Parkany II - 9 Ocotober 1683 AD

 Salvete Omnes,

the routed Ottomans' fatal crossing of the river Danube - detail from a painting by Pierre-Denis Martin

today we celebrate the anniversary of the second battle of Parkany - 9th October 1683AD.

on the left bank the fortress of Parkany or today's Sturovo in Slovakia opposite Gran in Hungary

.

Parkany II was mostly a cavalry battle, roughly some 30-plus thousands on each side, although some sources say 15-plus thousands of cavalry and 1000 Janissary on the Ottoman side. The Ottomans had a camp with supply train with the swamped banks of Hron river behind them.

Victorious engagement for the armies of  our Polish Crown and Hapsburg Empire against the Ottoman Imperial army commanded by seraskier Kara Mehmed.
Hapsburg army was commanded by prince Charles of Lorraine, husband to the widow of our king Michal Korybut.  Overall command belonged to Jan III.

Winged hussars shock tactics shone in this battle - skillfully managed by our king Jan III. 

Jan III placed prince Charles' forces - infantry and artillery - in the center of the allied army, his left wing under hetman Stanislaw Jan Jablonowski, and the right wing under Hieronim Augustyn Lubomirski, here also was the command post of king Jan III.  Around noon the allied army advanced and came up to the enemy lines, about 1,5km from the Parkany fortress. Then the Ottoman forces attacked furiously and charged, mostly the left wing, according to Dupont, king's secretary, at least ten times they charge, but the center was protected by the portable devices known as cheval de frise, while Jablonowski counterattacked with his Polish cavalry supported by the Imperial cuirassiers.  King's left wing moved forward breaking the right wing of the Ottomans and causing panic that ended in a rout. Most panicked Ottoman cavalry then tried to swim the Danube, a huge river at this juncture, and drowned in process. Serskier Kara Mehmed did save himself but his command was destroyed. 
The battle resulted in a complete annihilation of the Ottoman army - depriving the sultan  of his best sipahi cavalry. 

Pierre-Denis Martin's full canvass showing the battle

Altomonte also painted  this monumental canvass - 

Parkany frieze from  the royal Wilanow Castle

Monument to king Jan III Sobieski in Sturovo

ps.
there are some interesting primary sources to this engagement, including three Ottoman chroniclers. 

enjoy

Valete

Ahmed 'Ata Tayyarzade (Walters MS 661) - Ottoman horses

 Salvete Omnes,

The Walters Art Museum has a late (XIX century)  Ottoman manuscript on the training and care of warhorses (Tuhfat ül-farisin fi ahval-i huyul il-mucahidin), in the tradition of the Islamic furusiyya manuals. 

According to the museum it was authored by  Aḥmed ʿAṭā Ṭayyārzāde, 

it was dedicated to the sultan Abdulmecid I (1823-1861) and

.

enjoy

Valete

Granicus River 334BC - podcast and articles

 Salvete Omnes,

October has begun.. hopefully it will be a better month than September,

 Ad rem,

today I finished listening to dr Goldsworthy addressing the battle of the Granicus River 334BC topic in his Yt podcast.  The great cavalry battle of the war.

In the ancient primary sources this first battle won by Alexander of Macedon  in his Achaemenid Persian wars survived, to some extend, in five major ancient works - Diodorus Siculus, Justin, Plutarch, Qvitus Curtius Rufus and Flavius Arrianus.

E. Badian wrote his article - The Battle of the Granicus: a new look, 1977. 

N.G.L. Hammond went to Turkiye and did in situ study of the Granicus river valley, and  in 1980 his findings he published in an article (Journal of Hellenic Studies) available on JSTOR or on Cambridge Univ. site.. In 1986 A.M. Devine wrote his article, Demythologizing the battle of the Granicus - available on JSTOR. 

K.Harl, Alexander's cavalry battle at the Granicus. (1997) - this is a major study, with good maps. I like 

Kathleen Toohey made he study of Alexander's tactics available on Academia - Chapter 2: The Battle of the Granicus.

D.B. Campbell  wrote his article "Alexander's great cavalry battle: What Really happened at the River Granics" (Ancient Warfare Magazine VI-2) - available on Academia.edu. The article contains illustration by great Spanish illustrator Pablo Outeiral, showing Alexander with his Companion Macedonian horsemen.  There is also a map of the battle. 

Baroque horses of Cornelis Troost

In 2022 Philip Register wrote his senior thesis (Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) - Fresh Evidence: Reevaluating Alexander's Battle at the Granicus (pdf link). 

The military history of Alexander's generalship is treated by Major-general J.F.C Fuller in his work: The Generalship of Alexander the Great (London 1958), pp.147- 154, General Fuller is critical of the Persian satraps' plan and performance in this engagement with the Young Macedonian king and his fine cavalry. 

Waldemar Heckel in The Conquests of Alexander wrote a brief accout of the sources and some critique of the official narrative, as history usually is written as some narrative (pp. 47-51).

Also, Polish historian Krzysztof Nawotka wrote the analysis of the battle in his book Aleksander Wielki (2004) - pages 172-181. Another Polish historian Eddward Dabrowa narrates, based on Diodorus, Plutarch and Arrian, the event of the battle in hs book Gaugamela 331p.n.e.

And another battle of the Granicus -  Charles Le Brun painting and tapestry by Louis Licherie (Academia link to the article about this Baroque artwork).

Chalres Le Brun Baroque horses 

Valete

Kapalin husarski - winged hussar war hat

 Salvete Omnes,

today is the 420 anniversary of the momentous battle of Kircholm (1605). I have written about Kircholm many times (please, be so kind and check labels). 

Today a word or two about the war hat found to have been used by the winged hussars(companions and retainers). Typically we associate the winged hussars lancers, especially the companions, with a helmet known as a szyszak (shishak, shishaq). Naturally during the period of late XVI and early XVII century the lancers wore a variety of helmets, and a kapalin war hat was one of them. 

Note that war hats or kettle hats were in use since the early Middle Ages, and even as late as 1630s Swedish modern army had kapalin war hats in their panoply, especially the cavalry, albeit their were often blackened.

winged hussar carrying a lance and a kapalin war hat

Polish museums, eg Krakow National Museum, have a collection of these helmets, also in Belarus too, perhaps in Lithuanian and Ukraine as well.

a 'kaapalin' from a Belarusian museum, placed on a chain mail shirt 

National Museum in Kielce has a very nice example of these kapalin war hats used by our hussars. 

Also, Museum Ziem Wschodnich-Lublin Castle   has  a well preserved example of Polish-Lithuanian cavalry kapalin war hat.

more photos of the helmet on the museum website.

So perhaps some of the boys who charged the Karl IX's Swedish army wore the kapalin war hats, a popular helmet with some companions and many retainers through 1650s.

enjoy

Valete

Luz da Liberal e Nobre Arte da Cavallaria - 1790

 Salvete Omnes,

long time ago I wrote posts about Dom Duarte (Edward) and his book of horsemanship written circa 1430AD.

Three hundred years later another Portuguese horseman, D. Pedro José de Alcântara de Menezes Noronha Coutinho (1713-1799),  6th Count of Cantanhede and 4th Marquis of Marialva,  wrote  a book on horsemanship  -Luz da Liberal e Nobre Arte da Cavallaria, representing the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art in Sintra, Portugal.

 here I 'roped' or 'corralled' some plates illustrating the grand work. 

.

.

.

The Portuguese school still exists to this day, and their ecuyers are using  Alter Real and Lusitano Portuguese horses, 

Valete