Orsza 1514-2023 arms and armor of non-hussars

 Salvete Omnes

I have written a little bit about the Orsza 1514 battle - today's is yet another anniversary - and various aspects of Polish military of the early XVI century, mostly from the  early winged hussars position in that battle and the greater conflict.. Today we are going to move away from the famous Orsza battle painting towards various sources from the period, predating the famous Warsaw National Museum piece.

So during this period the principal side arm of the Polish knights, men-at-arms, horsemen and of some infantrymen  still was a straight sword - 

Salet helmet, plate armor, 'messer sword' and long sword

many infantrymen were using a German messer - of the longer or shorter blade, with sabre-like hilt - like the one from Vienna

Speaking about the infantry they were using crossbows 

and early arquebus firearms. 

Rotameisters and aristocrats, men-at-arms and knights would have worn plate armor of the older, Gothic or Italian style, or the newer Maximilian's style - like this St. George in Durer's print

Non-hussar Polish cavalry could have looked more like the Durer's knight from his famous engraving

Cornelis Van Dalem's painted version

There is a tempera panel painting from a Krakow workshop  circa 1500, now held at the National Museum at Poznan, that shows various knights and men-at-arms in plate of this turn of the century period.

 

enjoy - to be continued 

by the way you can revisit my post about the Behem Codex - to see some period iconography from the Royal Court.

Valete

Kodeks Baltazara Behema - Behem Codex

Salve,
I would like to point your attention to this Polish codex of AD 1505, when the Krakow (Carcovia, Cracow) City Notary Baltazar Behem made a gift to this royal city council in a form of a handwritten codex he wrote himself on parchment, with 27 miniatures he had commissioned an unknown Master of the Behem Codex (looking a bit similar to the Hieronymus Bosch style) to paint.

Behem's own writing and painted illuminations

I 'corralled' several images associated with horses - blacksmiths, saddle makers, bridle-makers ets, also weapons, and perhaps an early image off a hussar, this being a soldier with a white plume on his high hat looking like a Serbian mercenary or a royal Tatar?

on the right a saddle makers guild with a typical saddle

and a saddle tree

blacksmith and a horse in treatment covered with a very interesting horse blanket

saddled horse, riding costume and the bridle-maker guild artisan

Kolebka or well-to-do traveling wagon of the XVI c., presenting the carriage and wheelwright guilds(dueling here quite viciously with clubs)

on the left an early hussar or a royal Tatar carrying a bow, amidst the bowyer guild artisans and their patrons

among the weapons shown in this shop there are sabers- szable - in their early form

Gothic armor still popular in the Crown of the Polish Kingdom

Burghers as royal city militia

the entire digitalized Behem Codex can be had from the Jagiellonian Library
enjoy
ps
 A saddler from Poland Marcin Ruda has been recreating medieval and early modern European saddles, but also many historic Western (American) saddles etc.