Jan Czop (1942-2026) - Pacem Aeternam

 Salvete Omnes,

my favorite Polish military uniforms - 

it saddens me to report that one of the finest Polish military historical artists and miltiary uniform researchers passed away last week.
Jan Czop - author of albums, articles, and numerous drawings and plates showing Polish armies and fighting men passed away on May 25, 2026. Pan Jan is now part of the long line of Polish military uniform and Polish military  history enthusiasts and artists-historians -  M. Stachowicz, Rupniewski, Jozef Lex, Juliusz Kossak, Kajetan Saryusz-Wolski, Jan Niepomuce Lewicki, Jan Matejko, Stanislaw Heykowski, Bronislaw Gembarzewski, Janusz Wielhorski, Stanislaw Gepner, Antoni Trzeszczkowski,  Karol Linder, Ryszard Morawski etc.

Royal Crown Mounted Guard

Among others, pan Jan held membership in the prestigious Polish military historians association - Stowarzyszenie Milosnikow Dawnej Broni i Barwy. 

In 2017 we had numerous exchanges over Fb and via emails about publishing his works in the United States, by Winged Hussar Publishing LLC.  
Unfortunately he was tied by his contracts with his Polish publisher and and the publisher was not interested in publishing the albums in the US at that time. 
Jan Czop was buried in Sanok, Poland on Saturday, May 30, 2026.

concept XVIII century winged Hussars drawings 

Condolences to the Czop Family and friends. His brushes and pencils and his wonderfully well researched voice will be sorely missed.

Polish royal Piast and princerly Pomeranian heraldry in 1330-1360 AD 

Pacem Aeternam

all images from Jan Czop's Fb page - all Jan Czop's copyright

Valete

On Slavic Warriors - published

 Slavete Omnes,

some good news for the aficionados of the early medieval Slavic military history. 

Illustration from the book - Theutonicorum rex 

Vincent Rospond et Mateusz Julecki  translated and Winged Hussar Publishing LLC published  On Slavic Warriors, study by Igor Gorewicz of Triglav. about the Druzhinas (comitatus) and thir battles on land and sea. 
The newly published book 

cover photo by Marek Kalisinski

is available on Simon & Schuster website, on Amazon  , on  the On Military Matters etc.

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illustration from inside - the Arkona Gate

ps

 some imagery from Wiki Commons about Arkona on the Rugia (Rugen) Island.

enjoy

Valete

Dun and grullo Sorraia horses of Iberian Peninsula

 Salvete Omnes,

convex profile 

I am always interested in the rare breeds of horses, and the Portuguese Sorraia horse is one of them

dorsal stripe on a foal

2007 genetics study of the Portuguese and German herds. 

  Sorraia horses from Portugal (but also bred in the US, Canada and Germany) are usually dun or grullo (Rata in Portuguese) with primitive markings.

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Zebra stripes on the foal's legs

Canada 

Iberian Sorraia phenotype is present in the Black Hills sanctuary in South Dakota,  in Kiger Mustangs of Oregon, and some Pryor Mountian mustangs of Wyoiming etc.

Dr Sponenberg on the American Sorraias - interview. 

Iberian Origin of the New World horse - DNA study. 

Iberian horses from the Ice Age onward  - 2024 DNA study.

images are from Wiki Commons

Valete

Bison & Indigenous People of the Plains

 Salvete Omens,

The Memorial Day weekend came and went and let us share this video of Bison, People and Plains from Ancient Americas Yt channel. 

Before the coming of the horse the bison (Plains and Wood Bison) 

and indigenous people lived in a particular relationship, with perhaps as many as 30 to 35 million bison living in the North America, hunted by the Indians and thus providing them with food, skins for tents and clothing, bone tools and many, many other uses. 

The dogs pulled smalledr travois and thus their tipis were smaller. During the 1500s the Plains Apaches who were the nomads lived in their wickiups in their Plains rancherias.

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The dominant pre-Columbian Plains  inhabitants were the  horticultural tribes  who lived in the Plains from time immemorial. They lived by the rivers in the river valleys with fertile soil, in their permanent earth lodge villages (eg Pawnees, Mandan etc) or like the Caddo confederacies in large towns made out of the grass houses.  

Their hunts were seasonal and when hunting they also used tipis for dwellings during this communal hunts. 

enjoy 

ps there is a project Hunt Primitive in North America, where they hunt animals, including bison, with stone weapons - bow and arrows, atlatal, spears etc.

Valete