The Winged Hussars of Poland

An article by Zdzislaw Zygulski, Jr.



Polish armoured units fighting at the side of the Allies in World War II wore as a badge a symbolic wing, almost vertical, slightly curved at the top. This emblem was taken over from an old Polish military tradition: huge wings made of wood and bird feathers were an emblem of the Polish Hus­sar Cavalry, established in the early 16th century, victorious on many battlefields (especially in the wars against Muscovy, Sweden, Tartary, and Tur­key), and

surviving until about the middle of the 18th century. The hussars were born anew in the national romantic legends of the 19th and the 20th centuries, gaining post-mortem a reputation of invincibility. As a matter of fact, like any other formation in any age and army, they encountered defeats along with vic­tories, the former particularly when coming up against well-trained detachments of musketeers. These hus­sars should not be confused with the hussards, a light cavalry of purely Hungarian origin, popular in many armies all over the world (also in Poland) since the 18th century. The formation to which this article is devoted also derived from Hungary, but on Polish soil, and it was soon much altered, being a fortunate combination of Eastern and Western elements with a strong predominance of local traditions and inven­tions. In its developed form it was a half-heavy cav­alry distinguished by a variety of arms and armour, very operative, ready to choose the tactics suitable for the immediate necessity. As a rule the hussars were formed into squadrons of 150-200 horsemen each, and attacked in two lines galloping knee to knee, their long lances giving a tremendous shock to the enemy. In the melee they fought with side arms and firearms. By daring charges they proved superior to the contem­porary West-European cavalry, especially over cuir­assiers and carabineers, who were conditioned to a much more static system according to which each rank in succession discharged its pistols and rode back to a place behind the squadron to reload. Hus­sars could also easily break troops of oriental cavalry because the oriental riders' armament was greatly in­ferior and devoid of firearms. Iconographical and written sources of the epoch, together with a choice of the best original arms, armour, and equipment preserved in museums, enable us now to present the Polish hussars accurately, particularly to students outside of Poland.



Early Hussars



Almost till the end of the 15th century, Polish military forces and weaponry were of Western style, but the constant political and cultural contacts with the East changed the trend of development. The sys­tem of general levy of noblemen was replaced by the system of enlisting mercenary troops. Soldiers were recruited at home and abroad. In the wars against the Grand Duchy of Muscovy and against the Tartar Khanates, the kings of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigning in United Poland and Lithuania, had to reform their armies in order to get troops trained for campaigns in vast steppes intersected

by marshy rivers. Heavy horsemen in medieval style, clad in armour from head to foot, handling thick lances, were practically useless. In this situation, troops of light cavalryhussars—formed chiefly in Serbia and Hungary in the time of Matthias Corvinus and proved excellent in wars against the Turks, were invited to Poland. In the rolls of the Polish and Lithuanian armies of the early 16th century, hussars are mentioned many times, being described as mounted soldiers equipped with thin lances, shields and sabers. The term Racowie,which means "Serbians", is generally used in these sources, but some Hungarian names are registered as well. Hussar or gussar originally meant "a robber" in Serbian. These horsemen served not only under the Polish and Lithuanian colors but also under those of the Holy Roman Emperor; images of hussars in Hungarian style may be easily found in the woodcuts illustrating the deeds of Maximilian I, particularly in the books of Theuerdank and Weisskunig. Far the best iconographic document of hussar formation in the early 16th century is to be found in an oil painting (Fig. 1) on wood measuring 162cm. x 232cm., dat­able about 1520, now in the National Museum in Warsaw, depicting the battle of Orsha.1 In this battle, fought on September 8th, 1514, the allied forces of Poland and Lithuania won a telling victory over the army of Vassili III, Grand Duke of Muscovy. With some reservations, the picture is historically faithful, although the unknown artist was inclined towards ex­aggeration and multiplications of forms in his rendi­tion of the arms and armour; he must have been well acquainted with the works of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Polish-Lithuanian army is shown as consisting of fully-armoured knights in the old style, of infantry and artillery of light mounted archers, and of the new hussars. The Mus­covite side is formed entirely of the heavy-armoured boyar cavalry.





The Orsha hussars are shown precisely, from vari­ous angles: marching three or four horsemen in a rank, crossing the Dnieper river, charging, fighting, and in pursuit of the enemy. Lances are their basic weapons: rather thin, of the same width throughout their length, and bearing pennons with crosses. At the attack, the lances are held in the position of "half­way up the horse's ear," rested in the shield notch or free. The shields are typically Hungarian, made of wood, asymmetrical in a form sweeping upward to a sharp point at the top on one side, and painted in bright-colored stripes (but there are also rondaches spiked in the middle). The sabers are also of Hun­garian origin, unfortunately not much depicted in actual use, for the most part shown sheathed in large scabbards mounted with silvered or gilded metal. Some hussars, probably of officer rank, have buzdy-gan maces thrust back under their belts. Horses cov­ered with cloths are led by bridles with heavy bits; saddles are not visible, but stirrups are shown as al­most circular, each with a small ball underneath. Spurs are very unusual, being fitted with large metal wings that cover the upper part of the rider's foot (we do not know any actual example of this kind of spur, but some analogies may be found in the painting and en­gravings of Albrecht Dürer). Head coverings are varied and numerous, one in the shape of a modern top hat apparently made of black felt being the most frequent; as a rule, it is decorated in the lower part and over the brim with a gilded circlet and a plume in a metal holder.

There are also sugar-loaf caps with a similar plume, Hungarian flat caps with upright brims, caps with large flaps, and fashionable berets. No armour is worn by hussars, but short quilted joupanes seem to offer sufficient protection. There appears sporadically a short mantel with long sleeves, which may be identified with the national Hungarian article of costume known as a mente. Some hussar horses, perhaps those of officers, are decorated with horsehair streamers called buntchuks tied to hang down under the neck.



