Tuesday, 3 March 2026

Wheellock pistols.

I run a page on Facebook called Thirty Years War reenactment and someone was asking for a reasonably priced repro. I found the The Rifle Shoppe, Inc. - Wheellocks so aome but if you know of any let me know.
 Thirty Years War Reenactment Facebook

Christian IV, king of Denmark and Norway; a picture of the seventeenth century by Gade, John A. (John Allyne), 1875-1955

 400 years ago was a time when he was active in the 30 YW. In Denmark they call the TYW phase Kejserkrigen

Monday, 2 March 2026

Hungarian Hussars 17th century

 been trying to find out about Hungarian Hussars - if you know more get in touch. This image is by Bruno Mugnai from the Helion book on White Mountain.

Hussar - Wikipedia

The following is from the Imperialist Army 2 Cavalry Osprey.
Hussars.  Differentiating between regular and irregular units of Hungarian and Croat light cavalry has been difficult even for Hungarian historians, and is confused by nomenclature. In this period, the term 'huszar' meant any Hungarian cavalryman, of whichever branch. However, it usually refers to the lightly armoured cavalry which had come to prominence in Europe in the mid-16th century. Like the Croats, they were raised from irregulars on the Military Frontier, as mercenary bands organized by local nobles, fighting alongside Hayduk infantry under an Ober-Hauptmann. As the Thirty Years' War began, 6 units each of 500-1,000 hussars - Esterhazy, Palffy, Forgach, Somogyi, Nadasdy, and the Raab hussars under Lengyel -were raised by local magnates in 1619. However, the number soon fell, and in 1624 the term hussar vanished from the army lists for a decade. It was only in 1630 that two new units were raised, joined by a third the following year. In 1632 Graf Stephan Palffy raised 1,000 Hungarian (hussar-) lancers. Organized like their Croatian counterparts, the first regular hussar regiments were raised in 1634, and thereafter there were always two or three in Imperial service until the end of the wars. 

Sunday, 1 March 2026

Rebel's Minuet - Crisdean Tewordt and Johanna Wildhack featuring Allan MacDonald

 This video presents the opening set of the LBPS Friday night concert, recorded at the Royal Dunkeld Hotel on 14 November 2025. The performance features Crisdean Tewordt and Johanna Wildhack, with Allan MacDonald as guest musician, presenting Rebel’s Minuet.

The concert was organised under the auspices of the Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society. Further information about the Society may be found at https://lbps.net/j3site/index.php Information related to Crisdean Tewordt and Johanna Wildhack may be found at https://www.dudelsack-und-degen.de/du... Allan MacDonald at https://allanmacdonald.com/home/

30 years ago -

 Did this event in Devon. That's me reading the book. 

36th - note not all had their lace

Royal Eccosais