Arabian, Neapolitan & two Turkish steeds

 Salvete Omnes,

I have not posted anything about my Old Poland horse history - 
from time to time I happily peruse the old book by Konstanty Gorski - 'Historya jazdy Polskiej' (History of Polish Cavalry).

The author, officer of the XIX century Russian Imperial army, cited many documents from the illustrious history of the Polish horse of the Old Poland. 

Among them there is a document - muster roll - of the starost of Leczyca winged hussar banner (campany) dated at Brzesc [Brest] - this fortress city was in the middle of the realm then- to June 6, 1580AD (period the o called Livonian War 1577-82-  the huge Polish royal army of king Stefan [Stephen] Bathory was to besiege and capture the Muscovite fortress Wielkie (Vielikiye) Luki while separate commands under Jan Zamoyski, Filon Kmita, Janusz Zbaraski, and Radziwill defeated various commands of tsar Ivan the Terrible and captured his cities and fortresses).

Rotameister starost of Leczyca Krysztof [Krzysztof] Rozrazewski, Doliwa coat of arms, presented his horsemen astride a gniady [bay] Arabian steed, while his romistrz retinue  retainers  stood behind him mounted on his spare mounts:

one plesniawy [ rabicano] Neapolitan steed - a retainer with a long arquebus [rusznica] and with a shield.

one siwy [grey] Turkish steed - a retainer wearing a gilded plate armor.

one cisawy [ chestnut] Turkish steed -  a trumpeter .

Nota bene the ensign holding the company banner was mounted on a czarnocisawy [liver/or dark-chestnut] horse.

Rotameister Rozraszewski. wounded at the castle of Sokol siege early during the same year, returned to the front and was killed  during the siege of Zawolocze on the lake Podsosz, in the Pskov region, on October 10, 1580AD. 

... to be continued

Valete

Gabriel Raspe and his Polish-Lithuanian Cavalry circa 1775

 Salvete Omnes,

a little bit about our Polish cavalry circa 1775. 

in 1781 Gabriel N. Raspe (1712-1785) of Nuremberg published a book devoted to the Polish Royal Army, its organisation and uniforms -
Accurate Vorstellung der Königlich Pohlnischen Armee nach der auf dem in Jahre 1775 [..].

Polish army was reformed by the royal military commission in 1775 and these uniforms etc were in use until the next reform of 1785.

As of the final reform 1775-76 our Polish-Lithuanian Cavalry consisted of :

Crown Horse Guard dragoon Regiment - regiment gwardii konnej koronnej aka dragoni mirowscy - one of the most famous and experienced Polish cavalry units of the XVIII century. 

Ducal Guard Dragoon Regiment - regiment gwardii konnej litewskiej

National Cavalry Brigades or line cavalry - Kawaleria Narodowa - for the Crown and Duchy(Lithuanian) armies
Lithuanian or Ducal army had one Cavalry Brigade named 1st Hussar, referring to the abolished winged hussar banners.

..

6 Dragoon line cavalry of the Crown regiments  - dragonskie regimenty koronne - 

Regiments of  Ulan-lancers or Advance Guard Reguments -  pulki ulanow koronne i litewskie

..

Royal Uhlan Regiment - Pulk Ulanow Nadworny

The original digitized publication - the plates and description - is   available from Wroclaw University Library - FBC .

Polish cavalry  officer, researcher & artist Stanislaw Geper (1889-1965) created a copy of the 1781 Raspe's publication - available here.

Wiki Commons has the entire Gepner's version available for viewing and download.

I love these Polish army uniforms created after 1775 throughout 1791 , and I think they were the most wonderful emanation of our national costume. here in the military context. 

ps
Finally there is this article by Maciej Trabski on the National Cavalry of this period, and also the same researcher wrote this book on the uhlan and lancer regiments of the Crown Army 1768-94 - 'Pulki  Przedniej Strazy Koronnej ' from Inforteditions in Poland (all in Polish).

Valete

Pan hetman Stefan Czarniecki - the glorious commander of Old Poland

 Salvete Omnes,

today, but in 1665AD, Stefan Czarniecki Lodzia coat of arms, field hetman of  the Crown Army of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, passed away. He died at Sokolivika, nowadays Lviv oblast in Ukraine, then a village in Red Ruthenia and Lwow Voivodeship, south-central Crown Poland - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 

Painted from life portrait of Stefan Czarniecki

XVIII century version - the scene of Czarniecki's passing by Franciszek Szmuglewicz

Born in 1599AD, pan Stefan spent his entire life in the saddle, and later on he was painted on horseback by various artists.
But today we shall commemorate this great warrior and horseman with the paintings showing his last moments with his favorite war steed . his gray mount - as envisioned by Polish early XIX century master January Suchodolski (two versions of the canvass) .

Nota bene Jan Chrysostom Pasek served under Czarniecki during the Deluge and the Polish-Russian war. 

His legacy lives on and even today Polish school children, workers and soldiers when singing the Polish National Anthem, sing about his daring raid on the Als during the Deluge. 

Another Polish painter, Leopold Loeffler, painted  the death bed with a war steed scene -

Also maestro Juliusz Kossak painted this scene, here reproduced in 'Tygodnik Ilustrowany' in 1909.

ps
I like the brushes on another Polish maestro Szymon Kobylinski, and one of these days I shall copy for your viewing pleassure one of his drawings showing Czarniecki and his horse. 

Valete