Katar of Hindustan: the dagger of tiger hunters (composition, structure and properties)

Articles

Khaidakov K.S., Sukhanov D.A. (2024). Katar Indostana: kinzhal ohotnikov na tigra (sostav, struktura, svojstva) [Katar of Hindustan: the dagger of tiger hunters (composition, structure and properties)]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 14, pp. 140 — 187. Khaidakov K.S., Sukhanov D.A. Abstract: The weapon complex of Hindustan is represented by one of the most authentic types of H-handled push daggers: “katars” or, as they are called in India, “jamdhars”. Katars are a vivid demonstration of ethnic bladed weapons, which were originally used for hunting large predators and later, under the Mughal dynasties, were used as an integral part of the ruling elite’s traditional costume. Basing on chemical and microstructural analysis, the article describes presumed methods of production of ten Indian katar blades dating from the 16th to 19th centuries. At least two alleged technological solutions for artisanal production of katar-type daggers were identified in the studied samples. The oldest bloomery…

“… Murtaza-Ali Ogly”. (Concerning the origin of Chilla and Magomad Murtazalievs)

Articles

Talantov S.V. (2024). «… Murtaza-Ali Ogly». (O proishozhdenii Chilly i Magomada Murtazalievyh) [“… Murtaza-Ali Ogly”. (Concerning the origin of Chilla and Magomad Murtazalievs)]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 14, pp. 55 — 77. Talantov S.V. Abstract: Museum and private collections contain kindjals and shashkas of 1880-1910’s with the Cyrillic inscription “CHILLA” that are attributed as items crafted by Chilla Murtazaliev’s workshop. In the late 20th century to early 21st century, a number of works on Caucasian arms stated that craftsman Chilla and his younger brother Magomad came from the Stariy Yurt village in the Groznenskiy county of the Terek region. This fact was based on oral sources and has not been critically analysed; however, its reliability is questioned by the author of this article. The research managed to identify documents which indicate that the Murtazalievs were natives of the Unty village in the Gunibskiy county of the Daghestan region.…

Concerning orders of arms of Tula production for the Caucasian Line Cossack Host ranks in the 1840’s

Articles

Talantov S.V. (2024). O zakazah oruzhija tul’skogo proizvodstva dlja chinov Kavkazskogo linejnogo kazach’ego vojska v 1840-h gg. [Concerning orders of arms of Tula production for the Caucasian Line Cossack Host ranks in the 1840’s]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 14, pp. 78 — 139. Talantov S.V. Abstract: The question of Caucasian Cossacks’ possession of arms produced in Tula remained insufficiently studied for a long time. The article attempts to fill the existing gap. In this context, the author analyses a number of sources that allow to supplement and clarify previous ideas about the armament of Cossacks of the Caucasian Line Cossack Host. The article analyses the reasons that contributed to the spread of arms of Tula production in the Caucasus. The author’s research reveals documents containing information about orders from Tula merchants and arms manufacturers for cold and firearms for the ranks of the Caucasian Line Cossack Host and…

Tiflis armourer Khechatur

Articles

Dvalishvili L.B. (2024). Tiflisskij oruzhejnik Hechatur [Tiflis armourer Khechatur]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 14, pp. 17 — 54. Dvalishvili L. B. Abstract: Early examples of Tiflis arms have always attracted attention of researchers and admirers of historical arms with their refinement, beauty and a high level of craftsmanship. Unfortunately, there is little information about craftsmen who produced this kind of arms. In the late 18th century and the early 19th century, in Tiflis lived and worked the highly skilled armourer Khechatur who had been considered a royal armourer since the time of Georgian kings. Although arms crafted by Khechatur are of exceptional quality, little is known about the master himself. Due to the lack of relevant materials, E. G. Astvatsaturyan also does not mention him in her famous monograph on Caucasian arms. This article is an attempt to gather various data on Khechatur which allows to shed light…

“H.I.M.’s Armourer Geurk”. Concerning the title of Geurk Eliarov

Articles

Dvalishvili L.B. (2024). «E.I.V. Oruzhejnik Geurk». K voprosu o zvanii Geurka Jeliarova [“H.I.M.’s Armourer Geurk”. Concerning the title of Geurk Eliarov]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 14, pp. 4 — 16. Dvalishvili L. B. Abstract: The Eliarov armourers are most often remembered for the golden inscription on their blades: “H.I.M.’s Armourer Geurk” (His Imperial Majesty’s Armourer Geurk). The inscription hints that Geurk and his sons Karaman and Ephraim apparently held the title of imperial armourers, yet this fact has not been supported by official documentary evidence to date. The purpose of the article is to introduce several previously unknown sources that make it possible to establish the date of Geurk receiving the title of imperial armourer and to confirm that his sons also possessed this title after their father’s death. Keywords: Tiflis (Tbilisi), bulat steel, Geurk, Georgia, H.I.M.’s Armourer, imperial armourer, Eliarov, Eliazarov, Karaman. Download article in Russian

