Journal Analele Banatului N.S. Archaeology-History

Zoran Marcov

Colecţia de iatagane a Muzeului Banatului Timişoara / The Yataghans Collection Of The Banat Museum

Jan. 1, 2012

Abstract

! e yataghan falls into the category of large knives, usually presenting a curved blade, made of high quality steel. ! is kind of weapon consists of a single-edged blade, necessarily disposed inward. An important characteristic of the yataghan is represented by the hilt that stands out due to the specifi c pommels, that spreads at the top into small wings curved inwards, usually known as ‘ears’. ! e pommels are perfectly shaped to allow the weapon’s easy handling, the ears having the role to prevent the hilt slipping out of the hand when used in battle. If necessary, the yataghan’s ‘ears’ might prove themselves useful as bolsters for shooting the longrifl e. In time, specialized literature has presented some confusions regarding the name and the shape of the yataghan. Studying this type of weapon, many authors did not make a clear distinction between yataghans and handjars, often the term ‘yataghan’ being used erroneously to designate all oriental swords. Regarding the roots of this type of weapon, the yataghan is a sabre of Oriental origin, according to some sources originating from India wherefrom it was expanded through the whole East. ! e shape of the yataghans have not changed much in time, the specifi c characteristics of this kind of weapon contributing mainly in this respect: the remarkable force to strike and chop. Due to the weapon’s particular shape, the force of impact is concentrated at the tip of the blade. ! e yataghan was the perfect choice for a close fi ght but also during a skirmish. Even when fi rearms gained supremacy in the battlefi eld, the yataghan was also kept in the janissary standard harness especially due to its remarkable technical qualities. As it concerns the color and the material used to craft the pommels, the Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian specialized literature (excepting Constantinople, most of the Balkan yataghans were crafted in the former Yugoslav territory during the XVIII and XIX centuries, the most famous manufactory being at Foča – today in Bosnia and Herzegovina) classifi es yataghans as it followes: belosapce (having the pommels made of ivory or of other bones of light color), crnosapce (having ears made of buff alo black horn or of wood) and those with metallic hilts, often overlaid with silver. ! ere are also brass-hilted yataghans. Regarding the shape of the blades, yataghans can be classifi ed into straight blades and curved blades. ! ere were many manufactories in the Balkan Peninsula: Travnik, Foča, Sarajevo, Herceg Novi, Kotor, Risan, Užice, Prizren and Skopje. ! e yataghans produces in these manufactories were exclusively handicraft products. ! e collection of weapons held by ! e Banat Museum owns 30 yataghans, recorded in the History Department’s fi les. An important particularity of the museum’s collection is given by the great number (17 of 30 weapons) of crnosapci yataghans, horn-hilted or dark bone-hilted weapons. Unlike ! e Banat Museum collection, the belosapci with ears made of ivory or other types of white bone, prevail in the yataghans collection from Zagreb (! e Croatian History Museum). ! e Belgrade researchers’ explanations regarding the small number of crnosapci yataghans from the Military Museum’s collection together with the informations recorded in the 1st fi le of the Banat Museum’s fi les clarify the existence of a great number of dark/brown and black pommeled yataghans in the Banat Museum’s collection. Given the fact that the crnosapci yataghans were used in fi ghts, they are much more rare, theory that comes to complement the informations supplied by the archives held by the Banat Museum, informations that highlight the fact that the weapons achived during the pre-war period represented spoil of war resulted from the AustroHungarian military campaign held during the summer of 1978 to pacify the Bosnian territory. We can also add to the 17 crnosapci yataghans another 9 belosapci yataghans, two metal hilted weapons, one presenting some changes at the hilt (instead of the characteristic pommels the yataghan has a wooden hilt with a rectangular section). To all these weapons we can also add a yataghan blade whose pommels are missing.Among ! e Banat Museum’s yataghan collection, 20 weapons exhibit ornaments and encrusted inscriptions, two weapons being encrusted with golden thread, the other ones decorated with silver thread. ! ere other weapons show engraved ornaments while the other seven have no decorations on the blades (some of them presenting the armourer’s stamp, at most). ! e specialized literature highlights the fact that the yataghans with straight blade (pravci) are very rare, this fact being confi rmed at Timisoara where we can fi nd only 5 weapons presenting this kind of blade. Among the ornate yataghans, the researches managed to discover the year of manufacture only in the case of 8 weapons, the oldest yataghan held by ! e Banat Museum was dated in the year 1204 (according to the Islamic calendar), corresponding the Christian period of 1789–1790, while the most recent weapon dates from the Muslim year of 1280, representing the years of 1863–1864 according to the Gregorian calendar. Regarding the history of yataghans collection held by the Banat Museum, we also have to consider that the vast majority of weapons comes from the old collection of the museum, especially from the pre-war period. ! e 1st fi le of inventory held by the museum (the inventory of the Museum Society of History and Archeology) includes a series of weapons brought from Bosnia after the military campaign held in the summer of 1878 (spoil of war from Tuzla, Travnik etc). ! ese weapons were either donated to the museum or purchased. ! e two metal-hilted yataghans had also been registered in the pre-war period. During the interwar, especially between 1930–1935, while Ioachim Miloia has served as director of the museum, have been purchased another series of yataghans. A last important batch of weapons entered the Museum’s collection after World War II, in 1959, following a transfer from the Home Offi ce represented by the Timisoara 232 Unit. ! e „piece de resistance” of ! e Banat Museum’s collection is certainly represented by the weapon that was held, for a short time, by the leader of the fi rst Serbian anti-Ottoman movement Đorđe Petrović Karađorđe. ! e founder of the South Hungarian Society of History and Archeology and also the donor of this yataghan, dr. Ormós Zsigmond, remarks that the weapon’s value is increased by the fact that it belonged to Karađorđe (Cerni György). ! e letter of donation also asserts that the yataghan was taken by the Serbian leader „from the hands of a Turk” during a fi ght, without off ering further information regarding the year and the place of the specifi c battle. We can also fi nd out from this specifi c letter information regarding the purchase of the weapon and its previous owner. Ormós purchased the yataghan on June 23rd, 1876 at Orşova, from the widow Schevits who held the weapon as an heirloom. ! ese informations have been published in the specialized magazine of the Museum Society of History and Archeology in the year 1889, while in the 1st fi le of inventory held by the Banat Museum the yataghan is recorded as a „Turkish yataghan”. We have to underline the fact that Karađorđe’s yataghan represents the only Oriental weapon of the collection whose inscriptions had been translated and recorded in the old files of the Banat Museum.