Few real specimens of 16th century hussar arms and equipment have survived. Among such that have, we find a set of Hungarian shields in the Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum in Budapest and in the State Art Collection at Wawel Castle in Cracow (Fig. 2). Some of these have a painted emblem of an eagle's wing, but from iconographical sources it is obvious that they were decorated originally with real eagles' wings, the custom deriving from Turkey. (Horsemen of Turkish crack troops, called deli, were distinguished by wings and wild animal skins. Such a deli is faithfully represented in an album of Turkish types drawn by Nicolas Nicolay [Fig. 3], who traveled to Istanbul in 1551, and then published his experiences.2)



Hussars Adopt Armour, Wings and Wild Animal Skins



In the first half of the 16th century some squadrons of hussars took on helmets and armour, probably to allow them to serve in lieu of the old heavy cavalry that was generally disappearing from the battle­fields because it was outmoded. On military rolls and musters of the time (kept scrupulously because they were the basis for indemnities for casualties), the most important pieces of hussar armament were al­ways registered: helmet, mail armour, shield and lance. Sabers, tucks, javelins, axes, bows and quivers, as well as various sorts of firearms, become frequent in the second half of the century. Just after 1550 the skins of leopards, tigers, bears and wolves begin to be mentioned, but in the absence of these, hussars now wore special types of killms or mantles thrown over the shoulders. Also from this time stem the first reports of huge wings made up of eagle, crane or ostrich feathers, the latter being dyed red, blue or green. In this the custom of the Turkish deli was surely imitated, but the form of Polish wings was quite original: feathers were inserted in a row into the ap­propriate holes drilled into a straight wooden batten which was painted or covered with crimson velvet and mounted in brass; by means of special metal rods riveted to the batten, the finished wing was fixed to the backplate of the man's armour, which was fur­nished with holders. Should a hussar be without ar­mour or without backplate, he could fix the wing, or a pair of wings, in the holders of the cantle of his saddle; this could be done only after mounting. (Armourless hussars persisted for a long time in the 16th century, and even later [Fig. 4].) A Polish hus­sar without armour but with a single tall wing of ostrich feathers is perfectly represented in a fine etching by Stefano della Bella, who observed Polish knights and soldiers in the company of Polish em­bassies to Rome 1633 and Paris 16453 (Fig. 5); both armoured and armourless hussars were used at that late date, but either way, wings were of the essence as the characteristic feature of the formation. Their function and meaning are still not thoroughly ex­plained. It has been suggested that in battle the rustle of these wings frightened the enemy’s horses—but surely the rustle of even a thousand must have been lost in the terrible cacophony of war. An attempt has been made to interpret the wings as pro­tection against the lassos used by oriental horsemen, especially by the

Tartars, but reflection and simple sense rule this thesis out, too. In fact, the function of the wings was surely and solely the creation of a powerful psychological impact. The winged knight clad in armour and wild animal skin must have had the appearance of a superhuman creature, arousing a maelstrom of emotions in the beholder—panic, re­spect, hate, and admiration. But since in actual combat those long, clumsy objects rigidly fixed to the rider's back could not have been very useful, we must con­clude that hussars probably took the wings into battle only rarely if at all, reserving them rather for parade and ceremony.





Not long after the middle of the 16th century most of the hussars were changed into a heavy formation overloaded with equipment and ornaments. Stephen Batory, Duke of Transylvania, who was elected King of Poland in 1576, worked a further transformation. He was a man of outstanding military talent who waged a series of successful wars against Muscovy and planned a great expedition against the Turks, but died suddenly before this project could be realized. Batory established a new pattern for the hussar cav­alry, making it much more mobile and meticulously disciplined. He discarded forever what remained of heavy helmets, wooden shields and large saddles in medieval style, introducing instead light zischägge helmets or special iron hats, light half-armour worn over mail shirts or only supplemented with mail sleeves, and practical hussar saddles and stirrups very much in oriental style, with spurs with protruding necks. Lances were shortened; the saber remained the principal sidearm but an additional heavy saber or pallash—often a long tuck—was tied to the saddle. Holsters in front of the saddle held two wheellock pistols or a short wheellock carbine. War-hammers and buzdygan-maces were favorite officers' weap­ons. The long pennons of the lances fluttering and flapping during the charge made a vivid and dreadful picture in the enemy's eyes.



The hussar style after Batory's reforms is fully dis­played in the so-called Stockholmer Roll which has survived in the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm.4 This is a painted frieze about 15 meters long and 50 centi­meters high representing the ceremonial entrance of King Sigismund III Wasa and Queen Constance in Cracow in 1605. Besides other military groups, two squadrons of hussars in full gala dress and armament accompany the royal couple (Fig. 6). These hussars have light helmets and cuirasses with mail sleeves, single wings of black feathers, leopard skins or pat­terned kilims over the shoulders, lances with long pennons, sabers and pallashes. Their stirrups are of the Polish variety, deriving from the Tartar-Turkish type. From almost the same time stems a good por­trait of a hussar officer in the National Museum in Poznan (Fig. 7), and a miniature of a pair of jousting hussars without wings in the Archives of the Cracow Cathedral (Fig. 8).







A small number of hussar objects dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries may be found in Polish collections. A group of helmets, without doubt of local production, have been preserved hi the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, in the State Collection of Art at Wawel Castle in Cracow, and in the Castle Armoury at Malbork (Fig. 9). A typical helmet of this kind had the skull made of two pieces joined down the middle, not differing from the kettle helmet or the "iron hat" popular in the Middle Ages,5 but fitted with a flat brim and movable nose- ear- and nape-guards. The ear-guards were pierced in a heart shape. A whole wagon full of such hussar hats was found in the bed of the Vistula near Warsaw just be­fore World War 1. In spite of corrosion, the form of these helmets is quite clear; they are very homoge­neous, surely made in the same workshop for a hussar squadron. The helmets of officers were usually much more elaborate, in this period having been usually im­ported from abroad. It must be stressed that through­out the 16th century the hussar fashion was cultivated also in Hungary and in Austria. Decorated zisch'dgge helmets were produced largely in South Germany, especially in Nuremberg. In the Armoury of the State Collection of Art at Wawel Castle in Cracow we find two such helmets, one of them sumptuously gilded and set with semiprecious stones, ex-property of a forefather of the Tyszkiewicz family (Fig. 10), dat­able about 1550, and the other of Hungarian-Turkish fashion but with characteristic etchings of Renais­sance motifs, dated 1561 and coming from the Radziwill family. A great number of hussar cuirasses from the late 16th century are preserved in the old Arsenal of Graz in Austria, but there are also good examples in the museums of Warsaw, Cracow, and Kornik. Their form derives from the Italian half-armour called anima, constructed entirely of horizon­tal lames, and joined together underneath by a system of rivets and leather straps and popular as early as 1530, particularly in the naval service. A hussar cuirass of the Hungarian-Austrian style consisted of breast and backplates completed with a gorget worn beneath them. The examples in Polish hands are sometimes decorated (but perhaps were not originally) with



