Equestrian Polish, Eurasian and the Americas history and horsemanship - from Bronze Age to circa1939AD. Historical equestrian art, my own artwork; reconstructions, and some traditional art media and digital artwork-related topics. All rights reserved unless permitted by 'Dariusz caballeros' aka DarioTW, copyleft or fair use.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Interesting woodcut re Ottoman Turks at war
Salve,
again scouting the Net I came across this interesting later XVI century German woodcut showing 4 Ottoman horsemen escorting a very strange but triumphal procession. We have captured Hapsburg soldiers, identified by two headed black eagle on a first flag, showing to the observing, presumably, Turks their colors, weapons (one weapon looks like a long sword of the landsknechts) and finally comrades' severed heads stuck on pikes and swords.
Head cutting is nothing new within the warrior cultures of the Eurasia, Africa, Oceania and Americas.
This particular processions resembles reported parades of cut heads and scalps on sticks and spears within the American Indian warfare ceremonial and ritual during XVI-IX centuries.
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1 comment:
Nice catch !
If I'm seeing right some of those severed heads sport a scalp-lock and a moustache... - perhaps these belong to slain hungarian hussars ?
Cheers,
Samuel
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