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POLISH MOUNTED FREEMAN, 14th CENTURY
An extract from Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2by Ian Heath
136. POLISH MOUNTED FREEMAN, 14th CENTURY
Scale armour remained popular in Poland throughout most of this period, surviving in widespread use in Lithuania until well into the 16th century. Such corselets as that worn here comprised iron scales mounted on a leather foundation, usually worn over a quilted gambeson. Unlike 135, mounted freemen tended to fight either on horse or foot depending on circumstances, armed with lance or crossbow in the former role, and with bow or crossbow, or heavy spear, axe or other polearm in the latter. The Polish bow was a longbow of about 5 feet in length, largely supplanted by the crossbow during this era. The handgun too was in use by the very end of the 14th century, probably adopted from Bohemia. Certainly a few were present in the Polish army at the Battle of Tannenberg, and a reasonable number dating to 1400-50, mainly brass-barrelled, have been found in Poland and Courland (Kurland).