Subject: ناصر nāṣir 'helper' cavalry
Culture: Sudanese
Setting: Mahdist states, 1880s-1910s
Object: armor = helmet, mail, jibbeh quilted coat
*
* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery
"Fabric coat (jibbah) and helmet
Sudanese, 19th century
Armour was worn exclusively by cavalry in the Saharan armies, and usually took the form of a quilted coat,
sometimes supplemented by a mail shirt worn over the top."
Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery *
"Armour
Sudanese, 19th century
The helmet, with its spun skull and aventail of split rings,
is a European import, probably destined originally for the guards of the Egyptian Khedive Tawfiq." ...
* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery
"Helmet Sudanese, 19th century Later Sudanese armour production imitated the
style of the largely Mamluk material that survived from an earlier period in armouries."
* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery
"Helmet Mamluk Egyptian, 16th century This is a good example of a three-hundred-year-old helmet remounted for use in
the Sudan in the late 19th century. Armour was very valuable in the Saharan region, and was worn only by elite cavalrymen."
Royal Armouries Museum > War Gallery *
"Coat (jibbah) Sudanese, late 19th century
The term jibbah is most commonly associated with this type of coat, with applied coloured patches.
This style of decoration was adopted from peasant garb, and became a kind of uniform for the Mahdist armies.
From the battle of Omdurman, 1889." ...
* Higgins Armory Museum > Scimitars to Samurai: Arms around the World
"Horseman of the Sahara The grasslands just south of the Sahara were known to the Arabs as Bilad al-Sudan, 'land of the black people.' During the Middle Ages the region developed a culture that was both Islamic and distinctively African. Gold from West African mines brought caravans of merchants across the Sahara. This trade supported powerful kings in trading centers like Timbuktu (in modern Mali). These kings were supported by armies of armored horsemen comparable to European knights.
"The equipment of this Sudanic horseman reflects the blending of cultures through the trade networks of the Sahara. He wears a high-quality mail coat and helmet imported from the Middle East. His sword and scabbard are typically Sudanic, as is the arrow-shaped nose-guard added to the helmet by a local craftsman."
"Helmet, perhaps 1500s, modified in 1800s Made in Ottoman Turkey, modified in the Sudanic region, northern Africa
Russeted iron with gilding Weight: 5 lb. 9 oz. ...
"Mail coat, possibly 1500s, with later alterations Egyptian or Ottoman Turkish, modified in Sudanic region, northern Africa Iron; brass" ...
Kaskara (sword) with scabbard, 1800s Sudanic region, northern Africa Steel; iron; wood; crocodile skin; leather; scabbard: tooled leather; fabric; brass; iron Weight: 1 lb. 14 oz. (sword only) ...
Spear, 1800s Sudanic region, northern Africa Iron with etching; brass inlay; restored wood Weight: 1 lb. 5 oz. ...
