Hajduk (Kingdom of Hungary)

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The hajdk (sing. hajd) were irregular or mercenary soldiers of the Kingdom of Hungary
in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
3 See also
4 References

Etymology
Further information: Hajduk

The Hungarian term hajd (hajdk is the plural) may derive from hajt which meant
(cattle) drover. In 16th century Hungary, cattle driving was an important and dangerous
occupation and drovers traveled armed. Some of them ended up as bandits or retainers in
the service of local landowners and many may have become soldiers. In any case, the term
hajduk came to be used in the 16th century to describe irregular soldiers. There is probably
an etymological link between hajd and the Turkish word hajdud which was used by the
Ottomans to describe Hungarian infantry soldiers, though it is not clear whether the word
traveled from Hungarian to Turkish or vice versa.[citation needed]

History
In 1604-1606, Istvn 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 serfs who had either fled from the war and the
Habsburg drive toward Catholic conversion, or been discharged from the Imperial Army.
These peasants were known as the hajduk, a term associated in the Hungarian language
with the cattle drovers of the Great Plains. 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 Hajd.
See also
Hajduk (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)