IN THE SADDLE, ON HORSEBACK - The art of war of the conquest-era Magyars

At the end of the 9th century, a new people, the Magyars, moved into the Carpathian basin from the east. Medieval chronicles record the legend that they arrived from Scythia. The minstrels told how the mother of Amosh, their first ruler, saw a bird of prey in a dream and knew from this that her unborn child and its descendants were destined for greatness and would establish a great country. Moreover, the dynasty claimed descent from an ancient king called Menrodes and his sons, Hunor and Margor, who looked for a new home. The Magyars really did arrive from the east, all the way from the steppes of grassland and forest to the east of the Urals. The first territory they occupied that can be identified from the sources was Etekuz, the steppe north of the Black Sea, where the ancestors of the Hungarians may have lived in the first half of the 9th century. In 895 they moved on from there to their final homelands, the Carpathian basin, surrounded by mountains, but their links to the east remained for a long time. Rich in wetlands and pastures and flowing with milk and honey, the region offered easier living conditions and it soon turned out that the nomadic way of life was no longer necessary. The Magyars had settled down. The people newly arrived in Europe at the turn of the 10th century were known as feared warriors, whose military campaigns reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean, the Iberian Peninsula and the heel of the boot of Italy. But what made this success possible? We will now go in search of the answer using the historical sources and with the help of reenactors who used the results of archaeology to recreate and try out ancient weapons. In the saddle, on horseback, the art of war of the conquest era Magyars. The Eurasian nomads, including the Magyars, were known as formidable horse archers. Their legendary weapon was the composite reflex bow with stiffened ends. This type of bow had been developed over the course of centuries specifically for mounted combat. A relatively small weapon was needed for this and two techniques were employed to make it, the use of different types of material for the arms and the use of stiff ends to aid in bending the arms. The bow was one of the most complex tools of the nomads and it was one of the greatest achievements of their craftsmanship. Reflex bows were made from three materials, wood, horn and sinew. The core of the bow was formed from wood and it held together the other components. The horn went on the side of the wooden core facing the archer and working like a spring. It bent when the bow was drawn and returned to its original state when the bow was released. The gluing of the horn was one of the most delicate phases in making a bow. The sinews were obtained from the rear legs of deers. After being dried and split into threads, they were made into carefully arranged sheets which were then glued onto the outer side of the bow's arms. When the bow is drawn, the sinew stretches in a similar way to a rubber band and it snaps back on release. The bow's horns and grip were stiffened with plates made from antlers. The finished bow was covered with bark or fish skin to protect it from moisture. The Magyars used hourglass shaped quivers which the entire length of the arrows fit into. The quivers were made from wood in two different ways. They were either carved from a log split in two or pieces of wood were glued together into the required shape. The mouth of the quiver was decorated with sheets of bone and the whole quiver was covered in leather or bark before being reinforced with iron rods and strips which was characteristic of the Magyars. The construction of the arrow, which seems simple at first glance, also required a lot of expertise. Instead of a plank, it was made from a twig. After the bark had been removed, this was smoothed down and then shaped. The arrowhead had a spike on the end which was drilled into the rod. The feathers were attached with sinew and then cut into shape before being strengthened using tendons. There were different shapes of arrowheads depending on what the arrow was used for. The bow cases were sewn from leather and slightly more than half of the bow fit inside. The case was usually attached with a single strap which was designed with balance in mind. This type of case was unknown to the Avars and its use was an important innovation as it allowed warriors to quickly and easily choose between short and long range weapons. The Magyars archery equipment formed a complex system. The warriors wore the bow case on the left side as they held the bow in their left hand. They handled the arrows with the right hand so they hung the quiver on the right side at an angle of 45 degrees to facilitate removing the arrows. For the same reason, they put the arrows in the quiver with the tips pointing upwards. This type of bow was usually drawn with a