Fortification of the Moscow State in the 16th Century and the Wattle Structures in Central Europe

The article deals with the use of wattle and daub structures in the Moscow state fortification of the 16th century. Presumably in the 16th century there were three possible sources of distribution of such designs in Europe – the Italian states, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire. On the basis of the analysis of Hungarian archaeological research, Hungarian pictorial sources from the 2nd half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, we can conclude that wattle and daub structures were particularly popular in the Hungarian Kingdom. The Hungarian archaeological research results and Hungarian pictorial sources from the second half of the 16th and early 17th centuries show that wattle and daub structures were particularly popular in the Hungarian Kingdom. It is hypothesised that Italian technological methods, reflected in treatises on fortification, were transformed in Hungary and that a separate Hungarian technological tradition (Modus Hungaricus) of using wattle and daub in fortification was formed. We can assume a possible influence of Modus Hungaricus technology (and through it Italian technologies of erecting earthen fortresses) on the fortification of the Moscow state in the construction of fortresses in Moscow, Smolensk and some other cities.