brass rosettes or small "vases" (Fig. 11). Mail shirts or mail sleeves worn with these plate cuirasses were composed of riveted iron rings. (Since chainmail manufacturing techniques changed slowly, it is im­possible to tell objects of the late 16th century from those made up to a hundred years later.)



Polish hussar saddles of oriental type but of local production are deep; to give a proper support to the rider's back, especially at the moment of a lance at­tack. Usually they are covered with embroidered leather or velvet, their bow being mounted in brass or silver while the stirrups, generally called the "Polish variety," are in fact strongly influenced by Tartar-Turkish styles. The best examples of these are now in the Livrustkammaren of Stockholm and in the Orusheynaya Palata of the Kremlin in Moscow (Fig. 12). In the Czartoryski Collection of the National Museum in Cracow we find several interesting hus­sar spurs of tinned iron with brass inlays, character­istic in their extremely long necks with stars. Poland has fairly rich collections of Hungarian-Polish sabers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, used by the hussar cavalrymen as well as by the infantrymen (Fig. 13) (cavalry sabers always have longer blades, reaching about 80-85 cm.). The blades for these sabers were manufactured in Hungary and in Poland, though the best came from Styria and Italy, particu­larly from Genoa. They are rather large, and most have several fullers and outstanding yelmens; their hilts have long iron quillons, and the grips are cov­ered with black leather (as are the scabbards, which are mounted with iron or brass furniture sometimes pierced with heart motifs, apparently a favorite among the hussars).



Highlights of Polish Hussar Cavalry

The Golden Age lasted from about 1630 until the middle of the 18th century.6 In numerous battles of the 17th century hussars played a decisive role in the victory, as for instance at Vienna in 1683.





In the reign of the King Ladislav IV (1632-1648), whose military reforms were of the greatest impor­tance, the national type of hussar armour was adopted. It was a splendid creation of Polish design and craftsmanship (Figs. 14, 15, 16). Uniform in shape and decoration, it consisted of a zischägge, breast- and backplates (or sometimes of a breastplate alone), a pair of pauldrons and a pair of arm-guards. Very rarely, long tassets made of lames were attached to the breastplate. The hemispherical skull of the zischägge had a beak fixed by rivets through which passed an adjustable nose-guard, leaf-shaped over the nose and secured by a butterfly nut; the ear-guards were movable, being riveted to leather suspensories, and often pierced in heart forms, while a lobster-tail neck-guard of several lames was riveted to the back. Skulls with a fairly high comb, styled after the West­ern morions or burgonets, were also frequent. In the late 17th century skulls of slightly conical form came into fashion, their surface embossed in large flutes, sometimes decorated in floral pattern and sometimes with brass rosettes, the ear-guards being no longer pierced but adorned with grotesque bronze masks (Fig. 17). In the first half of the 18th century a hus­sar helmet appeared usually made of blackened iron, with metal wings riveted on both sides of the skull (Fig. 18). The breastplate, the basic part of every armour, was made of bright steel, on the average 3-5mm. thick, and consisted of a large upper plate with a central ridge and of a lower part of three to five lames or splints riveted underneath to leather straps (Fig. 16). The backplate, constructed en suite and with the same number of splints, was joined to the breastplate by buckles and thongs. If there was a breastplate only, it was fixed by two crossed straps at the back with a round metal boss in the middle. The gorget was always of two plates pivoted on the left shoulder and secured on the right by a stud and key-slot—unlike its Hungarian counterpart, it was worn over the cuirass. Each pauldron was constructed of a single spherical plate covering the shoulder, having in the front one or several small "wings" protecting the armpit, and terminating in some lames of which the lowest was cut in S-shape to protect the elbow. Arm-guards were separate pieces, entirely in oriental style, similar to Turkish, Persian, or Indian armour ones: long, concave plates adapted to the shape of the fore­arm and a wristlet of two pieces secured with thongs and buckles. Tassets—used, as already noted, only sporadically—were made of several lames and con­ventionally styled like similar pieces of Western cuirassier armour.











This armour in its entirety was very effective and functional. Its weight rarely exceeded 15 kilograms (33 lbs.), the breastplates were bulletproof, all the portions were well adapted to the body (in fact, usually made to measure), and in fighting nothing hampered the wearer's movement. In comparison with corresponding armours from the world's main centers of production—Milan, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Greenwichit was much simpler, not to say crude, but nevertheless of considerable decorative merit: a mixture of folklore and oriental motifs vigorously adapted and rendered by the makers, most of whom were probably country blacksmiths. Brass was the principal ornamental material, happily combined with brightly polished steel—a combination with a long medieval tradition. The borders of the plates were trimmed with brass, often embossed in small pearls; rivet heads were covered with brass cut in squares or rosettes. Most characteristic were the em­blems of cast bronze or brass affixed to the breast­plate, and sometimes to the gorget: as a rule it was the "knight's cross", symbol of nobility, i.e. a cross of four equal arms inscribed in a square or a circle; some­times it was a medallion with the image of the Immac­ulate Virgin standing on a crescent, commemorating the first Polish Order under the patronage of the Vir­gin Mary (proposed by the King but rejected by the Seym [Diet]—the great majority of noblemen hated any distinction which could upset their equality. The Polish Order of the White Eagle was finally founded in 1705 by King Augustus the Strong, and its emblem cast in brass, a cross with the inscription Pro Fide Lege et Rege, appeared sometimes on hussar breast­plates).







