Hanas Kreutzberger - horse types circa 1562 in Central Europe

 Salvete Omnes,

The Bavarian State llibrary has several copies of the XVI century German farrier's work, Hans Kreutzberger, on the bits of the period -  I do not read this old German script, but I am trying to decipher the script in the horse plates.
But there are almost 400 curb-bits described in this volume. and some splendid horse woodcuts and drawings showing horse conformation 

this is the title page from 1591 edition

..

and horses 

the Turkish horse  - from the 1562 drawing

and Hungarian cavalier, buckler and sabre,  with a Wallachian horse

sadly no Polish horse, do note how the bridles are fastened etc.

some spurs, a stirrup and a currycomb 

Enjoy

Valete

Turkish Horses - J.G. Pforr

 Salvete Omnes,

it seems to me that we have one lazy Friday of the dog days of this summer, save for the attempted assassination of the former POTUS in Pennsylvania last Saturday, a d here we are continuing with the horses of brushes and pencils by Johann Georg Pforr. 
today we will look at the Turkish horse - or the horse of the Ottoman Empire, the multiethnic and multireligious imperial realm, in the second half of the XVIII century in a serious eclipse, both militarily and economically. 

Two horses, of which the grey is saddled with a type of saddle known as jarczak(Jarcak)

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details of the legs and hooves

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Jarczak saddle, with an obergurt (ober-sattelgurt) or ryngort (leather straps with cinch arrangement holding the saddle with a shabraq on horse's back) 

and finally, what our good friend The Sportsman's Dictionary had to say about the Turkish horse circa 1770AD- 

Valete

Entry of the Polish Embassy into Paris, September 25, 1645 - della Bella

 Salvete Omnes,

 

In 2018 I posted, in Polish, about the entry of our king Wladyslaw IV Waza(Vasa) ambassadors to the French court in Paris - September 1645.
British Museum collection contains numerous art created by Stefano della Bella, including his drawings showing the entry of the Polish Commonwealth embassy into Paris.

 

enjoy these beauties

all rights - Trusties of British Museum

Valete

ps

amazing judgement by the International Court of Justice - the state of Israel and the plausibility of genocide committed, in violation of Genocide Convention,  in Gaza, Palestine.

Fortes Poloni, equites boni -

 Valete.

detal z obrazu Andrzeja Stecha, czeladnik w zupanie i szarawarach z koniem

a Polish XVII century satirical poem - by pan Waclaw Potocki, Szreniawa coat of arms - who in his verses lamented and scorned the 'new' fashion of sending young noblemen to learn fashionable airs and manage  riding in France. 

[in Polish]

fraszka Fortes Poloni, Equites Boni (Ogrod Fraszek, Tom I,  Ogrod nieplewiony czesc II) - 
piora Waclawa Potockiego - lament poety nieledwie. 

 Fortes Poloni, equites boni. 

  

Wedle złej, teraz niej, szlachcic jeden mody, 

Wyprawił syna w obce dla nauk narody. 

Więc, kiedy rok i drugi tym naukom mija, 

Pytam: jaka ćwiczenia jego profesya. 

Jeździć i osiąść konia krokiem prawie chyżym 

Nawyka i dlatego bawi się Paryżem. 

A gdzież, rzekę, Polaków, naród zdawna konny, 

Wsiadać na koń i jeździć uczył kraj postronny? 

Co im świat przypisuje, do Francyi po to 

 Z kosztem jeździć? 0 wieczna ojczyzny sromoto; 

Do Rzymu, albo raczej gdzie na wschodnie światy,

 Piękniej, bo, niźli frezy, ujeżdżać bachmaty. 

Polakowże, co prawie na koniu się rodzą, 

Koniem, piszą, granice ojczyste rozwodzą, 

Niemcy, albo Francuzi konia uczyć mogą,

Jako ręką przy cuglu i w strzemieniu nogą,

 Jako się sprawić w siedle i którym to wiedzieć 

Właśnie należy, jako na koniu ma siedzieć? 

Obaczę go też w wojsku. Nie będzie tam, prawi. 

 A na kataż się koniem we Francyi bawi?

 Żeby więc przed swą damą, na chodziwym turku,

 Korbętował w peruce po warszawskim burku? 

Czy niedosyćże hańby, gdy ich zewsząd płoszą 

Poganie, że jej więcej Polacy przynoszą,

Których męstwa widział świat oczywiste znaki;

 Mistrzami Marsa bywszy, postrzygli się w żaki,

Kiedy, jako po szkołach, jakby wojny w domu

 Nie mieli, po Paryżach wtoczą się bez sromu.

..

detal z obrazu Stecha

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Książę Aleksander Janusz Zasławski-Ostrogski (ur. 6 marca 1650, zm. 31 maja 1673) - autor Andrzej Stech

Książę

 Dominik Zasławski-Ostrogski herbu własnego (ur. 1618, zm. 5 maja 1656), zwany Pierzyna.

