"References for Transylvanian Boyar and Viteji 1590 - 1620" Topic

I'm new to this period and still learning. I was looking to put a Transylvanian/Wallchian FOG-R army together as I have friends that have put armied together for FOG-R and was looking for reference material. In particular the army lists, name Boyars and Viteji which I believe were the Nobility and next tier of class, however I've not been able to find any references to how this class of units would appear, dress wise. I wasn't sure whether they would be armoured like western appearance or still have a more eastern/medieval look. I'm contemplating getting the following reference book THE ARMY OF TRANSYLVANIA 1559-1690 by Somogyi, Gyozo, but looking to see whether the knowledge base that frequent this forum may have reference sites, pictures or could even recommend current miniatures that may be used to cover these unit types. Scale 15mm to 28mm doesn't matter as I'm trying to gauge appearance. Any assistance would be welcome.

Hi Daniel,

I'd like to thank you for mentioning "The Army of Transylvania 1559-1690". I'd never heard of it. I took a brief look at it on Amazon, and was intrigued by this book and others by Somogyi Gyozo.

Are you planning to make an army at the time of Vlad Tepes (Dracula) or at a later time? Even though everyone knows we really shouldn't depend on movies for historical details, you might want to check out the Romanian 1970s movie "Vlad Tepes" on Youtube. At least one Youtube version of this movie has English sub-titles. "Vlad Tepes" has some pretty interesting depictions of civilian and military dress which you might find to be useful. The movie isn't perfect (there's a pretty goofy combat scene at the beginning), but it's not that bad in other ways.

Jeff

Vitej would be equivalent to Serbo-Croatian Vitez, which means Knight.

Also the movie Micheal the Brave has some nice uniforms and battles in the 1590s:
YouTube link
YouTube link

The 'By Fire and Sword' range covers the period slightly after the one you are looking at but most (or all?) the figures would be suitable – some are even okay for 200 years earlier. They do a specific Transylvanian range in 15mm and there are probably some figures from other ranges which would also work. It will also give an idea of the look if you wanted to use a different manufacturer and/or scale.
link

The figures are nice. Some of the horses are a bit big but the Szekelys I've just done match other ranges nicely.

I have another couple of Somogyi's books. I think they are all the same format – captioned pictures (in English and Hungarian) and virtually no other text. Very good painting guides, including flags.

The closest thing in 28mm would be renaissance Poles. Foundry has them as does The Assault Group. TAG also has a few actual Hungarians as well.

Hayduk infantry actually are Hungarians in Polish service, so no problem there. Boyars/Vitej could either look like standard European Cuirassier or like Turks/Polish Pancerni with Lances depending on where they sourced their equipment.

Another book you may want to look for is: Mugnai, Bruno; Flaherty, Christopher (2014). Der Lange Türkenkrieg (1593-1606): The long Turkish War, Vol. 1

Check this link link and also check others as there was a lot of mix of styles link

For my 25 mm elite boyars I use Lituanian hussar lancers from Old Glory renaissance range. Incidentally, 15mm "By Fire and Sword" figures are very similar. For less elite you can use Polish Pancerni and Turkish armored sipahi, even mixed together.

See also Illustrations of Hungarian Costume & Soldiers (including Slovakia, Croatia and Transylvania)

Druzhina
16th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Thanks all for your responses thus far.

Jeff: Vlad's period was to the end of the 15th century but I'm looking more to the end of the 16th century so there may be a slight variation in troop types… maybe not??

Magister: Great links. There is a scene about 15min from the end (part 2) where the Wallachian leader talks to the noblemen before going into battle and they are all dressed in western style full body armour. So maybe that is a good hint to the Boyars of the time??? how much do we trust a movie?

Swampster: I did check that range out prior to posting but couldn't determine which would be the most appropriate figures to use for these troop types and given it was for a later period was unsure if any would be suitable.

Stecal: Thanks for the reference. I was already on the path of thinking along your same lines but was looking to get something to support that thinking. The movie links as stated above would appear to indicate a more European look, at least for the Boyar.

IGWARG1: Thanks. I had already sourced that information but there wasn't anything specific to these unit types. I couldn't find any evidence that would suggest using Hussar lancers as Boyars. I've seen references that armoured Hussars for the Hungarian provinces would be similarly dressed to the Polish Hussars, but not necessarily for the more heavier cavalry.

Druzhina: Great links, thanks. Not necessarily answering my question but great for general reference for this region during this period.

Much appreciated all and if anyone has further information by all means post away.
Cheers Daniel

There's a free download Hungarian pdf book "Katonák Bethlen Gábor korából" at PDF link with photos of what I assume to be re-enactors which may be useful, but it's early 17th century rather than late 16th.

The Somogyi book's got good pictures, and the first volume of Mugnai & Flaherty's Lange Turkenkrieg – link – also has a number of Transylvanian figure plates.