but more often thick felt caps. Camp followers were used mainly for field work and sometimes to defend fortified camps or trains. Their armament was simple and coincidental.[14]
There were many different types of throwing weapons. The
With increasing tension and fighting along the eastern border, Poles adopted many eastern-style war customs and weapons. This is why the sword was so easily and so commonly replaced in the 16th century with the
The most visible armour transformation in medieval times was that of the helmet, which changed its shape from a conical shape into a great helm (11th-12th century) and later to the bascinet with different shapes in following centuries.[17]
The knight was usually accompanied by one, two or more
Wealthy knights of Wielkopolska and Śląsk did not differ much – in the sense of weapons and armour – from the western knighthood. Novelties were accepted quickly, and the only constraining factor was the wealth of the knight. Travelers from the West (as for example
An important element of medieval army equipment was the horse. Horses were bred in Poland from prehistoric times. Imported from abroad or taken during the war high blood stallions and mares were incorporated into szlachta's herds for the quality improvement of Polish horse breeds. The size of these herds is unknown, but likely large.[b][22]
Fortifications
Fortified
Grody, castles, and fortified towns were built in Poland from prehistoric times,
Human sources and tactics
Earliest times
In the prehistoric times the main military force of the state consisted of all the grown males subject of a local
Information about the size of an army at the beginning of Polish statehood comes basically from two written sources: Description of Slavic Territories of
- from Poznań 1300 pancerni and 4000 shield-warriors
- from Gniezno 1500 pancerni and 5000 shield-warriors
- from Włocławek 800 pancerni and 2000 shield-warriors
- from Giecz 300 pancerni and 2000 shield-warriors
These numbers probably did not refer to the regular army, but to drużyna and pospolite ruszenie, which the Prince could mobilize in the northern part of Poland. Calculations, based on estimated population numbers demonstrate that Bolesław Chrobry was able to call 16-18 thousand men.[31]
The exact number of horse warriors remains unclear. According to one compilation of the "Description of Slavic Lands" Mieszko provided his men with horses, but according to another ...this country lies by the sea in the middle of dense forests, which are difficult to an army to cross, so mentioned Mśko has foot soldiers only..[32] It is quite possible that mounted soldiers of Mieszko's army were not numerous, or that only the cadre had horses. In the opinion of some historians cavalry units made up 1/3 of the army: about 800 horsemen in proportion to 2400 infantry.[33] Following Gallus Anonimus one can recognize 3900 pancerni as cavalry, and 13 000 shield-warriors as infantry.[33]
During the times of Bolesław III Wrymouth
The Drużyna of the 12th century no longer formed the nucleus of the army. Instead it became the guard of the ruler; some of magnates had drużynas comparable to that of the Prince.[34] By this time the army consisted of drużyna of the Prince, the detachments of the magnates, and the pospolite ruszenie, whose members came from the former free landowners (now mounted knights), as well as peasant infantry.[35] We know almost nothing about the tactics of those times, or about the human resources.
There were some changes in the armament of soldiers, as the
We do not know how big the army was, but it had to be quite big, since it could wage war on two, or even three different fronts.[38]
In the time of Mongol's invasion
In the 12th century the process of creation of the knighthood began in Poland (and lasted more than a century), which was strictly connected with a tenure of land. In order to recreate the picture of the army of those times, it is essential to know the duties of particular classes of society: military duty, specified works for army's needs duty and services in kind for the army duty. The first type of duty rested mainly in soldiers' hands. The other two were the responsibility of the burghers and (most of) the peasants.[39]
This period is - as the previous one - little understood, but the
Tactics of the battlefield were not complicated. Knights (along with their squires) stayed in close order formation with infantry on the flanks, and – after the initial shots of bowmen or crossbowmen – started the charge. In the same moment the commander – who was fighting at the head of the main detachment - usually lost control over the army[42] and the battle degenerated into a melée in the scourge and disarray. In such circumstances the possibility of panic was the crucial element of the fight, and the battle - supposedly won - could be lost.[43]
In the 14th and 15th centuries
The 14th and the beginning of 15th centuries were characterized by fast development of arms, tactics and strategy as well. Knighthood of the Kingdom of Poland strengthened for good, and in the battlefield developed and dominated maneuverability, with full scale outflanking, surrounding, unconventional uses of cavalry and infantry units to surprise the enemy.
