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In the oldest stages of the early Middle Ages, the settlements located between the Warta and the Obra were concentrated predominantly in a few areas: between the Warta, the Sama and the Samica Stęszewska, in the vicinity of Pniewy and Lwówek, and to the west of Sieraków. The resulting structure, over time supplemented with settlement clusters in Opalenica Plain, formed the basis for a network of gords established in the 9th and the early 10th centuries. The arrangement of hamlets and gords allowed to reconstruct long-range transport routes connecting these regions with south Wielkopolska, Lusatia as well as the north-western Slavic domains.

This paper focuses on a copper-alloy goad discovered in 2017 in Lubniewice in Lubuskie Voivodeship, Poland. An interdisciplinary analysis has shown that the goad was originally part of a lavishly decorated copper-alloy spur representing a type known from high-status West Slavic graves (e.g. Lutomiersk, Ciepłe) and settlement sites. Because objects of this kind are made of costly material, and because expert skills were required to produce them, it is argued that they were commissioned by a very specific group of people who used them as “material markers” of their distinct cultural and religious identity. It is not unlikely that the owners of such spurs were members of the elite retinue of the Piasts who played important roles on and off the battlefield.

The mid-15th century saw a very interesting type of spurs appear in Europe. The shape and decoration of the preserved specimens place them among the most attractive Gothic designs in knight's equipment. The best-known example is a pair of spurs with matching stirrups exhibited in Waffensammlung in Vienna. In European museums there are at least 43 spurs or fragments of spurs of that type, differing in the shape of the heel band and in decoration. They come from old armories or were excavated in Central Europe, mostly in the territories of the former Kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. Unfortunately, none of those specimens, apart from the pair of spurs that probably belonged to King Casimir IV Jagiellon (1454) and the finds from Puck (2nd half of the 15th century) and Inowlodz (probably 2nd half of the 15th century), can be exactly dated. The shape of this particular type of spurs can be identified in several pictures painted between 1430 and the early 16th century, most of them dated to the 1450s-1470s. The most interesting example is the picture of St George fighting with the dragon from Slowita near Zloczow (Little Poland). It was painted by a local panel painter about 1453. The picture is considered a proof of Western models being swiftly adopted by Little Poland painters, since the scene is modeled on a copperplate by the Master of Playing Cards (from the Nuremberg circle), dated to 1440-1450. For our purposed, however, the most important aspect of the painting is the shape of spurs. Interestingly, the Little Poland painter did not copy the German original in this respect and depicted spurs shaped very similarly to the type discussed here. Spurs can be found in the depictions of saints, most commonly of St George, the patron of knights, of magnates and rich knights, but also, though less frequently, of less affluent knights and of squires (The Triptych of Holy Trinity-St Paul's Conversion) or even of a servant (The Triptych of the Sending of Angels). The figures wearing spurs are not always shown in full plate armor. In come cases the painters highlighted the spurs with the yellow or golden color, symbolizing their decorative character. The above-mentioned pictures were painted in the Kingdom of Poland (Little Poland, Great Poland, Wielun County), in the Kingdom of Bohemia (Silesia, Bohemia) and the Holy Roman Empire (Germany). Those are also the regions in which the original artifacts have been found. The back part of the spur yoke began to be enlarged at least since the mid-14th century. It seems that with the emergence and spread of the full-body plat armor spur manufacturers in various cultures tried to modify their products to meet the current needs of protective weaponry. The type of spurs discussed here had a wide heel band surrounding and protecting all of the rider's heel, with the upper edge of the bad mirroring the shape of the lower part of the greaves. Such an arrangement might have been the final development of armory, providing all the necessary protection. In everyday practice, however, this form of spurs was most frequently used to supplement reduced plate armor. An example of that is the picture from Wielun, in which St George is shown wearing chain-mail armor with poleyns and heel-band spurs as extra protection for the legs. It is possible that this type of spurs, used to protect the heels by less affluent knights, was also a symbolic substitute of full plate armor and the affluence that it signified. Some of the artifacts in question, which were richly decorated (e.g. the above-mentioned spurs ascribed to King Casimir Jagiellon), were probably primarily used on ceremonial occasions and as gifts, very special to both the recipient and the giver. Since they were worn by prominent personages on festive occasions, they must have had some influence on the knightly culture of the Middle Ages. Many researchers are of the opinion that all the richly decorated spurs of the discussed type were products of Prague artisans of the mid-15th century. It is reasonable to ask, however, if a single manufacturing center could have influenced the knightly fashion in one third of Europe to an extent that even found a reflection in art. This is not impossible, but it is more likely that it only initiated a certain interesting cultural phenomenon through exporting beautifully shaped ornate spurs. Considering all the aspects of the phenomenon in question (the appearance of this type of spurs in Europe in the mid 15th century, the dating of the above-mentioned iconographic sources to the years 1450-1470 and the area from which they come), one is tempted to hypothesize that the spurs ascribed to Casimir Jagiellon, which he probably wore at this wedding in Cracow in 1545, popularized this type of spurs in the territories connected with the King directly (the Kingdom of Poland) or indirectly (Pomerania and Warmia because of the war with the Teutonic Order, Bohemia and Hungary because of the dynastic policy of the Jagiellons). The popularity of this piece of armor could have resulted from the court and knightly circles trying to imitate and equal the person highest in the social hierarchy. This would be a very interesting example of a particular historical figure influencing the fashion of his times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]