Petyhorcy
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Petyhorcy (singular: Petyhorzec, , ) was a type of regular medium-armoured
light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and body armor, 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 p ...
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 Navy, the Lithuanian Air Force and the Lithuanian Special Operations Force. In wartime, the Lithuan ...
during the 17th and 18th centuries. The petyhorcy are viewed as the Lithuanian equivalent of the
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
Armoured Companion, 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 Zichia, was a country and a historical region in . It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during ...
. The Petyhorcy were supposed to finish off and defeat the enemy line that was breached by the
Winged Hussars The Polish hussars (; ), alternatively known as the winged hussars, were an elite heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is derived from large rear wings, which were ...
. 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, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...
.


Etymology

The name of the Petyhorcy comes from Mount Beshtau (in
Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 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 West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
, means five and means mountain). The name of the Russian city of
Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (; Circassian languages, Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has an i ...
is also derived from it. Tadeusz Czacki 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 and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
, but that is false.


17th century

With time the unit type evolved into medium cavalry, almost identical to the Armoured companion. 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 ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The term probably originates from the original material, leather, from the Old French word and the Latin word . The us ...
es. The offensive armament used by Petyhorcy included a 3 to 4-metre-long lance or bear spear (), as well as a
Szabla (; plural: ) is the Polish language, 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 ...
, two
pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...
s and a musket carbine or an eastern-type bow. Similar to the armoured companions, their armour was
chain mail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...
, while their equipment consisted of a shield, lance and bow, the latter only when fighting the
Ottoman army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...
. 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 (20 June 1583 – 22 August 1652) was a wikt:statesman, statesman and a soldier of the Swedish Empire, and a Marshal from 1620 onward. He was Privy Council of Sweden, Privy Councilor from ...
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 () 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, pancerni and petyhorcy t ...
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 sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
, 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, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...
. 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 ligh ...
.


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 Combat occupations Cavalry units and formations of Lithuania