Polish army of that period consisted - as before - of knights, burghers, and peasants, with obvious division of labor and specialization: cavalry, infantry, and fortified cities defenders. The knight, along with his
The weapon of the knight changed a little: swords were longer, some with long cruciform hilts with grips over 15 cm in length (providing room for two hands), straight double-edged blades often over 90 cm in length, and weigh typically between 1.2 and 1.4 kg (so called longswords or bastards).[48] On the contrary armour transformed significantly. Mail was gradually enriched with iron plates, which covered the most of endangered parts of the body, and in the beginning of 15th century was replaced with full plate armour. Worth to know that the armour was covered with outer garment of tunic form, open at the sides and so usually belted, usually emblazoned with coats of arms, known as tabard. Uncomfortable great helms went out of use, replaced with first visored bascinets, typically fitted with an aventail and hinged visor.[49]
The crossbows of infantry became heavier, and more dangerous for the knights, and the ordinary shield of the past was replaced with the
In the times of Jagiellons
The most characteristic changes of this period was the appearance – at the side of heavy cavalry – of light horse detachments of
Also the armament has been changed. The heavy cavalryman's armour (of both knight and horse) was thicker, and heavier, but weapons remained the same.[54] In the same time light cavalryman dropped out the armour at all (like first hussars) or stayed with the mail (like pancerni). The novelty was personal fire weapon of the soldier, as pistol and arquebuss, soon replaced by musket. The infantry of that times was formed of the mercenary regiments of "foreign style" (pol. cudzoziemskiego autoramentu), or of the "field infantry" (pol. piechota łanowa) recruited from peasants.[55]
The gunpowder domination of the battlefield became almost complete in Europe. Armour, of little use against either small arms or artillery fire, was gradually disappearing, but not everywhere: in the nearest future light hussars of the battle of Orsha would eventually wore heavier breastplates, helmets, gorgets, and forearm pieces.[56]
List of the most important battles
Early Middle Ages | ||
---|---|---|
Battle of Cedynia[57][58] | 972 | |
Battle on Szprewa | 1005 | |
Siege of Niemcza[59] | 1017 | |
1018 | ||
Battle of Drzycim | 1091 | |
Battle of Głogów[61]
|
1109 | |
Battle of Psie Pole[62] | 1109 | |
Battle of Sajó River | 1132 | |
Transitional Period | ||
Battle of Mozgawa
|
1195 | |
Battle of Zawichost[63] | 1205 | |
Battle of Chmielnik[64] | 1241 | |
Battle of Legnica[65] | 1241 | |
Battle of Stolec | 1277 | |
Battle of Goźlice | 1280 | |
Battle of Płowce[66] | 1331 | |
Late Middle Ages | ||
Battle of Vorskla River[67]
|
1399 | |
Battle of Grunwald[68][69] | 1410 | |
Battle of Koronowo[70] | 1410 | |
Battle of Wilkomierz[71]
|
1435 | |
Battle of Grotniki[72] | 1439 | |
Battle of Varna[73][74] | 1444 | |
Battles of the Thirteen Years' War | ||
Battle of Chojnice[75] | 1454 | |
Battle of Iława
|
1455 | |
Battle for Kneiphof | 1455 | |
Battle of Ryn | 1456 | |
Battle of Bornholm | 1457 | |
Battle of Sępopole | 1457 | |
Battle of Pruszcz Gdański | 1460 | |
Battle of Świecino[76] | 1462 | |
Battle of Vistula Lagoon | 1463 | |
Battle of Kletsk[77] | 1506 | |
Battle of Orsha[78] | 1514 |
See also
- Military of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Notes
a ^ Due to fluctuations of the borders and almost instant gains and losses of – sometimes large – territories
b ^ There were 18 000 Polish cavalrymen, each of them with at least two horses
c ^ Such surprising maneuver in the Battle of Grunwald was keeping part of Polish troops in the woods
d
References
- ^ Stone, p. 37.
- ^ H.Samsonowicz, Historia Polski do roku 1795, Warszawa 1976, p. 129
- ^ Nowak, Wimmer, s. 29-30.
- ^ Ayton, Price, p. 7
- ^ Nowak, Wimmer, p. 233
- ^ H.Samsonowicz, Historia Polski do roku 1795, Warszawa 1976, p. 130
- ^ Nowak, Wimer, p.289
- ^ Military Revolution, p. 15
- ^ Dupuy,Dupuy, p. 472
- ^ Stone, p. 38
- ^ Sarnecki,Nicolle, p. 22
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p.23.
- ISBN 83-7174-839-6, p. 52
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 20
- ^ a b Nowak, Wimmer, p. 67
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 38
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 21
- ^ Sarnecki, Niclooe, p. 14.
- ^ "Res gestae saxonicae" author
- ^ Author of "Chronicles"
- ^ Samsonowicz, p. 140.
- ^ Nowak, Wimmer, p. 183.
- ^ In the grate construction wooden boards were laid alternately along and across the wall; in case construction the row of wooden cases was built, and then filled with stone and earth
- ^ Pogonowski, p. 35
- ^ Pogonowski, p. 20
- ^ Pogonowski, p. 34
- Teutonic Knights
- ^ Nowak/Wimmer, p. 67
- ^ Best armoured, equipped and experienced
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 11.