Private orders for kindjal and shashka blades of the Kuban Cossack Host from Zlatoust arms factory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Articles

Talantov S.V. (2024). Chastnye zakazy kinzhal’nyh i shashechnyh klinkov Kubanskogo kazach’ego vojska na Zlatoustovskoj oruzhejnoj fabrike v konce XIX – nachale XX veka [Private orders for kindjal and shashka blades of the Kuban Cossack Host from Zlatoust arms factory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 432 — 522. Talantov S.V. Abstract: The article attempts to study and analyze private orders for kindjal and shashka blades of the Kuban Cossack Host in 1888-1904. The term “private orders” refers to orders made not by the Military Headquarters of the Kuban Cossack Host and the Main Artillery Department, but by regiment commanders, atamans of divisions and stanitsa, and individuals – cossacks and officers of the Kuban Cossack Host, as well as owners of jewelry workshops and stores selling uniforms and equipment for cossacks. The temporal borders of the study are determined by the fact…

Arms of the North Caucasus. A critical view on established theories

Articles

Khaidakov K.S. (2024). Oruzhie Severnogo Kavkaza, istorija, vzaimovlijanie. Kriticheskij vzgljad na ustojavshiesja teorii [Arms of the North Caucasus. A critical view on established theories]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 372 — 431. Khaidakov K.S. Abstract: The article deals with historical events which took place in the North Caucasus in the 13th-19th centuries and influenced the formation of the region’s arms complex. It analyzes such factors as the influence of large states, trade relations, borrowings, as well as the processes of independent evolution of various arms types. Both historical sources and studies by modern authors are presented. The study concludes that during different periods militarized societies of the North Caucasus adopted arms culture of other states: the Khazar Khaganate, the Golden Horde, Italy, Persia, Egypt, the Ottoman Porte, and the Russian Empire. At the same time, local arms production did not cover necessary needs both qualitatively or quantitatively. In…

Chemical composition of blades as an attributing feature for bulat steels of the Indo-Persian region of the 17th-19th centuries

Articles

Khaidakov K.S., Sukhanov D.A. (2024). Himicheskij sostav klinkov kak atribucionnyj priznak bulatnyh stalej Indo-Persidskogo regiona XVI-XIX vekov [Chemical composition of blades as an attributing feature for bulat steels of the Indo-Persian region of the 17th-19th centuries]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 161 — 266. Khaidakov K.S., Sukhanov D.A. Abstract: The article is devoted to historical bulat blades of the Indo-Persian region. Based on a range of sources, the article reveals that comprehensive studies on historical bulat steels have been sporadic over the last hundred years due to an insufficient number of bulat samples suitable for experiments to determine patterns between steel composition, structure and properties. Attention is drawn to the fact that attribution of certain bulat blades from the collection of K.S. Khaidakov and D.A. Sukhanov raised doubts about their production time and their region of origin. Standard typological attributive features of oriental bulat blades were combined with…

From the history of Western Georgian filigree. Master Philippe “Philu” Dzadzamidze

Articles

Dvalishvili L.B. (2024). Iz istorii zapadnogruzinskoj filigrani (Master Filipp «Philu» Dzadzamidze) [From the history of Western Georgian filigree. Master Philippe “Philu” Dzadzamidze]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 82 — 160. Dvalishvili L.B. Abstract: The article examines a little-explored aspect of the Western Georgian tradition of filigree based on examples of arms decoration in this technique. It also briefly describes previously uncovered life and creative path of the goldsmith Philippe “Philu” Dzadzamidze whose original works are widely represented in museums and private collections. Despite the fact that filigree technique occurs in Georgia since the ancient period, modern weaponology has so far been confined to the consideration of Georgian items mainly of the 19th century, as it was from the middle of the 19th century when arms decorated with filigree became popular in Western Georgia. Such arms were made in different cities of Western Georgia, in particular in Kutaisi, Khoni,…

On ceremonial arms of Russian sovereigns’ pilgrimages in the last quarter of the 17th century

Articles

Orlenko S.P., Novoselov V.R. (2024). O ceremonial’nom oruzhii palomnicheskih pohodov russkih gosudarej poslednej chetverti XVII stoletija [On ceremonial arms of Russian sovereigns’ pilgrimages in the last quarter of the 17th century]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 43 — 81. Orlenko S.P., Novoselov V.R. Abstract: The article studies the changes in the set of ceremonial arms used at the royal court in the second half of the 17th century. The Smolensk campaign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1654-1656) was the starting point of active changes in the court ceremonial. The subsequent period brings tumultuous changes in ceremonial practice of the Russian court: at this time, the most spectacular and exotic elements of arms and equipment are borrowed from both the West and the East. Two-handed swords showed up in the hands of Tsar’s ceremonial guards, winged horsemen met foreign legations, hundreds of colored kuyaks, round shields, “snake spears”, Kalmyk caps,…

