Mikolaj Hieronim Sieniawski, Leliwa Coat of Arms

 Salvee Omnes,

 

National Museum in Krakow has been digitalizing their collections - so I decided to corral some items associated with Mikolaj Hieronim Sieniawski, Leliwa coat of arms, who was a Field Crown Hetman during the reign of Jan III, and participated as a commander in many battles of this period, dying in present day Slovakia during the return of the Commonwealth armies to Poland from the 1683 Vienna campaign.

So here are the itemes - a portrait

 

his karacen scale armor with a winged hussar helmet /shishak - 

his sabre - 

his powder horn -

his beautiful saddle in detail 

 finally some of his portraits from wiki commons, a mix of the XVII and XVIII century works. 

Valete

Battle that made Polish Kingdom - Cedynia 972AD

 Salvete Omnes,

hearkening back to some 1051  years ago: 

Based on sources on June 24 Polish or Piast duke Mieszko and his brother Czcibor defeated the German/Saxon force of Markgraf  or margrve (border lord or Marcher lord)  Hodo (Odo) and Siegfried. This martial event is supposedly the first known victory of Polish army over the German state (Imperial or Holy Roman Empire and Saxon Kingdom) army. 

And from the Chronicle of bishop Thietmar of Merseburg   comes the following passage:

 Meanwhile, the honorable margrave Hodo [Odo I] attacked duke Miseco [Mieszko I], who loyally paid tribute to the Emperor [Otto I] for the lands up to the Vurta [Warta, Warthe], with an army. To his aid came alone my [Thietmar's] father lord Sigifrid [Siegfried von Walbeck], then an unmarried juvenile, with his [men], and on the day of John the Baptist [24 June] they fought against him [Miesko]; they were victorious at first, but then his [Miesko's] brother Cidebur [Czcibor], except for the aforementioned great lords [Odo and Siegfried], slew all the best warriors at the site called Cidini [Cedynia, Zehden]. Disturbed by this miserable story, from Italy the emperor sent orders to Hodo but also Miseco, that by his graciousness, until he arrived himself to investigate the case, they were to remain peaceful.

Jaroslaw Strankowski pinxit - by author's permission

Thus was preserved into eternity the very first 'official' armed conflict between the state of Piast Polan rulers against the German realm. 

It became widely celebrated in Polish tradition and historiography in the previous century. Peoples' Polish Republic (1949-89) had a monument erected at Cedynia, West Pomeranian voivodeship. 

However, the debate about the battle and the whole conflict is ongoing among the historians. 

Valete

Comanche & Bloody Knife - books to borrow from archive.org

 Salvete Omnes,

- visiting Archive the world library - 

 

a short entry - there comes early summer or the  time of the year when I usually think about the famous Centennial Campaign of 1876AD, with the most famous battle of Little Big Horne/ Greasy Grass in the center of this commemoration. The battle anniversary just passed on the 25th of this month.

I recently did  discover a book by Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence about the horse that served as a war mount for Myles Keogh  of the 7th Cavalry- His Very Silence Speaks, Comanche, the Horse Who Survived Custer's Last Stand. - The book, published by Wayne University Press in 1989, is available for borrowing from the Archive. There is another book on Comanche, by Barron Brown - available eg on Amazon.

 

Also, another book is available for your pleasure - authored by Ben Innis titled Bloody Knife, Custer's Favorite Scout. (1994 edition published by Smoky Water Press). Bloody Knife was an Arikara warrior (from a Hunkpapa Lakota father and Arikara mother) and a US Army scout who died fighting the Lakota Sioux at Little Big Horn.

Pacem Aeternam
enjoy

Enjoy

Horses in Arthur Rackham's illustrations

 Salvete Omnes,

today we are having a bit frivolous a subject - the fantasy art of Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) and the pure beauty and pleasure of viewing these plates and sketches - his book illustrations can be viewed via Archive or Wiki Commons etc (there are a few on the  FBC-Polish digital libraries site).

Maestro Arthur - quite enjoyable presentation on this page via Ytube - was a titan of  masterful illustration, with hundreds upon hundreds finished plates of most fabulous and imaginative art and many more sketches etc . Apart from multitudes of faeries, witches, goblins, magical themes, trees and human subjects there are also animals.
However, my beloved horses and equestrian subjects are not that frequent, and yet when and where they appear they are masterfully done.

I am enclosing some of these beauties for our enjoyment - enjoy tour weekend and may peace return to the world.

Poe's Tales of Mystery, Aesop's Fables, Gulliver's Travels, King Arthur's Romance, The Ring of the Niblungs etc:

Valete