- ^ 1 recruit of every 10 families: such reckoning was in use hundred years later in Pomerania: Nowak,Wimmer, p. 32; Labuda, p. 61
- ^ Labuda, p. 61
- ^ a b Labuda p. 62
- ^ For example, the private army of voivode Sieciech, who played a major role in the times of Władysław I Herman
- ^ The latter in the near future – because of progressive pauperisation of the peasantry, and higher demands on armaments – gradually lost their quality and importance
- Battle of Głogów
- ^ Nowak, Wimmer, p. 78.
- ^ Nowak, Wimmer, p. 82.
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 14
- ^ observe the coats of arms on shields and banners
- ^ Poczet królów i książąt polskich, Czytelnik, Warszawa 1978, p.201.
- ^ The defeat in the battle of Legnica was caused by outflanking movement of the Mongols
- ^ Dupuy, Dupuy, p. 377
- ^ Pogonowski, p. 27: from woj - warrior, and wodzić - to lead, much later this became an administrative position
- ^ Pogonowski, p. 29
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 17
- ^ G.Lichończak-Nurek, M.Satała, Kraków i jego Bractwo Kurkowe przez 750 lat, Kraków 2007
- ^ Edge&Paddock, p. 88-89.
- ^ Sarnecki,Nicolle, p. 10
- ISBN 978-1-84176-561-7, p. 69.
- ^ Sarnecki, Nicolle, p. 18
- ^ Kraków, Lviv and Gdańsk
- ^ Stone, p. 32
- ^ Stone, p. 27
- ^ Stone, p. 39: One soldier of one field-patch of the king's owned village
- ISBN 83-11-06568-3, p. 9
- ^ Ryniewicz, p. 116.
- ^ Thietmar, Chronicon, Liber Secundus
- ^ The Cambridge History of Poland, by Oskar Halecki, Edit: F. Reddaway, J. H. Penson, p. 28.
- ISBN 0-521-36832-4
- ^ Battle of Głogów
- ^ S. Orgelbrand, Encyklopedia Powszechna, Warsaw 1902, vol. XII, p. 406.
- ISBN 1-901019-00-4, p. 153-154.
- ^ Dupuy&Dupuy, p. 377.
- ^ (German) Friedrich Borchert: "Die Hochmeister des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen." In: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 October 2001.
- ISBN 978-0-253-20445-5.
- ^ Dupuy&Dupuy, p. 471.
- ^ Ryniewicz, p. 217.
- ^ (Polish) P. Derdej, "Koronowo 1410", Wydawnictwo Bellona, Warszawa 2008.
- ISBN 0-929700-25-2.
- ISBN 1-901019-00-4, p. 202-206.
- ^ Dupuy&Dupuy, p. 472,474.
- ^ Ryniewicz, p. 586.
- ^ (Polish) Jacek Knopek, Bogdan Kuffel: Bitwa pod Chojnicami 18 IX 1454 r. w tradycji historycznej i regionalnej. Chojnice: Biblioteka Chojnicka, 2004.
- ^ Marian Biskup, Druga faza wojny trzynastoletniej (1462-1466). [Second phase of the Thirteen Years' War 1462-1466], in: Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza. [History of Pomerania], Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1972, - description of the battle of Świecino: p. 738.
- ISBN 83-05-11618-2, p. 85-86.
- ISBN 0-8014-3798-9.
Further reading
- Charles Boutell: Arms and Armour in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Combined Books, 1996, ISBN 0-938289-61-6.
- Tadeusz Nowak, Jan Wimmer: Historia oręża polskiego 963-1795, Warsaw 1981, ISBN 83-214-0133-3.
- David Edge, John M Paddock: Arms and Armours of the Medieval Knight, Greenwich 1988, ISBN 0-517-10319-2.
- R.Ernest Dupuy, Trevor N. Dupuy: The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History, HarperCollins Publishers 1993, ISBN 0-06-270056-1.
- Gerard Labuda: Pierwsze państwo polskie, Czytelnik, Kraków 1989, ISBN 83-03-02969-X.
- The Medieval Military Revolution, ed. Andrew Ayton, J.L. Price, Barnes & Noble Books 1998, ISBN 0-7607-0766-9.
- Iwo C. Pogonowski: Poland, An Illustrated History, Hippocrene Books, New York 2008, ISBN 0-7818-1200-3.
- Zygmunt Ryniewicz: Bitwy świata: Leksykon, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 1995, ISBN 83-214-1046-4.
- Henryk Samsonowicz: Historia Polski do roku 1795, Warsaw 1976.
- Witold Sarnecki, David Nicolle: Medieval Polish Armies 966-1500, Osprey Publishing 2009, ISBN 978-1-84603-014-7.
- Daniel Stone: The Polish-Lithuanian State 1386-1795, University of Washington Press, Seattle-London, ISBN 0-295-98093-1.