Hello,
July is a good month in my Polish military history - on July 4 1610 small Polish army defeated 6 times its size Muscovite-Western army at Klushino. On July 15, 1410 Polish -Lithuanian armies under king Wladyslaw Jagiello dealt crushing and overwhelming blow to the mighty Teutonic Order army, thus securing the most magnificent victory over the Teutonic Order and their Western 'guest' knights (from France, England, Reich, Italy etc) on the fields of Grunwald (Tannenberg).

Returning to hussars - today perhaps it may be desirable to talk a bit about the appearance of the winged hussars in the XVI (16th) century.
Hussars started as Serbian cavalry back in the early XV (15th) century, and became known to the West during the reign of the famous Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, who came close to become the Holy German emperor himself, and was many times a victor of the Hapsburg armies - amongst other his 'Black Army' took Vienna from them and made her his capital. Polish military commanders met with the Serbian hussars of king Corvinus during the Silesian campaigns of 1470ties. They learned and by 1500 AD we find first units of Serbian hussars in the Polish Army. By 1505 first Polish knights joined these newly appearing type of cavalry, thus our Polish hussars had been born :)
Here you can find two images of future winged hussars from the beginning of the century and more typical image of a parade-attired hussar from the second half of the same century. As you can see they started as a very light, estradiota type cavalry, and by the second half they were already moving towards more medium or even heavier cavalry, with Turkish helmet known as shiszak, curved sabre, Balkan (Serbian) shield, long lance painted and gilded ( Renaissance fashion) but yet empty inside to compensate for the tremendous length of this weapon - up to 6,3m (21 feet).
Horses, stallions or geldings, are bitted with curb-bits, ridden in rather shorter Turkish or even Eurasian steppe fashion - very similar to the Spanish la gineta - with long spurs and wider stirrups. Ornate horse harness is a must and a long Oriental carpet like shabraque or czaprak (from Turkish language) covers horse's back. The pennon seen here -of the early Serbian hussar - is small, the later hussar has quite a large pennon but soon their pennons would grow up to 2,7 m ( 9 feet) in length... The second rider has a large peacock feathers bunch on top of his shishak but our and Hungarian future hussars will be covered with eagle wings, ostrich feathers, wild animal skins and other wild beast symbolic imagery going back to the ancient Eurasian steppe traditions. Then add tuck ( koncerz, panzersrecher, estock), mace, pair of pistols, war-hammer or war-ax (in the ancient Eurasian steppe tradition going back to the Scyhtians-Saka) and armour, and we will see fully developed winged hussar.
tbc

Progress and corrections on the King of Kings hunting

hello,
summer is about to hit us with some warm weather in NYC, so definitely there will be less work to be done at home :)
Some little corrections (his bow mainly as I was advised on the great forum for ancient world military history enthusiasts and reenactors romanarmy.com http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=26749
I did on the famous Sassanian King Bahram Gur, and started adding some color.
Plus I started working a little on some older images of the Sassanian knights... so they will make their appearance here sooner than later ;)
pa ka

a little more finished winged hussar of 1600-10s

czolem,
this time I am showing you a little drawing that I did long time ago and recently changed a bit (computer canvas :) ). Done in the fashion of the Stockholm Roll's winged hussars, but with a pistol in the holster hung at the pommel.
At this excellent and highly recomended site you can find pictures of the entire painting known as the Stockholm Roll (it is called Stockholm because when in 1655 AD Swedes captured Poland's capital - Warsaw - they stripped all the city palaces, including the Royal Castle, of any and all valuables whether these might have been movable or just works or architecture, stone work, murals attached or paintings glued to the walls, and our Roll depicting the ceremonial entry of the king;s bride into the old royal city of Cracow was one of such painting attached to the walls in the Royal Casttle. The Swedish robbers took the painting off the walls and took it to Sweden and it was retunred to Poland in the 1970s. Yet some many more Polish culture treasures remain in Sweden's collections, probably never to be returned - somewhat like the Elgin marbles http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/StockholmRoll.htm

Sassanian king Bahram Gur 'hunting' Hephthalites

Hello again,
I am working on many different sketches of the past (reworking them from drawing and watercolor paintings into the digital 'paintings'), but at this time would like to share with you something that is a curious (to me) combination of several persons efforts.
The story goes like this - the initial sketch was done based on my friend Kaveh's drawing - he did it for late Angus Mcbride so this famous illustrator could paint the plates for Kaveh's Osprey book on the Sassanian heavy cavalry, the particular plate depicting death of Julian Apostate battling Sassanian cavalry- then I did a sketch based on Kaveh's and then my friend Patryk - a scholar of the Ancient Iranian military, eg author of the Sassanian cavalry article for the Ancient Warfare Magazine vol.1, issue 4 - made many suggestions on how to improve and how to arrive closer to the probable historic appearance of such Sassanian rider wielding both a pistol grip Sassanian sword (the forerunner of a sabre grip) and short Sassanian bow.
Why the title - well, Patryk had suggested that this could be a depiction of Bahram Gur during hie famous campaign against the White Huns or Hephthalites - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahram_V and I liked his title so it will stand...
Many thanks to Patryk :)
to be continued

the XVI (16th) century German Cavaliers

Back in the saddle again...
I researched and painted these images for a book on the battle of Lubieszow AD 1577 (Radoslaw Sikora, Lubieszow 1577, Infort Editions 2005), between Polish Royal army and the army of the rebelious city of Gdansk (Danzig). In Polish historiography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography the name of this engagement is 'bitwa (battle) pod (of )Lubieszow'
you can check it on Wikipedia , although some idiot changed the name of the battle to the modern spelling Lubiszewo(albeit the full name of this town is Lubiszewo Tczewskie and not just Lubiszewo) of this Polish town's name
German account of this tragic battle, on google books :) http://books.google.com/books?id=a5cCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54&dq=winkelbruch+1577&lr=
this one is the best in German - http://books.google.com/books?id=kZYOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=winkelbruch+1577&lr=&as_brr=1
They represent the new type of cavalry in the Western European armies, the cavalry armed with swords, daggers, pistols and arquebus, protected by a 3/4 armor or half-armor, and ridding much, much cheaper horses then lancers.
next time I will publish some images of the Royal army cavalry units of that battle.

Cheyenne Update

I did some work on this image, especially moving his shield under his arm, note there was no handgrip or strap for the arm to slid through, and I changed the angle of the shield etc.
to be continued

Red Shield

Upon re-reading, somewhat closer than before, of works by Dorsey,'Cheyenne', Grinnell 'The Cheyenne Indians', Cowdrey, 'Arrow's Elk Society Ledger' etc., I decided to repaint my Red Shield warrior already shown here a few weeks ago.
I started with the buffalo (bison) horse mask, and this particular item completely changed the way this image feels, I think. I recently photographed the whole book on the subject, Cowdrey et al., 'Indian Horse Masks', at the American Indian Museum library downtown Manhattan. The mask is identified as of Blackfeet origin, and since both tribes, Cheyennes and Blackfeet were so closely related, I decided to give his horse such a mask.
In the near future I will repaint his shield, the medicine (war) paint on his horse, lengthen the lance etc. I already started repainting his headdress, eg the red horns that were, according to Grinnell (and Bent :) ), painted separately one by one on the event of the wearer counting coup on his enemies.
To be continued

Kluszyn or Klushino AD 1610

Little change of time and subject - Polish winged hussars against the Western and Muscovite armies during the early summer of 1610. This was the most glorious Polish Commonwealth victory ever accomplished against the Muscovy ( Tsar(emperor) ruled State of Muscovy later to be named Russia ).

In my opinion (and many others) from the position of the cavalryman and cavalry historian the most interesting part here was the apparent necessity to charge and destroy wooden fences separating the opposing armies, the destroying being done by the horses themselves, using their hooves and breasts/chests.

Pleas note that I am not going to write the story of this battle - Wikipedia has the intro to this Polish-Muscovite war that is not too bad and an entry on the battle itself but numbers are wrong etc, yet it is not my desire to write about the numbers but about the cavalrymen and their horses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klushino

Some say there was a redoubt between the armies - actually during the battle of Klushino there was no Swedish-Muscovite redoubt - this 17th century map of the battlefield gives the best impression how this theatrum might have looked http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/POL_K%C5%82uszyn_1610.jpg
As you can see from this map the problem facing the Polish army (and the winged hussars) had to do with the wooden fence or line of wooden fences smack in the middle of the field between the two armies, and these fences actually prevented the planned surprise that had been attempted by the early morning Polish attack.

