[Henrik J. Fridh]

Hi there.

I found this interesting picture of two sipahis whilst browsing around the internet earlier today, they appear to be wearing a mix of eastern clothing and armour with western armour. Just as the topic says, is there any basis in reality for these sipahi wearing that kind of mix of armours as in the depiction?

[Sander Alsters]

It could verywell be that these soldiers were in fact polish or hungarian hussars. They adopted a lot of armour from the ottoman Turks. It is hard to say because the ottomans also adopted armour from the west. I think it is very well possible.

[Lafayette C Curtis]

Any information on the date and origin of the illustration itself?

[Henrik J. Fridh]

Sorry no idea where/when the book comes from, it's german by the looks of it as it says "Sipahis, söldner des Sultans" at the bottom left of it.

[Jean Henri Chandler]

Those are probably at least somewhat accurate, I've seen that image before though I don't remember the source either.

There were at least two distinct types of Sipahi, one type recruited from the Balkans (Rumeli) had more European kit, the other from Anatolia and Central Asia more Turkish kit. The latter were principally horse-archers while the former were more like heavy cavalry.

J

[Henrik J. Fridh]

Thank you Jean. I too assumed they were from the Balkans, it was the only logical conclusion I could make. Perhaps there is some reality to it after all.

[Lafayette C Curtis]

I'd still like to know the date and provenance of the illustration, since it seems a bit suspect; the armour depicted there indicates a late 15th-century or early 16th-century date but the colour palette of the illustration just seems wrong somehow for that date (and resembles 18th-century illustrations instead). This makes me wonder if the illustration has been redrawn from an earlier, uncoloured original, in which case some (potentially serious) errors could have crept in during the copying process.