Cheiron Journal - 1st issue od 2026

 Salvete Omnes,

Philips Wouwerman

a short entry - 

Hear, hear - a new issue of 2026 of the Cheiron Journal has been made available on the website. 

Free access articles - eg: 
1 - The Image of the Horse from its Origin to its Transformation in the Bronze Age of Eastern Europe / Western Asia by P. F. Kuznetsov

2- Bronze Figurines of Domestic Horses in Central Ciscaucasian Burials of the Second Quarter-Middle of the Third Millennium BC  by Alexey A. Kovalev

also on racing etc

ps
This year Grunwald 1410 battle reenactment will take place the weekend of 17th-19th July  in northeastern Poland-EU.

On Yt channel Polish reenactors group - Grupa Konna Dextrarius as the Teutonic Knights at theMalbork Castle, Poland.

*

Valete

Grunwald 1410-2025 AD

 Salvete Omnes,

WHP - Banners in the battle of Grunwald

hear! hear !-  today's 615 years since Polish Kingdom and allies' gained their great victory over the Teutonic Order and Western European allies in the fields between Stebark and Grunwald, near Olsztyn in Poland.

A short video on the armament and armor of the knight [in Polish]
Another video on the armor and armament of a lightly armed horseman [in Polish], also the non-battlefield parade dress of the well-to-do nobleman or magnate [in Polish]
The Grand Master Urlich von Jungingen  - Jaroslaw Struczynski of Gniew Castle in this role - reenactment at Grunwald [in Polish] Among others there is a tale about the horse and needful training of horses for reenactment. 

video on the  Teutonic knight - arms and armor[in Polish]

This year reenactment of the famous battle took place past weekend, July 11-13, 2025 - here a short video prepared by Gazeta Olsztynska. Here a view from the bleachers. On Facebook you can faind hundreds of photos of this year's reenactment, eg search this photographer Ann Nowakowska. 

also,

do recall that in 2023 I translated and reedited this book by Mariusz Moroz from Winged Hussar Publishing LLC - it can be had from Amazon or WHP site.

and do not forged Jan Matejko's opus magnum (and many other paintings of this battle), Henryk  Sienkiewicz' fabulous novel, and the fabulous Polish 1960 film -Teutonic Knights.

Pacem Aeternam to all knights, squires and retainers

Valete

Dequitem - mounted lance vs pedestrian knight video

 Salvete Omnes,

a short entry - modern jousting & armored knight reenactment.

about a month aga two European knightly reenactors Messers Arne Koets and Dequitem presented two video recordings on the subject of a Knight Duel in plate armor, a sort of experimental archaeology

1. How does it feel to get hit by a lance as men at arms on foot? - link.

2.The Knight Duel | realistic, non-choreographed medieval combat - link.

attached a a few screen shots from both video recordings - enjoy

Valete

XV century cavalry charge ..at Brandenburg Castle, Lauchröden

 Salvete Omnes,

a quick post - but amazing video and event

scan from the video recording by Iron Crown Workshop

Ecuyer and chivalry reenactor  Arne Koets and many fine reenactors of the European Medieval chivalry gathered at Lauchroden, Germany and it resulted in this recording: a XV century cavalry charge reenacted.

The camp was called Feldlager at the Brandenburg, Lauchröden and many reenactors from Poland also came, what is why you are seeing the flag -White Eagle on the red field - of our Polish Masovian Piast dukes in the second row of the charging knights. 

XIV century Armorial de Gelre, foilio 52 shows our king's Louis of Hungary coat of arms and some of our Polish Piast dukes coats of arms, including the White Eagle of duke Siemowit IV of Mazowsze (Mazovia) - he was prince of the Rawa Land, my country...and he should have been our king and not the Lithuanian pagan  aka Wladyslaw Jagiellon.  Nota bene duke Rupert of Legnica was married to Jadwiga of Zagan, the widow of our king Kazimierz Wielki and mother of his 3 daughters who were not allowed to inherit our Kingdom, and the dukes Ruper and Jadwiga  had 2 daughters. 

Photographer Jan Stabl has an album on his page where you can see and admire the reencators from this 2023 Feldlager. Also Bertus Brokamp made some very fine photos available - nota bene on Bertus' page you can see the reconstruction of the leather bard ( horse armor) and many finest points of chivalrous reconstruction and reenactment, like jousting. Burgine site also has photos to beheld and enjoy.

Hail to the chivalry and reenactors! 

