[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

So you say you're interested in arms and armour from Poland, do you ?
Well, take a good long look ... B-)

http://polisharms.com/Knowledge/knowledgebase.html

[Gabriele Becattini]

Hi Matthew,

just bought this one:" A. Nadolski, Polish Arms. Side-Arms ", but looks like if i have to prepare my bank account to lower!

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

[Jason Elrod]

Looks like a great resource. Thanks for posting the link. I might pick up a book or two from them.

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

Just an FYI, I ordered a book from PolishArms and everything went smooth
as silk. The book arrived in great shape -- all the way from Poland, obviously --
and in a timely fashion.

[Sa'ar Nudel]

I just wanted to add a little support. The owner of PolishArms is an authority in that subject; he was the head speaker in Baltimore Antique Arms Fair convention 2 or 3 years ago.
I bought several books from him during the last couple of years, always to my full content.

[Gerald Fa.]

[Sa'ar Nudel]

A quick look in the wonderful book Stara Bron (bought from PolishArms ) shows they did have sallets, but it is stated they are western import, made in Italy. Since the western borders of Poland were "fluid" over the years you can expect them to have all sorts of German style arms & armour.

[Lukasz Papaj]

Eastern style become dominant in Rzeczpospolita (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) in latter part of XVI century. Till then Polish arms and armour are very much the same as Northern German ones.
During the Grunwald battle (1410) Polish and Lithuanian forces used special markings (badges made of straw) to distinguish themselves from "Teutonic" forces, as arms and many heraldic devices were the same on both sides.
There are some peculiarities, like absence from evidence of type XVIII blades for example (only 9 found of all subtypes, while type XVIa has over 130 pieces evidenced*), but that is thought to be due massive use of heavy cavalry during whole medieval period (as opposed to the West)

Its good to see knowledge from our scholars is finally available for general public!

---
* according to "Miecze Środkowoeuropejskie Z X-Xv w." Marian Głosek, Warsaw, 1984, data for Area of Former Eastern Germany, Poland, Hungary and former Czechoslowakia

[Michal Plezia]

I want to add that battle of Grunwald is often called the battle of Tannenberg in English publications ( for example in Osprey).

[Luka Borscak]

[Lukasz Papaj]

In aforementioned book Author gives data as follows: (Country borders for year 1984)

type XII - 56 known specimens (9 Czechoslowakia, 20 EastGermany, 17 Poland, 10 Hungary)
type XIII - 11 known specimens ( 1 C-S, 3 E-G, 6 Pl, 1Hu)
type XIIIa- 71 known specimens (10 C-S, 17 E-G, 30 Pl, 14 Hu)
type XIV - 2 known specimens ( 2 C-S, 0 E-G, 0 Pl, 0Hu)
type XV - 4 known specimens ( 0 C-S, 2 E-G, 1 Pl, 1Hu)
type XVa- 15 known specimens ( 8 C-S, 2 E-G, 4 Pl, 1Hu)
type XVI 3 known specimens ( 2 C-S, 1 E-G, 0 Pl, 0Hu)
type XVIa-131 known specimens (28 C-S,19 E-G, 63 Pl, 21Hu)
type XVII - 45 known specimens ( 9 C-S, 3 E-G, 25 Pl, 6Hu)
type XVIIIa - 1 known example (C-S)
type XVIIIb- 6 known specimens (1 C-S, 3 E-G, 2 Pl, 0Hu)
type XVIIIc- 1 known example (E-G)
type XVIIIe- 1 known example (E-G)
type XX - 16 known specimens ( 6 C-S, 2 E-G, 8 Pl, 0Hu)

Notes: Author counts only specimens that are in museum store (count was made when we were still behind iron curtain, no private collections). Type XIIa is not listed - possibly due author using outdated source for typology, one could guess them counted among XIIIa's, judging from included photos. Type XVII judged to be strictly unfullered, so swords akin to Landgraf or Sempach would be put into XVIa's.

As far as I know the book is one of two attempts behind Iron Curtain to use Oakeshott's typology (second one is earlier work by M. Głosek and A.Nadolski "Miecze średniowieczne z ziem polskich" [Medieval swords from Polish land]) Other books deal only in hilt typology (actually, same goes for sabres)