In the 18th century the armour style changed. Its forms became rounded, but the edges of the lames became simple and straight, no longer fretted or in­dented as before. Trimming with embossed brass went out of use, but large brass masks were applied on the pauldrons, and on the breastplates and gorgets the royal monograms or the knight's crest were dis­played. Plumes on the helmets, wings and wild animal skins were still very popular, especially as 18th-century hussars became slowly but inexorably ever more a purely ceremonial formation. Some suits of armour with single or double wings, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, have survived in Polish collec­tions; their battens are straight with the top curved at a contiguous angle, only the armour at Wawel Castle having a pair of wings of S-form (Fig. 15). The wooden battens were by then covered with velvet and mounted in brass, being fixed by special rods into the holders of the backplates; some slight horizontal movement is possible. No original skins from the 17th or 18th century are extant but we know that they were lined, preferably with crimson silk, and were fur­nished with precious metal clasps.



The armour here described and shown served ex­clusively for the nobility that formed the elite of hus­sar squadrons. Each nobleman took with him a group of horsemen who were under his direct command and fought close to him in battle. They were mostly young peasants, well trained for war, armoured in the hussar manner but in a much simpler way. These hussars of lower rank often used the helmets called "Dutch pots," being a Western version of the typical zischägge, and their armour, without ornaments or knightly emblems, was usually blackened to prevent rust.



The lance remained the most outstanding weapon of the hussars. Some examples of them dat­ing from the late 17th and 18th centuries are pre­served in Polish museums. Their average length runs to 5 meters (just over 16 feet); they are made of two halves of fir wood hollowed out and glued together, only the wooden ball at the midpoint protecting the hand. They are painted in motifs of golden feathers against a red background. Their iron points are fairly small, about 10cm., ridge-shaped and furnished with long metal battens for fixing to the shaft. Nine original hussar pennons

made of silk have survived in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. Two of them, tri­angular and dating from the late 17th century, 390cm. long (about 12.5 feet) and 71cm. wide at the shaft, (about 28 in.) are of two fields, one crimson and one white, with a knight's cross incrusted; the other seven are slightly longer, of a single crimson field with a knight's cross set between two crossed sabers and two vipers. From iconographical sources we know that other colors were also used: green-red, blue-green, black-white, yellow-white, and sometimes checkered or zigzag motifs. On account of their partial hollowness, the lances rarely exceeded 3 kilograms (about 6 lbs. 9 oz.) in weight and were easily manageable, especially as the "tail" was placed into a special leath­er tube tied on a thong to the saddle. When charging at a gallop a hussar could pierce an armoured enemy, but the lance usually splintered. In the next stage of fighting hussars used tucks, pallashes or sabers.





A special type of Polish hussar saber was con­structed in the second half of the 17th century (Figs. 19 and 20), eliminating the Hungarian-Polish sabers which dominated up to that time7. The hussar saber was indeed versatile, designed for direct, swinging, and arc-like cuts, executed from the shoulder and el­bow. The blade, between 82 and 87cm. long and of the same width almost for its whole length, was double-edged towards the point. Most blades were of Polish manufacture. But the true merit of the hussar saber lay in the hilt, which had the quillons prolonged in a knuckle-guard and a thumb-ring riveted to the inner languet, while the grip of wood was covered with shark skin or leather and bound with iron or silver wire; the pommel was almond-shaped. The most im­portant feature of this hilt was the thumb-ring: the pressure exerted by the thumb ensured a quick and efficacious cut. Hussar sabers were sometimes called "black sabers" because of the grips and scabbards clad in black leather. Heavy pallashes or tucks with long blades were strapped, as usual, to the saddles. Hussars always held firearms in readiness. At various times, though briefly, their lances were replaced by carbines, but this rendered them essentially equals of mounted arquebusiers in the Western style, and was not continued. Their officers went into battle with­out helmets to show courage and to be recognizable all the time to their subordinates. Their favorite weapon, besides the saber or the tuck, was the buz-dygan-mace, sometimes with a dart, and the war-hammer. Along with the saddles and trappings of local make, numerous imported or trophy saddles of oriental manufacture were used by the hussars; Turk­ish, Persian, Tartar, and Circassian styles were appre­ciated. These articles were also made in Poland, chiefly by the Armenians imitating successfully East­ern patterns. Goldsmiths' work, embroidery, costly sorts of leather and textiles were lavishly adopted. Horses in parade attire were covered with sumptuous caparisons, while buntchuk-tails adorned their necks.



In the long periods of peace in the 18th century Poland, the hussar cavalry came more and more to serve as attendants of such ceremonies as royal en­trances, enthronements, weddings or funerals. They always aroused enthusiasm and admiration echoed also by J. Kitowicz, an eminent writer of that period: "It was something to watch when a hussar squadron passed in parade! No monarch in the world had any­thing like this."



In recent times, Polish painters and novelists have rediscovered hussar legend, tradition and his­tory. In the awareness of the national heritage, the hussars still live on.





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About the Author

Dr. Zygulsk was the Curator of the National Museum in Cracow and Assistant Professor in the Cracow Fine Arts Academy. He is the author of many articles and monographs published in periodicals and in book form in several languages; among the most important of these are A History of the Czartoryski Collection and On Rembrandt's "Polish Rider."



References

1. S. Herbst, M. WalickiObraz bitwy pod Orsza. Dokument historii sztuki i wojskowosci XVI w./The "Battle of Orsha" Painting: A Document of Art His­tory and Military History of the 16 Century/; in Rozprawy Komisji Historii Kultury i Sztuki. Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie, Vol. 1, 1949, p. 33-67. J. BialostockiZagadke "Bitwy pod Orsza"/"The Battle of Orsha" Enigma/; in Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, Vol. 17, 1955, no. 1, p. 80-98.



