Islamic Arms and Armour Edited by Robert Elgood London Scolar Press 1979Fin published 1979by Scolar Pres,go/gr Great Russ Stet Book design by Alan Bartram Leadon wern se Prod in Geet Bata by Sek Pes Blescay Lt ‘Scola Pres an Impein of Bemrose UK Li ‘ioral mater and maps © Robert good 1979 slam Arms and Armor. Arms od rma ake [egood: Raber s2xaon7'6r1 C80 A sce examination fap carton ont do sds Wien PBauee 1979, Parse amr rine LP. BvellSaton 1979 Some intencenary ams from Burd Torben W. Find 1979 (rial the Near and Mle East fromthe eth he feet centres tr shown in work of art vane 1379 sexo 85967 470.3 ‘gro of aan daggers he per fom He onc the Being of the event, wh Person serine tS vane 1979, Archery he ans of Ester sha 1 Detatham and W- Paterson 1979, ‘The Chaba Kham o Youur! bow fia 1 award McEwen 9979, ctr, oer or gba Ato cemtay ll en Easter eae (© AS Meldien-Chirvan 1979 ‘The aor of Tari Deri (ALS Mebkian-Chireani 1979, he tla foe A'S Mein: Chevanl 1979 rain sors the sven contr wt Russian nitions calle of the Stat Hemiape Musca fe vase 1979 A Mamta {© Metroptan Museum of Ar 1973. 2979 an nyotucton ars and warfarin clase Isom ©'b. Neale 1979 ust warfare: stay of iva Musi reat onthe ae of war © Tanum 1979 Meier Arab arms AR Zaky 1979 sane weapons Pash clltions nd thr provera 0% Pynuls fe 1979 Aprons CAS Melton Chirvant 1979)Robert Elgood Wilhelm P. Bauer L, P, Ehwell-Sutton Torben W. Flindt ‘Michael V. Gorelik A, Ivanov J.D. Latham and W. Paterson Baward McEwen A. S. Melikian-Chirvant S. Melikian-Chirvani A. S. Melikian-Chirvani Y. A, Miller D. Nicolle G.Tantum ALR. Zaky Z. dygulski Jr A. S. Melikian-Chirvant Contents Preface vii Maps x A scientific examination of the applied decoration on two Indian swords 1 Persian armour inscriptions § Some nineteenth-century arms from Bukhara 20 Oriental armour of the Near and Middle East from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries as shown in works of art 30 A group of Iranian daggers of the period from the fifteenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth, with Persian inscriptions 64 Archery in the lands of Eastern Islam 78 The Chahar Kham or ‘four-curved' bow of India 89 Bucklers. covers or cymbals? A twelfth-century riddle from Eastern Iran 97 ‘The tabar of a Turkish Dervish 112 ‘The tabarzins of Loff‘all 116 Iranian swords of the seventeenth century with Russian i the collection of the State Hermitage Museum 136 ccriptions in A Mamlik axe 149 An introduction to arms and warfare in classical Islam 162 Muslim warfare: a study ofa medieval Muslim treatise on the art of war 187 Medieval Arab arms 202 Islamic weapons in Polish collections and their provenance 213 Appendix 239 Bibliography 242 Index 246Prefacevill ISLAMIC ARMS AND ARMOUR ‘The last thirty years have seen a great intensification of research, into the history of the arms and armour of Europe. North America and Japan, but the same cannot be said of the study of Near and Middle Eastern weaponry. Historians from the Islamic countries have, with a few notable exceptions, published litle of value on this subject, while western Islamicsts have generally bbeen deterred by the many dilficulties to be encountered in research, The student of Islamic arms enters a feld where most of the original research still remains to be done. Furthermore he ‘will have few of the tools of research which are taken for granted {in other areas of historical enquiry. Literary and archival sources remain largely unexplored, while inscriptions found on coins and ‘buildings provide limited information In the absence of written information, and because examples ‘of medieval Islamic weaponry are t00 few to form a basis for assessment, arms historians have been forced to base much of, ‘their work on iconographic material, particularly miniature paintings. The popular belief that Islam as a religion probibits the depiction ofthe human form is manifestly false and such restrictions as did exist appear to have been applied (with exceptions) to religious buildings. Islam was not a hermetically, sealed world but rather stood at the crossroads between the diverse cultures of Asia, India, Africa and Burope. Given the multiplicity of trading routes, the arms and armour of one external source might enter the Islamic world at widely divergent points making i dificult even with the aid of local schools of painting to account for the ebb and flow of stylistic innovation, Besides the sheer sie ofthe area to be considered, It should be remembered that Islam was rarely a united political unit. More ‘often it consisted of a succession of power bases varying in size from cities to emplees. rom the sixteenth century onwards the number of