Nyboy
Garden Master
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Use Enough Coffee!
..at least according to the trade association...
From LIFE Magazine, March 24, 1941
Coffee and the Winged Horsemen People have been drinking coffee for almost a thousand years. The practice started in the Near East and for some time was generally limited to Turkey, Arabia and Persia. European (and American) use of coffee is much more recent. One legend is particularly interesting because it gives me a chance to write not only about Coffee, but also Motorcycles, Pastry, Mozart, and Heavy Cavalry. I am also going to use this opportunity for a shameless plug for Keith Rocco, my favorite artist. To wit, please let me introduce the Polish Hussaria:
Polish Hussaria Breaking the Siege of Vienna, 1683
"The Avenging Angels", painted by Keith Rocco
Yes, they are wearing Wings and Tiger Skins
Genrally, men will not admit that they have artistic or domestic interests other than the personalization of objects that project force or express masculinity. (Painting flames on Hot Rods, Nose Art on B-17s, Low Riders, Zoot Suits, etc, etc). If you haven't had enough masculine art on the Motorcycle and Hot Rod "reality" shows, you might want to look at the very Ultimate Expression of Testosterone Art. In brief, the Polish Hussaria or Heavy Cavalry rode into battle on giant horses with jeweled tack, wearing heavy armor using a whole tiger (or leopard) skin as a cape -- and (get this) WINGS! Put them on TV today and these guys would IMMEDIATELY command the respect of mild-mannered scientists who work in offices as well as hardhats, mob guys, street thugs, long-term convicts, and bicycle messengers...
And now to link between the Hussaria and Coffee: In 1683, a small force of them completely annihilated the Turks who were besieging Vienna -- ending forever Islamic conquest in Europe. The surprise was so quick and the devastation so complete that many coffee-pots and bags of coffee were left in-place, ready to serve the Turks. The Hussaria celebrated the event by drinking the Turks' coffee and adopting it as their own beverage. Captured coffee service of the Sultan was sent to the Pope who also became a coffee devotee. Military forces all over Europe came to imitate the Hussaria and coffee became part of their rituals as well. The crescent roll (croissant), taken with coffee, is said to memorialize the end of the Turkish threat to Europe (that is, by eating the roll, one symbolically consumes the Turkish flag...)
Keith's painting depicts the Hussaria smiting down the Janissaries, the cream of the Sulan's armies. In turn, they have an interesting history: they were special troops made up entirely of Christian children abducted as infants and raised to serve the Sultan. Those of you who are familiar with Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio may recognize the Janissary Chorus.
On a minor note, a reader sent this in: "... the Mongols used a kind of "lasso" against armored cavalry; a defence against the lasso was a frame that would require a lot more height to capture the rider. In many cases, the "wings" were attached to the saddle and they served the same function as a motorcycle "sissy bar," especially when the cavalryman rammed his 20 foot lance into an infantry square at full gallop...." I was somewhat saddened to find functionality in this expression of sheer bravado..
Our reader Duane tempered our enthusiasm for the Hussaria and gave us a new insight into another Breakfast Pastry: "... It was a combined army of Bavarian, Saxon and Poles under John Sobieski II who relieved Vienna. Sure the famed Hussaria did make impact but actually it was a combined charge by Hussaria, Pancerni ( more lightly armed Polish cavalry) and collective German horse, mostly pistol armed, that broke the Jannisaries. The rest is correct. Another legend holds that the bagel was invented at that time to represent a stirup and thus comemorate the Hussaria charge..."
So there you have it -- The History of Coffee, Motorcycle Reality Shows, Heavy Cavalry, Pastry, and Mozart.
..at least according to the trade association...
From LIFE Magazine, March 24, 1941
Coffee and the Winged Horsemen People have been drinking coffee for almost a thousand years. The practice started in the Near East and for some time was generally limited to Turkey, Arabia and Persia. European (and American) use of coffee is much more recent. One legend is particularly interesting because it gives me a chance to write not only about Coffee, but also Motorcycles, Pastry, Mozart, and Heavy Cavalry. I am also going to use this opportunity for a shameless plug for Keith Rocco, my favorite artist. To wit, please let me introduce the Polish Hussaria:
Polish Hussaria Breaking the Siege of Vienna, 1683
"The Avenging Angels", painted by Keith Rocco
Yes, they are wearing Wings and Tiger Skins
Genrally, men will not admit that they have artistic or domestic interests other than the personalization of objects that project force or express masculinity. (Painting flames on Hot Rods, Nose Art on B-17s, Low Riders, Zoot Suits, etc, etc). If you haven't had enough masculine art on the Motorcycle and Hot Rod "reality" shows, you might want to look at the very Ultimate Expression of Testosterone Art. In brief, the Polish Hussaria or Heavy Cavalry rode into battle on giant horses with jeweled tack, wearing heavy armor using a whole tiger (or leopard) skin as a cape -- and (get this) WINGS! Put them on TV today and these guys would IMMEDIATELY command the respect of mild-mannered scientists who work in offices as well as hardhats, mob guys, street thugs, long-term convicts, and bicycle messengers...
And now to link between the Hussaria and Coffee: In 1683, a small force of them completely annihilated the Turks who were besieging Vienna -- ending forever Islamic conquest in Europe. The surprise was so quick and the devastation so complete that many coffee-pots and bags of coffee were left in-place, ready to serve the Turks. The Hussaria celebrated the event by drinking the Turks' coffee and adopting it as their own beverage. Captured coffee service of the Sultan was sent to the Pope who also became a coffee devotee. Military forces all over Europe came to imitate the Hussaria and coffee became part of their rituals as well. The crescent roll (croissant), taken with coffee, is said to memorialize the end of the Turkish threat to Europe (that is, by eating the roll, one symbolically consumes the Turkish flag...)
Keith's painting depicts the Hussaria smiting down the Janissaries, the cream of the Sulan's armies. In turn, they have an interesting history: they were special troops made up entirely of Christian children abducted as infants and raised to serve the Sultan. Those of you who are familiar with Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio may recognize the Janissary Chorus.
On a minor note, a reader sent this in: "... the Mongols used a kind of "lasso" against armored cavalry; a defence against the lasso was a frame that would require a lot more height to capture the rider. In many cases, the "wings" were attached to the saddle and they served the same function as a motorcycle "sissy bar," especially when the cavalryman rammed his 20 foot lance into an infantry square at full gallop...." I was somewhat saddened to find functionality in this expression of sheer bravado..
Our reader Duane tempered our enthusiasm for the Hussaria and gave us a new insight into another Breakfast Pastry: "... It was a combined army of Bavarian, Saxon and Poles under John Sobieski II who relieved Vienna. Sure the famed Hussaria did make impact but actually it was a combined charge by Hussaria, Pancerni ( more lightly armed Polish cavalry) and collective German horse, mostly pistol armed, that broke the Jannisaries. The rest is correct. Another legend holds that the bagel was invented at that time to represent a stirup and thus comemorate the Hussaria charge..."
So there you have it -- The History of Coffee, Motorcycle Reality Shows, Heavy Cavalry, Pastry, and Mozart.
