King Stefan I saddle from Vienna

Salvete Omnes,

 

let us canter to the XVI century  Europe for a moment,and least we forget - Let peace return to the poor people of Ukraine - they are facing a grim, cold and terribly miserable winter due to the escalation in warfare and the most sorrowful lack of any meaningful peace process.

alas, here is  another interesting 'find' within the wiki Commons treasures and lesser 'junk' - :) is the saddle or saddles belonging to our king, of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,   Stefan I Bathory, who also was the ruler of Transylvania. 

The saddle is part of the collection in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum (Austria).

there are at least two other saddles that could be from our king Stefan I Bathory collection from 1570s-1580s. even if the saddles are themselves of sort of Russian make and tradition from the Muscovy workshops (be it Moscow or down south in Kazan etc ).

there are also two arrow quivers (  the sets - their belts, bows and bow cases are absent ) as part of the Stefan I Bathoey  memorabilia collections at the museum.

 

 

  ps 

This old Hungarian castle known as Palanok in present day Ukraine (Zakarpatia area taken from Hungary after the Trianon Treaty in 1919 and returned in 1939, and then again taken in 1945 by Stalin's iron fist) used to have a monument to Turul or  the Hungarian eagle - the Zakarpatia  province has had a large Hungarian minority and more than a thousand years of Hungarian history and rule until 1945. Allegedly Turul has been removed and Ukrainian Trident was put in place..

Valete!

some sketches

Salve,
February is almost over - Spring and New Year* almost upon us :)
Some sketches in making (some will stay that way I am afraid ), all of them within the winged hussars theme and within the time period of His Royal Majesty the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stefan Bathory's reign:

*Spring Equinox or the ancient Indoeuropean New Year, still celebrated by the Persian and Iranian-related peoples around the world as Nowruz.. 

Urodziny JKM Stefana I Bathory

Salvete omnes,

483 lata temu, dokładnie  27 września AD 1533,  wojewodzina siedmiogrodzka imć pani Katarzyna Telegdi dała swojemu mężowi Stefanowi VIII Bathory kolejnego syna, którego rodzice ochrzcili  imieniem Stefana;  tym samym powiła przyszłego króla Rzeczpospolitej Stefana I Bathory. Urodziny miały miejsce na zamku Somlyo, rodowego gniazda tej gałęzi rodu Bathory z Siedmiogrodu.

Stephanus, Dei gratia rex Poloniae et magnus dux Lithuaniae, Russiae, Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Kiioviae, Volhyniae, Podlachiae, Livoniaeque, necnon princeps Transylvaniae

Stefan I i jego małżonka Anna Jagiellonka wg Jana Matejki

Rzeczpospolita za panowania króla Stefana I

 A w tym roku grupy rekonstrukcyjne z Rzeczpospolitej (pod patronatem Wojska Polskiego) oraz miasteczko Simleu Silvaniei świętować będą rocznicę urodzin Jego Królewskiej Mości Stefana  w dniach 17-18 września 2016.

Może warto się wybrać do Rumunii w ten weekend, albo zaplanować wyjazd za rok lub na 485 urodziny, ergo ja mam nadzieje wybrać się na okrągła rocznicę w 2018.
pozdrawiam

great Medieval and Renaissance arms and armor book in 5 volumes

Salve,
Sunday is always a great day to visit a museum or library in NYC and we (my son and I ) are going to go to the New York research library on 42 street to read and photo some books there, especially Wawrzonkowska Z., Uzbrojenie i ubiór rycerski Piastów śląskich od XII do XIV w.  nypl.org Wawrzonkowska , to further my study regarding Polish Medieval arms and armor. 

   However, since electronic media and virtual libraries have sprung like 'mushrooms after a good rain' in the internet,  it is worthwhile to search for books at archive.org or google books.
While reading several articles and books on the Medieval and Renaissance arms and armor I came across this work of early scholar Guy Francis Laking www.royalarmouries.org guy francis laking  (note that I did not use wikipedia but unfortunately the entry in the wikipedia is not the best) and his opus magnum A Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries (1920).
The book is full of  interesting text and hundreds of great pictures of arms, armor, saddles, period miniatures and paintings, I have read certain parts thus far and it is one great, enjoyable resource on arms and armor. The horse oriented information is presented throughout the volumes, e.g. volume I chapter III has a short discussion on horse accouterments  in XII and XIII centuries, while volume IV, chapter XXII is dedicated to horse armor from XIV to XVII centuries,  saddles, spurs etc.

    Books can be downloaded here www.archive.org record of european 01 laking  (you can access all other volumes by clicking on sir Guy name etc),  many parts can be read in form of web pages in many places eg.  laking on bulfinch  and here vikingsword.com laking index   .
Flamboyant Sir Guy also catalogued the  famous Wallace collection Catalogue of the European armour and arms in the Wallace Collection at Hertford House and this catalogue can be downladed from archive.org as well  archive.org catalogue europe lakig .

Do enjoy your reading :)
ps
the drawing above was done with a fine sketch Rotring Art Pen  rotring.com artpen and watercolor No.2 brush on hot pressed Arches  arches-papers.com watercolor paper and purports to show the famous 'anima' helmet (part of the complete suit of armor   wikipediacommons Zbroja_Batorego )  belonging to the  Polish_Lithuanian king Stefan (Stephen) Bathory  wikipedia.org king Stephen Bathory .
ps"
would like to welcome several new followers - bloggers in their own right 

V.