Thursday, July 21, 2011

Polish-Lithuanian towarzysz 1740s



Salve,
Polish-Lithuanian army of first half of XVIII century (time of the Saxon kings, or the so called ''Czasy Saskie'' - Saxon times) is not very well know to the general public, especially the national cavalry, due to various reasons - this blog deals, amongst other things, a bit with the Polish-Lithuanian and Saxon armies of the period, eg polish-lithuanian-army-in-1756-report  Here a discussion in Polish on hussaria history during XVIII century 
am sketching - in MyPaint and Gimp - a Polish-Lithuanian 'towarzysz' (comrade) cavalryman* from 1740s. According to mosci Bronislaw Gembarzewski this image comes from a tabacco box now in the National Museum in Warsaw. He wears a short ''kontusz'' over a ''żupan,'' Turkish style szarawary (shalwar) pants..

Polish-Lithuanian national cavalry or kontuszowa as they were called, used a variety of colorful garments during this period, and eventually the combination of kontusz and żupan with loose fighting pants would give rise to a national uniform during the second half of XVIII century. In these posts - uhlan  & Warnery uhlan I talked a bit about the horses, saddles and cavalrymen of this period.
And here a research article on the Polish-Lithuanian Tatar 'chorągwie' lent into the Saxon service during 1733-64
It should be noted that the article on the Saxon uhlans is but a sketch on the history of Polish-Lithuanian cavalry in Saxon service, and as such is incomplete, offers incorrect names of the commanders and regiments, and does not use any Polish sources, therefore should be treated lightly . Comprehensive article on the Saxon cavalry circa 1745 here (in German) Sachischen kavallerie
*Please note that this is only a sketcg - eg reins and stirrups missing, and obviously it needs more work...

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