A hajduk (, plural of hajdú ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú-Bihar county.
In the European lands of the Ottoman Empire, the term hajduk was used to describe bandits and brigands of the Balkans, while in Central Europe for the West Slavs, Hungarians, and Germans, and Eastern Europe for the Ukrainians, it was used to refer to who protected Christians against provocative actions by the Ottomans.
By the 17th century they were firmly established in the Ottoman Balkans, owing to increased taxes, Christian victories against the Ottomans, and a general decline in security. Hajduk bands predominantly numbered one hundred men each, with a firm hierarchy under one leader. They targeted Ottoman representatives and rich people, mainly rich Turks, for plunder, punishment to oppressive Ottomans, revenge, or a combination of all.
In Balkan folkloric tradition, the hajduk is a romanticised hero figure who steals from, and leads his fighters into battle against, the Ottoman Empire.
People that helped hajduks were called jataks. Jataks lived in villages and towns and provided food and shelter for hajduks. In return, hajduks would give them part of the loot.
The hajduk of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries commonly were as much guerrilla fighters against the Ottoman rule as they were bandits and highwayman who preyed not only on Ottomans and their local representatives, but also on local merchants and travellers. As such, the term could also refer to any robber and carry a negative connotation.[Найден Геров. 1895-1904. Речник на блъгарский язик.Хайдукъ][Л.Андрейчин и др. 2006. Български тълковен речник. Четвърто издание]
Etymology
The etymology of the word
hajduk is unclear. One theory is that
hajduk was derived from the
Turkish language word
haidut or
haydut 'bandit', which was originally used by the
Ottoman Empire to refer to Hungarian and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth infantry soldiers. Another theory suggests that the word comes from Hungarian
hajtó or
hajdó (plural
hajtók or
hajdók) '(cattle)
droving'.
[Petrović, Aleksandar. These persons later became soldiers on the Hungarian–Ottoman Serbian border and fought against the Ottoman Turks. The Role of Banditry in the Creation of National States in the Central Balkans During the 19th Century ] These two theories do not necessarily contradict each other because the Turkish word
haidut or
haydut is adapted from the Hungarian
hajtó or
hajdó, just as many Slavic words were adapted from Turkish in what is known as
Turkification.
[Младенов, Стефан. 1941. Етимологически и правописен речник на българския книжовен език.]
Other spellings in English include ajduk, haydut, haiduk, haiduc, hayduck, and hayduk.
Forms of the word in various languages, in singular form, include:
-
hajdut, in Albanian; in the ordinary sense of "thief"
-
hayduk (հայդուկ), in Armenian; used as a male given name, and it means "Armenian freedom fighter".
-
haydut (хайдут), haydutin (хайдутин) or hayduk (хайдук), in Bulgarian
-
haidouk, haiduque, in French language
-
aiducco, in Italian language
-
hajdú, in Hungarian
-
ajduk (ајдук), ajdutin (ајдутин), in Macedonian
-
hajduk, in Polish language
-
Hajduk, in Romani language
-
haiduc, in Romanian
-
hajduk (хајдук), in Serbo-Croatian
-
hajduk (less common: hejduk), in Czech language
-
hajdúch in Slovak language
-
hejduk, in Swedish language
-
haydut, in Turkish language; in the ordinary sense of "bandit"
-
hejduk, in Kurdish language
-
gajduk (гайдук), in Russian language
-
haidamaka (гайдамака), in Ukrainian
-
haydamak (הײַדאַמאַק), in Yiddish language
Irregular military
Kingdom of Hungary
In 1604-1606, István Bocskay, Lord of Bihar, led an insurrection against the
Habsburg Emperor, whose army had recently occupied
Transylvania and begun a reign of terror. The bulk of Bocskay's army was composed of
who had either fled from the war and the Habsburg drive toward
Catholic conversion, or been discharged from the Imperial Army. These
, freelance soldiers, were known as the
hajduks.
