Magyar (Hungarian) sabretach plates 9th-10th C. CE

August 09, 2024

Magyar (Hungarian) sabretach plates 9th-10th C. CE

"Hungarian men held their essential tools (particularly the fire-starting kit of the age, that is, fire steel, flint and tinder) in their typically leather sabretaches suspended on the right side of their belts. The sabretache’s front flap was occasionally ornamented with bronze or gilded silver mounts, or contiguous plates (sabretache plates) as early as around the 900s. The ornaments on the sabretaches (plates and mounts) were typically Hungarian rank indicators of the 10th century; moreover, some regard these as power insignia of the dignitaries serving the prince’s family. They could have belonged to the military escort of Hungarian great princes, or were probably leaders or high-ranking participants of the raids. The number of such artefacts ever displayed in a museum is extremely low, we only know about 27 sabretache plates and 13 ornamental mounted or leather sabretaches including the recently found pieces. Most of them were found in the upper region of the River Tisza, some around the boundaries of Transdanubia and Upper Hungary, but not even one has ever been found in other core areas (e.g., Transylvania, southern Hungary).

Ornamented pieces represent outstanding examples of 10th century Hungarian goldsmithery. However, it was not ornamentation that expressed ranking, but the right to wear these objects and other insignia (such as gilded silver-plated belt mounts, sabers, quivers holding arrows, or harness decorations). Sabretache mount ornaments gradually lost their significance in the rapidly transforming society and their use discontinued after the Hungarian raids had stopped (after 955/970). Hungarian great princes consolidated the central power with a firm hand in the last third of the 10th century, which implied the internal relocation of the population, and the organisation of a new Western-type military escort. The onetime colourful Eastern clothing and the art behind it vanished.

A Hungarian Conquest period cemetery consisting of 77 undisturbed graves were unearthed in the vicinity of Páty settlement at the very beginning of 2022. Two graves also included insignia, namely sabretache ornaments, which suggests burials of extremely high-ranking men. Similar complete sabretache ornaments unearthed by applying contemporary archaeologoical methods were last discovered in 2011, while only as few as 38 pieces of such artefacts have been previously known from the Carpathian Basin so far. A further significance of the finds of Páty lies in the fact that sabretaches have been found together with their content (flint fire steel, and whetstone).

At the end of the campaigns against the western states and Byzantium (955 and 970) probably also weakened the power of the tribal aristocracy. Historical sources and archaeological finds suggest that the Hungarian Chieftans strengthened their central power with a firm hand in the last third of the 10th century, both by large-scale internal population resettlement and by organising a new type of military entourage around them. They tried to equip their members with Western-style weapons, and the former badges of dignity lost their role and were no longer used by the new escort. The splendour of oriental costume and art of the past has slowly faded away, left only by the magnificent jewellery that was buried in the ground in the preceding decades."

-taken from the Hungarian National Museum

"The palmette motifs in a endless knot on this sabretache plate from Galgóc are reminiscent of motifs on Oriental textiles and frescoes in the Sogdian towns. The Hungarians may have become acquainted with such designs during their time in the East. According to the protocols, horse bones, a neck torque, a pair of earrings, and a silver Arab dirhem were found along with the sabretache plate in the male burial, which was discovered in 1868. The coin, which had been drilled through, was struck by the Samanid amir Nasr II (r. 914–943); it was issued in Samarkand in 918–919. Its last owner may have had it sewn into his clothing or his horse’s harness at the end of the first third of the 10th century." -Hungarian National Museum