There were gaps within this line of fences (10-15meters) and according to numerous relations about the battle some of the Polish hussars had to use their horses' breasts to break these fences in order to get to the enemy behind them.
Apparently the fences on the left wing of Muscovite side - Polish right wing - were smaller and with more gaps in-between or were torn down early in the battle as the chroniclers did not write about them, although they are visible on the map and in this painting by a Polish painter Boguszewicz who painted this canvas at the order of the m,ain actor of this battle, Stanislaw Zolkiewski. http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plik:Klushino_1610.JPG
The Swedish pike-and-musket infantry stood behind these fences (with their cavalry behind them) on the Muscovite right wing while masses (thousands) of Muscovite infantry and Muscovite cavalry stood on the Muscovite army left wing (Polish right wing).
Hussars charged these western infantry regiments via the fences, not once but at least 3 times, and then Polish haiduks (Hungarian-style Polish infantry) with 2 small falconets (it happened to have been the entire artillery of the Polish army) came and broke down the wooden fences and reduced the fighting spirit of the Westerner infantry mercenaries causing them to move rather quickly (not to say they 'run like frightened rabbits') toward their camp, although still leaving their cavalry in the field.

Therefore, Polish hetman (field marshal) Zolkiewski had to resolve this dangerous problem by clearing the Western cavalry off of the field and destroying the right wing of the Muscovite army. Consequently the Western cavalry regiments became objects of another great cavalry charge. At first, our Polish hussar banners (companies) carried out the frontal attack on the Swedish-English-Flemish reiter and arquebusier cavalry regiments, in their pursuit to destroy the remainder of the Muscovite army's right wing. The hussars' frontal charges were not successful (perhaps the great disparity of numbers and densisty of the Western cavalry formations) until the Muscovite infantry protecting their (Western cavalry) left flank had been removed (see below) and then another, final charge was made that was carried in a form of a pincer movement - at the front and at the left flank of the enemy cavalry, by some 1200-1400 hussars (1/4 of the entire Polish army on the battlefield), some with lances, the rest with tucks (pantzerstrecher, 'Turkish spear' or koncerz) and pallashes. They charged these Westerners an this time were successful. This final hussar charge against their western opponents broke the cohesive formations of the enemy and thus hussars were able to overrun the Western cavalry and destroyed its fighting ability for the remainder of the battle.

Following behind and finally passing over their heavy cavalry's tired horses the several banners of Polish lighter cavalry went after the Muscovite westerners in their pursuit for glory and loot.

On their right wing our Poles, charging repetitiously - as many as 8-9 times (but whether they charged only infantry or both the infantry and cavalry is unknown from the sources)- hussars' choragwie (companies) could not break the Muscovite infantry due to their numerical strength, density and truly amazing 'stubbornness' until several cornets of German Muscovite reiters ( Baltic German units in Muscovite service since mid 1500s) attempted to charge the already tired Poles (ridding their tired horses). These brave but rather foolish Germans, however, were beaten back and completely routed in turn, and ridding in panic, back to the safety of their camp, these German-Muscovite reiters smashed into their own Muscovite infantry regiments, causing them to be disrupted. This disruption was big enough that when our Polish lancers, charging for the 10th time and hot on the Germans' backs, closed in with the Muscovite infantry the infantrymen broke ranks and fled ( classical example of successful cavalry charge against otherwise unbreakable infantry ). Thus exploring this sudden opening our pursuing hussars rode inside the walled (kobylice protected) Russian camp and broke the very will to fight of this many times more numerous Russian army whose escaping infantrymen, eager to put plenty of space between themselves and then mercilessly pursing Polish lancers, broke down the kobylice protections in their own camp's rear and fled into the surrounding woods, in search of safety and respite.

Finally, the previously mentioned Swedish mercenary infantry retreated from the field to their camp in search of refugium and found itself to be quite alone, for their cavalry was defeated and escaped into the woods and fields desirous to save their heads; and it was at this moment when the hussar rota (company) of Andrzej Firlej ( their towarzysze and pacholiks still armed with their lances unbroken ) attacked this mercenary camp. With their charge they first broke through the kobylice barrier surrounding the Swedish camp and then in a direct, frontal charge broke through the Swedish pikemen formation - an incredible feat of military skill and prowess displayed by these horsemen and their horses.

Thus these mentioned numerous charges had more to do with the strategy of hetman Zolkiewski - and he actually wrote about this in his relation in his work titled
"The Beginning and Progress of the Muscovy War."- who wanted to keep constant pressure on the very numerous and very resilient Muscovites, and to create impression that his army was more numerical than actually presented on the battlefield. This stratagem worked very well and resulted in a stunning victory for small army against the giant Muscovite_Western behemoth.
It was the skill, the horsemanship, bravery, and superior morale of Polish lancers, endurance and patient training of their horses, and finally the tactics and strategy of the Polish commander, Stanislaw Zolkiewski that carried the day into history books :)
hope you will enjoy this little post
more to follow
many thanks to Radek :)

Polo

I read this interesting article on Buskashi and Polo http://www.cambridgeblog.org/2009/04/buzkashi-and-polo/ written by the anthropologist Pita Kelekna, the author of the forthcoming book 'The Horse in Human History.'
In this article, which is a part of series of articles on the book and done in a from of a blog (quite clever and nicely introducing her book to the wider world), she writes on the two other most ancient equestrian games, since the first and foremost horse games were obviously: horse racing, target shooting from horseback, and communal hunting.
Mounted warfare was the culmination of all these games.

Today I just wanted to post some information about the ancient history of the Iranian game of Polo.

Actually, 'Gu-u-Chogan' is the Iranian name for Polo, while name 'polo' is a Tibetan name for a polo ball made from a willow root. 'Gu' means a ball and 'Chogan' means a stick, so it is a game of gall and stick played while ridding a horse that is a player too :)
Polo is as Iranian (whether Persian o North-Iranian - Scythian and Sarmatian - is unknown) as a Persian carper, or a Kantus (Median cloak that had become nomad attire for thousands of years, and in the 16th century ended up in Poland as a part of national costume known as Kontusz)) or a meydan (polo field).

Actually first accounts of the existence of polo came from the time of Achaemenid Shah (king) Darius (Darayavaush) the Great (522- 486 B.C.). And 2 centuries later his namesake of the same dynasty, Darius III, sent Alexander of Macedon a polo mallet (chogan) and a ball (gu) with an invitation to play polo instead of fighting. As we have learned in 5th grade (at least in the Polish elementary schools' history class) this particular hadnsome invitation did not work and Alexander galloped on ( a Thracian, Tessalian or Nissean stallion Bucephallas, as seen in this image from the Naples Museum in Italy) and eventually did conquer the whole Achaemenid Persian empire. as result the Greeks and Hellenic culture spead as far east as India and Afghanistan while eastern (Buddhism etc) influences filtered west into the Hellenic thought and culture. I will write some day on Eummenes of Bactria, Ghandara, Indo-Sakas, Kushans and other equestrian rulers of that part of the ancient world.


The most masterful Persian epic Shahnameh was composed in the late 10th century by Fidrousi and contains plenty of references about the game, now played in the courts of China, Japan, Central Asia, Arab caliphate etc but it was written 1500 years after the first mention of the game, as I have shown above.
There are other numerous mentions of the polo in the ancient Sasanian Persia, starting with the reign of Ardeshir, the fist of Sasanian king. The slayer of Romans and builder of cities shah Shapur I (r. 226–241 and I will write about him soon, there are images of him ridding his stallions, he was a dashing warrior)when a young boy was tested whether he was the real son of the already mentioned king Ardashir by use of his daring during a game of polo.
Shah Shapur II (309 to 379), another Sassanian ruler of Persia, learned to play the game of polo at the age of seven. Finally, at the Sassanian courts the noble women played polo in the 'meydan' as well. The most famous of these aristocratic women was beautiful princes Shireen who played many a prince.
Also, the ancient Pehlevi text and later Persian chronicler al Tabari confirm that when the future hunter-king Bahram V Gur( r.421–438)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Bahramv.jpg
was growing up he received three tutors in the arts of: reading, hunting, and polo along with skills of weapons.

