Występowanie i zastosowanie zbroi płytowej białej w drugiej połowie XV w.

Abstract

The clad of plate was the culminant achievment in sphere of protective armaments in the Middle Ages. It was invented in Italy at the beginning of the 15th century. It quickly appeared in Poland. We think so because we can see it hewn out on the tombstone of Wierzbięta from Branice. This tombstone bears a date on 1425. This kind of armament occured comparatively often on the Polish territory in the latter part of the 15th century. Both iconographie and written sources testify to that. The registers of mercenary army units, drown up from 1471 to 1500, are one of the most valuable written sources. In this article the author analysed 7 registers of that kind. We can notice connexions bettween offensive and protective armaments on the ground of that. In period 1471-1474 there were organized some mercenary squads for armed fighting with the king of Hungary - Maciej the Korwin. Hungarians adhered to West-European style of fighting and that’s why these Polish mercenary squads consisted, in the greater part, of spearmen equiped with the clads of plate. They composed about 21-25% of mercenaries. The panoplies were the majority of the spearmen equipment.