I am looking to forward to have some time later this summer to be able to prepare a series of blog entries regarding the Ottoman Turkish cavalry, especially the deli/deliler - here from a Vienna codex miniatures
and sipahi below-
- here a sipahi from Swedish ambasador Ralamb book of miniatures (1650s) and below kapikulu sipahis of the Vienna Codex miniatures.
Meantime I have been drawing Polish hussars, getting my spirits going for the Kluszyn 2010 in Warsaw, Poland.
And to stay in the spirit of horses and cavalry find the google links to two old but still good history of cavalry books on google:
history of cavalry
cavalry roemer
this one is a Polish book, written by one of Polish XIX century historians - Konstanty Marian Gorski (no English wikipedia entry Konstanty Gorski amazon uk entry .amazon.co.uk Historya-Polskiej-Konstanty-Marian-Gorski) - is a sources based history of Polish cavalry and infantry, and although the title on google states only 'history of Polish infantry' actually this edition contains both the history of infantry and history of cavalry together, almost 600 pages of good reading - Gorski historia piechoty y jazdy polskiej
Another of my sketches in this theme that progressed from color pencils and watercolor to GIMP PS and MyPaint.
Do enjoy -:)
Gorski's book are in Polish web libraries:
ReplyDelete- cavalry:
http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=93212&from=&dirids=1
- infantry:
http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=93031&from=&dirids=1
- artillery:
http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=93031&from=&dirids=1
Although it's nice piece of work, there're some errors there's as well, also I cannot forgive Gorski for giving Commonwealth's reiters such poor credit ;)
Regards
Michal
czolem Michale,
ReplyDeletethanks for the links! I am sure many a reader will appreciate them.
Gorski's work is what it was - early XIX century scholarship into the uncharted territory - he was a pioneer on the subject of the history of the Polish armies and he did it quite well, I think.
Let's read him, it behooves us I daresay, and then read some more of many other writers/scholars that have come after him, including your blog where you are helping to unravel the injustice done to the Polish reiters (German-style pistol and carbine wielding more or less armored horsemen/cavalry) -:)
Hi Dario!
ReplyDeleteNice to see that you've turned your attention towards the Balkan daredevils as well. A good starting point would imho be some of Nicolas de Nicolay work (a French traveller) , see for example this url (page 107):
www.cdsee.org/pdf/workbook1_eng_ed2.pdf
Nicolays account partly challenges the established convention that Delis were mostly fierce converts from Christianity (as portrayed in otherwise excellent "A military history of the Ottomans (2009)"from Erickson and Uyar,p.59). The book also says that the first Delis were established by local Beys of the Bosnian-Serbian marches around 1480 (they themselves being 1st/2nd generation converts of local Southern Slavs, interestingly some 20 or so years later after Corvinian hussars in Hungary(i.e. Rac horsemen). Accidentally one of the first illustration of what seems to be a bunch of Deli horsemen facing Hungarian heavies comes from a chronicle done by Johannes de Thurocz(Ján z Turca in Slovak, Thuróczy János in Magyar) (1488)which was either a Slovak, Hungarian or local "Saxon" historian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_de_Thurocz. Ill look around if I can locate the picture/chronicle in question.
Looking forward for your future writings , your articles both from your blog as well as from various forums are very educational and inspiring!
Kind regards,
Samuel
P.S: notice on the pictures youve posted that while the armoured sipahi has a light steppe style lance the Delilers have the hussar kopia.. hmm interesting
Samuel,
ReplyDeletethank you very much for you post and the pdf :)
Great comments on the delis (delilers) and I would love to see these early images of them.
I am going to post some photos of the Mayer woodcuts from 1590s showing Ottomans and hussars fighting, also I have taken many photos of this old German books describing Hungarian weapons and armor, and there is a great image of Ottomans and Hungarians engaging in single duel while rest of them watched. well, I hope the future will be good.
