MS 35 Getty Mus illuminations

 Salvete Omnes, 

a quick entry this Thursday  - the Iran-Us& Israel war uncertainty persists, now the ceasefire is to expire on Sunday. Hope peace prevails. I have no hopes on any quick ending of the Ukraine war. 

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 two very interesting illuminations done in a Byzantine style but way to the west,  in the late 1200s early 1300s Sicilian Kingdom  milieu. 

The Kingdom became the part of the House of Aragon realms as the Reino de Trinacria, starting with the Italian Vespers of 1282AD and the war that followed between Pedro III de Aragon, and then his sons Alfonso III de Aragon, Jaime II de Aragon & Federico II de Sicilia  and Charles I d'Anjou, his successors Charles of Naples & Roberto il Saggio and their allies, the French kings Philip the Bold & Philip the Fair, Papal forces (the Pope even proclaimed the crusade against the Aragonese) etc. The war  took away the  Christian forces from aiding the last defenders of the Crusader Kingdom in the Holy Land. 

The two miniatures from the illuminated manuscript Book of Old Testament Prophets  held at the Getty Museum. 

Museum description 

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Death of Sennacherib, king of Assyria Museum description 

Interesting article on the power of the barons within the XIV century Sicily.

Some of the royal protagonists of the war in Sicily and Spain - 

The peace of Caltabellotta, ending the war, also left unemployed Roger de Flor and the  mercenary soldiers of the Catalan Companies aka Almogavars, and this very successful mercenary commander took his  6,500 Almogavars into the war in Anatolia and Greece, where the  Byzantine Empire fought against the growing power of the Ottoman Turks. But that is another story.

Valete

Bodleian Ms. Burma Aa. 5

 Salvete Omnes, 

About 5 minutes ago I learned that is is taco Tuesday &  POTUS Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely. So no resumption of open warfare, but the naval blockade is still on.

So let me post this unusual set of equestrian and military images related to the XIX century British wars in East Asia, this time against Burma.
Perusing the wiki commons I came across a hundred hand-painted plates from Royal Burma (Myanmar) circa 1897,  the the collection of  the Digital Bodleian.

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some military  images from the three Anglo-Burmese Wars - First, Second and Third of the XIX century. 

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Valete 

Nadir Shah - the last great Persian conqueror in equestrian paintings

 Salvete Omnes,

tomorrow the ceasefire between Us-Israel vs Iran will expire. Perhaps there will be more war in the West Asia or perhaps they will come to an agreement (and eventual peace in the Persian Gulf region) or perhaps POTUS Trump would simply walk away from the conflict (having more pressing issues like the mid-terms in Novemebr 2026) . God willing there will be no more war.  

ad rem,

Nadir shah and his bay argamak 

Since the Persians (Elamite, Median and Persian proper)  came into annals of history in the 2nd & 1st millennium BC their armies had been led by vast variety of successful generals but also by less lucky or even hapless commanders and warlords - including the most lucky Cyrus the Great & Darius III of the Achaemenid Dynasty, Alexander the Great (the last king of kings of the Achaemenid Persia),  Seleucus I and Antiochus the Great of the Seleucids, Mithradates II & prince Rustam Surena & Artabanus IV  of the Parthian Arsakid Empire, Ardashir I, Shapur & Yazdegerd III & Peroz III of the Sassanians, Abbas the Great of Safavids  etc.

The last truly great commander in Persian millennia long history Nadir Qoli Beg/Tahmasp-Qoli Han, came from Afsharid Turkoman tribe and as Nadir/Nader Shah became the shah of Persia in 1736 until his death. 

During his life he had become a famous military commander and reformer, and due to his fame and achievement often portrayed on horseback or with horses at war. Among many things he created one of the largest and strongest armies of the period in Asia - some 375,000 strong, 

Shah and his grey argamak

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Shamshirs or sabres  of Nadir Shah 

Nadir Shah astride his grey argamak

Shamshir

Pdf - the army of Nadir Shah.

He was assassinated, almost Julius Gaius Caesar style, by the members of his comitatus in 1747.

Aga Mohammad Khan of the Qajars, the restorer of Persia unity since the  M. Karim Khan Zand rule etc, had the remains of Nadir Shah transferred to his new capital of Tehran, along the remains of Karim Khan.
But then he also had Shahrokh/Sahrok, the grandson of Nadir Shah, tortured in order to extract any treasures that had belonged to Nadir Shah, causing the hapless grandson to die. The current mausoleum is located in Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran.

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enjoy

Valete