Companion (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

: ''Towarzysz'' ), plural: ''towarzysze'') was a junior

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

officer or

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

-officer in the army of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

from the 16th century until its demise in 1794.

Name

During the 20th century, ''towarzysz'' assumed the same meaning as the Russian (''

tovarishch Tovarishch, tovarisch or tovarish (russian: товарищ) is a Russian word meaning comrade, friend, colleague, or ally, and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Tovaritch'' (1933 play), a 1933 play in French by Jacques Deval ** ''Tovaritc ...

'', "

comrade The term ''comrade'' (russian: товарищ, tovarisch) generally means 'mate', 'colleague', or 'ally', and derives from the Spanish and Portuguese, term , literally meaning 'chamber mate', from Latin , meaning 'chamber' or 'room'. It may also ...

"), with the military meaning fading in use. Use of cultural expressions such as '' pan'' ("sir") was frowned upon and the communist regime encouraged use of ''towarzysz'' ("companion") or '' obywatel'' ("citizen").

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

In the

military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth consisted of two separate armies of the Kingdom of Poland's Crown Army and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army following the 1569 Union of Lublin, which joined to form the ...

, (until the 1775 AD reforms) companion was usually a

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

who served in the Army for a period of time, usually less than 5 years, as a horseman with his mounted retainers (cavalry) and ''free servants'' ( hussars,

cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

–

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 ...

Petyhorcy Petyhorcy (singular: Petyhorzec, la, pientho-horcensis, ) was a type of regular medium-armoured light cavalry exclusively in the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army during the 17th and 18th centuries. The petyhorcy are viewed as the Lithuanian equivalent o ...

Hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

), or with none or one retainer and very few free servants (light cavalry e.g.

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

n, Lisowczyks,

Lithuanian Tatars The Lipka Tatars (Lipka – refers to '' Lithuania'', also known as Lithuanian Tatars; later also – Polish Tatars, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, ''Lipkowie'', ''Lipcani'', ''Muślimi'', ''Lietuvos totoriai'') are a Turkic ethnic group who origi ...

), organized into banners/companies. His pay was relative to the type of cavalry unit he served, whether in (hussars, cossack – armoured companion), banners. He usually brought between 1 and 4 men (

pocztowy Poczet (, "fellowship" or "retinue"; plural ''poczty'') was the smallest organized unit of soldiers in the and later also the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army from the 15th until the 18th century. The name of a medium or heavy-cavalry soldiers in poczet ...

or pacholiks) with him in his "retinue" ('' poczet'') prescribed by his current military contract with his commander, the ''rotameister'' ( rotmistrz), and the state. He armed, provisioned and commanded his retainers, and his free servants, that provided care for horses and weapons, forage, set up camp and mended equipment. In the light cavalry, a towarzysz usually fought with a very small poczet. They were differentiated based on their horse unit origin, depending on whether they joined a heavy cavalry unit – (''Towarzysz husarski'' of 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 ...

), a

medium cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

banner –

towarzysz kozacki Companion (Polish: ''Towarzysz'' ), plural: ''towarzysze'') was a junior cavalry officer or knight-officer in the army of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 16th century until its demise in 1794. Name During the 20th century, ''towa ...

(name change after 1648 AD –

), a

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 ...

banner – towarzysz lekkiego znaku etc. The richest and most prestigious were towarzysze that came from the winged hussar banners, but their own expenses' burden was the most excessive and grew as the 17th century progressed.

From 1775

After 1775 reforms that modernized Polish-Lithuanian cavalry towarzysz was usually a

lancer A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by Persia, India, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...

and head of the smallest unit in the

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 ...

Pulk Jazdy Przedniej A pulk (from fi, pulkka; sv, pulka; no, pulk; se, bulki) is a Nordic short, low-slung small sled used in sport or for transport, pulled by a dog or a skier, or in Sápmi pulled by reindeer.Second Partition of Poland–Lithuania, in 1781 a Polish-style cavalry regiment under the name was organized, preserving the ''Towarzysz-pocztowy'' unit organization.

Russian Empire

In Russia, after the Third Partition of Poland–Lithuania in 1797, two Polish-based cavalry regiments were organized: ''Konnopolski Regiment'' and along the lines of ''towarzysz''-''pocztowy'' organization.

Kingdom of Prussia

In the

Prussian army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

under Frederick William II of Prussia and

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

, there were several cavalry regiments organized along the lines of towarzysz cavalry from the Polish, Lithuanians and Tatars in Prussian lands, with one cavalry regiment being called {{Interlanguage link, Towarzysz Regiment, lt=Towarzysz Regiment, de, Towarzysz-Regiment, WD=, organized in 1799. The regiment retained towarzysz and retainers structure and a Polish uhlan lance as the primary weapon, but this regiment did not survive Prussian collapse of 1806, where most men went into the

army of the Duchy of Warsaw Army of the Duchy of Warsaw (Polish: ''Armia Księstwa Warszawskiego'') refers to the military forces of the Duchy of Warsaw. The Army was significantly based on the Polish Legions; it numbered about 30,000 and was expanded during wartime to alm ...

along with their horses and weapons. However other Polish-based regiments were converted to Uhlan regiments in 1807 and formed the basis for Prussian uhlan regiments until the end of Prussia.

References

* Richard Brzezinski, ''Polish Armies:1569–1699,''London 1987. vol. 1, pp. 12–19. * Richard Brzezinski, ''Polish Winged Hussar,'' New York 2006, pp. 8–10. * Konstanty Górski, ''Historia Jazdy Polskiej,'' Kraków 1894. * Peter Hofschröer, ''Prussian cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars,'' Volume 1, London 1985. * Radosław Sikora, ''Wojskowość polska w dobie wojny polsko-szwedzkiej 1626–1629. Kryzys mocarstwa,'' Poznań, 2005, s. 76–77; * Radoslaw Sikora, Bartosz Musialowicz
''Winged Hussars''
''BUM Magazine'', 2016. * Jan Wimmer.'' Wojsko Polskie w drugiej polowie XVII wieku,'' Wojskowy Instytut Historyczny, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warszawa 1965, * Zygmunt Gloger, ''Encyklopedia starapolska ilustrowana,'' Volume 4, Warszawa 1903 pp. 379–380.

Name

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

From 1775

Russian Empire

Kingdom of Prussia

References

See also