Along this little introduction of the ancient polo, I am adding my own 'tracing' of one of the prime examples of the Sasanian sumptuary art - in form of metal plates with etchings or etchings and relief inside the metal plate - this website has many of them http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/virtual_museum/sasanian/Artifacts/metalwork.htm I am going to do a separate post about this plate and many others, God willing.
But note this king rides a stallion, the horse mane has been crenelated in a manner most ancient to the Iranian nomads, his tail tied and adorned with ribbons (swallow tail shape, perhaps to represent the swiftness of that bird to to give a horse more swiftenss as in the American Indian believes), there is an early curb-bit along with a metal cavesson muzzle and no forehead strap or nose band (cavesson replaced it), but there is a strap under the mandible in the same fashion as seen on the Persepolis relieves(5th century BC) . The cinch seems to be of some fabric and not of leather. Discs adorn breastplate and crupper, similar to the Roman and later Hunnish horse harness styles. There may be a tamga - horse owner mark - on this stallion chest. I did not concentrate on the rider so he is rendered rather elementarily.

Blogs

I was going to publish another of my drawings today but instead would like to mention several blogs that I have been following as of lately. Nevertheless I am going to attach one already on the net.
My biggest discovery this so is this blog http://globalhorseculture.typepad.com/global_horse_culture/ . Girasol (Sunflower) is the author of that blog and I must say it is a wonderful resource center for Latin American and American horses and horsemanship.
also there you can learn about horse publications and other horse related items.
Another blog I just discovered, well actually she discovered me first - thanks, is this blog on the Native American (Indian) beadwork and its historical reconstitution and reproduction http://angelaswedberg.blogspot.com/ . The author is this amazingly talented and devilishly or divinely :) blessed with tremendous patience and ability to reconstruct ancient beadwork Washington state artist and scholar named Angela Swedberg. I love her work while especially I look after the photos of the old American Indian horse tack and horses themselves.
Another site that I follow beacuse I use ti to lear how to paint with GIMP is http://idrawgirls.blogspot.com/ where author, antoher Washingtonian named Xia, shows his artistic talents and teaches us, the web students, how to operate and use computer graphic programs to create images from start to finish, in Photoshop and Gimp.
I have another passion, miniature military sculpting - websites like Planetfigure.com or Polish forum figurki.org. One of the people engaged in this passionate artistic discipline and whom I admire a lot is this Atlanta based miniature sculptor and Renaissance armor and weapons scholar Agustín 'Augie' J. Rodríguez and his blog is http://augiemefecit.blogspot.com/2009_04_05_archive.html where he show his research and works in progress.
Saddly one of my favorite horse sites - horsemanpro.com is no longer working, too bad for that site's author, aften harsh and strongworded, is so knowledgeable about horses in the old, pre-1960s way ;).
Another author, dr Deb Bennett, is also big on my list of sites to visit http://www.equinestudies.org/

Finally, my most favorite American Indian site is http://plainsledgerart.org/ which has the authentic Plains warriors drawings made around the time of the Plains Indian Wars (post 1860s), and these drawings must be the primary sources on the subject how the 19th century Plains warriors and their horses, how they rode, fought. loved and looked, and not the paintings by the Euro-American artists like Remington or Russell.

Old Polish stirrups

Today another little image in the theme of the Old Polish horse tack.
This time the stirrups - this particular set comes to us from Russia where they've been preserved ever since one of the the Polish Royal Envoys left them there, with many other gifts including horses, saddles, arms, silverware and textiles, during the frequent diplomatic exchanges of the first quarter of the 17th century, between the Polish Kings and the many Tsars of that time period. These stirrups, along with 4 other pairs indentyfied as 17th century Polish, are housed at the Kremlin's Armory - Оружейная палата Oruzhenaya Palata.

They are made out of cast iron, then they were covered in gold (gilded) and small turquoise stones were set in the three-leaves structures, decorating them as if flower cups. They are 15cm high and they were originally attached to a Polish or oriental saddle, although they cannot by connected to any particular saddle at this time. They appeared first time in the Kremlin inventory in 1647.

I used the Wacom tablet and GIMP to 'paint' this image.

Cheyenne

I would like to show today, on this very nice Spring day, a watercolor of a member of the Cheyenne Mahohewa Warrior Society. Cheyennes are my most favorite caballeros of the Great Plains, right behind them are their cousins the Blackfeet, then Crow, Kiowa-Comanche, Lakota etc. Mahohewas or Red Shields or Red Shield owners were a military society found amongst the two divisions of the Cheyenne tribe. They were famous for their buffalo(bison) horns headdresses and red-painted shields with the bison tail attached. They were also know as Buffalo-bull warriors - and this name speaks for itself, as buffalo bull was considered the bravest and most dangerous of all the animals on the Great Plains.

If I were to paint this one again I would have added a headmask for his horse - I have been doing some reading and nothing struck me as so important in my studies on the Plains warriors and their ways as the recent book on the horse masks by Mike Cowdrey and Ned & Jody Martin - http://www.hawkhillpress.com/indian_horse_masks.htm I should also mention Bill Holm and his book 'Sun Dogs and Eagle Down,' wonderful reconstructions of the tribal people of North America where I saw horse mask in the painting titled 'Parade' dedicated to the reconstrction of the Nez Perce man and woman on horseback.

I did this watercolor long time ago (1990s), upon reading several books: the Rev. Thomas Mails' books 'Mystic Warrior of the Plains' and 'Dog Soldiers, Bear Men, Buffalo Women' and 'Fighting Cheyennes' by Bird Grinnell. I was very impressed with Rev. Mails work, although this impression as far as his scholarship has worn off a bit, but I am still a great admirer of his art, especially the ink drawings and many of the paintings. Unfortunately don Thomas passed on in 2001 and probably can be found now with his heroes in the Everlasting Hunting Grounds.

Bird Grinnell or more properly George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938) was an early American anthropologist who started studying the Plains Indian cultures when the 'Indian wars' of the Great Plains were still raging on, the conflicts between the aboriginal peoples and the Old Uncle Sam's Army. During his distinguished career Grinnell wrote many books and I think his most important ones are the ones dedicated to the Cheyennes, although he also studied the Pawnee and Blackfeet. I was very very curious how he acquired his first-hand information from the Cheyenne informants, and for many years I was unaware that he actually had used the most important (in my opinion) man in the history of the survival and preservation of the old Cheyenne ways - George Bent, a metis (his father was William Bent, a famous Indian trader, and his mother was Owl Woman, a Cheyenne woman of a very important family) , one-time Confederate soldier and Cheyenne warrior.

It was George Bent who while living in Oklahoma, supplied all the informants, Bent did all the translations and who sent his own notes from his own examinations and interviews with old 'hostiles' and their wives, the traditionalists etc. Many of these old-timers were about to depart from this world, as the early 20th century was the hardest for the Indian tribes of the Great Plains, and Bent sensing the urgency of his mission to collect as much information as possible was often perplexed when Grinnell would not show proper respect to the old warriors and their wifes, nor did Grinnell seemed to share the same feeling that the world of traditional Cheyennes was slipping away because the traditionalists, often more than 90 years old were withering away. Bent was not a saint himself, but this is another story, already told by George E. Hyde (another assistant to Bird Grinnell) using Bent's letters and recently by Haalas and Masich (2004).

But Birdy Grinnell 'forgot' about George Bent and gave him no credit for all his field work. Nevertheless, thanks to the cooperation of these two individuals we can read and learn about the Old Cheyenne ways. Obviously there were other early scholars who studied the Cheyennes, amongst them George Dorsey and James Mooney, but first two Georges cleared the way, so to speak.

Old Polish saddle tree 2

this saddle or rather its tree with some metal (gilded) ornaments and its ebbing covered with leather is stored in the storage room of the Polish Amry Museum in Warsaw.  

Normally such saddle tree would have been covered withan expensive fabric and fabric-covered leather skirts would have been attached to it with the leather thongs partially visible here. Note the slots for the cinch and the stirrup leathers.

This was not a winged hussar saddle as it has rather small and narrow cantle and pommel, and it  is rather narrow...

there are two other examples of the old Polish saddles, two different types, all of them used in the late 16th and then 17-18th centuries.

old Polish saddle tree, version1

czolem,
today I am going to show my own sketch of one of many versions of the Old Polish saddle trees. as far as I know nobody makes saddle trees like that in Poland anymore...
The basic design is Mongol or Mongol-Turkish and goes back to the saddles invented somewhere in the eastern Central Asian steppes 1500 years ago.
I am also attaching my own photo of a Polish Army Museum parade saddle, dated to the 17th century.
Please note the ring curb bit shown in the right side of the museum photo, the same design as the so called morisco curb bit of the colonial Spanish America.