As a reward for their service, Bocskay emancipated the hajduk from the jurisdiction of their lords, granted them land, and guaranteed them rights to own property and to personal freedom.
The emancipated hajduk constituted a new "warrior estate" within Hungarian
feudal society.
Many of the settlements created at this time still bear the prefix
Hajdú such as Hajdúbagos, Hajdúböszörmény, Hajdúdorog, Hajdúhadház, Hajdúnánás, Hajdúsámson, Hajdúszoboszló, Hajdúszovát, Hajdúvid etc., and the whole area is called
Hajdúság (Land of the Hajduk) (see Hajdú County).
The Hajdú have always been an important pillar of Hungarian society and its defence. During the great Turkish attack of 1551/52, it was possible to recruit several hundred or even several thousand Hajdú troops from the Nyírség-Debrecen region for an action against the Turks. Among the Hungarians, the Hajdú lifestyle was significant. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, we know of tens of thousands of hajdú, who were also the first to fight in wars in the first half of the 17th century. Their activities were significant both as mercenaries and as Defence Forces. Hajdú life provided social mobility, as their success was illustrated by the fact that, although they were born as peasant or petty nobles, they often received substantial land donations from the ruler and became quasi-nobility.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The word
hajduk was initially a colloquial term for a style of footsoldier, Hungarian or Turco-
Balkan in inspiration, that formed the backbone of the Polish infantry arm from the 1570s until about the 1630s.
Unusually for this period, Polish-Lithuanian hajduks wore
, typically of grey-blue woolen cloth, with red collar and cuffs. Their principal weapon was a small calibre
matchlock firearm, known as an
arquebus. For close combat they also carried a heavy variety of
sabre, capable of hacking off the heads of enemy pikes and
. Contrary to popular opinion, the small axe they often wore tucked in their belt (not to be confused with the huge half-moon shaped
Bardiche axe, which was seldom carried by hajduks) was not a combat weapon, but rather was intended for cutting wood.
In the mid-17th century hajduk-style infantry largely fell out of fashion in Poland-Lithuania, and were replaced by musket-armed infantry of Western style. However, commanders or of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth continued to maintain their own liveried bodyguards of hajduks, well into the 18th century as something of a throwback to the past, even though they were now rarely used as field troops. In imitation of these bodyguards, in the 18th century wealthy members of the szlachta hired liveried domestic servants whom they called hajduks, thereby creating the meaning of the term 'hajduk' as it is generally understood in modern Polish.[Richard Brzezinski, Polish Armies 1569-1696, volume 1, London: Osprey Military Publishing, 1987, p. 21, 39-41 (also contains six contemporary illustrations of Polish hajduks, besides several modern reconstructions by Angus McBride).]
Serbian Militia (1718–46)
The Serbs established a Hajduk army that supported the Austrians.
The army was divided into 18 companies, in four groups.
In this period, the most notable obor-kapetans were Vuk Isaković from Crna Bara, Mlatišuma from
Kragujevac and Kosta Dimitrijević from Paraćin.
[
]
Cultural influence
The Croatian football team HNK Hajduk Split; Serbian football teams Hajduk Kula, FK Hajduk Beograd, FK Hajduk Veljko and Hajduk Lion; the Macedonian football team FK Hajduk - Vratnica; Czech amateur football team Hajduk Lipník; the pop-music project Haiducii, and Romanian Romani people musical troupe Taraful Haiducilor are all named after the hajduci. The surnames of the fictional character George Washington Hayduke, invented by Edward Abbey, actress Stacy Haiduk, US national soccer team defender Frankie Hejduk, Czech Republic national ice hockey team forward Milan Hejduk and Montenegrin theoretical physicist Dragan Hajduković, are likewise derived from this word.
The term "haiduci" was used by the resistance movement Haiducii Muscelului, between 1947 and 1959, which opposed the Soviet occupation and the Communist government.
