Who are the Zagi of the Western Sudan army list in DBMM (bookIII/ ist69) ?

[CarlL]

OK, I am not sure if this is the right place for a post about a DBMM army list, but here goes.
Who are the Zagi of the Western Sudan army list in DBMM (bookIII/ list69) ?
CarlL

[Duncan Head]

OK, I am not sure if this is the right place for a post about a DBMM army list, but here goes.
Who are the Zagi of the Western Sudan army list in DBMM (bookIII/ list69) ?

From the section "A Glossary of Hausa Military Terminology" in J P Smaldone, Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate:

zagi, zaggage: horse holder; runners who accompanied cavalry, carrying extra weapons and equipment.

From p.47:

... the light horsemen were accompanied by special detachments of foot soldiers (zagi, zaggage) who carried and cared for other accouterments. These aides or runners carried extra tethering ropes, blankets, and weapons to resupply the horsemen as required. A Brittish officer who witnessed the Nupe army in action in 1897 compared the function of these attendants to the squires of feudal Europe: "Like the knights of old days, every horseman seemed to be followed by two or three squires carrying his gun and some spears, and where the horsemen were banded together, they were usually followed by similar parties of footmen".

This is of course 19th-century information, but the book is the source for a lot of the terminology in the list, on the assumption that military practice did not change greatly from the mediaeval empires.

[CarlL]

Thank you Duncan,
I must follow up your source.
so, in DBA land, these seem more like camp followers than psiloi!?!
CarlL

[evilgong]

The same source that Duncan mentions, or perhaps another one, describes them as fighting mixed in with the cav or forming up in bodies behind the cav - presumably as a rallying point for them.

So you could mix some figs on the cav bases but separate units of light troops would be OK too.  There were numbers of other light infantry missile men, Huasa or other peasants available.

regards

David F Brown

[Duncan Head]

Even without the extra passages David mentions (which I haven't checked), they follow the cavalry (whereas camp followers are static) and boost their fighting effect even if only by handing them spare weapons. In DBMM, I am happy with the effect of "supporting psiloi" in this case - not so sure about DBA.

[Martin Smith]

Even without the extra passages David mentions (which I haven't checked), they follow the cavalry (whereas camp followers are static) and boost their fighting effect even if only by handing them spare weapons. In DBMM, I am happy with the effect of "supporting psiloi" in this case - not so sure about DBA.

Would that suit the DBA 6Cv categorisation*, or would that be giving the Zagi too much credit for the support they might provide?
*like supported Samurai mounted

[Duncan Head]

Perhaps too much? How does DB deal with hamippoi, or German light infantry supporting cavalry? Does it just ignore them?

[Martin Smith]

Perhaps too much? How does DB deal with hamippoi, or German light infantry supporting cavalry? Does it just ignore them?

Yep, I suspect it does, come to think of it.

[evilgong]

I reckon all the supporting light infantry in DBx should be either subsumed into the Cav base (depicted with a fig or two if you wish) or as separate light infantry stands.

Some of the West Soudanese info will come from the later 1790s -1830s European visitors (many Brits, some Germans and others) or even from one of the generals of the Fulani jihad, that overthrew the Huasa states / city-states to found the Sokoto Caliphate (c1804-1820), who was a prolific writer.

The book that Duncan mentioned has some battle descriptions, albeit a bit general, but they talk about archers in deep mass resisting cavalry, smart generals choosing terrain wisely to blunt enemy assaults and later in the jihad close co-operation between archers and cavalry.   Later because the jihadist initially had few horses.

The armoured cav were assault troops used even against fortified villages.

From memory only one or two of the Huasa states had fire-arms and then only one or two smallish units, and almost no artillery until well into the 19thc (Bornu had 2-4 x crappy 4-pounders from Tripoli in the 1820s) so tactics would not be greatly influenced by gunpowder weapons.  The Fulani jihadist leaders were great students of Arabic military history and tried to apply what they could - but this is beyond the ancient period.

David B
(I have been gathering all this for some 'Napoleonic' army lists for Africa and beyond)

[CarlL]

Its always a 'what if' like conjecture to go from a later source to try and depict earlier activity, but in the absence of any earlier sources then our conjecture about the longevity or continuity of cultural- traditional warfare across long periods in West Africa would be our best estimate?
The influx of Arab or Islamic culture (and its writing) perhaps displacing earlier oral history and military traditions; the next wave probably being European adventurers like the Portuguese, Dutch and English (or possibly British post Tudor).

If David B. or anyone else can add to the list of later sources, like Duncan's note, that would be great. 
Hopefully one day the library at Timbuktu will be translated and digitalised, for its wonders to be shared (and possibly early records of oral traditions found), hopefully before some 'puritan' burns it down.
CarlL

[evilgong]

Hi there,

There is work being done on such things by African scholars - some of the stuff is more than a little flimsy, and some quite good.

If you really want to deep dive, JSTOR may still have its covid-era free access offer available where you can happily trawl academic journals and disappear down many rabbit holes.

Failing that, start with a google-scholar search, which if nothing else might offer a few leads.

I might bash my research into a book later in the year, if so it will be pretty generalist and on African and Asian armies 1790-1830.

DB

[Erpingham]

JSTOR may still have its covid-era free access offer available

It still offers 100 free views a month, though it doesn't apply to all journals.