Serbian Hussars

the very begining of Polish Hussaria   belongs entirely to the  Balkan Serbian warriors already known as hussars (for almost a hundred years prior to their coming to Poland).

They came to the Polish  Kingdom, at the end of the 15th century,   in search of military employment and probably somewhat of a easier life,  and our Polish Kingdom did  offer these noble refugees from the Turkish-Hungarian-Habsburg wars of the 15th century plenty of  religious freedom  and economic  prosperity...

They carried 3 meters long, ligth lances with small pennons, Balkan shields, oriental and Hungarian sabres, and presumably war axes and klevets. They used light Balkan, Turkish and Hungarian saddles,  peculiar round stirrups, curb bits and long czaprak  (large and often richly decorated  textile horse blanket) to cover their horse hindquarters. 

 Polish-Serbian hussars can be seen in action  circa AD 1514  in this  very large 1530s painting from the Polish National Museum in Warsaw, you can take at look at the painting here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Orsha_(1514-09-08).jpg 

The painting depicts the first Polish-Lithuanian victory over a huge Muscovite army near Orsha on the Dniepr River (now Bielarus), one of three battles that took place at Orsha  in the first half of the 16th century.

During the next 50-70 years hussars acquired  full armor, larger horses, longer and heavier lances, shishak (Turkish style) helmets,  leopard, bear, wolf and lion pelts to cover themselves and their horses, and plenty of eagle, ostrich, falcon etc  feathers.

another Old Polish horse

This time I found this image of Old Polish horse on the cover of a book of gouaches painted either by or for baron d'Eisenberg, master rider, ecuyer and one of the foremost specialist in the art of the manege or dresser de cheval of the 18th centuries, his opus magnum was l’Art de monter à cheval (1759) . He wrote and illustrated his own books. eg look at these prints http://www.postercheckout.com/PictureGroup.asp?SArtist=Baron_D_Eisenberg&ArtistID=2044

The book shown here can be bought from Amazon.com. and quite cheaply. It contains 55 color paintings of horses, many types of horses and breeds that could be found in europe circa AD 1759. What is interesting that our good baron showed in his works that any type or breed of horses can be dressed/schooled to perform high scholl airs, it was the ecuyer who made this happen and not the particualr breed of horse.

Anyway, this horse is performing a croupade. His name is Botte and was bred in the estates of Prince Lubomirski who in turn gave him as a gift to the Prince de Craon at Luneville, where baron d'Eisenberg schooled this horse. Pleas note his small head and pinto coloring. He is ridden in caveson and curb bit, double reins etc.

czolem,
Some new, GIMP-manipulated, ink drawings of the Winged Polish-Lithuanian Hussars. They are not finished, not yet...

Equus polonicus

Finally I found a good copy of Ridiger's Equus polonicus or our good Old Polish Horse, etching made for the albumof some 30plus etching of the mid-18th century horses of Europe and Middle east (Persian, Turkish, Arabian, Barb etc., horses) .
Johann elias Ridinger (b.Ulm 1698 – d. Augsburg 1767) was a German artist and printmaker who devoted his life to the art of printmaking and specialised in equine, wildlife and hunting themes. He was often employed by His Majesty King f Poland and Prince of Saxony Augustus III, and we even have a print of him showing our king, not the best one we had, riding one of his horses. Interestingly Saxony was importing Polish horses all the way up to the end of the 18th century for the Saxon chevau legers of the royal guard, where general Jan Henryk Dabrowski's father was an offcer. See the print attached here too.
see this website dedicated to his art and the art of printmaking in general http://www.luederhniemeyer.com/index.php

Please note that our horse is a pinto, with a really small head and very nice muscular body and dry, strong legs. While Herr Ridinger might have exaggerated the small size of his head, nevertheless thisslightly roman-nosed head does conform to the 16-18th (or even early 19th century) century preferences our ancestors had for their horses' heads, i.e., smal, dry and noble

Zygmunt III king of Poland and grand prince of Lithuania

I found this image of our king Sigismunt III Vasa on wikipedia. We know now, based on the primary sources of his reign, that he was the first to receive the newly bred Spanish Andalusian Horses from the studs in Cordoba and Austrian at Lippica, his wife's family, the Austrian Habsburs, were the givers/ senders of these horses. We had used to call them Dzianet, after Jennet Genette, prior to the Corboban breed being established (AD 1576-9), so naturally they kept calling them dzianets, as rumak was still reserved for the Oriental horses. Perhaps in this print Zygumunt III rides a Cordoban Spanish stallion, celebrating his armies victory over the Turks at Chocim (Khotin) A.D. 1621.

Note that Richard Brzezinski et late Angus McBride (painter) reconstructed a winged hussar wielding a hussar lance (plate depicting Vienna AD 1683) in the same manner as Zygmunt here, in their Osprey book "Polish Armies 1569-1696" vol1. Perhpas the print was their inspiration, and obviously wrong, as the hussar lance or kopia was many between 3,5m to over 6meters long. Impossible to hold this lance in this manner. My friend Radek Sikora writes about the hussar lance in his articles accessibles at http://www.hussar.com.pl/162/husaria-cz-3-radoslaw-sikora accidently in this particular article there is my own drawing showing a long lance wielding hussar attacking a pikeman, circa AD 1626-33.

new caballeros on the ...tablet

hello,

I decided to post some new-old sketches that I have been slowly redoing  using GIMP. They are unfinished and rather raw, and subject to change :)

Jannisaries

This post re: one illustration of a janissary painted by a new Polish miltiary ilustrator Michalik for a new book by Polish military history publisher Inforteditions.

Ottoman Turkish  infantry known as Janissaries were one of the most fomidable opponenents  that our Polish-Lithuanian Cavalry had to face. This particular  new book deals with little knonw engagement at Orynin on Sept 28 1618, between the Commonwealth armies lead by Crown grand hetman Jan Zolkieweski and his Turkish-Tatar foes, including some janissary ortas (batalions). It was somewhat a prelude to the Zolkiewski's disastrous Cecora (Tutora)  campaing.  The book is small but illustrated and has some nice maps doen in color by the same artist.

The remiander of my post  is in Polish but all the links are in English or German

Mam ochote podzielic sie paroma uwagami na temat tego janczara imci Michalika

Janczar jak to janczar [url=http://www.wanax.pl/galerie/o/orynin-28-ix-1618_1062.jpg]http://www.wanax.pl/galerie/o/orynin-28-ix-1618_1062.jpg[/url] w tle ma obrobione zdjecie chyba Chocimia? co do jego wygladu, i tu zgodze sie z Krzsztofem M. ze ilustracja ma klimat. 
Ale... jesli chodzi o zestawienie strojow oraz uzbrojenia to nie jest to obrazek AD 1618 jeniceri. Nie wiem skad przyszly Orta-y (roty) janczarow pod Orynin, a jak wiemy roty Yeniceri Ocak (korpus janczarow) byly uzbrajane i munudrowane przez skarbiec sultanski, jako czesc armi sultanskiej czyli Kapikulu Askerleri. 
 Janczar na ilustracji ma zachodni i na dodatek bardzo krotki muszkiet, bo 'normalna' dlugosc muszkietow lontowych to 125-160cm, a np w muzeum w Gratz egzemplarz ze Styru AG 1620 i ma 130cm dlugosci; w kazdym razie wyglada na zachodnioeuropejski (kolba wyglada na niderlandzka, i zamek sam takze, choc wlasnie to Anglicy prowadzili ozywiony handel bronia z Porta) muszkiet lontowy. Faktem jest ze Porta kupowala duze ilosci broni (od Anglikow cyz Holendrow czy pewnie Francuzow), w tym broni bialej, na Zachodzie, a wojna z Austria skonczona ponad 10 lat wczesniejpozwalal byc moze na wiekszy handel w tej materii, wiec uwzam ze ten muszkiet a) jest za krotki b)nie jest na miejscu jako bron podstawowa tego piechura, gdyz janczarzy otrzymywali muskziety wlasnej produkcji tureckiej, ktore byly o lepszej jakosc stali w lufach nizli te europejskie,. MOge zrozumiec muskziet zachodni gdyby Orta tego pana przyszla z Wegier gdzie Orty janczarskie byly czesto uzbrojone w zdobyczna/zakupiona bron zachodnioeuropejska, a wtedy uzbrojeniene europejskie byloby widoczne takze w jego broni bialej a on nosi bardzo lekki, zwinny i drogi typ tej broni, przynalezny raczej oddzialom kawalerii, gwardii przybocznej czy oficerom, w kazdym razie wydaje sie ze jest to turecko-perska szable typu simsir/samszir lub kilic . Nieco o szablach tureckich ze zdjeciami etc [url=http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=414]http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=414[/url]

