Granicus River 334BC - podcast and articles

 Salvete Omnes,

October has begun.. hopefully it will be a better month than September,

 Ad rem,

today I finished listening to dr Goldsworthy addressing the battle of the Granicus River 334BC topic in his Yt podcast.  The great cavalry battle of the war.

In the ancient primary sources this first battle won by Alexander of Macedon  in his Achaemenid Persian wars survived, to some extend, in five major ancient works - Diodorus Siculus, Justin, Plutarch, Qvitus Curtius Rufus and Flavius Arrianus.

E. Badian wrote his article - The Battle of the Granicus: a new look, 1977. 

N.G.L. Hammond went to Turkiye and did in situ study of the Granicus river valley, and  in 1980 his findings he published in an article (Journal of Hellenic Studies) available on JSTOR or on Cambridge Univ. site.. In 1986 A.M. Devine wrote his article, Demythologizing the battle of the Granicus - available on JSTOR. 

K.Harl, Alexander's cavalry battle at the Granicus. (1997) - this is a major study, with good maps. I like 

Kathleen Toohey made he study of Alexander's tactics available on Academia - Chapter 2: The Battle of the Granicus.

D.B. Campbell  wrote his article "Alexander's great cavalry battle: What Really happened at the River Granics" (Ancient Warfare Magazine VI-2) - available on Academia.edu. The article contains illustration by great Spanish illustrator Pablo Outeiral, showing Alexander with his Companion Macedonian horsemen.  There is also a map of the battle. 

Baroque horses of Cornelis Troost

In 2022 Philip Register wrote his senior thesis (Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) - Fresh Evidence: Reevaluating Alexander's Battle at the Granicus (pdf link). 

The military history of Alexander's generalship is treated by Major-general J.F.C Fuller in his work: The Generalship of Alexander the Great (London 1958), pp.147- 154, General Fuller is critical of the Persian satraps' plan and performance in this engagement with the Young Macedonian king and his fine cavalry. 

Waldemar Heckel in The Conquests of Alexander wrote a brief accout of the sources and some critique of the official narrative, as history usually is written as some narrative (pp. 47-51).

Also, Polish historian Krzysztof Nawotka wrote the analysis of the battle in his book Aleksander Wielki (2004) - pages 172-181. Another Polish historian Eddward Dabrowa narrates, based on Diodorus, Plutarch and Arrian, the event of the battle in hs book Gaugamela 331p.n.e.

And another battle of the Granicus -  Charles Le Brun painting and tapestry by Louis Licherie (Academia link to the article about this Baroque artwork).

Chalres Le Brun Baroque horses 

Valete

Adriaen van de Venne - horse fair

 Salvete Omnes,

This work by Adriaen van de Venne (1589-1662) offers a quick glimpse into the world of Dutch horse market day back in the XVII century.
The painting is located at Rijks Museum in Netherlands. 

so prince Maurice and Frederick Henry, who appeared in this post on my blog,  arrived at the Valkenburg Horse Fair - in Valkenburg, South Holland. 

And the horsetrading and horsing around started :) ; the painting is full of amazing period detail and Dutch horse culture elements

a splendid palomino - perhaps Spanish horse

..

wagon drivers?

a gray horse with a page boy - fully outfitted riding horse and his gentleman standing near by

Nota bene look how many  youngsters are in these images - unlike in the period films made nowadays

enjoy
Valete

Leopold Wilhelm Habsburg on horseback

Salvete Omnes,

back to the XVII century equestrian portraits from royal Europe.

a detail of Peter Snayers' painting - Siege of Armentierers - and archduke on a gray horse

another Snayers - Siege of Diskmuided - this time archduke is mounted on a chestnut steed 

This time it will be archduke Leopold Wilhelm  von Osterreich (Hapsburg) - a scion of the Austrian imperial family: son of emperor Ferdinand II and brother of emperor Ferdinand III, who was not very lucky or perhaps unlucky as a military commander, but made it into history as art collector and bishop of Wroclaw (Breslau) upon  passing of  our Vasa royal, Karol Ferdynand Wasa in 1655/6 (he held 3 more bishoprics as the time of his passing in 1662), and also a Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

National Trust images - 

a stallion and most likely a Spanish royal horse

I think this mount was a dark chestnut horse

and here archduke hawking by David Teniers the Younger 

nota bene Leopold Wilhelm had some nice suits of armor as evidenced in these portraits, also showing the changes in fashion, including helmets etc. 

Valete

Wolfgang Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg on horseback

 Salvete Omnes,

 

a quick entry showing equestrian portrait from the XVII century, German lands as there was no one Germany then, rather 'Germanies' then under the emperor and collectively known as the Holy Roman Empire.
So in this picture we have a chivalrous  prince Wolfgang Wilhelm, who was the groom from the wedding pictured in etchings by  Herr Zimmermann in Munich,  portrayed in a full equestrian plate armor, with a Marschallstab aka marshal baton .
The canvas was painted by a master from Rubens close circle of artists, named Deodat del Monte  ,

Let us take a closer look at his mount- 

 A palomino horse, perhaps a Spanish one. with a star a snip, and a sock on his left rear leg.

the head with a nice star and snip , while the bridle has a gilded curb-bit with longish shanks popular of this period

a Baroque Western saddle with a ornate 'horn'  - textile skirts 

horseshoes

gilded stirrups and spurs, a textile woven cinch visible

 and our  prince in the chisels of Abracham Hogenberg, German Kupferstecher .

If you ever in Dresden, ancient capital of Saxony, do check the castle where they display the most sumptuous XVII century saddles of the Saxon 

Valete

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria on horseback

 Salvete Omnes,

Peter Snayers pinxit

I already posted one Ferdinand Hapsburg , the joint- victor of Nordlingen 1634, hence it behooves me to post these portraits of cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria. They were painted by many masters of brush and oil paint.

Let us start with this one by Gaspar de Crayer

and other famous masters of the ear - don Velazquez, maestro Rubes,

Diego Velazquez pinxit

Rubens or his atelier pinxit

Jan van den Hoecke pinxit

Cornelisu Schut pinxit

Alexander Voet I fecit

now, this portrait is accredited to Adam Franois/Frans van der Meulen (1632-1690 ) while whereas our Cardinal-Infante died in 1641.
So this is an imaginary portrait I suppose

 

this bridle is adjusted above the browband

large padding under the saddle?

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Ambrogio Spinola Doria - maestro of war

 Salvete Omnes,

the clouds of war seem, according to the msn media and respective governments, to be hanging menacing low over the steppes  and shores of Ukraine, Belarus and Russian Federation in the east of Europe (and east of that funny union), and with mysharonacirrus-19 laid to rest (tell it to a certain, fancy socks wearing, prime minister of Canada and his afficionados ), let me share some images showing  one hell of a command master - XVII century condottiero/condottiere Ambrogio Spinola Doria from Genoa and in the service of the Crown of Spain. 

early (1609AD) portrait by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt

  - surrender of Breda detail - by Diego de Velazquez, 

Surrender of Julich/Juliers details - by Jose Leonardo

and another surrender of Julich by Peter Snayers

and a print by Crispin de Passe

and another, later  1628AD,  portrait by maestro van Dyck

Valete