Notes on the Arms of the Avar Heavy Cavalry

Abstract:

The paper focuses on the characteristic and non-specific arms of the Avar heavy cavalry by comparing the technical terms of armament attested in written sources with information found in the archaeological finds and pictorial representations. The data culled from different sources lead us to the conclusion that heavy cavalry must have played a decisive role only in the first part of the early Avar age when the Avars had frequently waged war against Byzantium. Although it did not disappear completely in the late Avar age, its significance decreased. More data are available on the arms of the heavy cavalry from the period prior to the collapse of the Avar Empire, but even so they are much fewer than those relating to the early Avar period. In the second half of the 8th century the Avar army must have used Frankish types of armaments (winged-lance and Frankish-type armour)

Keywords: Avar; heavy cavalry; lance; double-edged sword; armour; shield; horse-armour

Document Type: Research article