 Wiadomo ze oddzialy skupione na Wegrzech uzywaly zmodyfikowanych importowanych z Zachodu mieczy zwanych mec(mecz), a jesli z rekojescia szabli to pala lub gabara a wiekszosc zolnierzy ort janczarskich uzywalo szerokie kilic'e lub jatagany plus inne bronie obuchowe czy toporki.
Mundur - zaczne od ziemi. Buty janczarzy nosili czerwone, tylko oficerowie oraz oddzialy elitarne nosili zolte buty, czy byly one w typie pantofli czy tez wyzsze do kostki czy tez zakrywajace lydki to juz kwestia wyboru i warunkow naturalnych toczacej sie kampanii ( link do kismety pokazuje ich buty); nastepnej czesci ubioru niewidac a sa to salvar (szarawarow) :)

 TO co przykrywa wiekszosc czesc tego zolnierza to jest.. wlasnie co to jest - janczary nosili kapanice jako rodzaj plaszcza, a pod tym nosili dolama lub kaftan, obydwa mialy dlugie rekawy i byly duzsze lub krotsze, zaleznie od mody. Dolama i kaftan mogly byc noszone same, bez kapanice. Wazna czesci munduru byl pas, za ktory zakladali poly dolamy czy kafatana w czasie walki lub marszow. W kazdym radzie kolor tego co przykrywa naszego janczara jest zadziwiajacy, i pozostawiem waszmoscia wolna droge do orkeslenia co to mzoe byc za kolro munudru tego janczara..

W koncu czapka janczarska czyli bork np z okresu wojen konca XVII wieku [url=http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/sam/sam_rus/D204_de.php]http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/sam/sam_rus/D204_de.php[/url] a tu widac pozny okaz [url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surname_22b.jpg]http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surname_22b.jpg[/url] a tu wczesniejszy co prawda jest to orta marynarki wojennej [url=http://ron.heavengames.com/cpix/gameinfo/nations/turks/janissaries.jpg]http://ron.heavengames.com/cpix/gameinfo/n...janissaries.jpg[/url] ale czapki widac dobrze
 Temu janczarowi brak prochownicy (priming flask), rogu na proch (powder horn) a wydaje sie ze ma torbe na kule, sztabki olowiu i formy do odlewania kul - z tym ze wydaje mi sie ze nosi te torbe ale czy ja nosi po turecku :) to tego nie wiem tu mamy przyklad [url=http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/media/ka5_katAufmacher/sam-rus_00_ka5_320x465.jpg]http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/media/ka5_katAu...ka5_320x465.jpg[/url] a do tego jakis dziwny ten pasek przytrzymuajcy te torbe, bardziej wyglada na muszkieterski pas etc

Wydaje mi sie ze nasz janczar spod Orynina jest narysowany ze zdjecia jakiegos nowoczesnego odtworcy, czy janczarow czy innych muszkieterow 9np kozakow, polskich lanowskich etc) z pewnymi modyfikacjami etc...
Konczac to rzekne ze uwagi te nie kieruje do ilustratora, tylko do naszego forum , ku lepszemu poznaniu tematu; a pretensji nie mam do ilustratora, bowiem rysowal i malowal tak jak mu autor ksiazki poradzil, ktory powinien byc znawca tematu i doradca ostatecznym, ot ico.

dla porownania obiekty z epoki [url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Vienna.SultanMurads_with_janissaries.jpg]http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bat...janissaries.jpg[/url]
tu pare obrazkow, z tego pierwszy obrazek [url=http://www.zgapa.pl/zgapedia/Janczarzy.html]http://www.zgapa.pl/zgapedia/Janczarzy.html[/url] , to rycina z XVI wieku

[url=http://images.art.com/images/products/regular/11723000/11723080.jpg]http://images.art.com/images/products/regu...00/11723080.jpg[/url]
 atu strona o janczarskich mundurach, tkaninach etc czyli wielak kismeta [url=http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse]http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse[/url]
/OttomanPatterns.htm
[url=http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/JanissaryHeadgear.htm]http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/JanissaryHeadgear.htm[/url]

a tu mamy przepiekny przyklad gwardzisty janczarskiego z ksiazki zwanej Raalamb Costume Book (1657-8) ktora z jakis przyczyn juz nie jest na necie [url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralamb_Janissary_1.jpg]http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ral...Janissary_1.jpg[/url]

a tu janczar z ryciny z okolo 1583 [url=http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/media/ka5_katAufmacher/sam-rus_00_ka5_320x465.jpg]http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/media/ka5_katAu...ka5_320x465.jpg[/url]

Back to Iranian Asb (horse and ... GIMP)

Czolem,

this time I am going to return for a moment to the subject of Ancient Iranians and their horses.

A couple years ago my friend Kavehj Farrokh wrote a book titled "Shadows in the Desert", on the military history of pre-islamic Iran, and he asked me to paint a Parthian for his book. Happily and quite honored by his request I did this little watercolor for this Osprey book, see the link to googlebooks preview of the book. Coincidently his book has become quite popular.

http://books.google.com/books?id=p7kltwf9yrwC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=persia+at+war+wielec&source=bl&ots=1BDxjEmyky&sig=6uR0ZfzX4PZwb1WeQrq63xjM_pA&hl=en&ei=9b6-SYLOOtKJtgfoubD4Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

Lately, after a long haitus in my own artistic work, I first scanned and have been 'redoing' my old drawings and paintings using this quite fine graphic maniputaltion program known as GIMP. Instead of a mouse Iam using a device known as the Wacom tablet with gripen.

This new 'painting' technique is quite enjoyable and I am learning, and since this post is on the Iranians and their horses, I will start with this older image of a Parthian archer, and it was published by Inforteditions military book publisher from Chorzow Poland, in their book on the battle of Philippi (42 B.C) http://www.wanax.pl/index.php?p456,filippi-23-x-42-p-n-e .

Anyway, both sides to this battle, Octavian-Marcus Antonius and Brutus-Longinus, employed cavalry units drawn (hired) from across the Roman frontier, i.e., the Parthian Empire.

Whereas it is unknown if there were any Parthian cathaphracts (heavy-armored cavalry with long lances and armored horses ) in this battle, it is quite known that Parthian archers were present, for they were hired with a blessing form the High King. And my watercolor was to show one of the archers, using a horned saddle (Peter Connolly reconstructed one alomst 20 years ago) and riding a stallion with a cranellated(cut) mane and fabric-wrapped tail, ancient Central Asian custom...

