Late XVII century horses and horsemen from Poland

Salve,
I found these prints on the net - they appear to have been made after a painting by old king Jan III Sobieski's painter Altamonte around 1697-8 or so (the original hangs at the Sobieski Palace at Wilanow, Warsaw-Poland). The painting depicted election of the Saxon prince Augustus II der Starke by the nobles of Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697 (there were many issues with that election and history proved that this king was not appropriate monarch nor commander-in-chief nor statesman for the Commonwealth).

... a nice image of a winged hussar, with a wing not dissimilar to this winged hussar retainer's wing

... a noble rumak (fine riding stallion or gelding) with its tack, this horse appear to be a dapple grey one and some nobles with bows and quivers and warhammers

... horseman and more men with bows, behind them perhaps a hajduk ( musket and war-ax carrying infantryman of Hungarian style)

...  noble horsemen

... two nobles - perhaps a winged hussar companion and a cavalry chorągiew (company) with musicians in a background

They were going to fight in the incoming Great Northern War (1700-21), the war that destroyed Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth economy, population and military power.

Images of 'winged' hussars from Hungary

Salve,
 fine images of 'winged' hussars from the former Kingdom of Hungary (actually conquered and  divided mid-1540s  between the Ottoman Turks and their vassals and the Hapsburg Empire).

1.
Hussaria lancers and other horsemen

2.
Turkish and Hungarian horsemen AD 1612

3.
Companions and retainers  - horse's legs, mane and tail dyed with Brazil wood dye (or Polish kermes? dye) in the foreground

Polish Indepenence Day 1918-2011

Salve,
on November 11 we, Polish people, celebrate the Independence Day as on November 11, 1918 Polish state became anew, absent from the map of Europe since 1795.
Well, I usually stay away from XIX and XX century subjects, but this day is a special day. I would like to celebrate this important day with photos of 1914-1930s cavalrymen, uhlans mostly, their horses, and links to songs and videos. My own great grandfather Jan  took part in the Polish-Soviet War, that we won in 1921.
Also, today is Veterans Day in the US (commemorating the Novemenr 11, 1918 armistice  ending War World I), and I also want to salute these men and women to their service for the Homeland.

Let me start with one of the principal architects of our Polish modern independence - Józef Piłsudski and his famous chestnut mare  Kasztanka

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 Belina and his Beliniacy - from Pilsudski Legiony

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And a song about uhlans Hej, hej ulani, malowane dzieci
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another song Hej panienki posluchajcie
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śluby Ułańskie  - ''Uhlan Promises'' - Polish 1934 film about uhlans and their espirit de corps, amongst some others aspect of their colorful life...
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 another song Przybyli ulani pod okienko  ...
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... Uhlans who fought at battle of Komarów, the last big cavalry battle of Europe

... Number of songs in one video

... And I have got to add our special  zurawiejki, short 'songlets' or couplets about each cavalry regiment - here all are sung by modern singers, some very humorous

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 And another song - Wojenko, wojenko ...
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 Enwer Bay - Polish bred Arabian stallion (1923) in 1938 photo

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Today's Independence Day march of historic reenactors in Warsaw, from various periods - from the Napoleonic period to War World II

Let us finish with a song O moj Rozmarynie rozwijaj sie ...

ps
during the Communist Soviet Poland - 1945-90 - these brave men and their achievements during 1914-21 were  put down and disparaged, especially the cavalrymen were subject to ridicule eg the infamous film by the darling of the Communists  the director A. Wajda titled 'Lotna,' showing idiotic charges against Nazi German tanks in 1939 - by the way my own grandfather and 5 great uncles took part in the battle of Bzura and later in the defense of Warsaw '39.

Things change - tempus fugit - and this past year Polish director Hoffman made a feature movie about the battle of Warsaw 1920... where uhlans are shown as they were.

Ave, uhlans of Poland!

Mirza Ali Giray in a woodcut

Salve,
I found this image on a cover of ''Rocznik Tatarski'' vol 1, (1932), a yearly publication from then Polish city of Wilno (now Vilnius) devoted to the history and then present culture of the Polish Tatars - 'Hieronim Lubomirski' from historycy.org, thank you for the link.

According to pan Richard Brzezinski (Polish Armies, vol II, Osprey), this is an image of Mirza Ali Giray, one of the sons of the Crimean Tatar Khan (there were a few khans of the Giray family who ruled then ) who was the commander of the Tatar auxilia during the Ottoman Turk second siege of Vienna of AD 1683.
Well, according to the sources and the study of the history of the Crimean 'Khaganate' by the Polish preeminent Tatar history scholar Leszek Podhorodecki, the commander of the Crimean Tatars was the khan himself, Murat Giray (who perhaps quite nicely facilitated, by being inactive and withdrawing from the field, the Polish-Allied victory over the Turks and their allies). 
Nota bene, there was one Tatar commander who stayed to the end of fighting and defended the famous standard of the Prophet, but his was just a ''kalga (galga) sultan'' Haji Giray (with some 500-600 Tatars).

There are accounts of armored protection used by the Crimean Tatars and  pieces of actual armor surviving from the Crimean Tatars' arsenals (in various European collections), therefore this portrayal is not far fetched, and perhaps represents the aristocratic warrior elite of the Crimean warriors.
Please note that this type of representation of a nomadic warrior with a bow goes back to the Ancient Iranian (Persian, Parthian and Skithian) traditions.