2. Nicolas de NicolayQuatre premiers livres des navi­gations et peregrinations orientales, Lyon 1567.



3. Z. Zygulski Jr.Rembrandt's "Lisowczyk": " A Study of Costume and Weapons; in Bulletin du Musée Na­tional de Varsovie, VI, 1965, no.2-3, p. 43-67.



4. K. E. StenebergPolonica. Kungl.Livrustkam-maren, Stockholm, 1943.



5. Claude BlairEuropean Armour, London 1958, p. 31-32.



6. B. GembarzewskiHusarze, ubiór, oporzadzenie i uzbrojenie 1500-1775/Hussars' Dress, Equipment, and Armament 1500-1775/; in Bron i Barwa, Vol. V, Warszawa 1938, p. 207-254, Vol. VI, 1939, p. 51-70. Z. BochenskiZe studiów nad polska zbroja husarska/Studies on the Polish Hussar Armour/ ; in Rozprawy i Sprawozdania Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie, Vol. VI, Krakow 1960.



Z. BochenskiPróba okreslenia genezy polskiej zbroi husarskiej/Essay on theOrigin of the Polish Hussar Armour/; in Muzealnictwo Wojskowe, Vol. 2, War­szawa 1964, p. 141-166.



7. W. ZablockiFunkcjonalno-konstrukcyjna charak-terystyka rekojesci dwoch typow polskich szabel bojowych z wieku XVII/Construction and Function of Two Polish War Saber Hilts of the 17th Century/; in Studia do dziejów dawnego uzbrojenia i ubioru wojskowego, V, Krakow 1971, p. 57-95.



