Hajduk

A hajduk (Hungarian: hajdúk, plural of hajdú 'foot-soldier') is a type of irregular infantry found in Central, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú-Bihar county.

[3] They are comparable to the English legendary Robin Hood and his merry men, who stole from the rich (who as in the case of the hajduk happened to also be foreign occupiers) and gave to the poor, while defying seemingly unjust laws and authority.

One theory is that hajduk was derived from the Turkish word haidut or haydut 'bandit', which was originally used by the Ottomans to refer to Hungarian and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth infantry soldiers.

[9] 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.

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.

[12] 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.

However, commanders or hetmans 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.

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.

Illustration of a Hungarian Hajduk, from an 1703 book from Bavaria.
Portrait of Hajduk-Veljko , a prominent Serbian outlaw fighting against Ottoman occupation during the first half of the 19th century.
István Bocskay and his hajduk warriors
Polish nobleman and two hajduk guards.
General Andranik Ozanian, wearing his uniform and medals with a papakha hat
Bulgarian Macedonian Ilyo Voyvoda (1805–1898), known as "the last hayduk".
Actor playing Oleksa Dovbush
Harambaša from Dalmatia in the 19th century.