Petyhorcy (singular: Petyhorzec, la, pientho-horcensis, ) was a type of regular medium-armoured
light cavalry
Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily rai ...
exclusively in the
Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army
The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (whi ...
during the 17th and 18th centuries. The petyhorcy are viewed as the Lithuanian equivalent of the
Royal Polish Army's
Armoured Companion
Armoured companion (Polish: ''Towarzysz pancerny'' , plural: ''towarzysze pancerni'') was a medium-cavalryman in 16th to 18th century Poland, named after their chainmail armor. These units were the second-most-important (and successful) cavalry i ...
,
or as a cavalry type that was between the Winged Hussars and the Armoured Companion. They were organised in
Banners
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
. Originally, the Petyhorcy were spear-armed cavalry from
Circassia
Circassia (; also known as Cherkessia in some sources; ady, Адыгэ Хэку, Адыгей, lit=, translit=Adıgə Xəku, Adıgey; ; ota, چرکسستان, Çerkezistan; ) was a country and a historical region in the along the northeast ...
.
The Petyhorcy were supposed to finish off and defeat the enemy line that was breached by the
Winged Hussars
The Polish hussars (; pl, husaria ), alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is deriv ...
. While the Winged Hussars were more prestigious, the Petyhorcy enjoyed high reputation, hence their banner's
rotmistras were frequently high-ranking officials. In fact, the Petyhorcy developed in the late 16th-century from the mounted
shooters who protected the
hussars
A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...
.
Etymology
The name of the Petyhorcy comes from
Mount Beshtau
Beshtau (, from Turkic ''beş'' 'five' and ''tau'' 'mountain') is an isolated five-domed igneous mountain (volcano) near Pyatigorsk (after the Russian term ''Pyatigorye'' 'area of five mountains') in the Northern Caucasus.
Its height is . The s ...
(in
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...
, means five and means mountain).
The name of the Russian city of
Pyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск; Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody where there is an international airport and about ...
is also derived from it.
Tadeusz Czacki
Tadeusz Czacki (28 August 1765 in Poryck, Volhynia – 8 February 1813 in Dubno) was a Polish historian, pedagogue and numismatist. Czacki played an important part in the Enlightenment in Poland.
Biography
Czacki was born in Poryck in Volhynia ...
wrote that the Petyhorcy originated from the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
, but that is false.
Beginnings
Initially it was formed from
Kazarians who came to Lithuania from under the rule of the
Russian Tsardom
The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in ...
(and hence were sometimes referred to simply as , 'Kazarians'). Initially formed by Caucasian mountaineers ('), the light cavalry units were with time also joined by
Lithuanian Tartars and local
landed gentry
The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...
. Much like other steppe units, the petyhorcy units were initially armoured only in light
Chain mail
Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...
cap and , a type of steel arm protectors. The offensive armament included a
lance
A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier ( lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike si ...
, possibly identical to the long lance used by
Winged Hussars
The Polish hussars (; pl, husaria ), alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is deriv ...
. The first such units were formed during the reign of king Stephen Báthory. A commander of one of such units, Temruk Szymkowic, was recorded as a
rotmistrz
__NOTOC__
(German and Scandinavian for "riding master" or "cavalry master") is or was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. A ''Rittmeister'' is typic ...
already during the reign of
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler ...
, but it is uncertain whether he commanded a Kazarian unit at that time.
At the time of
Stephen Báthory
Stephen Báthory ( hu, Báthory István; pl, Stefan Batory; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), Prince of Transylvania (1576–1586), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) ...
, the light resembled the Petyhorcy.
17th century
With time the unit type evolved into medium cavalry, almost identical to the
Armoured companion
Armoured companion (Polish: ''Towarzysz pancerny'' , plural: ''towarzysze pancerni'') was a medium-cavalryman in 16th to 18th century Poland, named after their chainmail armor. These units were the second-most-important (and successful) cavalry i ...
. The armour used by those later units included a full chainmail armour with and arm protectors and often also a , a round Turkish-style shield. In the 17th century the chainmail was gradually replaced by
cuirass
A cuirass (; french: cuirasse, la, coriaceus) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The word probably originates from the original material, leather, from the French '' cuira ...
es. The offensive armament used by Petyhorcy included a 3 to 4-metre-long lance of
bear spear
A bear spear was a medieval type of spear used in hunting for bears and other large animals. The sharpened head of a bear spear was enlarged and usually took the form of a bay leaf. Right under the head there was a short crosspiece that helped f ...
(), as well as a
Szabla
(; plural: ) is the Polish word for sabre.
The sabre was in widespread use in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Early Modern period, especially by light cavalry in the 17th century. The sabre became widespread in Europe follo ...
, two
pistol
A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
s and a musket carbine or an
eastern-type bow.
Similar to the Winged Hussars, their armour was
chain mail
Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...
, while their equipment consisted of a shield, lance and bow, the latter only when fighting the
Ottoman army
The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire.
Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...
. In the mid-17th century, this type of cavalry was usually called the Cossack-type cavalry.
In 1614, the army led by
Jacob De la Gardie
Field Marshal and Count Jacob Pontusson De la Gardie (Reval, 20 June 1583 – Stockholm, 22 August 1652) was a statesman and a soldier of the Swedish Empire, and a Marshal from 1620 onward.
He was Privy Councilor from 1613 onward, Governor o ...
had two petyhorcy banners, whose commanders were Jaromir Plecki and Stanisław Wolski.
In 1673, the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army had 18 petyhorcy banners, totalling 1,980 horses. In early 1676, there were 22 petyhorcy
rota with 2,670 horses, but in the later part of the year, this shrunk to 20 rota of 2,430 horses. In 1690, the Lithuanian Army officially had 620 petyhorcy.
18th century
In 1717, in the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, the petyhorcy were the most numerous cavalry, having a total of 26 banners. During the military reforms of 1775–1776, all Hussar and Petyhorcy flags, of which there were 32 in total, were merged into two
National Cavalry
The National cavalry ( pl, Kawaleria narodowa) was a branch of Polish–Lithuanian cavalry in the Polish-Lithuanian armed forces in the last quarter of the 18th century. Formed as a merger of previously-existing units of Winged hussars, pancer ...
brigades of 16 flags each. The second one was the
2nd Lithuanian National Cavalry Brigade, also called the 2nd (Pinsk) Petyhorcy Brigade, which had about 380 soldiers. In 1789, it numbered 1635 and was composed of 17–32 banners. This brigade was deployed in the eastern lands of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...
, on the Russian border. During wartime, the brigade was redeployed. During the
War of 1792, part of the brigade's banners were located in the Russian occupation zone and hence were disbanded. The last time the Petyhorcy fought were in the
Kościuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794 and the Second Polish War, was an uprising against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Pr ...
.
In the 18th century, the petyhorcy were armed with a lance,
backsword
A backsword is a type of sword characterised by having a single-edged blade and a hilt with a single-handed grip. It is so called because the triangular cross section gives a flat back edge opposite the cutting edge. Later examples often have a ...
and pistols or
carbine
A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges.
The smaller size and lighter ...
.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*{{Cite web, last=Rakutis, first=Valdas, date=2021, title=Petihorai, url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/petihorai/, website=
Vle.lt, language=lt
Lithuanian cavalry
16th- and 17th-century warrior types
18th- and 19th-century warrior types
Cavalry units and formations of Lithuania