Post by hjernespiser on Apr 17, 2009 8:16:02 GMT 3
An interesting topic came to my attention after I saw a reproduction of a fresco from a church in Slovakia in a new Slovak history book which my father had purchased.
Apparently, there's a story called the Legend of St. Ladislaus which is the subject of many church wall frescoes across Hungary. St. Ladislaus was an 11th century Hungarian king who fought against Pechenegs and Cumans.
You can read about it here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Ladislaus_legend
* Saint Ladislaus riding his horse in the battlefield catches sight of a pagan warrior holding a Hungarian girl in his saddle.
* Saint Ladislaus begins to pursue him.
* In the last metres before Saint Ladislaus could reach the pagan to stab him, he could not cartch up to him
* Saint Ladislaus shouts to the girl: "Catch hold of the pagan at his belt and jump to the gound!"
* The girl does so, and the two warriors, the king and the pagan, begin wrestling.
* Saint Ladislaus can not subdue him, therefore the girl helps the king. She cuts the pagan's Achilles tendon.
* Saint Ladislaus beheads the pagan with the help of the girl.
* In the last scene Saint Ladislaus is resting in the arms of the girl.
The photo of the fresco in the book is of St. Ladislaus wrestling with the "Cuman" (sometimes the opponent is a Pecheneg). What struck me about this fresco, which was painted in the early 14th century at the church in Velka Lomnica, is that it reminded me of steppe wrestling. I was able to find a high resolution image of this mural at static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9127685.jpg I like the Cuman warrior with the Hungarian hostage on the left. Check out the quiver and how he's holding extra arrows in his left hand!
Wikipedia's got another wrestling fresco from a different church at upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Derzs101.jpg
Apparently, there's a story called the Legend of St. Ladislaus which is the subject of many church wall frescoes across Hungary. St. Ladislaus was an 11th century Hungarian king who fought against Pechenegs and Cumans.
You can read about it here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Ladislaus_legend
* Saint Ladislaus riding his horse in the battlefield catches sight of a pagan warrior holding a Hungarian girl in his saddle.
* Saint Ladislaus begins to pursue him.
* In the last metres before Saint Ladislaus could reach the pagan to stab him, he could not cartch up to him
* Saint Ladislaus shouts to the girl: "Catch hold of the pagan at his belt and jump to the gound!"
* The girl does so, and the two warriors, the king and the pagan, begin wrestling.
* Saint Ladislaus can not subdue him, therefore the girl helps the king. She cuts the pagan's Achilles tendon.
* Saint Ladislaus beheads the pagan with the help of the girl.
* In the last scene Saint Ladislaus is resting in the arms of the girl.
The photo of the fresco in the book is of St. Ladislaus wrestling with the "Cuman" (sometimes the opponent is a Pecheneg). What struck me about this fresco, which was painted in the early 14th century at the church in Velka Lomnica, is that it reminded me of steppe wrestling. I was able to find a high resolution image of this mural at static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9127685.jpg I like the Cuman warrior with the Hungarian hostage on the left. Check out the quiver and how he's holding extra arrows in his left hand!
Wikipedia's got another wrestling fresco from a different church at upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Derzs101.jpg
I'm sure such frescoes exist all around Hungary and Slovakia, so maybe one day I should make trips to these countries 
