Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Beatus de Saint-Sever - XI century French horses and milites

Salvete Omnes,
a short entry on a Medieval manuscript from Gascony,  one of the treasures at the French National Library aka Gallica [on line].


 The illuminations shows a couched lance technique, presumably very early in the medieval representation of such mounted lance technique, at least several decades prior to the famous Bayeux Tapestry of the Normans.
Beatus de Saint-Sever  or Apocalypse of Saint-Sever (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 8878) contains some beautiful and interesting iconography regarding horses and riders, horse tack and riders' arms and armor. We see saddles with high pommel and cantle (painted), bridles with a curb-bit, horses seem to have been shod. Riders are mounted on stallions or so it seems. The knights are suing spurs and saddles have also the breastplate and crupper. All this circa 1050AD.
Four Horsemen of Apocalypse

 

 


 armored riders mounted on monsters
 
 milites or XI century warriors. It was that armored, lance-wielding  mounted warrior  whom    the Catholic Church 'transformed into a knight thus creating the chivalry , and at the very end of the XI century these miles christi would go on crusading in the Holy Land.  

animals

monsters

 
valete

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Joos de Momper - Polish horsemen?

Salvete Omnes,
summer in its last month, so keeping it light - let me introduce to this blog a new painter  from the Flemish lands under the Spanish Crown:  Joos de Momper.

Well, we will start with the following image, there is painting of his titled  winter landscape with soldiers looting the village. It had to be painted sometime during the period of the 30 Years war, perhaps during the 1620s  ?

and someone posted the detail from the canvas showing two soldiers armed with lances and sabres. They could be Polish Lisowski cavalrymen in the Imperial service.   


 Perhaps someone from  the Neuburg an der Donau's museum could have some info on this painting.
With the wiki commons gallery I think we will  revisit more of the  maestro Momper's works  in the future.
valete!

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Vivat Polish Armed Forces - 99th anniversary of battle of Warsaw

Salvete Omnes,
 
today is the 99th anniversary of the one of the most important battles in the history of the world, especially the modern world - the battle of Warsaw 1920.
 
also this year is the 100th anniversary of the first Silesian Upraising, the first of the three that brought some of Silesia back into Poland . Thousands of soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces will parade in Katowice to commemorate this historic event today.


 
also, today is the Polish Armed Forces day and the Feast of Assumption
some photos of the soldiers and already veterans of the Polish-Bolshevik Russia war that were part of the  Szwadron Przyboczny Naczelnika Państwa (Chief of State Guard Squadron), taken by Narcyz Witczak-Witaczynski  who was one the heroes of the 1914-21 struggle for the Polish Independence.


 
 
vivat Polish Armed Forces!!
 One of the architects of this victory general Jozef Haller and his command, the  Blekitna Armia (Blue [sky-blue really] Army) - that was made up of Polish volunteers from all around he world, especially from the US and Canada.











Blue Army monument in Warsaw:

the 1925 photo of the horse artillery with general Haller

nota bene, Polish radio [in Polish] program  about the battle, with recordings of the eyewitnesses of this struggle.
valete

Monday, August 12, 2019

Polish reenctors at the court of Philip III at Lerma

Salvete Omnes,
Polish reenactors - winged hussars, pancerni, hajduk infantry , etc - visited Lerma, Spain on 2nd-4th of August , 2019, where their respective colleagues, the Spanish reenactors, held the festive weekend going back to the 1610s when Spain was ruled  by Felipe III  et his minister duke de Lerma.
This was the era of the iron Spanish tercio infantry, treasure fleets from the Americas, the flowering of Spanish literature - like the famous sword fighter and poet Francisco de Quevedo, Miguel de Cervantes, Gongora, Lope de Vega etc -  and fine and applied arts - Jose de Ribera, Vinvente Carducho, Juan Cotan or young Velazquez . 

Spanish gallery on Facebook - cuando eramos invencibles. And another Spanish gallery.

On the Polish side and Polish reenactors participation in this festive occasion, so it can be associated with the embassy Polish monarch His Royal Majesty King Zygmunt III sent to the court of Felipe III in 1614-15AD.
This embassy was lead be the castellan Krzysztof Korycinski, Topor coat of arms. His aim was  to bring some substantial financial Spanish assistance for the Polish war against the Muscovy, instead it resulted in the Spanish monarch bestowing on the Polish prince Wladyslaw , son of  Zygmunt III, an Order of Toison del Oro(Golden Fleece) eg visible in this painting.
Also pan Korycinski negotiated with the Spanish court the issue of the so called Neapolitan sums attempting to get some payments on the interest etc. Eventually, due to the outbreak of the so called 30 years war in 1618, the cooperation between Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Spanish realm grew ever closer.


...


Below please  find the gallery of photos taken by (c) Radoslaw Szleszynski, whose masterly artisanal work .i.e. reconstructed horse bridles, cruppers and breastplates and pistol holsters can be seen on the horses ridden by the Polish reenactors, while the saddles were made by Marcin Ruda, known by his saddlery works throughout the medieval reenactors equestrian groups.




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
nota bene the horses in these pictures are Spanish horses that are veterans of the arena and other equestrian sports.



 

 
Valete

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

PZHKA- artykuly gratis

Salvete Omnes,

[in Polish]

króciutko -
 konie arabskie starej polskiej hodowli to najpiękniejsze konie świata.  Wysiłkiem hodowców i pasjonatów czyli  hodowla stała Sanguszkami, Dzieduszyckimi, Ostaszewskimi, Potockimi, Rzewuskimi a innymi hodowcami (np Walewskimi z Krolestwa Polskiego w zaborze rosyjskim) stała hodowla koni arabskich czystej krwi na podzielonych przez zaborców ziemiach Rzeczpospolitej Obojga Narodów. Choć konie arabskie pojawiają sie w polskich źródłach w początkach XVI wieku.
Polski Związek Hodowców Koni Arabskich udostępniania na swej stronie artykuły o polskich koniach arabskich   - ogierach i klaczach, - poczynając od tych wydanych w 2006 do 2013.
W formacie pdf - np artykuł z 2007o dziejach ogiera Witez II.
Petera Uptona artykuł o typie konia arabskiego i o rodach.
Marka Treli - czy kuhailan jest gniady
Krystyna Chmiel - Kuheilany i Saklawi
Krystyna Chmiel (tłumaczenie) Rod Ibrahima or.ar.
 ...
i na koniec ze strony państwowej stadniny koni w Janowie Podlaskim - postać Bogdana Zietarskiego, współtwórcy współczesnej hodowli konia arabskiego czystej krwi, który przywiózł z pustyni syryjskiej Kuhaina Haifi, or.ar. i inne cenne konie (zdjęcia w linku).

Valete.
ps
Skowronek nie ma swej strony na wiki

Monday, August 5, 2019

Charging - Napoleonic cavalry in painting

 
Salvete Omnes,
a short summer entry - just some fantastic XIX century equestrian military art


Napoleonic, Polish and French, cavalry in  paintings - mostly maestro Edouard Detaille, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier and Jan Chelminski:




 




 


 Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier:

 
 
 
Jan Chelminski



 

 
Valete