crossbow bolt quiver with fur in museums

A few surviving examples, such as one found in the ruins of the Church of the Tithes, where a large number of Kievans were trapped and interred when the church was set alight and destroyed by the Mongols in 1240, indicate that in the pre-Mongol Invasion Rus’ period (9th-13th century), there were two main types of quivers in use in Rus. Many graves of archers still have piles of arrowheads and metal components indicating a quiver was likely once present, but with few or no surviving elements from the quiver itself. 20.Īs quivers were made of perishable materials (wood, birch bark, leather, bone), little has been found in archeological finds from period Rus’ quivers. “Drevnosti Chernigova.” Materialy i issledovanija po arkheologii SSSR.

Image depicting a Rus’ warrior hunting an eagle while carrying a hip quiver, from the cladding over an aurochs horn.

“Kolchan i Naluch’e.” Ruchnoe metatel’noe oruzhie (luk i strely, samostrel): VIII-XIV vv. Moscow, 1966, illus.

Illumination from the Radziwiłł Chronicle, showing Rus’ crossbowmen in action.

As a result, I posited that Rus’ crossbowmen would have used quivers similar to those used by bow archers.

A few earlier manuscripts depict Rus’ soldiers with crossbows, but none that I could find depict quivers on those crossbowmen. All existing remnants are from much later in period or post-period. As I started creating bolts for my crossbow, I also started researching medieval crossbow quivers, but was unable to find any details about crossbow quivers prior to the 16th century or so in Russia. My persona is from the mid-11th century, which would have been early on in the use of crossbows in Rus’, although it is possible they may have been in seen given the widespread trade from Northern Europe and the Middle East which traveled through Rus’ and Volga Bulgaria in that time. I decided to purchase and start using a crossbow for mundane reasons (shoulder injury) which prevented me from firing a regular bow. A few remaining crossbows from late period or just post period are stored in the Moscow Armory Museum, and show that they were quite similar to those in use in Western Europe. By the 13th-14th centuries, crossbows were widely in use by soldiers, especially in the defense of cities from siege. The Russian Chronicles from 1184 mention crossbows being used in battle with the Polovtsians. Although crossbows themselves have not been found in the archeological record, bolts and bolt heads have been discovered in Novgorod dating as early as the 1170s. There is mention that a type of early crossbow was used for hunting as early as the 10th century.

Historical ContextĬrossbows were widely introduced to the Rus’ territories most likely by the 11th century. I learned a lot in the process, and am quite happy with the final result. This was my first significant leather and woodworking project for the SCA. Overall this project took approximately 40-50 hours to complete, over September-December 2020. I built this item after purchasing a crossbow in September 2020 and needing a way to carry my bolts (which were also made by me). The piece was constructed using woodworking, leather carving, leather dying, and bronze-smithing. Today I am displaying an 11th-century Russian-style quiver for crossbow bolts.

Crossbow bolt quiver with fur in museums