Salve,
yesterday I wrote about visiting the Slav and Viking Festival in
Wolin, Polish Republic. I met there
Mieczyslaw Mietko Machowicz from
Kalisz, Poland, who leatherwork master and historical leathercraft reconstructor and researcher.
In his tent, along with many different examples of his craft and various leather and hides for sale, he had several interesting examples of horsetack and several saddles.
The saddle that brought my utmost attention is this one, from
Wieluń in Poland:
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| reconstructed XV century saddle |
Article about the
exhibit in Wielun, including a short information about this saddle, and many photos from this exhibit.
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| historic excavated saddle from Wielun |
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| a Polish saddle circa 1467, a detail of a painting from the Holy Trinity/Holy Cross chapels at the Wawel cathedral |
The historic saddle reconstructed by Mietko was excavated during the archaeological excavation in
Wielun, Poland. According to the maker, the saddle has been used while riding, on the Polish 'konik' and with plenty of comfort and safety.
Below find some photos of this historic reconstruction.
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| saddle tree, horizontal view |
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| saddle, horizontal view |
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| saddle -front arch(pommel), right side |
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| saddle - front arch (pommel), left side |
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| saddle and saddle tree, horizontal view |
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| saddle, 'underside' with rear arch (cantle) visible- with bars covered,
and birch bark layers shown, saddle skirts from underneath |
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| saddle, 'underside' with rear arch (cantle) visible- a closeup |
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so as you can see the saddle appears to have been a riding saddle, not a lancer war saddle, but it could have been used by the crossbowmen and squires too.
and one of my most favorite saints always on horseback - St. Martin in a painting from late XV century Kingdom of Hungary
ps
when I opened the photos I realized that I had not taken any shots of the saddle tree alone, and no shots of front and rear arches (pommel and cantle).