et Equus polonus cdn

i nastepna kwestia o konikach polskich - dzianet hiszpanski a sprawa polska - np Zygmunt III Waza na dzianecie jezdzil pod Smolenskiem, co dobrzek widac na obrazie Dolabelli.
to jest ciekawa kwestia z tym koniem rasy hiszpanskiej w Polsce szlacheckiej, tu caveat - typowy kon iberyjski z 16-17 wieku nie istnieje w swojej orginalnej formie poniewaz ani wspolczesne Lusitano, Alter Real ani PRE to nie sa konie tamtego okresu, maja co prawda ich geny, jak udowodnily padania ale tymi samymi konmi nie sa; typ 16-18 wieczny mozna spotkac chyba ze li tylko w 3-4 stadach mustangow gor oraz pustyn Zachodu US, wsrod koni poludniowoamerykanskich - Brazylia, Chile, Argentyna, Venezuela - oraz wsrod koni Soraia z Portugalii (ale oba typy raczej sa male wzrostem). Wyginal byl dzianet jeszcze w czasie wojen 19 wieku, zwlaszcza za czasow napoleonskiej inwazji Iberii ( w 'Popioloach' prowadza nasi dzianety hiszpanskie czy tez u Gasiorowskiego - coz, lupy wojenne, oni tam, wszyscy inni przechodzoacy przez nasz kraj brali konie polskie). Terazniejszy wiec typ iberyjski jest raczej bardziej nowoczesna miszanka hodowlana ze sladami dawnego dzianeta (bo bodobno mnisi ukryli czesc koni andaluzyjskich i dzieki temu prztrwaly ... vivat Kartezjanie! choc pan Juan Altamirano walczy z tym mitem)
Dzianet iberyjski 16-18 wieczny to kon ktory podono mial taki oto typ: o srednio a nawet raczej dlugiej glowie (tu moze byc problem) ktora jest waska (moze problem) i z nosem rzymskim -garbonosa (nie ma problemu) , ma raczej dlugie uszy (duzy problem), oko nie za bardzo wypukle i troche eliptyczne (nie za bardzo dobrze), o dlugiej szyji (szlachta to lubi), , wysokie kleby (dobrze siodlo siedzi, nie ma problemu ), raczej waska, a muskularna gleboka piers (nie problem a plus bo biegun ), dlugie, chyba suche nogi (dobrze) tyle ze nie owlosione peciny (tak jak na wszystkich sztychach z epoki pokazujacych nasze polskie konie), prosty srednio-krotki grzbiet ( dobrze tyle ze cala kloda wtedy nie jest dluga), muskularny zad (jeszcze lepiej) tyle ze raczej spadzisty, o ogonie nisko zawieszonym bo dzianet nie odsadzal ogona w czasie galopu jak Arab czy Turek byc(moze duzy problem dal szlachty), grzywa i ogon o delikatnym, niezbyt obfitym wlosiu (chyba dobrze), dzisijeszy PRE ma ogon i grzywe ogromna.
Porownujac obrazek 'turka' z wierszykow czy powiedzonek szlacheckich oraz powyzszy opis dzianeta iberyjskiego to mamy konia ktory momentami nie za bardzo pasuje do idealu konia szlacheciego... wydaje mi sie to wartym zastanowienia?
Wlosi oraz Niemcy przerobili na wlasny uzytek dzianety hiszpanskie (od czasu jak ujezdzanie zaczeto praktykowac w koncu 16 wieku) i byc moze ich dzianeto-pochodne konie byly bardziej ku uciesze oka szlacehckiego rycerza oraz hodowcy?
A swoja droga to ciekawe czy sa jakies dane archeologiczne zebrane z naszych pol bitewnych czy z pozostalosci po dworach, zamkach czy palacach kresow czy Polski terazniejszej etc na temat wystepujacych tam pozostlaosci szkieletow koni, ich typow etc?
...moze tylko jeszcze dodam ze najdrozsza bronia na wyposarzeniu najlepszej jrazy woojsk RON czyli husarza byl wlasnie ... rumak husarski wychodowany w stadninach ukrainnych i poludniowej Malopolski.
Niebotyczny koszt tych koni, bo przeciez musial miec odpowiedni typ vel rase - kon polski, turecki etc, nastepnie byc w odpowiednim wieku do rozpoczecia uzytkowania - bo brano konie po 5 roku zycia do szkolenia, oraz przede wszystkim dlugie szkolenie przed uzytkowaniem, wszystko to podnosilo niebotycznie koszt tejze 'broni' husarskiej.
Bez tych koni husaria bylaby owa rajtaria z kopiami - i przeszlaby do lamusa taktycznego - jako nieskuteczna zupelnie, tak jak stali sie nieskuteczni gendarmes czy demi-lansjerzy w Europie Zachodniej.
Poza tym husarz byl rowniez 'rajtarem' - tzn mial 2 pistolety etc - nastepna kwestia o jego uniwersalnosci.

W kazdym razie, zamieszczam obok konika ktorego mam zamiar przemalowac i juz pojawil sie czeladnik ktory trzyma go za uzde.. z uzyciem GIMP  bo GIMP jest  uber alles...i  uber alles.

kon Polski cdn

cdn z poprzednieg postu
wydaje mi sie ze skoro piszemy to o husarii jako typie kawalerii to nawiazujemy w naszych rozwazaniach do tzw konia uzytkowego husarii a nie do idealu wierzchowca roznych okresow RON - dzianet czy konie turecko-perskie sa to owe idealy pieknosci szlachty rycerskiej a la '...zrebie turckie, wyzle niemieckie.' Dlatego tez nie pisze o tym co najbardziej lubiono kiedy lub co bylo na pierwszym miejscu etc. Zreszta z ta lista to bym nie przesadzal, mody sie zmieniaja, u szlachty polskiej takze .
Kon turek - co do wygladu 'turka' to nie wydaje mi sie zeby kon turecki z 16-18 wieku podobny byl do dzisjeszego Ahal-tekinca - bo dzisiaj Tekiniec to wyzel wsrod koni orientalnych. Konie Turecko-perskie wywodza sie z roznego rodzaju mieszanek ktorych podstawa sa dwie rasy konskie: najstarszy rasowo kon kaspisjki (od ktorego byc moze wywodza sie araby) oraz byc moze rowny mu wiekiem lub nieco mlodszy starozytny kon nissejski, z Medii (Iran) - rosly, silnie umiesniony, o rzymskim profilu wierzchowiec ( post o koniach partyjskich).
Dolewki innych ras (np konie tekinskie, oraz oczywiscie araby - bo araby braly udzial w tych dolewkach jako ze np. w czasie podboju Iranu oraz Azji Centralnej wodzowie arabscy celowo mieszali swoje klacze z ogierami perskim-sogdyjskimi w celu podniesienia wzrostu czy sily konia bojowego) plus rozne mody na typy koni bojowych w srednowieczu Azji Zachodniej, doprowadzily do wyksztlacenia sie na terenie wlasnie Azji Zachodneij w 15-stym wieku owych rumakow - koni wierzchowych ktore odpowiadaly metodom walki tychze krain - 'ciezka' jazda kopijnicza, mocno opancerzona, z konmi pokrytymi kropierzami oraz zwlaszcza w 15-16 wiekach pancerzami -piekne konie o suchych glowach, dlugie muskularne szyje, suche nogi, mocne zady, dlugie ogony, piekne chody. W wyniku upadku Persji oraz Turcji w 19 wieku typ rumaka calkowicie wyginal, zastapiony arabem pustynnym oraz mieszankami posledniejszymi (a to co w Pesji nie wyginelo to republika Islamska Chomeiniego dolozyla reki do zaglady koni perskich w latach 80-tych).

Jesli chodzi o teknica - znane sa chyba ze 4 typy tego rasowego konia - klasyczny Akhal-tekiniec wywodzi sie od starozytnego konia wierzchowego Scytow oraz Sarmatow Azji Centralnej ale w 15-19 wieku to jednak kon Turkmenow, uzywajacych jazdy lekkiej, przeznaczony do wojny podjazdowej tychze nomadow oraz przemierzenia suchych stepow Azji Centralnej. W tym okresie jest to kon wybitnie dlugodystansowy, bodobny do anglika - opisywany 'trenning' tego konia zasluguje na wiezienie (jak wyglada wystarczy poszperac na necie, krocie zdjec oraz opisow -tu ciekawostka, Nez Perce z Idaho odtwarzaja 'prawdziwego 18 wiecznego konia Appaloosa, jako ze 'swinia' ktora nazywaja Amerykanie Appalossa to w typie kon zupenie niepodobny do tego konia Nez Perce (jakoz e jest to meiszanka bulldoga z bykiem tyle ze tarantowata), jako odtwarzacza uzywaja mieszanki Akhal-Tekinca z mustangami typu Spanish Soraia lub Warhorse - program ma cos okolo 10 lat - ciekawe co z tego wyjdzie bo to torche malo jak na wytworzenie sie rasy czy typow koni).
Z koleji wymienialem bachmaty tatarskie z tej przyczyny ze np prof. Pruski w 'Hodowli konia Arabskiego w Polsce' podaje jak to w 1820-tych latach kupcy przyprowadzali do Balty (Ukraina polska) duze ilosci wynedznialych ogierkow tureckiego wojska (rosyjska zdobycz wojenna)ktore to szlachta kupowala na potege i mieszala z rodzimymi klaczami, co dawalo wysokej jakosci rosle oraz urodziwe potomstwo.
W 20 wieku, kiedy polska hodowla arabow rozwinela sie na szeroka skale, polskie araby ( tym razem bez mieszania z innymi rasami) podskoczyly na wzroscie ( z 135-140 cm do 140-150cm)), czyli nawet o 10 cm w klebie (ogiery), zachowujac suchosc oraz ogolny wyglad araba, a kiedy meszano je z konmi polkrwi dalo to doskonale oraz rosle konie uzytkowe ( nasze 'malopolskie' pisze w cudzuslowiu bo konie maloposlkie maja ogromna domieszke fulblutow glownie ), co wydaje sie nastepnym dobrym przykladem ze konie orientalne bardzo dobrze sprawdzaly sie w hodowli w naszym klimacie, a ich potomstwo dawalo doskonale wierzchowce. Wydaje mi sie ze ze to samo mialo miejsce w 16-18 wieku, w mniej 'naukowym' chowie stadnym stosowanym przez szlachte. Zreszta wzrost, wyglad, uzytkowosc, trzeba poczytac Ksenofonta zeby sie przekonac co to jest kon bojowy - to sie nie zmienilo az do 19 wieku kiedy konie uprzemyslowiono etc!
W moim poprzednim poscie napisalem bylem - mieszanki rodzimych koni z przestawicielami ras... i o to wlasnie chdzilo - scigle, wytrzymale, byc moze niskie i brzydkie bo w typie konia stepowego (duzy leb, nisko osadzona szyja) bachmaty zmieszane z potomstwem wlasnego chowu dawaly wiekszego konia bojowego - wierzchowca potrzebnego husarii - tj . konia o pewnym typie podobajacym sie szlachcie, nie przerasowanego (bo owe koniki maja tendencje do padania jak muchy w polu) ktory wytrzyma trenning husarski, a pozniej sprawdzi sie w skrajnych warunkach bojowych np szarzujac po 10 razy na wroga a pozniej w wielokilometrowej pogodni za wrogiem, czy w pochodach przez zmarzniety step lub bagna bialoruskie, czy wytrzymuja zamkniecie oblezenia gdzie karmiono je miesem zmiesznanym z prochem (pod Zbarazem) etc.

