Battle of Vimpfen May 6, 1622

Painting of the Battle of Vimpfen (or Wimpfen)

I saw this painting on a recent post from the Wars of Louis XIV blog. Every now and then that blog has a post about something from a time prior to the Sun King's reign. This painting was particularly nice as it illustrated more than just the formations of troops. Notice the wagons and tents in the center and center-right part of the painting.

It turns out that the wagons and tents were an important focus in the battle as we will see in the following etching which shows the tremendous explosions that resulted from the accidental detonation of the Protestant magazine. 

The Battle of Wimpfen. Etching from Merian's Theatrum Europaeum,
vol. 1, 3rd ed. 1662, after p. 692

Battle of Wimpfen

The Battle of Wimpfen was part of the Bohemian Revolt in the early portion of the Thirty Years' War.  It occurred on May 6, 1622 near Wimpfen. The forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League under Marshal Tilly and Gonzalo de Córdoba defeated the Protestant forces of General Ernst von Mansfeld and GeorgFriedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach.

 Friedrich

After the fall of the Bohemian capital of Prague following the Battle of White Mountain on November 8, 1620, Georg Friedrich decided to continue the fight. and oppose Tilly and Cordoba at Wimpfen.

On 27 April, George Frederick declared war on the Habsburgs and combined his forces with those of Mansfeld, so as to fight the Catholic League together. By early May, the soldiers of Christian of Brunswick had arrived to the north of the Neckar River and were prepared to assist the Protestant forces. This came as good news to the combined forces of Mansfeld and Georg Friedrich, who hoped to combine their armies before risking a major battle.

To gain time and to attempt to split the combined Catholic army, Mansfeld crossed the Neckar near Heidelberg while Georg Friedrich marched east up the river to cross at Wimpfen. The plan failed as the troops under Tilly and Córdoba did not split and instead pursued the 14,000 strong army of Georg Friedrich and cut him off near Wimpfen. Outnumbered, Georg Friedrich deployed his troops into a defensive position on a low hill outside of the village. Here the Protestants made an effective stand, rallied by a strong artillery position until a random Spanish countershot exploded the Protestant magazine, costing the Badeners their position. The Catholics assaulted the hill and shattered the Protestant army. Georg Friedrich then fled to Stuttgart with the few remaining men under his command.

Who is the artist of the first painting?

The Wars of Louis XIV blog post identifies the painter as Simon de Vos possibly based on this link or maybe this one. However the web site for the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg identifies the artist as Sebastiaen Vrancx. The Wikipedia article on Sebastiaen Vrancx also identifies him as the artist. It further observes that he was well known for painting battle scenes which would support him as a likely artist. On the other hand, the neither the English nor the Netherlander Wikipedia articles on Simon de Vos mention the Battle of Vimpfen (or Wimpfen) at all.

Also of note is that the entry for the Hermitage contains the following “Acquisition date: Entered the Hermitage in 1933; transferred from the Antikvariat All-Union Association.” The two links that identify Simon de Vos as the artist both list "Source: All-Union Society 'Antiquariat', 1933." Since the Hermitage acquired the painting from the All-Union Society I'm going to assume that the attribution was later changed to Sebastiaen Vrancx and since that is the attribution used by the current holder of the painting, I conclude that Vrancx, not de Vos, is the actual artist.

Merry Company

Dirck Hals, Merry Company at Table, 1627–29

Merry company is the term in art history for a painting, usually from the 17th century, showing a small group of people enjoying themselves, usually seated with drinks, and often music-making. These scenes are a very common type of genre painting of the Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque; it is estimated that nearly two thirds of Dutch genre scenes show people drinking.

The term is the usual translation of the Dutch geselschapje, or vrolijk gezelschap, and is capitalized when used as a title for a work, and sometimes as a term for the type. The scenes may be set in the home, a garden, or a tavern, and the gatherings range from decorous groups in wealthy interiors to groups of drunk men with prostitutes. Gatherings that are relatively decorous and expensively dressed, with similar numbers of men and women, often standing, may be called Elegant Company or Gallant Company, while those showing people who are clearly peasants are more likely to use that word in their title. Such subjects in painting are most common in Dutch art between about 1620 and 1670.

 Willem Pietersz. Buytewech, Merry Company, c. 1620, apart from the maid an all male group

Prostitution is clearly indicated in this scene by Gerard van Honthorst of 1623, complete with aged procuress, low cleavage, and a feathered headdress on the second girl.

Abraham van den Hecken, A Merry Company in a Tavern, 1640s

Jacob Ochtervelt, Musical Company in an Interior, c. 1670

Simon de Vos, 1630s; according to the owning museum "Well-bred young ladies did not join parties in public inns; these smiling women are prostitutes".

