Polish Hussars - Armour & Weaponry

Armour & Weaponry

The hussars towarzysz were required to provide the arms and armour for themselves and their retainers, except for the lance which was provided by the King. Each lance's horses also came at each towarzysz husarski expense. Winged hussars during their heyday, 1574–1705, carried the following arms and armour:

The kopia lance was the main offensive weapon of the hussar. The lances were based on the Balkan and finally Hungarian lances except the Polish lances could have been longer and, like their predecessors from the Balkans and Western Europe, they were hollowed, with two halves glued together and painted, and even often richly gilded. They were commonly made from fir-wood, with the lance point being made from forged steel. They had a gałka large wooden ball which served as the handle guard. The hussar's lance usually ranged from 4.5 to 6.20 meters in length. A large 'silk'/taffeta proporzec pennon was attached to the kopia below the point. There was another type of lance was used, known as demi-lance or kopijka, that could have been 3 to 3.6 meters long and used against the Tatars and Turks of the later 17th-century wars.

The Towarzysz husarski carried underneath his left thigh an Eastern-in-origin koncerz estoc (up to 1.5 meter in length) and often under his right thigh a palasz (a type of broadsword). The szabla sabre was carried on the left side, and several types of sabres were known to winged hussars, including the famous szabla husarska.

Winged hussars carried also other weapons, such as "nadziak" type of war hammers and battleaxes. Towarzysz husarski carried one or two wheellock (later flintlock) pistols in the saddle holsters, while retainers also might have carried a pistol or light wheellock arquebus or carbine; from the 1680s a carbine for retainers was mandatory.

Individual hussar towarzysz may possibly have carried a Tatar or Turkish reflex bow with arrows in a quiver, especially after the mid-17th century when many 'pancerny' companions became hussars, and some sources of the late 17th century point to existence of bows amongst the hussar companions. During the first half of the 18th century hussar companion carried when in his a non-military attire a bow in a bow case to denote his military status. Yet bow in a bow case was carried by all cavalry officers of the National Army until the 1770s reforms, including Uhlan units in the Saxon service.

At the height of their prowess, 1576-1653 hussar armour consisted of a szyszak Oriental Turkic-in-origin helmet later developed into Polish variety with hemispherical skull, comb like Western morion 'cheekpieces' with a heart-shaped cut in the middle, neck guard of several plates secured by sliding rivets, and adjustable nasal terminating in a leaf-shaped visor. Shishak and kettle hat helmets for lower rank (retainers) were often blackened as well was their armour. A cuirass (breast plate), back plate, gorget, shoulder guards and of the Great Steppe, Western vambraces with iron glove and later during the 1630s the Persian origin karwasz vambrace that was a forearm protection. Towarzysz also could wear tasset hip, cuisse thigh and poleyn knee protection, underneath a thigh length coat of mail or specially padded coat with mail sleeves. Retainers usually wore less expensive and older armour, often painted black, and after 1670s might have no cuirass, according to some sources. Karacena Sarmatian armour (of iron scales riveted to a leather support), might have consisted of scale helmet, cuirass, gorget, legs and shoulder protection, became popular during the reign of king Jan Sobieski, but perhaps due to costs and weight remained popular mostly with the winged hussar commanding officers. Their armour was light, usually around 15 kg, allowing them to be relatively quick and for their horses to gallop at full speed for long periods. Albeit during the 1670s onwards chain-mail was used when fighting the Tatars in the southern part of the republic. Towarzysz usually wore a leopard (sometimes tiger, jaguar, lion) pelt over his left shoulder, or as often depicted in the surviving Podhorce Castle paintings he had the exotic pelt underneath his saddle or wrapped around his hips. Whereas wolf, brown bear and lynx pelts were reserved for leaders and veterans (starszyzna).