Moorish, African, and Egyptian Arms & Armour: Medieval to Colonial era.

My friend there have been endless arguments on here about the term 'moor'. In Spanish 'moro' is one of many terms for 'muslim', like muselman, saraceno, ismaelita etc etc. Whereas in English it tends to have different meanings. Hard to explain maybe but the phase 'the moors ruled Spain' doesn't really mean anything in Spanish as such people dont exist as an entity in Spanish, other than to say muslim. Or in other contexts, Moroccan.

Those in Spain at the time of the Caliphate were a mixed bunch for sure, with ancestry from all over the place and including sizeable Christian and Jewish populations. But remember the Caliphate was only about one 7th of the time of Muslim 'presence'.

In later times - during the invasions/rules of the North African Almoravids and Almohads - the Andalusian troops, especially the cavalry, were more 'heavy troops' similar to their Christian counterparts. This, along with their lifestyles and religious liberties, is part of the reason the Africans detested the Spanish muslims so much (not so much that they had heavy armour but that they were similar to the christians in their eyes). The 'African' troops were much lighter in nature, included large bodies of fanatical, unskilled, barely armed yihadist cannon-fodder for the front line and also skilled horse archers etc from various eastern parts amongst their (light) cavalry.

It's another of those questions where the scope of different parties over nearly 800 years is so great, you cant generalise much.

Of interest to you might be a big painting called the Batalla de la Higuerela. The painting is normally shown in sections on the internet because of it's interesting detail in the Nazari/Granada troops which, although the battle was I think 1431, were firmly rooted in the middle ages tactics and arms.

It was one of the last larger pitched battles in the muslim era. The later War of Granada was mainly about sieges and territory, and by then gunpowder had reared it's game-changing head.

I have seen a whole series of these sectional photos of the picture on the web (and in a book or 2 but I haven't time to search for you right now, but here is a start

File:Higueruela.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

File:Battle of Higueruela.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

The painting is in El Escorial by the way.

Andalusian warriors were probably a bit more heavily armored than Berbers but still favored maneuver to a greater extent than did northern Europeans who relied on mass and armor. Of course that is generalization but has some truth.

Toledo steel was famous for blades more than armor but certainly the smiths of Spain were fascinated by the properties of metal and after northern Italy created the best armors of the late medieval and Renaissance eras.

There were some Arabs and even Turks serving in Spain but majority of warriors used local traditions and style in equipment.

Ichon said:

Andalusian warriors were probably a bit more heavily armored than Berbers but still favored maneuver to a greater extent than did northern Europeans who relied on mass and armor. Of course that is generalization but has some truth.

Toledo steel was famous for blades more than armor but certainly the smiths of Spain were fascinated by the properties of metal and after northern Italy created the best armors of the late medieval and Renaissance eras.

There were some Arabs and even Turks serving in Spain but majority of warriors used local traditions and style in equipment.

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Yes mate but I was comparing them with the African forces of invasion and occupation of both the Almoravids and Almohads. Plus Almanzor earlier brought in many berbers and slavs in his army partly for numbers and partly for undoubted loyalty avoiding Spanish politics.

Watching an Almoravid or Almohad army pass was a real eye-opener for the Spanish residents. Strange folk, languages, weapons and dress/armour.

No love lost between the Spanish and their co-religionists from Africa - ever!

Make no mistake, it wasn't an 800-year occupation - those that lived there were Spanish. Just as much invaded as anyone else would be at times.

Accounts of the Almohad troops are in:

NAVAS DE TOLOSA (ED. CONMEMORATIVA 800 ANIVERSARIO) - FRANCISCO GARCIA FITZ, comprar el libro en tu librería online Casa del Libro

LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA - ENRIQUE DE DIEGO, comprar el libro en tu librería online Casa del Libro

Both Almoravids and Almohads:

MOROS Y CRISTIANOS: LA GRAN AVENTURA DE LA ESPAÑA MEDIEVAL - JOSE JAVIER ESPARZA, comprar el libro en tu librería online Casa del Libro

Azarius Balios said:

I always wanted to know what were the equipment being used by troops in the African continent (even though I made a thread about Ethiopian weapons and armour, but it was in the medieval/byzantine section). Anyhow, I always wanted to know the weapons being used by the fatimids, mamluks, mali empire, and the moors...especially the Moors, I've seen painting of them but never actually seen Moorish weapons and armour from Cordova, Andalusia or from Morocco. because they're usually been overshadowed by the Spanish and Ottomans. Do you know any of this, its quite hard for me to find.

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For Egyptian Fatimids see this thread

Warfare and Firearms in Fifteenth Century Morocco, 1400-1492 By Weston F. Cook Jr.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

johnincornwall said:

Yes mate but I was comparing them with the African forces of invasion and occupation of both the Almoravids and Almohads. Plus Almanzor earlier brought in many berbers and slavs in his army partly for numbers and partly for undoubted loyalty avoiding Spanish politics.

Click to expand...

I was responding more to the earlier comment on Andalusian troops being heavier armored similar to northern Christians which might be true for some but wasn't true on the same scale.

The Almoravids were more flexible and adopted more varieties of locals while the Almohads conservatism drew some more distant Muslims but there was certainly some contrasting styles but the north African styles weren't that different from Spain before and during most of the Moorish eras as both had influenced each other for a long time.