An article by Zdzislaw Zygulski, Jr.Polish armoured units fighting at the side of the Allies in World War II wore as a badge a symbolic wing, almost vertical, slightly curved at the top. This emblem was taken over from an old Polish military tradition: huge wings made of wood and bird feathers were an emblem of the Polish Hus­sar Cavalry, established in the early 16th century, victorious on many battlefields (especially in the wars against Muscovy, Sweden, Tartary, and Tur­key), andsurviving until about the middle of the 18th century. The hussars were born anew in the national romantic legends of the 19th and the 20th centuries, gaining post-mortem a reputation of invincibility. As a matter of fact, like any other formation in any age and army, they encountered defeats along with vic­tories, the former particularly when coming up against well-trained detachments of musketeers. These hus­sars should not be confused with the, a light cavalry of purely Hungarian origin, popular in many armies all over the world (also in Poland) since the 18th century. The formation to which this article is devoted also derived from Hungary, but on Polish soil, and it was soon much altered, being a fortunate combination of Eastern and Western elements with a strong predominance of local traditions and inven­tions. In its developed form it was a half-heavy cav­alry distinguished by a variety of arms and armour, very operative, ready to choose the tactics suitable for the immediate necessity. As a rule the hussars were formed into squadrons of 150-200 horsemen each, and attacked in two lines galloping knee to knee, their long lances giving a tremendous shock to the enemy. In the melee they fought with side arms and firearms. By daring charges they proved superior to the contem­porary West-European cavalry, especially over cuir­assiers and carabineers, who were conditioned to a much more static system according to which each rank in succession discharged its pistols and rode back to a place behind the squadron to reload. Hus­sars could also easily break troops of oriental cavalry because the oriental riders' armament was greatly in­ferior and devoid of firearms. Iconographical and written sources of the epoch, together with a choice of the best original arms, armour, and equipment preserved in museums, enable us now to present the Polish hussars accurately, particularly to students outside of Poland.Almost till the end of the 15th century, Polish military forces and weaponry were of Western style, but the constant political and cultural contacts with the East changed the trend of development. The sys­tem of general levy of noblemen was replaced by the system of enlisting mercenary troops. Soldiers were recruited at home and abroad. In the wars against the Grand Duchy of Muscovy and against the Tartar Khanates, the kings of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigning in United Poland and Lithuania, had to reform their armies in order to get troops trained for campaigns in vast steppes intersectedby marshy rivers. Heavy horsemen in medieval style, clad in armour from head to foot, handling thick lances, were practically useless. In this situation, troops of light cavalryhussars—formed chiefly in Serbia and Hungarythe time of Matthias Corvinus and proved excellent in wars against the Turks, were invited to Poland. In the rolls of the Polish and Lithuanian armies of the early 16th century, hussars are mentioned many times, being described as mounted soldiers equipped with thin lances, shields and sabers. The term,which means "Serbians", is generally used in these sources, but some Hungarian names are registered as well.ororiginally meant "a robber" in Serbian. These horsemen served not only under the Polish and Lithuanian colors but also under those of the Holy Roman Emperor; images of hussars in Hungarian style may be easily found in the woodcuts illustrating the deeds of Maximilian I, particularly in the books ofand. Far the best iconographic document of hussar formation in the early 16th century is to be found in an oil painting (Fig. 1) on wood measuring 162cm. x 232cm., dat­able about 1520, now in the National Museum in Warsaw, depicting the battle of Orsha.In this battle, fought on September 8th, 1514, the allied forces of Poland and Lithuania won a telling victory over the army of Vassili III, Grand Duke of Muscovy. With some reservations, the picture is historically faithful, although the unknown artist was inclined towards ex­aggeration and multiplications of forms in his rendi­tion of the arms and armour; he must have been well acquainted with the works of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Polish-Lithuanian army is shown as consisting of fully-armoured knights in the old style, of infantry and artillery of light mounted archers, and of the new hussars. The Mus­covite side is formed entirely of the heavy-armoured boyar cavalry.The Orsha hussars are shown precisely, from vari­ous angles: marching three or four horsemen in a rank, crossing the Dnieper river, charging, fighting, and in pursuit of the enemy. Lances are their basic weapons: rather thin, of the same width throughout their length, and bearing pennons with crosses. At the attack, the lances are held in the position of "half­way up the horse's ear," rested in the shield notch or free. The shields are typically Hungarian, made of wood, asymmetrical in a form sweeping upward to a sharp point at the top on one side, and painted in bright-colored stripes (but there are also rondaches spiked in the middle). The sabers are also of Hun­garian origin, unfortunately not much depicted in actual use, for the most part shown sheathed in large scabbards mounted with silvered or gilded metal. Some hussars, probably of officer rank, havemaces thrust back under their belts. Horses cov­ered with cloths are led by bridles with heavy bits; saddles are not visible, but stirrups are shown as al­most circular, each with a small ball underneath. Spurs are very unusual, being fitted with large metal wings that cover the upper part of the rider's foot (we do not know any actual example of this kind of spur, but some analogies may be found in the painting and en­gravings of Albrecht Dürer). Head coverings are varied and numerous, one in the shape of a modern top hat apparently made of black felt being the most frequent; as a rule, it is decorated in the lower part and over the brim with a gilded circlet and a plume in a metal holder.There are also sugar-loaf caps with a similar plume, Hungarian flat caps with upright brims, caps with large flaps, and fashionable berets. No armour is worn by hussars, but short quiltedseem to offer sufficient protection. There appears sporadically a short mantel with long sleeves, which may be identified with the national Hungarian article of costume known as a. Some hussar horses, perhaps those of officers, are decorated with horsehair streamers calledtied to hang down under the neck.Few real specimens of 16th century hussar arms and equipment have survived. Among such that have, we find a set of Hungarian shields in the Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum in Budapest and in the State Art Collection at Wawel Castle in Cracow (Fig. 2). Some of these have a painted emblem of an eagle's wing, but from iconographical sources it is obvious that they were decorated originally with real eagles' wings, the custom deriving from Turkey. (Horsemen of Turkish crack troops, called, were distinguished by wings and wild animal skins. Such ais faithfully represented in an album of Turkish types drawn by Nicolas Nicolay [Fig. 3], who traveled to Istanbul in 1551, and then published his experiences.In the first half of the 16th century some squadrons of hussars took on helmets and armour, probably to allow them to serve in lieu of the old heavy cavalry that was generally disappearing from the battle­fields because it was outmoded. On military rolls and musters of the time (kept scrupulously because they were the basis for indemnities for casualties), the most important pieces of hussar armament were al­ways registered: helmet, mail armour, shield and lance. Sabers, tucks, javelins, axes, bows and quivers, as well as various sorts of firearms, become frequent in the second half of the century. Just after 1550 the skins of leopards, tigers, bears and wolves begin to be mentioned, but in the absence of these, hussars now wore special types ofor mantles thrown over the shoulders. Also from this time stem the first reports of huge wings made up of eagle, crane or ostrich feathers, the latter being dyed red, blue or green. In this the custom of the Turkishwas surely imitated, but the form of Polish wings was quite original: feathers were inserted in a row into the ap­propriate holes drilled into a straight wooden batten which was painted or covered with crimson velvet and mounted in brass; by means of special metal rods riveted to the batten, the finished wing was fixed to the backplate of the man's armour, which was fur­nished with holders. Should a hussar be without ar­mour or without backplate, he could fix the wing, or a pair of wings, in