Arms of the Slavic Warriors from Triglav

 Salvete Omnes,

 

perhaps you may recall  that last March Winged Hussar Publishing published already the third volume  of the Slavic and Viking Ornamental Design from  the Wydawnictwo Triglav  in Szczecin, Poland.

     This month to my surprise I received from Igor Górewicz his newest opus - O Broni Słowian (The Arms and Armor of the Slavic Warriors) - brand new huge  hardcover with lots of text, black and white illustrations and color photos.

I am yet to read it wholly but perusing it already has given me lots of ideas for my own future drawings and painting etc, and yes! there is a very tasty chapter on horses, horse riding, horse tack etc.
     But more importantly I also learned that this large volume - 670plus pages  - will be translated and published in the English speaking world by the same Winged Hussar Publishing,

So you can grab a Polish copy directly from Triglav or wait some yet unknown number months to get your English version.

Nota bene you can listen  - if you understand Polish - to some of the most excellent - learning and entertaining about the pagan Slavs and their world in south-western Baltic lowlands -  historic storytelling presented by Igor Gorewicz on his YT channel - Triglav2002

'Sława'- :)

Valete

Andrzej Pitynski - Pacem Aeternam

 Salvete Omnes,

I am saddened by a sudden death of the Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pitynski in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Polish National Radio on His passing.

Pacem Aeternam, Maestro!

there is one of his masterpieces waiting yet to be erected somewhere in Polish Republic -
Namely, this is a monumental (almost 15 meters high) sculpture dedicated to the horrific event  during World War II- the genocide of the Holocaust proportions (perhaps  as many as 200,000 men, women and children) of the Polish peasantry perpetrated by the Ukrainian neighbors in Wolyn, today Volhynia rgion in Ukraine in 1943.
Maestro had sculpted it and shipped and cast in  Poland - all paid by the Polish Army Veterans' Association in America. The monument has been waiting in Gliwice since 2017 yo be erected but no city has yet agreed to have it in its public space, perhaps the cowardly politicians are afraid of its powerful message and symbolism.

Valete

ps

Portal Kresy - Andrzej Pitynski

Cowboys in Badlands

 Salvete Omnes,

short post - I just discovered the painting and sketches by Thomas Eakins titled Cowboys in Badlands.
Wiki Commons has has this gallery - do peruse if you wish.

 

 

 

 

 

Badlands etc were drawn and  painted in or about 1888 AD - there is Christie's page about the history of ownership of the painting.

Valete

17 IX 1939 - we remember

 Salvete Omnes,

 

today we have another anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland 1939.
on my other blog I wrote a short post about it - pointing to the death of Tadeusz Dolega_Mostowicz
image of Kuty from 1939 where Dolega-Mostowicz died in 1939

 

 

 

the gallery of the Polish troops retreating towards the Polish-Hungarian border in wake of the Soviet invasion.

 

 

 

 

Vae Victis

ps

I do not like this new blogger editor..

Polish Legion cavalryman & horse- Austro-Hungarian army circa 1916

Salvete Omnes,
a very interesting photo from the collections of Polish National Library - Polona:
a Polish Uhlan of the 1st Uhlan Regiment, Polish Legions, of circa 1916 with his horse saddled with the Austro-Hungarian saddle and tack according to the 1883 regulations. He has also an Austrian regulations sabre.
The young woman holding the horse and the woman with a small child  are  unknown.
A while ago I posted the horse tack regulations for the Polish cavalry published in 1919, that were almost the same to the ones made in 1916.


and in order to get more information on these 'Austrian' saddles and tack we can turn to this book by  William H. Carter, 6th US cavalry titled  Horses, Saddles and Bridles (1906) where one may find  practitioner's information on the Austro-Hungarian cavalry tack etc of he pre-Great War and Great War period.
 
 
 
 
 

 there are two books by Osprey that really do not address horse and cavalry equipment:
1.Polish Legions 1914-19 by Nigel Thomas  but I am not too fond of it. Johnny Shumate's work is decent but my authority for this period, Krzysztof Komaniecki,   says that not adequate for the subject matter.
2. The Austro-Hungarian Forces in World War I - 1914 by Peter Jung -  not a dissimilar sentiment, but illustrations by Darko Pavlovic are very interesting and appealing.
Valete

9-11 Anniversary

Salvete Omnes,
 
yesterday we had another anniversary of the 9-11 terror attack.
I am going to link for you  my post from 2015 about my own experience on that day in NYC.

When taking a minute or two to think and ponder about the outcome and legacy of the whole war in the Middle East that followed the 9-11 tragedy, the thoughts are not very positive.












  
     Pacem aeternam to all victims, including the later, most silent victims that have passed away from the poisons they inhaled while cleaning and rebuilding the cite of Twin Towers/World Trade Center.
by the way 
World Trade Center cross


Valete

Opowieści szwoleżerów I-go Pułku Józefa Piłsudskiego -Arcelin

Salvate Omnes,
[in Polish]
 
stuletnia rocznica zwycięskich walk z bolszewikami wciąż z nami, i to do końca roku - można sobie pogalopować po przysłowiowych 'stepach' pamięci i wspomnień o tejże zwycięskiej wojnie polskiej... gdzie konie i jeźdźcy z szablami i lancami wciąż mogli zdecydować o losach starcia, jak przykładowo szwoleżerowie szarżujący pod wodza majora Grobickiego pod Arcelinem 17 sierpnia w czasie operacji/bitwy warszawskiej 1920.


z tej okazji chciałbym przypomnieć wydaną w 1921 książeczkę  ''Opowieści szwoleżerów I-go Pułku Józefa Piłsudskiego'' którą można czytać bezpośrednio na stronie Polona (Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa) lub ściągnąć na czytnik/tablet/ebook reader lub komputer  w formacie .pdf.
Jak wspomina jeden z żołnierzy, Budnicki,  bolszewicy mieli nazywać szwoleżerów 'krasnyje'(czerwoni)  od lampasów  na bryczesach polskich kawalerzystów.
 Szarża pod Arcelinem (nazwanym Arelinem)  w relacji z 1921r zamieszczonej w 'Opowieściach'










 
 nota bene autor spisanych relacji i wspomnień z wyżej wymienionej książeczki  Jan Bełcikowski został zamordowany przez Niemców w czasie masowych mordów przedstawicieli inteligencji polskiej w Palmirach w 1940 roku.
Valete!

On the Shortfalls of Iconography in the Reconstruction of Swordsmanship. The Sasanian Case.

Slavete Omnes,

my good friend Patryk Skupniewicz made accessible his 2018 article on the shortfalls of iconography in reconstruction, in his article the reconstruction of swordsmanship of the ancient Persia.

In this context,  especially in last decade we have seen many works produced and published by the largest western military history  publisher - Osprey Military Publishing - where the issue of usage of ancient and medieval historic iconography as the source of scientific reconstruction has been controversial or even contested - see various forums like the Roman Army forum, or various medieval armor forums-groups on Facebook.

Anyway, enjoy this not short article by Patryk, with some illustrations to underline the argument.

 

 

 

by the way, on the academia platform there are multitudes of interesting works on the Eurasian steppe nomads, especially lately many Hsiung-nu related articles and longer works have appeared.
 
Valete