Terra incognita? Not only on the arms and armour production in the borderland of Silesia, Brandenburg, Greater Poland and Lusatia in the late Middle Ages

Abstract

During the Middle Ages arms and armour were considered luxury products. They were not used every day and not by everyone. Nonetheless, the circle of their buyers was relatively wide, making their prices extremely diversified. On the other hand, as weaponry was bought every several years, the demand was limited. It resulted in a relatively small number of workshops in which weapons were produced. Besides specialised production sites located in towns or at royal courts, there were also rural forges, where arms and armour were produced for the needs of less wealthy members of the medieval society.
The production of armaments in the borderlands of Silesia, Greater Poland, Brandenburg and Lusatia (roughly equivalent to today’s Lubuskie Voivodeship), laying mostly outside the borders of medieval Poland, has not been yet explored in the scholarly works. Researching the subject is difficult due to the lack of direct sources. There is, however, some indirect evidence.
Iron, in medieval times obtained mainly from bog ores, was the most important raw material for the manufacture of a majority of military equipment. Therefore, the first indication of the arms and armour manufacturing in the studied borderland during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period can be found in written sources, which mention many small metallurgical workshops (forges and hammer-mills). Early mentions concern following settlements: Drożków near Żary, Klikowa near Iłowa, Szprotawa (Sprottau), Łozy upon the Kwisa, Sanice near Przewóz, Dobrzyń and Bucz (Fig. 1). Direct evidence confirming the functioning of s place of iron production was discovered during archaeological excavations in Podrosche (former part of Przewóz).
Most scholars assumes that rural smithies did not participate in the production of arms and armour on a large scale, mostly limiting their activity to horseshoeing, forging basic agricultural and carpentry tools (including axes and hatchets) as well as sharpening and repairing more elaborate artefacts . Mass-produced arrow- and boltheads, as well as iron parts of staff weapons, could also be manufactured there, although rather only in times of war. Remains of such a rural smithy (dated to the 15^th c.) were recorded in Nowa Wieś, Międzyrzecz District (Fig. 2). A large amount of iron slag was found in the fill of the feature, along with smithing tools, finished and unfinished smithing products and also pieces of armaments.
Castle forges were more specialised in manufacture and repair of individual parts of military equipment. Remains of such workshops were found, among others, in: Miedzyrzecz (Fig. 3) and Santok (Fig. 4), while inventories of the Teutonic castles in Kostrzyn (Küstrin) and Drezdenko, in which large amounts of saltpetre, sulphur and lead was recorded, may indicate that gunpowder and projectiles were produced in those strongholds.
Little is known about metal crafts’ organisation in the region as written sources provide almost no information. (Fig. 5) There is no doubt that blacksmith guilds existed in larger towns of the area, as it was typical for medieval urban centres of Central and Western Europe, although the relatively late mentions in written records provide little information on the subject. Some data was acquired as a result of examination of archaeological finds. Some of them are signed with craftsmen’s marks, which if identified may indicate a place of origin for particular pieces of arms. They, however, show these objects were manufactured outside the region (Fig. 6). It is finds like unfinished items and intermediate products that can suggests local production of armaments in the places where they were discovered (Fig. 7).
Therefore, indirect evidence shows that although the scale of the production was rather small, it met the demand of local purchasers (of various wealth). The need for simple and mass produced arms might be fulfilled by castle, town and rural forges.