Russian C16th armour find

[Duncan Head]

Just out of period, but all the same:

The full arsenal of a military commander who served Ivan the Terrible has been uncovered in Russia, the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has announced.
Found during a survey for a highway expansion outside Zvenigorod, an ancient town 18 miles west of Moscow, the cache consists of helmets stored in leather boxes, sections of sabers, arrows and and a type of armor known as kolchugs.

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/ivan-the-terrible-military-arsenal-found-160104.htm

Kolchuga or kol'chuga looks from other sites to be a mail shirt - http://kievan-rus.appspot.com/Armor_Chain_Mail_XKolchugaX.html or http://www.xenophon-mil.org/rushistory/medievalarmor/partii.htm

[Patrick Waterson]

As the article observes, this cache suggests that Russian nobility armed and provided for their own retinues as and when these were called out for service.

Nice find, Duncan.

[Tim]

Duncan, thank you.  Interesting as always.