WEAPONS COMPLEX OF RUSSIAN SERVING TATARS IN XV-XVII TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article considers the issue of the offensive and defensive armament of the serving Tatars of the Moscow state in the XV-XVIIth centuries, its research degree in the national historiography, the opportunities and prospects of its enhanced studying. The serving Tatars were one of the categories of the Moscow state nobility, which is reflected, first of all, in written sources. The weapons complex of Russian serving Tatars included minimal armour. European sources do not mention armour and helms or shield. But noble Tatars could have costly armour of many types that were used in that epoch by peoples of Eastern Europe and Middle East - Russians, Persians, Turks. The basic weapons of the serving Tatars were bows and arrows. In the close combat they were using sabres, and (rarely) spears. The fire weapon was not used by the serving Tatars (or they used it very rarely and it was not characteristic for their weapons complex), because it was ineffective in their tactics. The serving Tatars were light mobile horse archers that preferred battles of long-distance.