thumb, so horse archers used a special thumb ring for protection. The Magyars presumably did the same. Drawing with the thumb enabled archers to keep additional arrows in the right hand to shoot more quickly. The quiver held a total of 12 to 15 arrows, so warriors had to consider when to use them and against who. For close combat, the Magyars used lances, light axes, sabres and swords, which they were able to produce themselves. Within the Carpathian Basin, a metal smelting technique similar to that of the Avars was used in the county of Shomosh and in the appropriately named county of Vosh, meaning iron. The iron smelters at the time of the occupation of the Carpathian Basin worked iron cores that could be obtained from surface mining. These ores were smelted in a furnace called a bloomery. First, the front opening of the furnace was closed up with clay, then they heated it up with wood and afterwards charcoal. In order to increase the temperature, air was continuously blown into the furnace using hand-operated bellows. A large amount of slag was produced during smelting which, when necessary, was removed by creating an opening beneath the pipe through which air enters the bloomery. Relatively pure iron was produced in the furnace from the iron ore. The small particles of iron combine to form a spongy mass called a bloom, which was removed from the bloomery at the end of the smelting and compacted on a tree stump. The bloom was repeatedly heated and compacted to remove as much slag as possible and consolidate it even more. The still glowing ball of iron was again and again wedged, that is, cut half or two thirds of the way through. The smith broke the compacted iron ball into two. The two halves were reheated many times in a smaller forge and then shaped into rods using an iron hammer and anvil. The forging of so-called wrought iron is more laborious than for modern-day steel as wrought iron contains slag inclusions. Arrowheads, heads for light axes and lance heads were comparatively easy to make and so they could be produced in mobile forges. There were many different types of axe heads in terms of the size of the cutting edge, the curve of the head and the design of the butt. Lances were rarely placed in graves beside the body, so there were only a few examples from the archaeological remains of the Carpathian Basin and some of these are the larger Western North European styles. However, the characteristically narrow lance with a four-sided tip was a basic weapon of the horse nomads, which they even used for sparring. Hungarian sabres were characteristic of the age, with similar weapons being used in the Khazar Khaganate in the Caucasus and in Central Asia. The weapon was used for thrusting as well as slashing, which is shown by the curve of the hilt towards the edge. One edge of the slightly curved blade was sharpened along its entire length and on the other edge there was a 15-20 cm counter edge. The crossguard was relatively small and there were usually spherical balls at the two ends. In the Carpathian Basin, the Magyars acquired more and more straight double-edged Western swords and a special local version emerged called the sabre-hilted sword. Like the elite warriors of the steppes, the Magyar nobles and professional soldiers wore relatively heavy protection, such as chainmail shirts and helmets, although little trace of this remains. The manufacture of this equipment required a high degree of specialist knowledge and workshop capacity, which was not necessarily available in the Carpathian Basin. The Magyars of the time, therefore, acquired them, at least in part, through trade or plunder, or as gifts. The only conquest-period helmet known to come from the Carpathian Basin was found in Pierce. Its shape and method of manufacture suggests Eastern European designs. It was riveted together from four pieces. A chain veil composed of small rings could be attached to it to protect the neck and shoulders. Similar helmets have been found in graves in Mon Velovka, associated with the Etaikurs Magyars. The majority of the military strength of the conquest-period Magyars came from able-bodied men, primarily those engaged in animal husbandry. These men were not soldiers, but their way of life gave them skills which made them excellent warriors. Their main weapon was the bow, which they used every day for hunting or to protect livestock from predators. This weapon could cause serious wounds at a distance of 150 to 200 meters, but was also used for closer targets, for example, while attacking or pursuing. Mounted archers could easily shoot forward, behind, and to the left, but were less effective at shooting to the right. An important component of the fighting technique was the quiver for holding a drawn bow, which made a rapid change of weapon possible. A mounted archer could use it to become a hand-to-hand fighter within seconds. The lance was probably the most common of these close-quarter weapons.