THE KNIGHTHOOD BELT IN SILESIA AND LITTLE POLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES. AN ICONOGRAPHIC STUDY

The article analyses the images of knighthood belts in mediaeval iconography from Silesia and Little Poland, suggesting a chronology of their evolution and a classification based on the mode of wearing. The author distinguishes the following types of knighthood belts: waist belts, generally worn over armour, usually made of a narrow textile or leather band, tied or fastened with a buckle. They appeared in two variants: 'level' waist belts, serving not only to carry the sword, but also to gird clothes; 'slanted' waist belts, usually lowered on the left hip; 'hip' belts, worn over plate armour around the hips; belts enwrapping sheathed swords, shown separately from the knight's dress. As to the evolution the knighthood belt in Poland, the following phases have been differentiated: Phase I - 1150-1330 - the time of the spread of knightly culture in Poland, when the belt was becoming an important ideographic sign. In that period belts were usually worn over the armour, encircling the waist or lowered on one hip. Luxurious belts were decorated with floral motifs, ferrules shaped as lilies, rosettes and quadruple leaves, and geometric motifs with circles, rectangles and triangles; Phase II - 1330-1470 - the time when full-fledged knighthood ritual was widely observed in Poland. Belts were magnificently ornamented; examples of highest artistic value can be found among broad hip belts worn over plate armour. Waist belts continued to be used, but most probably the 'slanted' variant prevailed. Iconographic sources indicate that the most popular ornaments of the belts of the knight elite were geometric motifs - circles, rectangles, rhomboids and pyramids Floral motifs were still applied, the quadruple leaf being the most common one. Ornaments found on some belts from that period conveyed special ideas through the use of heraldic symbols, inscriptions alluding to court culture or architectural motifs; Phase III -1470-1530 - marked by the dawn of knightly culture and a changing attitude to knighthood. Wide hip belts were abandoned and for a while replaced with narrow waist belts, which, however, soon gave way to textile sashes, a trend connected with the emergence of the national costume of Polish nobility.