the holders of the cantle of his saddle; this could be done only after mounting. (Armourless hussars persisted for a long time in the 16th century, and even later [Fig. 4].) A Polish hus­sar without armour but with a single tall wing of ostrich feathers is perfectly represented in a fine etching by Stefano della Bella, who observed Polish knights and soldiers in the company of Polish em­bassies to Rome 1633 and Paris 1645(Fig. 5); both armoured and armourless hussars were used at that late date, but either way, wings were of the essence as the characteristic feature of the formation. Their function and meaning are still not thoroughly ex­plained. It has been suggested that in battle the rustle of these wings frightened the enemy’s horses—but surely the rustle of even a thousand must have been lost in the terrible cacophony of war. An attempt has been made to interpret the wings as pro­tection against the lassos used by oriental horsemen, especially by theTartars, but reflection and simple sense rule this thesis out, too. In fact, the function of the wings was surely and solely the creation of a powerful psychological impact. The winged knight clad in armour and wild animal skin must have had the appearance of a superhuman creature, arousing a maelstrom of emotions in the beholder—panic, re­spect, hate, and admiration. But since in actual combat those long, clumsy objects rigidly fixed to the rider's back could not have been very useful, we must con­clude that hussars probably took the wings into battle only rarely if at all, reserving them rather for parade and ceremony.Not long after the middle of the 16th century most of the hussars were changed into a heavy formation overloaded with equipment and ornaments. Stephen Batory, Duke of Transylvania, who was elected King of Poland in 1576, worked a further transformation. He was a man of outstanding military talent who waged a series of successful wars against Muscovy and planned a great expedition against the Turks, but died suddenly before this project could be realized. Batory established a new pattern for the hussar cav­alry, making it much more mobile and meticulously disciplined. He discarded forever what remained of heavy helmets, wooden shields and large saddles in medieval style, introducing instead lighthelmets or special iron hats, light half-armour worn over mail shirts or only supplemented with mail sleeves, and practical hussar saddles and stirrups very much in oriental style, with spurs with protruding necks. Lances were shortened; the saber remained the principal sidearm but an additional heavy saber or pallash—often a long tuck—was tied to the saddle. Holsters in front of the saddle held two wheellock pistols or a short wheellock carbine. War-hammers andwere favorite officers' weap­ons. The long pennons of the lances fluttering and flapping during the charge made a vivid and dreadful picture in the enemy's eyes.The hussar style after Batory's reforms is fully dis­played in the so-calledwhich has survived in the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm.This is a painted frieze about 15 meters long and 50 centi­meters high representing the ceremonial entrance of King Sigismund III Wasa and Queen Constance in Cracow in 1605. Besides other military groups, two squadrons of hussars in full gala dress and armament accompany the royal couple (Fig. 6). These hussars have light helmets and cuirasses with mail sleeves, single wings of black feathers, leopard skins or pat­ternedover the shoulders, lances with long pennons, sabers and pallashes. Their stirrups are of the Polish variety, deriving from the Tartar-Turkish type. From almost the same time stems a good por­trait of a hussar officer in the National Museum in Poznan (Fig. 7), and a miniature of a pair of jousting hussars without wings in the Archives of the Cracow Cathedral (Fig. 8).A small number of hussar objects dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries may be found in Polish collections. A group of helmets, without doubt of local production, have been preserved hi the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, in the State Collection of Art at Wawel Castle in Cracow, and in the Castle Armoury at Malbork (Fig. 9). A typical helmet of this kind had the skull made of two pieces joined down the middle, not differing from the kettle helmet or the "iron hat" popular in the Middle Ages,but fitted with a flat brim and movable nose- ear- and nape-guards. The ear-guards were pierced in a heart shape. A whole wagon full of such hussar hats was found in the bed of the Vistula near Warsaw just be­fore World War 1. In spite of corrosion, the form of these helmets is quite clear; they are very homoge­neous, surely made in the same workshop for a hussar squadron. The helmets of officers were usually much more elaborate, in this period having been usually im­ported from abroad. It must be stressed that through­out the 16th century the hussar fashion was cultivated also in Hungary and in Austria. Decoratedhelmets were produced largely in South Germany, especially in Nuremberg. In the Armoury of the State Collection of Art at Wawel Castle in Cracow we find two such helmets, one of them sumptuously gilded and set with semiprecious stones, ex-property of a forefather of the Tyszkiewicz family (Fig. 10), dat­able about 1550, and the other of Hungarian-Turkish fashion but with characteristic etchings of Renais­sance motifs, dated 1561 and coming from the Radziwill family. A great number of hussar cuirasses from the late 16th century are preserved in the old Arsenal of Graz in Austria, but there are also good examples in the museums of Warsaw, Cracow, and Kornik. Their form derives from the Italian half-armour called, constructed entirely of horizon­tal lames, and joined together underneath by a system of rivets and leather straps and popular as early as 1530, particularly in the naval service. A hussar cuirass of the Hungarian-Austrian style consisted of breast and backplates completed with a gorget worn beneath them. The examples in Polish hands are sometimes decorated (but perhaps were not originally) withbrass rosettes or small "vases" (Fig. 11). Mail shirts or mail sleeves worn with these plate cuirasses were composed of riveted iron rings. (Since chainmail manufacturing techniques changed slowly, it is im­possible to tell objects of the late 16th century from those made up to a hundred years later.)Polish hussar saddles of oriental type but of local production are deep; to give a proper support to the rider's back, especially at the moment of a lance at­tack. Usually they are covered with embroidered leather or velvet, their bow being mounted in brass or silver while the stirrups, generally called the "Polish variety," are in fact strongly influenced by Tartar-Turkish styles. The best examples of these are now in the Livrustkammaren of Stockholm and in the Orusheynaya Palata of the Kremlin in Moscow (Fig. 12). In the Czartoryski Collection of the National Museum in Cracow we find several interesting hus­sar spurs of tinned iron with brass inlays, character­istic in their extremely long necks with stars. Poland has fairly rich collections of Hungarian-Polish sabers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, used by the hussar cavalrymen as well as by the infantrymen (Fig. 13) (cavalry sabers always have longer blades, reaching about 80-85 cm.). The blades for these sabers were manufactured in Hungary and in Poland, though the best came from Styria and Italy, particu­larly from Genoa. They are rather large, and most have several fullers and outstanding yelmens; their hilts have long iron quillons, and the grips are cov­ered with black leather (as are the scabbards, which are mounted with iron or brass furniture sometimes pierced with heart motifs, apparently a favorite among the hussars).The Golden Age lasted from about 1630 until the middle of the 18th century.In numerous battles of the 17th century hussars played a decisive role in the victory, as for instance at Vienna in 1683.In the reign of the King Ladislav IV (1632-1648), whose military reforms were of the greatest impor­tance, the national type of hussar armour was adopted. It was a splendid creation of Polish design and craftsmanship (Figs. 14, 15, 16). Uniform in shape and decoration, it consisted of a, breast- and backplates (or sometimes of a breastplate alone), a pair of pauldrons and a pair of arm-guards. Very rarely, long tassets made of lames were attached to the breastplate. The hemispherical skull of thehad a beak fixed by rivets through which passed an adjustable nose-guard, leaf-shaped over the nose and secured by a butterfly nut; the ear-guards were movable, being riveted to leather suspensories, and often pierced in heart forms, while a lobster-tail neck-guard of several lames was riveted to the back. Skulls with a fairly high comb, styled after the West­ern morions or burgonets, were also frequent. In the late 17th century skulls of slightly conical form came into fashion, their surface embossed in large flutes, sometimes decorated in floral pattern and sometimes with brass rosettes, the ear-guards