The sabre of Ibrahim Pasha, the Kaffa serasker, as a relic of the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1775)

Articles

Novoselov V.R. (2024). Sablja seraskira Kafy – relikvija Russko-tureckoj vojny 1768-1774 gg. [The sabre of Ibrahim Pasha, the Kaffa serasker, as a relic of the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1775)]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 9 — 42. Novoselov V.R. Abstract: The article studies a group of sabres which entered Moscow Armoury Chamber between 1809-1811 as part of a group of arms stored in the Court Stable Department in St. Petersburg. In cold arms inventory of Moscow Armoury Chamber compiled in 1862 by Lukian Yakovlev and published in 1884, one of the sabres was wrongly attributed as delivered from Imperial Ryust-kamera. However, the author of the article identified it as belonging to serasker Ibrahim Pasha, the Turkish army chief in Crimea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774. The author managed to document that, surrendered to the Russian troops, he kept his sabre with him and later presented it together with…

Reconstructing the system of sword wielding by French cuirassiers and dragoons, 1803-1815

Articles

Zvjagincev M.I. (2024). Rekonstrukcija sistemy vladenija palashom francuzskih kirasir i dragun, 1803-1815 gg. [Reconstructing the system of sword wielding by French cuirassiers and dragoons, 1803-1815]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 13, pp. 267 — 371. Zvjagincev M.I. Abstract: The article attempts to reconstruct the sword wielding system of French heavy and line Cavalry (XI/XIII pattern) which actually established in 1803-1815. The necessity and importance of this reconstruction is explained by the following fact: it was only in 1829 when the first official regulations which specified the training of cavalrymen in detail, including the wielding of long-bladed cold arms, appeared in France. The system discussed in the article has not been formulated or described separately. However, it can be reconstructed relying on the draft manual “A New System of Swordsmanship in the Cavalry” (1818) by the British Cavalry officer Charles Edward Radclyffe. The manual can be referred to because the system…

On blades of daggers and shashkas used by the Terek Cossack Host in the late 19th to early 20th centuries

Articles

Talantov S. V. (2023). O klinkah kinzhalov i shashek, bytovavshih u kazakov Terskogo kazach’ego vojska v konce XIX – nachale XX veka [On blades of daggers and shashkas used by the Terek Cossack Host in the late 19th to early 20th centuries]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 12, pp. 316 — 392. Talantov S. V. Abstract: The issues related to cold weapons of the Terek Cossack Host do not receive much attention in the known publications on Russian, Caucasian and Cossack historical arms. This may be due to the fact that the study of daggers and shashkas required research both of the production at the Zlatoust Arms Factory and in the Caucasus. This article is supposed to fill this gap. The article investigates the orders of shashkas and daggers at the Zlatoust Arms Factory. Most information about these arms is published for the first time. Regarding local Caucasian arms…

The Barrel Department and the Kremlin Armoury. Military Arms Manufacture at the Moscow Velvet Yard in 1700–1707

Articles

Chubinsky A.N. (2023). Stvol’nyj prikaz i Oruzhejnaja palata. Proizvodstvo stroevogo oruzhija na moskovskom Barhatnom dvore v 1700–1707 gg. [The Barrel Department and the Kremlin Armoury. Military Arms Manufacture at the Moscow Velvet Yard in 1700–1707]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 12, pp. 163 — 222. Chubinsky A.N. Abstract: This research is the first attempt to collect reliable data on Russian Barrel Department (Stvolny Prikaz) which functioned from 1630s till 1700 as an independent state establishment, and from 1700 to 1711 as a structural part of the Moscow Armory Chamber. The office of the Barrel Department, its workshops and storehouses were located at the Velvet Yard (Barkhatny Dvor), which was founded in 1630s as a silk workshop. The Velvet Yard was built on the bank of the Moskva River outside the Kremlin walls. The Barrel Department’s archive dated before 1700 was unfortunately lost. Thanks to a large number of surviving…

Gunsmith Johann Joachim Grecke in Russia. New Biographical Data

Articles

Efimov Y.G., Rodionov E.A. (2023). Oruzhejnik Iogann Ioahim Greke v Rossii – novye dannye biografii [Gunsmith Johann Joachim Grecke in Russia. New Biographical Data]. Istoricheskoe oruzhievedenie [Weapons History Journal], № 12, pp. 56 — 67. Efimov Y.G., Rodionov E.A. Abstract: As in almost all other branches of developing Russian industry of the 18th century, foreign specialists played a significant role in weapon manufacture by working in factories or organizing their own workshops. Johann Adolf Grecke [son of Johann Joachim Grecke, a famous Stockholm gunsmith of German origin] was a particularly notable gunsmith among so-called “Russian foreigners” in Saint Petersburg. Information about his biography is highly scarce and contradictory. According to Russian weaponology literature, Johann Adolf was invited to Russia among other foreign masters in the 1760s, he became the gunsmith at the court of Catherine II in the 1770s and he was the head of the Rustkammer since the 1780s. His…