Valete

Dyakowski' Dyariusz - 3 amigos of Kara Mustafa court

 Salvete Omnes,

and this year we have a rather rounder anniversary of the battle of Vienna 1683. 
Perhaps we should remember the horses - the countless thousands of cavalry mounts and perhaps at least 12 thousands of draft horses pulling 6,000 wagons of the Polish army wagon train. These horses suffered a lot, once they entered the Tatar-ravaged lands of Hapsburg realm, living on twigs and tree leaves, which caused many of them to die before, during and after the battle, until they left the Vienna area in late September 1683.

ad rem, tres amigos of Kara Mustapha  court tale.

Podstoli (deputy pantier) of Latyczow of Podole Mikolaj Dyakowski, a scion of old Polish-Hungarian Podolian family and grandson of Pancerny banner rotameister Siemion and princes Woroniecka, was a pokojowiec (valet) courtier of Jan III Sobieski and of his own coat of arms, . He quite being a courtier to the king in 1684 and became a Vallachian (light)  cavalry banner companion and circa 1688 became a commanding officer or porucznik of one Wallachian banner. H took part in the Moldavian campaigns and during one such expedition in 1691 he took his banner, along the Turkull brothers' two banners, marched away from the royal army. This act of disobedience in fact was the end of this military career under Jan III.

                                                                                                  ***
Under the new Saxon king, Augustus the Strong, he became a podstoli of Latyczow and  circa 1717 wrote his memoirs (a Dyariusz) about his military experiences during Jan III Sobieski. written with a decent dose of self-control and without aggrandizing his own exploits but much dislike and a scorn towards king Jan III. Pan Mikolaj is supposed to have died circa 1726 or shortly after, but in fact the information about his life  post-1712 is  non-existent, but for the note in his Dyariusz.

                                                                                                  ***
Dyariusz was  published at least 10 times between 1823-1883, and the Juliusz Kossak illustrations come from the 1883 edition. Dyakowski's writings inspired Wincenty Pol and Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski. The details about the campaign have been cited in many historical works by Polish historians over the years.  The XX century edition was edited and published by Jozef Dlugosz and Jozef Adam Kosinski  in 1983 - 300 years of the battle -  and is available on Archive.

a detail of Turkish camp from a painting by Frans Geffels

So in his Dyariusz pan Mikolaj wrote that on the morning the battle about 9A.M.  the filed guard  brought three young men  to the King. 

So standing before victorious Jan III these three young men declared themselves valets of the Ottoman commander and Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha. They claimed they had been taken captive in Podole (Podolia) and Wolyn (Volhynia) Lands when very young. One was Pochojski, a Polish nobleman from Wolyn, where he had some land and brothers who would not disclaim his tale. The other two were named Skalka and Podolski, and could not account of any past nor noble connections being very small when kidnapped, so the court thought them to be some townsmen children when taken by the Tatars. 

They all arrived at the king's tent on horseback, each with a  retinue of  several Turkish and Greek servants. also mounted. They had fine Turkish  horses and each of them had huge amounts on money in their coffers - Pochojski 45,000 gold ducats, Skalka 42,000 gold ducats, hile Podolski 39,000 ducats. They claimed that when the battle was lots their lord, Grand Vizier yelled to his servants to grab everything and anything what they could. So they did, and being Christians they decided to return themselves to the Christian side.

They were dressed very richly and splendidly, the three 'amigos' wore beautifully made Ottoman coats of mail armor, with rich golden adornments with rubies precious stones mounted on them - here Dyakowski said that one of this chain-mail armors would end  in the treasury of castellan of Krakow [Adam] Sieniwski (according to the 1983 Dyairusz edition notes) . 

So on the spot the King decided to send them all, along with their millions in gold and jewelry, to Krakow so they could await his return in the safety of king's protection at the old capital.

So when our king Jan III returned to Krakow on Christmas Eve 1683, he asked his courtiers about the whereabouts of those three Grand Vizier valets. He was told that they were partying constantly, had themselves mistresses and were spending their money fast and furious. 

The king called them hultaje - or good-for-nothings and commented that nothing good would come out of that. And - wrote Dyakowski - our king  left them neglected, and they lost everything and eventually became quite  beggars and ended their lives in a misery and want.

So ends the tale of three amigos of Grand Vizier court. 

enjoy
Valete

Jerzy Ossolinski 'entrada' into Rome - a Kornik painting circa 1640AD

 Salvete Omnes,

it is a bit ironic that the entry of Jerzy Ossolinski, the Polish King's Ambassador* to the papal court,  to Rome  had generated so much fine artwork in during the Old Poland history, mostly or presumably mostly by the Italian artists-Della Bella, Bellotto etc- of the era 91633-1795).

 

Today I would like to share with you this huge painting (  3,38m long)-  photo from the digital collection at the Kornik Library at the Kornik Castle.
It is nothing short than amazing on so many levels per Polish history-related works.

more about the detail and pertinent information about this historic event in the future, God willing

Valete

*newly elected king Wladyslaw IV, victorious against the Muscovy at Smolensk War (1632-33AD)