being no longer pierced but adorned with grotesque bronze masks (Fig. 17). In the first half of the 18th century a hus­sar helmet appeared usually made of blackened iron, with metal wings riveted on both sides of the skull (Fig. 18). The breastplate, the basic part of every armour, was made of bright steel, on the average 3-5mm. thick, and consisted of a large upper plate with a central ridge and of a lower part of three to five lames or splints riveted underneath to leather straps (Fig. 16). The backplate, constructedand with the same number of splints, was joined to the breastplate by buckles and thongs. If there was a breastplate only, it was fixed by two crossed straps at the back with a round metal boss in the middle. The gorget was always of two plates pivoted on the left shoulder and secured on the right by a stud and key-slot—unlike its Hungarian counterpart, it was worn over the cuirass. Each pauldron was constructed of a single spherical plate covering the shoulder, having in the front one or several small "wings" protecting the armpit, and terminating in some lames of which the lowest was cut in S-shape to protect the elbow. Arm-guards were separate pieces, entirely in oriental style, similar to Turkish, Persian, or Indian armour ones: long, concave plates adapted to the shape of the fore­arm and a wristlet of two pieces secured with thongs and buckles. Tassets—used, as already noted, only sporadically—were made of several lames and con­ventionally styled like similar pieces of Western cuirassier armour.This armour in its entirety was very effective and functional. Its weight rarely exceeded 15 kilograms (33 lbs.), the breastplates were bulletproof, all the portions were well adapted to the body (in fact, usually made to measure), and in fighting nothing hampered the wearer's movement. In comparison with corresponding armours from the world's main centers of production—Milan, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Greenwichit was much simpler, not to say crude, but nevertheless of considerable decorative merit: a mixture of folklore and oriental motifs vigorously adapted and rendered by the makers, most of whom were probably country blacksmiths. Brass was the principal ornamental material, happily combined with brightly polished steel—a combination with a long medieval tradition. The borders of the plates were trimmed with brass, often embossed in small pearls; rivet heads were covered with brass cut in squares or rosettes. Most characteristic were the em­blems of cast bronze or brass affixed to the breast­plate, and sometimes to the gorget: as a rule it was the "knight's cross", symbol of nobility, i.e. a cross of four equal arms inscribed in a square or a circle; some­times it was a medallion with the image of the Immac­ulate Virgin standing on a crescent, commemorating the first Polish Order under the patronage of the Vir­gin Mary (proposed by the King but rejected by the Seym [Diet]—the great majority of noblemen hated any distinction which could upset their equality. The Polish Order of the White Eagle was finally founded in 1705 by King Augustus the Strong, and its emblem cast in brass, a cross with the inscription, appeared sometimes on hussar breast­plates).In the 18th century the armour style changed. Its forms became rounded, but the edges of the lames became simple and straight, no longer fretted or in­dented as before. Trimming with embossed brass went out of use, but large brass masks were applied on the pauldrons, and on the breastplates and gorgets the royal monograms or the knight's crest were dis­played. Plumes on the helmets, wings and wild animal skins were still very popular, especially as 18th-century hussars became slowly but inexorably ever more a purely ceremonial formation. Some suits of armour with single or double wings, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, have survived in Polish collec­tions; their battens are straight with the top curved at a contiguous angle, only the armour at Wawel Castle having a pair of wings of S-form (Fig. 15). The wooden battens were by then covered with velvet and mounted in brass, being fixed by special rods into the holders of the backplates; some slight horizontal movement is possible. No original skins from the 17th or 18th century are extant but we know that they were lined, preferably with crimson silk, and were fur­nished with precious metal clasps.The armour here described and shown served ex­clusively for the nobility that formed the elite of hus­sar squadrons. Each nobleman took with him a group of horsemen who were under his direct command and fought close to him in battle. They were mostly young peasants, well trained for war, armoured in the hussar manner but in a much simpler way. These hussars of lower rank often used the helmets called "Dutch pots," being a Western version of the typicaland their armour, without ornaments or knightly emblems, was usually blackened to prevent rust.The lance remained the most outstanding weapon of the hussars. Some examples of them dat­ing from the late 17th and 18th centuries are pre­served in Polish museums. Their average length runs to 5 meters (just over 16 feet); they are made of two halves of fir wood hollowed out and glued together, only the wooden ball at the midpoint protecting the hand. They are painted in motifs of golden feathers against a red background. Their iron points are fairly small, about 10cm., ridge-shaped and furnished with long metal battens for fixing to the shaft. Nine original hussar pennonsmade of silk have survived in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. Two of them, tri­angular and dating from the late 17th century, 390cm. long (about 12.5 feet) and 71cm. wide at the shaft, (about 28 in.) are of two fields, one crimson and one white, with a knight's cross incrusted; the other seven are slightly longer, of a single crimson field with a knight's cross set between two crossed sabers and two vipers. From iconographical sources we know that other colors were also used: green-red, blue-green, black-white, yellow-white, and sometimes checkered or zigzag motifs. On account of their partial hollowness, the lances rarely exceeded 3 kilograms (about 6 lbs. 9 oz.) in weight and were easily manageable, especially as the "tail" was placed into a special leath­er tube tied on a thong to the saddle. When charging at a gallop a hussar could pierce an armoured enemy, but the lance usually splintered. In the next stage of fighting hussars used tucks, pallashes or sabers.A special type of Polish hussar saber was con­structed in the second half of the 17th century (Figs. 19 and 20), eliminating the Hungarian-Polish sabers which dominated up to that time. The hussar saber was indeed versatile, designed for direct, swinging, and arc-like cuts, executed from the shoulder and el­bow. The blade, between 82 and 87cm. long and of the same width almost for its whole length, was double-edged towards the point. Most blades were of Polish manufacture. But the true merit of the hussar saber lay in the hilt, which had the quillons prolonged in a knuckle-guard and a thumb-ring riveted to the inner languet, while the grip of wood was covered with shark skin or leather and bound with iron or silver wire; the pommel was almond-shaped. The most im­portant feature of this hilt was the thumb-ring: the pressure exerted by the thumb ensured a quick and efficacious cut. Hussar sabers were sometimes called "black sabers" because of the grips and scabbards clad in black leather. Heavy pallashes or tucks with long blades were strapped, as usual, to the saddles. Hussars always held firearms in readiness. At various times, though briefly, their lances were replaced by carbines, but this rendered them essentially equals of mounted arquebusiers in the Western style, and was not continued. Their officers went into battle with­out helmets to show courage and to be recognizable all the time to their subordinates. Their favorite weapon, besides the saber or the tuck, was the, sometimes with a dart, and the war-hammer. Along with the saddles and trappings of local make, numerous imported or trophy saddles of oriental manufacture were used by the hussars; Turk­ish, Persian, Tartar, and Circassian styles were appre­ciated. These articles were also made in Poland, chiefly by the Armenians imitating successfully East­ern patterns. Goldsmiths' work, embroidery, costly sorts of leather and textiles were lavishly adopted. Horses in parade attire were covered with sumptuous caparisons, whileadorned their necks.In the long periods of peace in the 18th century Poland, the hussar cavalry came more and more to serve as attendants of such ceremonies as royal en­trances, enthronements, weddings or funerals. They always aroused enthusiasm and admiration echoed also by J. Kitowicz, an eminent writer of that period: "It was something to watch when a hussar squadron passed in parade! No monarch in the world had any­thing like this."In recent times, Polish painters and novelists have rediscovered hussar legend, tradition and his­tory. In the awareness of the national heritage, the hussars still live on.