The Kanem-Bornu empire probably had one of the best professional armies of Africa. The Ottomans trained elite units of armored musketeers. In West Africa most armies used cavalry with chain mail, lances, swords, poison arrows. I saw a really cool picture of a hausa warrior on horseback in chainmail waving a sword and a very large shield. As for egypt, I saw an illustration of a mamluk soldier once, can't remember where but they were heavily armored. Muskets(2 or more), swords, lances, ......plate,etc. These were the guys who stopped the Mongols from invading Egypt after all, wouldn't want to come across one on a battlefield.

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Africa]Military history of Africa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_military_systems_to_1800]African military systems to 1800 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Great links IMO. Somalis and Ethiopians both utilized muskets and cannons as well as foreign mercenaries in the various wars they fought against each other in the middle ages.

The Nubians, Carthaginians, and Axumites all utilized war elephants in battle as well,etc. You had lightly armed yet agile warriors in Kongo and the Zulu empire who lacked horses and heavy weaponry but could dodge projectiles, arrows, and in some cases(zulu), even outrun cavalry. Sounds crazy, but it's true. The Kongo in particular had a fondness for setting traps. Ditches, punji stakes, trenches, fake "camps" the enemy would exshaust themselves against,etc.

Cotton armor, chain mail, leather, ......plate, all were used throughout Africa. Chariots were used but obviously fell out of practice in late antiquity.The Kongo empire and central african kingdoms created multi-edged throwing knives and daggers too, nasty, nasty weapons to say the least. Great for ambushing slower, bulkier armies too.

The benin empire, along with the ashanti used swords that looked like one-dimensional metal clubs, beautifully crafted but probably efficient enough to bash someone's head in if need be as well. You're of course familiar with the knoberrie(zulu club), war axe, and iklwa(short stabbing spear) as well?

Andalusian Heavy Cavalrymen

Ian Heath based his Andalusian Heavy Cavalrymen, 11th-12th Centuries on:
Goliath in Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana, Silos ms. 1090-1109AD and
a capital at Estella in Navarre with Farragut & Roland, last third of the 12th century
I have also seen the Silos Beatus picture used as a source for a christian knight.


MIRROR SITES
Andalusian Heavy Cavalrymen, 11th-12th Centuries
Goliath in Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana, Silos ms. 1090-1109AD
A capital at Estella in Navarre with Farragut & Roland, last third of the 12th century

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Azarius Balios said:

I always wanted to know what were the equipment being used by troops in the African continent (even though I made a thread about Ethiopian weapons and armour, but it was in the medieval/byzantine section). Anyhow, I always wanted to know the weapons being used by the fatimids, mamluks, mali empire, and the moors...especially the Moors, I've seen painting of them but never actually seen Moorish weapons and armour from Cordova, Andalusia or from Morocco. because they're usually been overshadowed by the Spanish and Ottomans. Do you know any of this, its quite hard for me to find.

Click to expand...

The information available for Al-Andalus is wide thanks to Spanish archeology, unfortunately the bulk of studies are in Spanish, and they are hard archeological works, not focused on divulgation. Here are some works on late Al-Andalus weaponry

http://man.mcu.es/publicaciones/pdf/jineta.pdf
http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/fileadmin/pdf/CATALOGO_Armas_y_enseres_de_la_defensa_nazar__.pdf

Frank81 said:

The information available for Al-Andalus is wide thanks to Spanish archeology, unfortunately the bulk of studies are in Spanish, and they are hard archeological works, not focused on divulgation. Here are some works on late Al-Andalus weaponry

http://man.mcu.es/publicaciones/pdf/jineta.pdf
http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/fileadmin/pdf/CATALOGO_Armas_y_enseres_de_la_defensa_nazar__.pdf

Click to expand...

Having taken the effort (almost accidentally) to fully learn Spanish I have been able to enjoy many dozens of modern Spanish history books with new research/opinions/discoveries/archeology and fuller investigations over the last few years. Also of course I've read much of the old classics much beloved of traditional historians, available in English, but not necessarily always particulary accurate in today's light. Sadly these are rarely translated into English and I am therefore really unable to refer colleagues on here to them IE it's sort of 'take my word for it'

You can understand why - there can't be too much demand in English for in-depth Spanish history - but it's a shame for those who are interested in it but dont speak Spanish.

As an example take one or two of the first-hand (relatively recent being 16th C) Conquistador writings. We now know that timings and places can be inaccurate, not to mention some of the exaggerated tales and ludicrous heresay. Yet there are some who take tales from much earlier - with a political, religious, mythical, racial slant - and take them as gospel truth. Even though they may have been written 2 or 300 years after the actual event, or more.

There's only one way to get through this fog and that's to cover as much as possible and make your own views. Sadly as most of it isn't translated to English it's hard for non-Spanish speakers to compare and study.

Others would disagree but I think Emilio Gonzalez Ferrin has some really interesting views and a tremendous knowledge of the known history of Islam. A very practical take on myth against reality - sweeping away all the daft legends written about those early Spanish Islam years, well AFTER the establishment of Islam and the Caliphate - IE well after the events.

Sadly I dont think he's been translated!