Cenne konie importowane lub zdobyczne -dzianety, turki etc - ( a bylo ich przeciez jak na lekarstwo) prawdopodobnie wylaczajac walachy nie byly uzywane w boju (wykluczamy tu magnaterie ktora mogla jezdzic na czym chciala ) raczej szly do hodowli oraz parad czy innych pokazow...
Upraszam o wybaczenie za nieco przydlugi wypis...

o Koniu Polskim od nowa

wiecej o Koniu Polskim:
... husaria na arabach nie szarzowala, chyba ze u imci Julisza Kossaka . Nasz piekny kraj wychodowal byl na potrzeby husarii konika - niektorzy zwa go kon Polski, inni kon husarski, etc. Ale byl to kon pewnego typu, tzw typu polskiego - znaczy, calkiem lotny oraz strojny (wg Rzaczynskiego :1721) a przy tym silny i wytrzymaly na trudy.
Znany jest sztych Jana Eliasa Ridingera z 18tego wieku pt Kon Polski.
Mamy tam konia mocno zbudowanego, raczej niewysokiego, o suchych nogach, dlugiej szyji na ktorej siedzial suchy leb (mala limfa, dobrze widoczne sa naczynia krwionosnie oraz zakonczenia kosci czaszki) o duzym oku, malych uszach, ale bez wklesniecia nosa a raczej z wypuklym nosem, co w rezultacie daje leb konski nie bardzo arabski a raczej podobny do Akhal-tekinca tzw rzymski nos, co bylo typowe u koni Tureckich, Perskich oraz dzianetow hiszpanskich).
Do tego opisu glowy oraz nog dochodzi dluga kloda (arab ma raczej krotka klode), gleboka ale nie za szeroka piers (bo kon musial byc wyrzymaly), muskularny zad, dlugi ogon o delikatnym wlosiu oraz delikatna grzywa... kon nie za bardzo przypominajacy Araba! A do tego masci niezwykle: wilczate, plesniawe, wisniaki, srokate, bulane czy wronie.
Zreszta w 16-18 wieku w naszych rejonach swiata najlepsze konie to konie pochodzace z rodzimej hodowli zmiesznae z rumakami z hodowli turecko-perskich, pozniej bachamty tatarskie z jednej strony, oraz konie hiszpanskie, ktore odznaczaly sie wyjatkowa uroda w ruchu oraz prawdopodobnie konie Berberyjskie zaznaczjace sie w hodowli hiszpanskiej - a o arabach nie ma wzmianek az do wojen z Turcja z drugiej polowy 17 wieku, z okresu Wiednia...
Arab to kon lekkiego jezdzca, zreszta tak nawiasem mowiac to raczej klacz lekkiego jezdzca jako ze Arabowie na klaczach jezdzili na wojne, a ogeirow bylo jka na lekarstwo - wiec jesli byla dolewka arabow po Wiedniu to byly to klacze pokrywane polskimi ogierami .
Sumujac, polski husarz 16-17 wieczny na arabie nie jezdzil. Byc moze w czasach Kitowicza, zwlaszcza po 1770tych, kto to wie, choc arab konikiem spokojnym nie jest, a jak sie jedzie w pogrzebie czy orszaku uroczystym, to bardzo waznym jest aby kon pod jezdzcem spokojnym byl...a nie harcowal niczym znierwicowany ...arab
Niestety, kon polski wyginal jako rasa/typ w okrsie wojen napoleonskich (zwlaszcza kampania 1812) oraz zaborow, kiedy nie stalo hdowli narodowej, a zaborcy i nasi wlasni hodowcy na potege uzytkowali modne angliki oraz araby do wytworzenia koni potrzebnych swoim wlasnym pulkom kawalerii lub ciezkie konie zachodnioeuropejskie do artylerii oraz rolnictwa.
Taki sam los spotkal ogara polskiego oaz charta polskiego - ale ogara odtworzono a i charty wrocily, wiec moze i kon staropolski przez zmienszanie koni azjatyckich, hiszpanskich i konikow polskich powroca ...

hello again,
it has been a while since my last post.

 While I was reading this entry http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojna_litewsko-rosyjska_1558-1570 on wikipedia I found this image attached here -   two Polish riders with the White Eagle in the red field standard. Most likely this is  some cavalry unit  in their parade clothing, with some very ornate horse tack - red and blue dyed leather .  They both carry sabres as this noadic and Central Asian weapon became the weapon of choice for the Polish, Ruthenian and Lithuania nobility and military.

One can note the multicolored clothing, the red rider has most likely a zupan, with a blue colar put down, in the fashion of the second half of the 16th century. Similar fashion and horse tack appear in the German woodcuts of the second half of the 16th century when Polish riders are depicted.   On the right my own old ink drawing of a winged  hussar offcer tha is based on the German 1570s woodcut by a very prolifict artist from Nuremberg, Jost Amman.

Old Poland Horses

Czolem,
this time I am posting my own two, rather old, illustrations intending to continue my discussion about the so called Old Poland/Polish Horse:

one (color one) could be a bachmat - from Tatar/Turkish language  (but the root of this word is old Iranian, another proof that Turkish people were taught all about horses by the Sarmatians and Saka - themselves Iranians) word for a smaller, but muscular yet fast and faithful warhorse; and the black and white drawing is an attempt to portray a rumak  with typical tack of mid XVII century that was a preferred mount  of our winged hussars and richer nobles - originally from old Persian 'argamak' which is a word for a splendid, noble warhorse. Both types were present in Old Poland, while the names are still in use in the modern Polish language.

There was one more 'horse word' used to describe war and parade horses: dzianet. This name was used for especially beautiful parade horses, and later on, during the XIX century came to denote  a noble and very beautiful horse, often used in poetry or novels, eg. Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz's "Trilogy." The word itself comes from Spanish - yennet or jennet or gennete, whether it meant a ridding horse or horse ridden in a special manner, with short stirrups (a la jineta) still remains an answered question. From Spanish this word passed into Polish language via Italian language with the arrival of our good queen Bona Sforza, wife to His Royal Majesty and Grand Prince Sigismund I (1467-1548). In 1518 Queen Bona brought to our lands many Italian horses, of Neapolitan extraction, trained in then fashionable Italian horsemanship and they were most likely ridden a la jineta, and thus we have dzianet name for this highly trained and beautiful parade horses. Dzianet is not used in everyday Polish language to describe horses  anymore.

to be continued

Old Polish Horse

IN my previous post I cited a statement made by a Frenchman Dupont about winged hussars and their beautiful horses. These horses were not for show or parade but for war, actually their stamina, strenght, bravery and soundness essential tothe winged hussar's battlefield performance.
During the existence of Old Poland (1569-1795) aka Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth there were plenty many horses in these lands that today constitute Poland, Lithuania, Bielarus, Ukraine, some parts of western Russia, Latvia, and parts of Romenia. Polish equine historians - especially Witold Pruski - talk about so called Polish Horse developed during the 16th century and extinguished during the Napoleonic Wars. Whether this particular horse was one breed or a type still remains an unanswered questions while other European equine historians talk about their own equine breeds and their deveolpment, eg. preeminent Spanish horse historian Juan P. Altamirano writes in his books, articles and on his website that the first modern breed of horses - la Pura Rasa Espanola - was begun in Spain, with a royal decree issued by his royal majesty king Felipe II, that led to development of this breed around late 1570s. http://www.jcaltamirano.com/artespanol.htm
There aren't that many images of the old Polish Horses that have survived wars and burnings of Old Poland lands. Usually 3 or four are listed - and they are from the 18th century, sadly past the heyday of winged hussaria.
I have done some drawings of the winged hussar horses - eg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Panskie_oko_konia_tuczy1.jpg

