Sunday, June 30, 2013

Galloping horse and reading



Salve,
I have been reluctant to draw on my Imac, although converted from OS to Linux Mint, these days as my eyes seem to quickly grow tired, even sore from the glare of the monitor/display, thus my digital output has been meagre.

On the other hand I have been reading, and to read my vast collection of digital books articles, from archive.org and Polish Digital Libraries, I bought this ebook reader that has Linux (very important to me) and is E-ink technology, reads djvue and it has been very relaxing reading ever since  -   PocketBook Pro 913
My reading as of lately:
The best biography of duke Jeremi Wisniowiecki, published 1933, by Władysław Tomkiewicz, (1899-1982).
My friend Michał  Kadrinazi Paradowski's book - Studia i Materiały do historii wojen ze Szwecją 1600-1635 (studies and Materials on history of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth wars againt Sweden 1600-1635.
 E. R. Chamberlin. The Sack of Rome - very interesting book of the infamous sacco di Roma AD1527 based on Italian sources, nota bene if you want to read the novelised and rather benign description you can Mika Waltari had a chapter in his book The Adventurer.
Fine book on German Chivalry via Holy Roman Empire and  Piotr z Gdańska (Peter von Danzig) fechtbuch manuals by  Jeffrey Hull, Knightly Duelling, I cannot honestly say I read it whole, as this type of scholarly work requires one to study the chapters and details slowly and with patience.
 Thanks to Witold Biernacki, great Polish military historian and wrtier, I have the vol I of monumental work by professor Marek Plewczyński: Wojny i wojskowosc polska w XVI wieku, 1500-1548 (Wars and Polish miltiary of 16th centurym 1500-1543). I also have volume II of the series, and waiting for the Vol III that finishes the series.
I received ''Jousting in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia'' by professor Noel Fallows, but I have not read it yet/
Also read some novels: P.C. Doherty-The Spies of Sobeck, Robert Crais -Suspect ( well, we have a 2 year old German shepherd female :) )M. H. Greenberg ed- After The King, Sories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien (an older book), and Jacek Komuda's two books, Samozwanie (tsar Dmitri Yoannovich) c, vol 3 and "Zborowski" (both dealing with the early  XVII century history of Polish wars with Muscovy, Polish Borderlands , Zaporozhian Cossacks, Tatars etc)
...and have been doing some translations from Bernardino de Mendoza book Comentarios de don Bernardino de Mendoça de lo sucedido en las guerras de los Payses Baxos: desde el año de 1567 hasta el de 1577 - it is a lot of fun with the old Spanish
Recently, 26 June, we had 718th anniversary of White Eagle in Red Field being adopted as the official emblem (coat of arms) Kingdom of Poland. It was our king Przemysł II and his circle, my favourite Archbishop of Poland Jakub Świnka, that adopted the White Eagle. I have been working on some drawings attempting to show king Przemysl in his regalia. 



Nota bene Polish historian and historical fiction writer Elżbieta Cherezińska wrote fantastic novel, Korona sniegu i krwi, (Crown of Snow and Blood), on duke and king Przemysł II and his contemporaries, especially duke Henryk Probus (here duke shown in the Mannese Codex) - I hope it will  be skilfully translated into English, French etc, since this novel is such a fine example of medieval Slavic romance, intrigue and a bit of fantasy too, and subejct not tackled since Karol Bunsch novels on the Piast Poland. 

until the next time

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