Enjoy

Roßfechten - new video from Arne Koets et Calijn

Salvete omnes,
a quick and short one this morning -
Ecuyer and reenactor Arne Koets and his sparring partner Calijn recorded their Rossfechten/ Roßfechten or mounted fencing ( with swords)  on Arne's horses - Andalusian gelding and Lusitano stallion -  Video.
This is one great video - with Arne explaining the action taking place on the screen.
Congrats to both reenactors and their equine partners.

a still from the video

Also, a video from Schola  Gladiatoria titled 'Objectives in martial arts sparring and real combat' -
Do visit ARMA and the wiki library - Wiktenauer- of the Historical European Martial Arts  for the wealth of information contained therein.
 
enjoy - :)

Mounted combat training - video

Salve,
Arne Koets, knightly mounted combat practitioner and chivalry reenactor, shared a video of his mounted training with lances and swords - very interesting snippet into his and his companion training routine and skill honing. The levels of horse training are praiseworthy and just simply great. Arne's workshop videos .

It clearly brings to mind the teachings of Hans Talhoffer and other fechtbuch masters.

Wurttemberg

Konigsegg

Talhoffr - Personal

enjoy
ps
all images are from the wiktenauer.com (HEMA Alliance) project on Hans Talhoffer.

Grunwald 2015 - some photos

Salve,
 I received two separate permissions from two photographers who were present this weekend at Grunwald to 'hang' some images from the reenactment on this blog - I am very grateful and much obliged!
Arkadiusz Rutkowski from Fundacja Bielik took these photos -
1.Polish king Wladyslaw Jagiellon, his cousin duke Witold and Zawisza Czarny z Garbowa, then the most famous and respected Polish knight
2. Teutonic Knights, including a female reenactor in the foreground

while Andrzej Kowalski took these great photos-
Polish King and his army

Teutonic Knights and their guests

note, that most reenactors come to this event without horses, and they mostly fight in full XV century armour while on foot, in the scorching heat of Polish July sun. I did not show here photos from the foot combat, showing hundreds and perhaps thousands of reenactors.
More photos at the Grunwald Museum page on Facebook

Nota bene 2 weeks earlier at the Golub-Dobrzyn Castle took place the 39th International Knightly Tournament,  started already in 1970s.
I like that castle a lot, it is in good repair and nicely situated, so even if there is no tournament or other reenactment this medieval and Renaissance monumental structure is worth your visit

Again, many thanks to Andrzej Kowalski and Arkadiusz Rutkowski for allowing me to 'publish' these Grunwald 2015 photos on my blog
enjoy
ps
Photos:
Arkadiusz Rutkowski copyright
Andrzej Kowalski copyright
PS"
more photos here - Joanna Wolska Photography & studio Darosz

Grunwald 2015

Salve,
past weekend another huge celebration-reenactment was held at the Grunwald Battle Museum in the 'gmina' Grunwald,  Poland, commemorating the famous battle of the Middle Ages, regarded as one of the largest battles of the period.

Prof. Piotr Nowakowski's book, with Andrej Klein's fantastic artwork, on the banners of the Teutonic Order is available at his page on academia website.

In Poland, UKraine, Bielorus etc this battle still draws artists to create more works reconstructing the battle, one of such artists is a Polish painter Stanislaw E. Bodes - here a little snippet into his Grunwald works.

The battle in Henryk Sienkiewicz's proze (1900 Basil Dahl  translation - via archive ):

enjoy

Easter Tournament - Leeds Royal Armouries Museum April 3-6, 2015

Salve,
this Easter holiday a very interesting event will be taking place at the Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds, UK.
Namely,  a knightly tournament ! 
Two  knights-reenactors from Poland will be participating in this serious championship event - pan  Jan Gradon and pan Jaroslaw 'Jarek' Struczynski

Facebook page of the Torournament
Blog devoted to the event, knights and horses (yes! )
Interview with Jan Gradoń on Jousting Life
Jarek Struczynski won 2013 Tournament of the Phoenix in California -  reported Jousting Life.
so if you near by perhaps visit and send me some pictures to share with the rest of us :)

                                                     ***
many thanks to imci pan Jan Gradoń for letting me use the photoshowing himslef and imci pan Jarek.
                                                     ***

                Wielkanoc tego roku w Leeds, UK to turniej rycerski  - od 3 do 6 kwietnia 2015. 
Dwóch Polakow, rycerzy szlachetnych a dzielnych,  będzie potykać się w szranakch turnieju Jej Królewskiej Mości Królowej Elżbiety II z plejadą rycerzy z reszty świata. 
                                          Życzę Waszmosciom powodzenia!! - 
                                                                    *** 

                                                   Audaces Fortuna Iuvat.