Authors

Discussion

The equestrian seals of Duke Skirgaila Algirdaitis from 1382–1387, particularly the impressions in green wax, present a rider stylised according to Western chivalric ideals. Equipped with a couched lance and a heater-type shield, the duke is depicted in a pose characteristic of the hastiludium culture. The primary aim of this paper is to confront this sigillographic imagery with the material realities of late fourteenth-century Lithuania to determine whether this depiction reflected actual court practices or served merely as a visual projection. The study employs an interdisciplinary approach, triangulating iconographic analysis with archaeological data - specifically osteology and arms-and-armour studies. Biometric measurements of horse remains from the cemeteries at Marvelė and Obeliai reveal that local mounts (Žemaitukas type, 130–145 cm at the withers) lacked the mass and biomechanical capacity required for a classic Western joust. Furthermore, metallographic analysis of armour found at the Lower Castle in Vilnius demonstrates the dominance of lamellar protection. Devoid of a profiled "glancing surface" typical of Western plate armour, such equipment would have made participation in a lance charge physically lethal. This stark contrast between the visual sign (the seal) and the material limits implies that Skirgaila’s "tournament" was a calculated iconographic construct rather than a physical reality. Consequently, the paper reconstructs the actual forms of otium cultivated by the duke’s elite. It argues that the "barbaric" excesses described by Jan Dlugosz and Wigand of Marburg—violent feasts and great hunts—should be reinterpreted not as pathological behaviors, but as functional, traditional mechanisms for maintaining warband loyalty and internal diplomacy. Thus, Skirgaila emerges as a pragmatic ruler who projected a Western chivalric image on parchment while adhering to effective, traditional Baltic forms of military culture and courtly integration in daily life.