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.

Smolensk 1634 and March 1...

 Salvete Omnes,

 

in Poland the Day of the Damned Soldiers is celebrated on March 1. After 1944 - the beginning of the occupation of Poland by the USSR, and patriotic Polish fighters fought the Soviet Union and their servile Polish security forces.
Gloria Victis.

 

And going back to 1634AD, our king, Wladyslaw IV, vanquished completely Russian Muscovite armies at Smolensk.

War in Ukraine, the Russian invasion of that poor country, is becoming more and more like a typical XXI century war (like Iraq 2002-16, Afghanistan, Israel over the Palestine, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Kurdistan etc)- atrocities, powerful technologically driven weapons,  misinformation and propaganda, but also a fog of war.

This map - so  it is an attempt, by the Finnish military researchers, to observe incomplete and delayed developments on this war of aggression and imperial ambitions. 

 

 Ukraine needs some Polish winged hussars but

our Western leadership (POTUS will deliver SOTU today) is 'sin cojones'...
My friend Paul Zambrzycki( and owner of Persjarnia company ) with sponsorship from  OLD Poland Bakery from NYC and with help  from friends from Krakow's Kur Fraternity  went across the Polish-Ukrainian border into Ukraine with a food-truck full of food and hot coffee and tea. The lines of Ukrainian refugees - women and children in cars, trucks, buses and vans - are long, last night they were about 50km long going to each of the border crossings  (Medyka and Hrebenne are two largest border crossing between the two countries).

So let us pray for peace in Ukraine and pray for the Ukrainian peoples...

Valete

Smolensk - March 1, 1634 - triumph of Polish Vasa king

 Salvete Omnes,

today in Poland there is the Day of the Damned Soldiers - the anti-communist  and anti-Soviet resistance - however with 'mysharonacirrus' around us there is no much celebration nor happiness. These resistance fighters, symbolized by Witold Piecki and 'Inka,'  persisted for many years after 1945, but countless thousands of great Polish patriots were murdered in that herculean struggle against the greatest evil of those days  - Gloria Victis. 

But less than four centuries ago this day was of happiness and relief.

     for it is today that we mark the anniversary of the His Majesty Wladyslaw IV's victory over the Muscovite Russian army of Mikhail Borysovych Shein at Smolensk - 1st of March 1634 -  where after unsuccessful siege of Polish-Lithuanian town of Smolensk this Muscovite army surrendered  to our king's relief army.

 

This was epic victory and upon a peace treaty with the Grand Duchy of Muscovy  in 1634  our Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth reached the following size: 

The borders as seen of the map lasted only 20 years and then 12 years of wars followed...

Valete

Polish reenctors at the court of Philip III at Lerma

Salvete Omnes,
Polish reenactors - winged hussars, pancerni, hajduk infantry , etc - visited Lerma, Spain on 2nd-4th of August , 2019, where their respective colleagues, the Spanish reenactors, held the festive weekend going back to the 1610s when Spain was ruled  by Felipe III  et his minister duke de Lerma.
This was the era of the iron Spanish tercio infantry, treasure fleets from the Americas, the flowering of Spanish literature - like the famous sword fighter and poet Francisco de Quevedo, Miguel de Cervantes, Gongora, Lope de Vega etc -  and fine and applied arts - Jose de Ribera, Vinvente Carducho, Juan Cotan or young Velazquez . 

Spanish gallery on Facebook - cuando eramos invencibles. And another Spanish gallery.

On the Polish side and Polish reenactors participation in this festive occasion, so it can be associated with the embassy Polish monarch His Royal Majesty King Zygmunt III sent to the court of Felipe III in 1614-15AD.
This embassy was lead be the castellan Krzysztof Korycinski, Topor coat of arms. His aim was  to bring some substantial financial Spanish assistance for the Polish war against the Muscovy, instead it resulted in the Spanish monarch bestowing on the Polish prince Wladyslaw , son of  Zygmunt III, an Order of Toison del Oro(Golden Fleece) eg visible in this painting.
Also pan Korycinski negotiated with the Spanish court the issue of the so called Neapolitan sums attempting to get some payments on the interest etc. Eventually, due to the outbreak of the so called 30 years war in 1618, the cooperation between Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Spanish realm grew ever closer.