Jacob Duck, 1635-40 

Jan van Hemessen, The Prodigal Son, 1536

 

Peter Paul Rubens, Garden of Love, 1630–35, the apotheosis of the outdoor courtly company

Adriaen Brouwer, Inn with Drunken Peasants, 1620s

Pinterest 17th century images

"Breakfast of a Young Man" by Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt (1640-1691)

The picture is from the 17th century site on Pinterest. I happened across it a while back and mildioux, but it has tons o'pictures.

And for those that want pictures from earlier or later, well Pinterest has that too.

Note that you will probably need to register for Pinterest to access everything.

Codex Gigas

Codex Gigas

The codex is the largest known medieval manuscript. Bound in a wooden folder covered with leather and ornate metal it is 36 in tall, 20 inch wide, and 8.7 in thick (92 cm x 50 cm x 22 cm) and weighs as much as a full grown man, tipping the scales at a whopping 165 lb (74.8 kg). The codex is is composed of 310 leaves of vellum allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys or perhaps calfskin. It initially contained 320 sheets, though some of these were subsequently removed. It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose. 

The boring theory is that the missing pages contained the monastic rules of the Benedictines. For more interesting theories see Legend below.

History

The codex was created by just one scribe known as Herman the Recluse in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim in the Czech Republic. The monastery was destroyed during the 15th century during the Hussite Revolution. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. The codex was later pledged to the Cistercians Sedlec Monastery and then bought by the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov. From 1477 to 1593, it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594 to form a part of the collections of the Emperor Rudolf II who was a devotee of occult arts - not surprisingly the codex contains contains magical formulae within its. Good old Rudolf's collections contain who rooms full of stuff perfect for kicking off all sorts of weird tales historical fiction.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken as war booty by the Swedish army. On Friday, 7 May 1697, a fierce fire broke out at the royal castle in Stockholm, and the Royal Library suffered very badly. The codex was rescued from the flames by being thrown out of a window. This damaged the binding and knocked loose some pages which are still missing today. Currently the codex is preserved in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, on display for the general public.

The Monastery where the codex was written is destroyed in Hussite religious wars and a number of pages are removed. The Holy Roman Emperor obtains the book and puts it in his castle in Prague for safekeeping, but during the destruction and devastation of the Thirty Years War, the largest religious conflict in Europe, the Swedish capture the book and take it home. Soon after fire breaks out causing massive damage to the Swedish Royal Library where the codex was held and even more pages are lost. 

Are you sensing a theme here? 

Repeated religious conflict aimed at claiming or destroying this book or at destroying or hiding certain pages of the book. The question is, why?

Folio 290 recto, otherwise empty, includes this unique picture of the devil, about 50 cm tall. This illustration is one explanation for why the book is called the Devil's Codex.

Legend

According to one version of a legend that was already recorded in the Middle Ages, the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to avoid this harsh penalty he promised to create in one day a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight, he became sure that he could not complete this task alone so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid. In tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken five years of non-stop writing. Scholars estimate the entire work would take 20 years. Presumably this ncludes the illumination and illustrations).

In popular fiction, the 12 missing pages of the Codex Gigas are rumored to contain an apocalyptic text called "The Devil's Prayer".

Those of you who check out the references will notice that this is taken directly from the sources with a few minor additions and comments by me. The entire codex can be viewed.

Paris in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries

Ice skaters on the Seine in 1608

It's now August of 1624 in my H+I campaign, but I must remember this picture for when winter comes back around. I love the idea of skating on the Seine. On the one hand it looks very prosaic and peaceful, on the other it reminds us that the 17th century was in the middle of a Little Ice Age so it was significantly colder in Europe then than it is now. Additionally I like the idea of the PCs slip-sliding on ice as they try to fight a bunch of adversaries. I envision this like this duel, but with more fighters.

The infamous frozen river duel from "The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge" (1974)

This picture is from the Wikipedia article on 17th century Paris. Every now and then I like to provide links that I find useful for GMs. These four links provide information and some great pictures for historical Paris.

• History of Paris

• Paris in the 16th century

• Paris in the 17th century

• Paris in the 17th century

 

The first is a general overview. It is followed by specific links by century. The links by century have a level of detail that is useful for an historical campaign without being overwhelming. While historians and pedants will want even more detail this will be sufficient to get most GMs started creating a setting for historical fictional campaigns. The tables of contents will give a good idea of the sorts of information as well as a hint at the level of detail that these links contain.