I am working on some horse illustrations for my friend Radek Sikora - for his book - Na skrzydlach husarii-
I started sketching this horse Sunday, and perhaps I will use this sketch :) although it will need saddle, shabraque, wings attached to the saddle etc. Soom will post some more progess sketches.
to be continued

husaria

the pride of Poland and Lithuania, Belorussia, the Ukraine.. the Winged Hussars.
As one good French gentleman and officer Duppont said circa 1733 - hussars ride the most beautiful horses you can ever see, well built men who wear very adorned cuirass and cover themselves with leopard skins, fine helmet, carry two swords (one underneath left thigh), and a very long lance that is painted and gilded with a pennon 9 feet long of died silk attached to it, with two pistols at the pommel - the most beuatiful and fearsome sight indeed.
My friend, young Polish historian Radek Sikora, just published his new book on the web - 'Na skrzydlach husarii' aka "On the Hussars Wings" - in short a fabulous work of prime rate scholarship. available at his website http://www.husaria.info.tm/
and here one of the ebst pages on husaria - with many images of armour, battle fields, present Kresy - Polish-Lithuanian borderlands etc http://www.hussar.com.pl/

and here something of my own creation - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Husarz_lubiesz_2.1color.jpg

Salve

I am about to start my own little page(s) on history and use of horses in war augmented mostly with my own illustrations, hence the title Dario's Caballeros.

Mostly Polish Winged Hussars (husaria), uhlans, and Polish horses, Ancient Iranians (Medes, Cimerians, Scythians, Saka, Indo-Saka, Sarmatians, Alans, Persians, Kushans) Eurasia steppe warriors, North American Indian horsemen, Islamic warriors, Colonial Latin America, Conquistadores then obviosuly some on horse tack and war horses.

Let us start with some little info on Nesean horse of ancient, pre-Islamic Iran, that streched well beyond the borders of the present county of Iran

(I wrote that for a romanarmy.com discussion):

Horses of Nisaya -  scholars and specialist on the ancient equids Littauer and Crouwel in their digs found horses ranging from 100cm at withers to 150cm from the so called Median strata ...
Considering that the best of these horses ate the wonder herb known as alfaalfa/lucerne – this most important horse food that was domesticated by the Iranians http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Alfalfa_(PSF).png and this alfalfa provided them with necessary protein to growthus these horses could have attained some great muscular and skeletal size (150cm is a very good size for pre-19th century  horse). It appears that in developing a powerful yet nimble horse the Iranians could have solved the the proverbial problem for cavalry until its demise: relationship between size, strength and stamina of the war mounts versus their performance on the battle field and in transtion to-from the battlefield.
We do have some clear information on the Achaemenid horses, mostly from sculptures and ancient writings - the most famous imagery comes from the Apadana Staircase at Persepolis Iran http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Chariot2.jpg , the following dynasties - while the Seleucid and the Parthian  horses must be mostly inferred from other sources, as there are hardly any sources left talking about them.
Firstly, one could look at the stone relieves from Firuzabad representing the battle of Hormozdagan between Ardashir, future Sassanian king of Persia, and Arabanus the last Parthian monarch – images from this very great site livius.org
http://www.livius.org/a/iran/firuzabad/firuzabad_reliefs.html#Firuzabad-relief1

next the famous Dura Europos graffito - Parthian 'knight' soon should post my drawing of this knight.

The closesst depiction of ancient Iran horses might be found in the Ms Louise Firouz' article – although it is mostly about the Caspian horse in that horse's present condition (well, 1970s), but she provides in her article some data on the Nissean , eg that 'he' was about 65 inches at withers (comparisons done by reference of the Persepolis Apadana). Also she talks about discoveries (late 1960s and early 1970s) of skeletal remains of horses from the pre-Islamic strata in Iran, especially of interest shall be the site at Shahr-e-Kumis where some remains of Parthian horses (including large skull with that 'Nissean nose' aka swelling from occiput through nasal bones) have been found. She cited(1972) works of Anderson, Sandor Bokonyi, M.A. Littauer etc as the best to look up this matter.
Finally, she provided a citation by Timotheus of Ghaza (6century A.D.) who wrote on the Nissean horses (Kermanshah region of Iran)– that they were remarkable for their great size and feet that shook the earth.

Definitely one should look at the Chinese sculptures from the Han (eg horses for emperor Wu-Ti) and Later Han to early T'ang dynasties, the best – Tien-Ma or 'heavely horses' – came from east Iranian lands.

als many a good reader could compare and look at the so calledPersepolis graffiti – a fine Callieri's article about these images etc - especially at figure 3, 4, 5 and 6
http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/callieri.html
they do belong to the Sassanian period of the Iranian history but perhaps they can be taken as some indication of the size of the noble mounts.

Finally one needs to look at the Panjikent frescoes – they are mostly from the 7th -8th century but the horses there belong to the last phase of the east Iranian(Sogdian) pre-Islamic culture – and they do have the conformation of the war horses of the ancient Persians. (drawings to follow soon)
I am going to look up in my copy of Ann Hyland's 'Equus' and her "Horse in the Ancient World' to see if she has anything there etc.
Let's us turn tomore ancient writers : Strabo wrote about Nisean horses and their breeding grounds having been in Armenia (he thought that the Nisean plain was in Armenia and not in Media) . He also says that Parthian horses were not like any horses of the Greek world but very similar to the Nisean horse bread by Achaemenid Persians (Strabo 524).

Oppian writes in his Cynegetica about the Nissean horses, extolling their easy strides, graceful movements, flowing manes (contrary to the ancient and then contemporary Iranian fashions of crenelated manes and tied tails). He also talks about golden manes - that might imply some influence of the glitering heavenly horses -Tien Ma - from Ferghana - today known as the Akhal-Teke or Turkoman golden horse(please note that obviously the Turkomans were not first to breed these horses that bear their name, these horses as a breed predate the Turks in that area of Eurasian steppe by at least 5-7 centuries and were first bread by the eastern Iranians or the inhabitants of the Ferghana Valley - divided between modern Uzbekistan, Kirghistan and Tajikistan ).

Azzaroli in his book states that in a private communication with Sandor Bokonyi he learned that Bokonyi had 'observed horses remains strong build, standing up to 16hands in the sites from north-western Iran belonging to the Achaemenid period'.

Also, the northern cousins of the Persians - the Scythians, Saka, and Sarmatians (eg Alans) Pazyryk horses and others of the South-Western Siberia Saka horse finds show consistent patern of tall (15-16h) noble horses and smaller 'common' horses (12-13hands). Dahae or Parni aka Parthians came from the Central Asian steppes already equipped with very fine war horses of certain known qualities etc, suitable for mounted lancer warfare (Mielczarek).
Also might be worth pondering the issue of Parthian exchanges (both peaceful and bellicose) with their cousins from northern India, Pakistan and Bactria(Afghanistan) that might have added more horse breeds/strains to the actual development of the ' Parthian' strain of Nisean horse between 3nd and 1st centuries BC. Ceck the discussion about Ancient Indian armies here:
http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=23803


Bt the way, I am reading this very interesting book by one of the most prominent 'equine historians' from XIX century - writing about the horses in the pedigree o the English Thoroughbred -William Ridgeway ' The Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse (Cambridge University Press 1905)' (please note that some of the information written in this book is already outdated because of modern research and archaeological discoveries etc)

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=axVDAAAAIAAJ&dq=ridgeway+thoroughbred&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=G7rKY1iC32&sig=5HcroL0q4KYepJHw4JHHGDdE66A&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result

p. 194 "... the Parthian horses, which were both grey and also commonly dun, were descended from the Nisean breed, and resembled it in appearance, we may conclude that the Persian horses of the fifth century B.C. were dun, white or grey. But we have just seen that dun and white especially characterized the horses of Upper Europe and Upper Asia in classical and Medieval times. From this it would appear that the Nisean horses bred in Armenia were of the Upper Asiatic, i.e. Turcoman stock"......

More to follow soon but you could see some of my artwork and fotos at wikimedia:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=dariusz+t+wielec&go=Go