Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Koronowo 1410 - p. I

 Salvete Omnes,

A 'harc' or knightly dueling before the battle proper was enjoined, here Konrad of Niemcza in Silesia is being unhorsed by Jan Szczycki 



there is this small town in Poland - Koronowo, Bydgoszcz County,  and on this day but in 1410AD our chivalrous Polish knights and their retinues defeated the Teutonic army in a fierce pitched battle near the town. Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg led the newly organized brand new Teutonic army, 4 thousand strong,  from the western Europe on the offensive intended on capturing Kujawy and Polish strongholds in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland). 
Polish army about 2 thousand strong, led by Crown court marshal Piotr Niedzwiedzki, Starykon coat of arms, i voivode of Poznan Sedziwoj Ostrorog, Nalecz coat of arms, left Koronowo to pursue and meet the invaders in field.



In Koronowo there is a stone  monument to the struggle, and there is another more sumptuous one between Koronowo and Nowy Dwor, a village of the Kronowo gmina ( commune) about 3km from Koronowo itself. 





Polish historical painter and  my friend Jaroslaw Strankowski, his deviant art page, painted two episodes from the battle, oil on canvass.

knight Jan Naszon of Ostrowce, Topor coat of arms, captured the Teutonic banner

Note, that  Jaroslaw's art - mostly painted in gouache - often appears on the SandRhoman YT page.

In Polish there is a popular history work written by Piotr Derdej published by Bellona Publishing House titled  - Koronowo 1410.
Annually there is a reenactment camp and battle reenactment in Koronowo.
to be continued

ps
Polish citizens-inhabitants of the Koronowo Gmina were subject to arrest, torture and murder during the 1939-45 period. The Nazi Germans ethnically cleansed many farms and towns of the area, carrying our genocide by executing the Poles and often burning their bodies in order to hide the atrocious crime, among the murdered was the pre-war mayor Maksymilian Talaśka .

Valete

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