...


Below please  find the gallery of photos taken by (c) Radoslaw Szleszynski, whose masterly artisanal work .i.e. reconstructed horse bridles, cruppers and breastplates and pistol holsters can be seen on the horses ridden by the Polish reenactors, while the saddles were made by Marcin Ruda, known by his saddlery works throughout the medieval reenactors equestrian groups.




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
nota bene the horses in these pictures are Spanish horses that are veterans of the arena and other equestrian sports.



 

 
Valete

Two Polish Eagles - Vasa dynasty

Salvete Omnes,
a common saying goes: ''beauty is in the eye of the beholder,''  - but I rather subscribe to the views expressed by Roger Scruton in his works and talks on Beuaty.
Hence I am pleased to share with you  these two objects from the Waza (Vasa) kings period in Polish history, mostly because they are unusual and beautiful at the same time, methinks - :)  Note that these two represent what must have been a vast number of the sumptuous art objects made for the elites of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
First, the unusual one -  it is a beautiful Persian carpet!

Safavid carpet with the White Eagle

this carpet comes from the time of king Zygmunt III Vasa reign, when Polish rulers were looking to find allies against the Ottoman menace to Polish lands and interests, and the carpet is associated with the unusual expedition of His Royal Majesty faithful servant, merchant and traveler Sefer (Seweryn) Muratowicz to shah Abbas I of Safavid Persia .

from Wiki

Pan Sefer, being a private diplomatic envoy of our king,   during his trip to the courts of shah Abbas in 1601-1602 commissioned this rug in the imperial workshop.

and the Polish Eagle in the center

Sefer Muratowicz' voyage to shah Abbas I is described in a document, so called 'Relacyja,' and you can read Michal Polczynski (from Georgetown University) fine article here.
The article also includes the translation of the Relacyja and many interesting details, icluding the list of obejcts brought from Iran:

Official Persian embassy visited Polish-Lithuanina Commonwealth in 1605, and some of its members are depicted on the Stockholm Roll, painted for the Royal Castle in Warsaw (completely destroyed by the Germans 1939-45 and rebuilt mostly during the post-war Polish Peoples Republic).

Second object is simply breath taking and also unusual

White Eagle from Paris

   It is our Polish eagle made out of gold, pearls, precious and semit precious stones, commissioned circa AD 1638, it was commissioned by our second king of Waza family, Władysław IV. 
Created out of enameled gold, hessonite garnet, 149 rubies, emeralds, pearls.
King gave this jewel, along with other gifts, to his much beloved  Cecilia Renata of Austria, note that the king and queen had a son, Zygmunt Kazimierz, a boy of great expectations and greatly beloved, but he passed away to the bottomless sorrow of the whole kingdom and his grieving father.

The jewel, being part of the treasure owned by our next king from the Waza family  Jan II Kazimierz (John II Casimir) shared his royal owner's fate. The king,  upon abdicating our Polish throne, took his private treasure and possessions and moved to live in France under Louis XIV. There the jewel was transferred to Louis XIV in 1673 and has been in the French possession ever since, housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. 

Note that Jan II Kazimierz had a son, Jan Zygmunt, with his French wife but he died in infancy, but had a nephew Wladyslaw Konstanty 'Snopkowski' also known as count Wasenau/Vazenault or Vasenok, who was his brother Wladyslaw IV's son by his beautiful mistress  Jadwiszka Łuszczkowska from city of Lwow.
Wladyslaw Konstanty was even named in part of the deposed king's last will and testament, among others he was to get 30,000 gold livres, but in fact he did receive less than 900 livres from his uncle's estate, thanks to duke de Conde's cordiality and good nature,  Louis XIV took the rest.  The last Polish Waza went to queen Kristina living in Rome, and there he died in 1698.