What distinguishes this warrior here is the great portrayal of  his armor and accouterments of the Tatar warrior: the helmet with a pair of wings on top, perhaps in the ancient Turkish warrior fashion, bow and arrow, bowcase, sword, and a wing in a style not dissimilar to the wings carried by the Polish hussars attached to their saddles, and also similar to the wing in this painting showing the battle of Warsaw 1656 and Polish-allied Crimean Tatar participants fighting against the Swedes.

According to Mr. Brzezinski this engraving was done by Jacob Sandrart in 1684.

Chocim 1673 - fragment of the Olesko painting

Salve,
some time ago I posted this sketch of mine digitally painting over the Olesko painting  showing then grand Crown hetman Jan Sobieski defeating the Ottoman army at Khotyn (Chocim) fortress.
Well, surfing the net I found this fragment of the painting showing very nicely two heavily armoured winged hussars armed with long painted  lances and pistols, the second hussar has wings on his back. They seem not to have wild animal skins on their backs, although the second one has what it appears an animal skin/pelt shabraque underneath his saddle:

 I intend to fiddle with these guys a bit by doing some sketches and perhaps a watercolour or digital painting...
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enjoy

Sketches - ancient Iran

Salve,
some sketches in the subject of ancient Iran:
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Sassanian
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horse chest armour - Saka, Sarmatian, Parthian, Sassanian

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heavy cavalry

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enjoy...

Some sketches in progress

Salve,
I would like to share with you some of my sketches:
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Plains Indian Warrior
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rearing horse
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heavy cavalry - Hun warrior
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Sarmatian
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Sarmatian  saddle
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Saka after Gorelik
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Kimmerian warrior - X-VIII centuries BC
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Sarmatian bridle
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a Saka scene
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Eastern rider after Polish XVIII/XIX century painter Aleksander Orlowski
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Koban Culture warrior after a Koban Culture metal belt image
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GIMP, MyPaint, pen and ink etc...

Hope you will enjoy these sketches

Cirit - ancient Turkish game

Salve,
I 'facebook'a bit and via Facebook I met a Polish competitor and reenactor, Bartosz Ligocki, who participated in this event Al Faris in Jordan. Bartosz send me a link to a blog by another of his horsearchery club mates, Mateusz. Mateusz, accomplished horseman and horsearcher, is working in Turkey training stunt-men for a future historical, Ottoman Turkey, film productions. 


In one of his posts, Mateusz writes about the Ottoman and present Turkey equestrian sport known as ''cirit'' and that prior to going to Turkey they, the Horse Archery Club, reconstructed the Ottoman 'cirit' javelins based on the examples found in Polish museum collections, and upon their trials concluded that these slender weapons had been only for parade and not for battle. However, upon seeing the Turkish stable boys performing cirit competitions, Mateusz now thinks that this was quite formidable weapon, capable of piercing 2mm steel plate from a distance of 15 meter, while from a distance of 30 meters Turkish horsemen were able to hit a ball of paper without a problem (Mateusz concludes that the effective  range  was 60 meters). Nota bene Matuesz writes that present day Turks ride stallions, some mix of Arabian or almost purebred Arabian horses,  when playing cirit.

A XIX century description of a cirit game (using English term djerid) played observed being played by the Pasha of Jerusalem and his staff by English officer Lt. W. F. Lynch : "A single horseman would leave his ranks, cross the intervening space, and ride leisurely along in front of the opposite line, when, selecting his opponent, he quickly threw his djerid, or short, blunted, wooden spear, directly at him. The latter, generally dodging the weapon, immediately started in hot pursuit of his antagonist, who, now unarmed, spurred his horse towards his friends, and, to avoid the threatened blow, threw himself nearly from the stead, hanging by one leg .... If the assailed were struck with the first cast, one of his party pursued the assailant; and if successful in striking him, it became his turn to flee from an adversary."

Here you have a photo by Keon-Sik Heo ( World Martial Arts Union - Seoul, Korea - Yong In University) of Bartosz performing feats of horsearchery at Al Faris.

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At the head of this post I attached a work in progress of an Ottoman XVI perhaps early XVII century cavalryman with a 'cirit' javelin (GIMP and MyPaint only )
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Images of cirit players and horses from present Turkey via google images
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Anatolian Horsemanship Committee page has some info, including a page on Anatolian horse sports and an article and diagram of Turkish horse tack etc..
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 enjoy - :)

Winged hussar horse - progress sketch

Salve,
days are getting shorter and there seems to be more time to spend engaging in digital painting, so I would like to share a progress sketch of a horse in a winged hussar horse tack (as used in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), including a wing attached to the cantle, 'koncerz' ( 'piercing sword' or tuck) under the Old Poland saddle's skirt and wild cat pelt/skin underneath the saddle instead of shabraque...
     I have several version of this iamge, so hopefully will show them all here in due time.
I used Gimp and MyPaint to get this far :)

Sketching horses - ball pen, MyPaint & Gimp

Salve,
I have been playing with these images, that originated as ball pen drawings, and now enhanced with Mypaint and GIMP...
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I would like to welcome new members of this blog followers' list - thank you very much for your attention :)
ps
I came into possession of a Soviet era book titled - Snaryazhenie Vsadnika I Verkhovogo Konya na Ruis, IX-XIIIbb ( Riders' and horse gear in Ruthenia, 9-13th centuries, 1973), so hope to offer more insight into the Kievan Rus/Ruthenia riders (I also obtained two more archaeological reports from the 1970s on Rus/Ruthenian arms and armor of the same era) and their horse gear sometime later this winter - hopefully more than what dr Nicolle wrote in his Osprey book , Armies of Medieval Russia [sic!] 750-1250,  Oxford 1999.