surviving ‘examples of Islamic arms increases but the problem ofa scarcity of contemporary documentation of these arms remains. There is ‘no Islamic equivalent to Japanese sword literature, Consequently the problems facing anyone wishing to study Islamic arms are not the same as those encountered in a study of European arms. ‘As the British nineteenth-century pioneer researcher and author Lord Egerton writing in 1896 explained: “If had tried to arrange the collection [of Indian and Persian weapons] on an. historical basis, a is usually done in the case of European arms, 1 should have had great dficulty in determining the date of the specimens. For not only do we find in India the rudest and most civilised races living sie by side, but from the stationary character of Indian art, the changes produced during the period of several centuries may be less strongly marked than those cllected during a few generations in Europe.’ Much information ‘remains to be found in the literature of the period, but as a ‘comprehensive survey requires fluency in Arabic, Persian and ‘Turkish the number of scholars qualified to undertake such a task is limited and thelr talents are generally occupied elsewhere. Indeed, Islamic arms and armour have in the past been eclipsed by the other products of Islamic art. Islamic carpets in particular have always been sought after. In the early sixteenth century Cardinal Wolsey was reputed to have had the largest collection, in Europe. Another renaissance figure, the Florentine Benvenuto Cellini, records n his dlary a description of some Turkish daggers. The comments of a man qualified both as a craftsman ‘and as an arms enthusiast are particularly interesting as isthe Information that he made copies ofthese daggers ‘with improvements’, “Most accounts of Islamic arms were written by professional soldiers who were more concerned with tacties than with detailed descriptions of arms. Such men often adapted Islamic blades to western hilts or in the eighteenth century. recognizing the excellence of Islamic swords, adopted these in preference to the swords oftheir own country. Sir John Moore, the vietor of Coruta, is portrayed wearing a fine kilidj, acquired in Egypt where he served In 1801, The Duke of Wellington owned three shamshirs bearing the signature of Asad Allah Ifakani, which he presumably acquired in India. His influence was responsible for the adoption in 1831 of the Mameluke-hilted sabre for General officers of the British Army: this weapon was clearly derived from the Persian shamshir and the Turkish kil) and paid tribute to the elegance and effectiveness of those weapons. Indeed itis "unreasonable to suppose that Islamic society would not have demanded the same high level of practical and aesthetic qualities {in thelr arms and armour, of themselves highly personal accoutrements, as they obtained in other areas of the applied arts, It is therefore all the more surprising that arms and armour have for so long been neglected in studies of Islamic metalwork. ‘The late Eenst Kuhnel, a distinguished Orientalist, wrote in 1963 in his Islamic Art that: “The importance of weapons in the artistic activity of the Near East is very widely known, and if ts importance were tobe given corresponding treatment (in this book}, it should have a large chapter to itsell.On the other hand itis less the lovers of Islamic art than collectors of weapons who will be prepared to give these objects close attention, and the latter will ind better and more thorough instruction in the spectalist literature than can be given here.” A glance at those bibliographies dealing with oriental arms and armour will sulfice to show that most published work has appeared in learned ‘academic journals which are only to be found in a few specialist bears, ‘The purpose of this Anthology is therefore threefold. Firstly. it fs to be hoped that it wil focus the attention of Orientalists on a ‘much neglected area of Islamic art, thereby leading to further research and debate. Ideally this will Involve scholars from the Near and Middle Bast since real progress will only be made when the interest ofthe people of the Near and Middle Bast is aroused, Itis sad, but true, that at the moment it is easier to see and study Islamle weaponry in the USSR, Europe or America than itis in ‘many of the Islamic countries, Secondly, that arms and armour will henceforth be considered ‘as an integral part of any survey or collection of Islamic metalwork. Finally, that the readers of this book will acquire atleast some of the interest and enjoyment that have gone into the articles hich comprise this Anthology. would like to thank all the authors for thetr kindness and