Mars Sauromatski

Salve,
dzisiaj mamy rocznice zwycięskich walk polsko-moskiewskich  z udziałem husarii

 Towarzysz husarski Samuel Hutor Szymanowski z Kleczan napisał był dzieło wydane pt '' Mars sauromatski i inne poematy''.
Dzieło jest niezwykle ponieważ autor był uczestnikiem walk z Moskwą i z Turkami, na dodatek zdolnym poetą i obserwatorem.
Ergo, fragment opisujący wojska autoramentu narodowego i cudzoziemskiego pod Smoleńskiem w czasie wojny z Moskwą 1632-34.

Kapitulacja wojsk moskiewskich

Fragment dotyczący jazdy husarii przepisany z wydania:

[...]A zatym sam monarcha polski z niemałymi
Wojski już się przybliża, pułki sprawionemi.
Tu usarz idzie sprawą jako las ogromny,
Tu i ognisty kozak swój szereg niezłomny
Trzyma, tamże brzmią trąby i kotły straszliwe,
Marsa krwawego dzieje i surmy* piskliwe,
Chorągwie i proporce od wiatru się wiją,
Z krzykiem konie waśniwe w szeregach się biją.
Polerowne od słońca migocą kirysy,
Lamparty, sępie skrzydła, ogromne tygrysy,
Już i konie tureckie głosem poryżają,
Munsztuki gryząc pienią, cugle porywają,
Na tych rzędy złociste, te w bród farbowane,
Pysznym się kłusem ważą kosztownie ubrane
A drugie na powodzie tuż przed chorągwiami
W rzędach pod kosztownymi kłuszą diwdikami[...]

AD 2013 dr Radek Sikora popełnił był  ciekawy artykul o chorągwiach husarskich i udziale husarii w bitwach et potyczkach tej wygranej wojny z  'gasudarem' udzielnym Wielkiego Księstwa Moskiewskiego. 
Tamże dr Sikora podaje:
 

''W 1633 roku, pod Smoleńskiem doszło do kilku tylko bardziej spektakularnych akcji z udziałem konnych husarzy.

W jednej z nich, 22 września 1633 roku, kawaleria polska (3 roty husarzy i jedna kozacka) spędziły z pola 6 rot jazdy rosyjskiej oraz rozbiła muszkieterów i pikinierów z dwóch regimentów piechoty -  
Sikora Radosław,  Атака гусар под Смоленском 22.IX.1633 г. „Край Смоленский” 6, 2011.''
ciao !
* piszczałki wojskowe 

Eagle of king Władysław IV Waza - repost

Salve,
 per my project White Eagle I have been scanning the digital libraries for images of eagles in Polish art prior to 1795. In my opinion the most beautiful Polish eagles appeared in the Baroque art.

While looking for some works of Samuel Twardowski I found a very nice image of our Eagle.

 This White Eagle in the Baroque setting shows itself beautifully in a woodcut from the Jesuit  father Adam Makowski's published sermon said on the occasion of Polish Crown victory during the  the Polish-Muscovite War of 1632-34, where the genius of king Władysław IV Wasa (Vasa) shone its brightest..
This published sermon has a very nice long, Baroque name  -''Nadzieia Swięta Sczęśliwey Expedycyey Moskiewskiey y Zwycięstwa [...] Władysława IV.: Przy Łzach Wesołych Na Obrazie Naświętszey Panny w Myślenicach nowo widzianych.''(AD1634)
Please find the title page from the said publication

There is a famous 1634 map engraved by Willem Hondius studio after the drawings of royal military engineer Jan  Pleitner (done in situ),   showing this Polish victory.
 Nota bene the engraved coper plates survived the winds of war and destruction of time and are held in Sankt Petersburg Fine Arts Academy museum. We had some discussion about the Polish cavalry images from the map and Hondius/Pleinter on Kadrinazi blog.
I will bring some images from this monumental map in the future, as they hold very interesting information about horse care etc while at war.
Enjoy
ps
 I added some color to show the king's coat of arms more clearly

ps"
accidents happen - while organizing my blog I accidentally deleted this entry, hence here it is again, a bit enhanced