The issue of a lance versus light lance or spear it seems understandable, when we may take into account the probable court settings shown in the image, they might have been shown here at some parade display,thus a shorter and lighter lance might have been preferable to a heavier one. Then, again perhaps our illustrious artist made a mistake and gave them lighter lances, especially if working from Turkish miniatures, for they show very slender lances only.
Hello once again Dario
ReplyDelete"I am going to post some photos of the Mayer woodcuts from 1590s showing Ottomans and hussars fighting... well, I hope the future will be good."
Looking forward to that ! Your blog never fails to impress me (be it your splendid drawings or enthusiastic research)
"The issue of a lance versus light lance or spear it seems understandable, when we may take into account the probable court settings shown in the image, they might have been shown here at some parade display,thus a shorter and lighter lance might have been preferable to a heavier one. Then, again perhaps our illustrious artist made a mistake and gave them lighter lances, especially if working from Turkish miniatures, for they show very slender lances only."
I would kindly disagree on that one if I may.. it seems the Delis had no problems carrying the longer lances, furthermore Sipahis are shown in full combat gear. I wouldn't also say that the illustrator had made a mistake since you can clearly observe some remarkable details (like different pommel caps on sabres). I dare-say he must have been an eye witness (see http://www.pianki.com/FMR-I-Turchi-Codex-Vindobonensis-8626_p_187-2297.html)The point I am trying to make about the spear/lance distinction (or as you Poles define it Kopia vs Włócznia.. some fine linguistic concepts that for example lack in Slovak, we just have the word Kopija for everything from hunting spear to a knightly lance ) is that clearly equipment also defines the actual role of a warrior on the battlefield. "A military history of the Ottomans" clearly outlines the Sipahis role as a conventional light cavalryman.. yes maybe in partial/complete harness but he was first and foremost a horse-archer that (under favourable circumstances) guided the enemy towards the Tabur Cengi (Ottoman version of Wagenburg). Thus a lighter lance would be more appropriate for such a unit since he is not a main shock element of the army. I am sure you're familiar with the articles/books written by Radoslaw Sikora (now a PhD IIRC.)He clearly separates the two weapons on the basis that Kopia has a greater reach (and thus "shock" potential) whereas Włócznia was a shorter/lighter yet also more multi-purpose in its design. Another important distinction is that kopia is a one-charge-than-discard weapon whereas a Włócznia/Dzida can be used several times (though I'm sure you all know that). The closest Polish-Lithuanian analogy to the Sipahi would imho be a Kozak-Pancerni. What intrigues me however is the shady origins of the hussar lance/kopia as such. We know however that the Delis (reading through the Polish http://www.historycy.org forum it appears that Silahdars as well) carried the "kopia" lances. In fact if you'd go through all the historical description (as well as depiction) of Delilers you wont see many horse-archers..(see the Vienna Codex,Nicolas de Nicolay c.1550 work, as well as Paul Rycau's The history of the present state of the Ottoman Empire,p.379). The Delis seem to have been the perfect "Hussars of the Ottomans" equivalent and the main "shock" element (for the time being as there AFAIK is little to none about Silahdars). This may come out as a bit paradoxical as they had the least amount of armour , however it is their offensive not defensive arms that specify their tactical role (they were also deployed independently and outside of the main Ottoman formation).
Ugh apologies for the monstrous (and non-coherent) post but I felt a desire to express myself ;). Mayhap Ill drop later with some further insight.
Kind Regards,
Samuel
P.S: I like the new look of the blog , seems more slick...
P.S 2:
Check google.books for Rycaut as well as "Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: prelude to collapse 1839-1878" , with further info on Ottoman irregulars
Also check http://www.mihaloglu.com/ for further images from Vienna Codex, enjoy!
Hi dear friend, i'm a history lover like you, i found your souc of historical imformation useful and i suggest you to view my drawings and artworks about historical soldiers on deviantart. ;)
ReplyDeletehttp://klmsilgi.deviantart.com/gallery/
take care...
salve friend,
ReplyDeletethanks for visiting and I did look at your deviant art page - nice work, lots of action! Excellent graphic work
By the way are your Turkish?