Fantasy Duel #3--German Ritter vs. Ottoman Sipahis

the german will wait for the turk to get fairly close and then, when he can't possibly miss, will shot the turk

the Sipahi has both ranged and melee power, I bet on him.

Sorry for using the plural spelling of sipahi, btw...

Originally posted by ak�nc� Originally posted by Landsknecht_Doppelsoldner The ritter likewise carries a cut-and-thrust sword (reitschwert), so it could go either way... the sipahi is probably better in hand to hand combat.

Given the early sipahi view towards firearms, I suppose that could be argued--certainly, Spanish lancers were known for trouncing ritters from time to time.

But it's still up in the air...

Sepahis were in fact spearmen (Se=Three & Pa=Foot).

so they should be Sabris or Savaris (Sab/Asb=Horse & bri=Rider) not Sepahis.

What language is this?

Persian

Sipahis were Turkish soldiers

Does it mean something else in Turkish?

The German poet Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862) has answered the question about the outcome of an encounter between a German knight and a Turkish rider in a very famous poem:


Da wallt dem Deutschen auch sein Blut,
er trifft des T�rken Pferd so gut,
er haut ihm ab mit einem Streich
die beiden Vorderf��' zugleich.
Als er das Tier zu Fall gebracht,
da fa�t er erst sein Schwert mit Macht,
er schwingt es auf des Reiters Kopf,
haut durch bis auf den Sattelknopf,
haut auch den Sattel noch zu St�cken
und tief noch in des Pferdes R�cken;
zur Rechten sieht man wie zur Linken,
einen halben T�rken heruntersinken.

Roughly translated:

The German got really upset, and with one stroke he cuts off the two front legs of the Turk�s horse. As the horse goes down, he takes his sword and swings it down on the Turk�s head and cuts right through him down to the saddle, and one can see the two halfs of the Turk going down to left and to the right.

Originally posted by ak�nc� I would like to point out the fact that it was a german that wrote the poem.I would also like to ask what was the Turk doing when the german�struck his horse?

In the two previous lines it was mentioned that the Turkish rider attacked the knight with a scimitar, but it doesn't say anything about what he Turk did to defend himself.
It's a poem, not the original comment of some documentary movie. Don't take it too serious!

Originally posted by Captain_Gars According to historian Ian Heath Sipahi is derived from the word timar sipahiler an alternate word for the holder (timariot) of the feudal fief (timar) which supplied the cavalry called 'sipahis'

true