Contents for Paris in the 17th Century

• 1 Paris under Henry IV
• 2 Paris under Louis XIII
• 3 Paris under Louis XIV
  • 3.1 Turmoil and the Fronde
  • 3.2 "The new Rome"
• 4 The city grows
• 5 Parisians
  • 5.1 Beggars and the poor
  • 5.2 Charities - Renaudot and Vincent De Paul
  • 5.3 Thieves and the Courtyard of Miracles
• 6 City government
• 7 Industry and commerce
  • 7.1 Royal manufacturies
  • 7.2 Craftsmen and corporations
  • 7.3 Luxury goods
• 8 Religion
• 9 Daily life
  • 9.1 Public transportation
  • 9.2 Street lights
  • 9.3 Water
  • 9.4 Food and drink
  • 9.5 Cabarets
  • 9.6 Coffee and the first cafés
  • 9.7 Processions, carrousels and fireworks
  • 9.8 Sports and games
• 10 Press
• 11 Education
  • 11.1 Academies
  • 11.2 University
  • 11.3 Primary education
• 12 Gardens and promenades
• 13 Culture and the arts
  • 13.1 Literature
  • 13.2 Theater
  • 13.3 Comédie-Française
  • 13.4 Music and opera
  • 13.5 Ballet
  • 13.6 Architecture
  • 13.7 Painting and sculpture
• 14 Chronology
• 15 References
  • 15.1 Bibliography
  • 15.2 Notes and citations

Here are a sampling of some other pictures. I especially like color drawings and paintings, that show what the city looked like.

Hotel_de_Ville_Paris_Hoffbauer_1583 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Hotel_de_Ville_Paris_Hoffbauer_1583.jpg

I particularly like this picture because the lower left foreground gives a clear illustration of the weird pier-like projection. I think it is a water mill, but can't recall off the top of my head. On the maps of the period it looks like someone started a bridge and never finished it. Here, see what I mean.

The Place de Greve and the Hotel de Ville are at the left, the Pont Notre Dame at the bottom, and the unusual object is in the middle of the picture. See how it looks like another bridge like the Pont Notre Dame that was started and never finished. It looks like a 16th century version of the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But it's not.

This picture gives a better idea of what a water mill looked like and how it worked. Notice the wheels below the houses and bridge at the lower center and right of the painting.

 

The Cemetery of the Saints-Innocents, the largest in the city, in 1550. (19th century engraving by Hoffbauer)

The Cemetery of the Innocents was incredibly gross and creepy. Bodies buried on top of bodies. It got so crowded that they created galleries where they stacked up bones to make room for even more burials. And disease. And smells. The miasma was like a D&D Cloudkill...but in reality. What would make a better setting for a confrontation with the big bad villain as the PCs try to stop a blasphemous ritual or prevent the villain from unearthing some terrible relic. Make the villain a necromancer and the adventure practically writes itself.

Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu in 1628

When D'Artagnan is challenged to a duel by each of the Three Musketeers in turn, the second duel, with Porthos, is to take place "behind the Luxembourg." What Dumas was referring to what was the Luxembourg Palace and gardens that were built by King Louis' mother, Marie de' Medici to recall her native Florence. Presumably by "behind" Porthos means in the gardens.

View and Perspective of the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens by Israel Silvestre drawn 31 December 1648

A Cool Picture and a Xmas Pirate Adventure Idea from Wine and Savages

I liked this picture. For more, check out the Comic Alliance "A True Tale of St. Nicolas" by Benito Cereno and Evan 'Doc' Shaner.

SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT

I think that gets my point across and I trust that makes my meaning clear for those of you that are running characters in my H+I Campaign stop reading now.

Now for the rest of you, go check out the Wine and Savages Annual Xmas Pirate Santa post. I didn't see it in time for Christmas, not even for Eastern Orthodox Christmas, but I may still be able to use it later, maybe when Christmas rolls around in the campaign calendar (it's August right now). The adventure idea looks wacky and fun, especially as a change of pace from the usual political schemes. I think it would work well for the one PC Pirate character: Hippolyte de Bouchard AKA the Foul Corsair.

Wild Wild East - Part 2

Czumak Ox Train

In yesterday's post I mentioned the idea of using a central Asian setting to get some of the same openness and edge of the wilderness tone that is largely based on the fictional American West and that is the typical setting seen in D&D. 

Today's post on Dariusz caballeros on the Czumak peoples contains a bunch of great images of Czumak wagons and ox carts winding across the steppes that would enhance a Wild East setting.

The top image gives me the feel of the vast expanse of the steppes. I like how the artist includes so much of the sky so that it feels like the sky is thing of immense weight hanging over your head.

I really like this painting. Seeing a caravan of bright red ox carts like this appear out of a snow covered steppe is an evocative and colorful image that would stay with the players.

And it seems my speculation in the comments for Udan's post was correct. The steppes did have windmills. See the shadowing mill on the far left in the painting below.

And to give credit where credit is due, the artist of the above paintings is Ivan Aivazovsky.