In the 2003 viral Moldovan pop song Dragostea Din Tei, the singer begins by introducing himself as a 'haiduc'. In 2004, Haiducii herself released a successful cover of the song.
Notable hajduks
Armenian
Albanian
-
Çerçiz Topulli (1880–1915), important figure during the Albanian National Awakening and Albanian national hero
Bulgarian
Regions of Thrace, Moesia and Macedonia
Romanian
-
Iancu Jianu (1787–1842), hajduk in Oltenia, participant of the Wallachian Uprising
-
( 1848–64), priest and hajduk in Oltenia, participant in the 1848 Revolutions in Wallachia
-
Pintea the Brave (d. 1703), rebel in the area of Maramureș.
-
(1790–1818)
Greek
-
Odysseas Androutsos (1788–1825)
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Markos Botsaris (1788–1823)
-
Athanasios Diakos (1788–1821)
-
Geórgios Karaïskákis (1782–1827)
-
Antonis Katsantonis (c. 1775 – 1808)
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Theodoros Kolokotronis (1770–1843)
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Dimitrios Makris (c. 1772 – 1841)
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Nikitas Stamatelopoulos (c. 1784 – 1849)
Hungarian
-
Angyal Bandi
-
Juraj Jánošík (1688–1713)
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Sándor Rózsa (1813–1878)
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Jóska Sobri (1810–1837)
Ukrainian
Ukrainian Carpathians
Czech, Polish and Slovak
-
Juraj Jánošík (1688–1713)
-
Matěj Ondra z Leskovce
-
Ondráš
Serbian
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Starina Novak (1530s–1601), Wallachian-employed guerrilla commander, former peasant in Timok
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Deli-Marko (fl. 1596–1619), hajduk and military commander in Habsburg service
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Bajo Pivljanin (fl. 1669–85), Venetian-employed guerrilla leader
-
Stanislav Sočivica (1715–1776), brigand leader in Ottoman Bosnia
-
Karađorđe (1763–1817), supreme leader of the Serbian Revolution
-
Stanko Arambašić (1764–1789), Bimbaša in Mustafa Pasha's Popular Army.
[М. Ђ. Milićević, Pomenik znamenitih ljudi u srpskog naroda novijeg doba, Beograd 1888, 15]
-
Stanoje Glavaš (1763–1815), commander in the Serbian Revolution
-
Stojan Čupić (c. 1765–1815), commander in the Serbian Revolution
-
Hajduk Veljko (c. 1780–1813), commander in the Serbian Revolution
-
Zeka Buljubaša (c. 1785–1813), commander in the Serbian Revolution
-
Golub Babić (1824–1910), commander in the 1875–77 Herzegovina Uprising
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Pecija (1826–1875), rebel leader in Bosnian Krajina
-
Ivan Musić
[Иван Мусић] (1848–1888), commander in the 1875–77 Herzegovina Uprising
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Jovo Stanisavljević Čaruga (1897–1925), outlaw in Slavonia
Croatian
-
Petar Mrkonjić (fl. 1645–69), Venetian-employed guerrilla
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Ilija Perajica (fl. 1685), Venetian-employed guerrilla leader
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Ivan Bušić Roša (1745–1783), Venetian-employed guerrilla leader
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Ivo Senjanin (d. 1612), Habsburg uskok
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Andrijica Šimić (1833–1905), outlaw in Herzegovina
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Mijat Tomić (1610–1656), brigand leader in Ottoman Bosnia
See also
-
Armatoles
-
Armenian fedayi, occasionally referred to as hajduks
-
Banditry
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Betyár
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Early Cossacks, Slavic-Tatar frontier warriors
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Hajdú-Bihar County
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Hajdučka Republika Mijata Tomića, a micronation
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Hayduke, term used by environmental activists
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Kângë Kreshnikësh, an Albanian oral tradition of frontier warrior mythology
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Irregular military
Further reading
External links
