History /
Ancient Polish History thread [180]
Searching Polish - Serbian medieval connectionsI would just like to share this interesting fact in that the mother of probably Poland's greatest dynasty has Serbian ancestry, particylary- originates from Serbs of Bosnia.
Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga, Queen of PolandJadwiga's sarcophagus, Wawel Cathedral, KrakówJadwiga was the youngest daughter of Louis I of Hungary and of Elizabeta Kotromanic of Bosnia and Serbia. Jadwiga could claim descent from the House of Piast, the ancient native Polish dynasty on both her mother's and her father's side. Her paternal grandmother Elisabeth of Cuyavia was the daughter of King Władysław I the Elbow-high, who had reunited Poland in 1320.
NOTE: There is Visegrad town in Bosnia and in Hungary (Slavic connection is obvious)
Tvrtko I of Bosnia of Kotromanic houseen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tvrtko_I
Stephen Tvrtko I (Stefan, sometimes translated as Stjepan, Stevan,...) (1338 - 1391) was a ruler of medieval Bosnia. He ruled in 1353-1366 and again in 1367-1377 as Ban and in 1377-1391 as the first Bosnian King. He also took the Serbian crown. Tvrtko was a member of the House of Kotromanić.
Tvrtko I was an able ruler and his state included most of Bosnia as well as the neighbouring territories. He transformed the country from an autonomous banate into an independent and prosperous kingdom. After he became the King, he added the title Stephanos (Stefan, the crowned one), and Miroslav or Mircea.
The title of King Tvrtko was "King of Serbs, Bosnia and the Seacoast.
Note Coat of arms of Serbian Bosnian dinasty (Bosnia was considered one of key Serbian lands in mediaval age). Same coat of arms is today, ironicaly, used as coat of arms of Bosnian Muslims, by dictate of some world powersTvrtko's paternal grandmother was Jelisaveta Nemanjic, the daughter of the Catholic Serbian nobleman Stefan Dragutin of Nemanja and his wife the Arpad Princess Katalin, the daughter of the Cuman Koteny Princess christened Elizabeth and her husband Istvan V who was the son of King Bela IV. Tvrtko's maternal great-grandmother was Ursa Nemanjic, Jelisaveta's sister.
NOTE: Nemanjic house was only Serbian Imperial (Carska, Tzar) dinasty. Originaly Namanjc`s were Chatolics but, later taken Orthodoxy. In that time about 35% of Balkan Serbs was Chatolic and 65% Orthodox.
The Polish Winged HussarsSobieski at ViennaResearched and Written by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska, B.F.A.
angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/WingedHussar.html
The hussar concept began in Serbia, near the end of the 14th century. In the 16th century, painted wings or winged claws began to appear on cavalry shields. Wings were originally attached to the saddle and later to the back. In 1645, Col. Szczodrowski was said to have used ostrich wings.
In 1500, the Polish Treasury books make reference to hussars. Early on, they were foreign mercenaries, and were called Racowie from "Rascia" a word meaning "of Serbia." They came from the Serbian state of Ras.
I saw many Polish riders go by,
They had wings but couldn't fly,
The Poles carry long lances,
A short pennant thereon,
They might instead use a cowtail.
It costs not much and serves just as well.Most people have heard of the Polish Winged Cavalry/Hussars or Racowie, especially their role in the battle of Grunwald and during lifting of the seige of Vienna. Original concept of Hussars (ultimate military doctrine of that time) came from Serbia to Poland and Hungary, then all over the Europe, to Russia. Whenever Serbs gave something to Poles, they gave them best. Not only to them, to Slavdom, to Europe.
Encyklopedia- Wirtualna Polskaencyklopedia.wp.pl/sz_tresc.html?encid=1730632&szukajEnc=racowie&enc_o pis=1&score=&found=&szukane=&ticaid=14a27
racowie, lekka najemna jazda złożona z Serbów, znana na Węgrzech od XIV w.; w Polsce w końcu XV-pocz. XVI w. służyli w obronie potocznej.
Gear at Grunwaldarchiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/HERBARZ/2001-03/0983839431
"The hussar originated in Serbia towards the end of the 14th century.
There are references to hussars in Poland in treasury returns of 1500,
though they were probably in Polish service before this date.
These early formations were foreign mercenaries, first known as
Racowie from the term Rascia, 'Serbia', from the original centre of
the Serbian state, Ras. The term 'hussar' probably originates not -
as has been widely published - from any connections with the Hungarian
husz meaning 'twenty', but from gusar, a Slavonic word meaning
'bandit'.
After the clash with Turks on Kosovo Field in year 1389, where both leaders- Serbian (Prince Lazar) and Turkish (Sultan Murad I) were killed, Serbs everywhere sought an opportunity to revenges on Turks. Jan Dlugos recorded under year 1463, that in battle over Sava (there was
`Cohors Raczanorum` - Serbian regiment of light calvalry), after deaths of king Matijas Korvin Serbians were invited to help against Teutons, too. So, they responded and succeeded to Poland to fight. Also, Serbs continued to fight with advancing Turks after "gusarsku/usarsku tactics" and beat them everywhere in hope that they could later push them out of Serbian lands. Anyway, Poles also accepted to fight after "Husarsku".
First units of Hussars were light horse calvary. The main transformation of this unit took place when `szlachta` elected new king in form of Stevan Batory- prince of Transylvania who reorganized this unit to Winged Hussar. Spread wings (which was not popular at the time), added new armaments and heavy armour.
More pics of Polish Winged Cavalry and about Polish army dress thru ages
Hussar armor from the second half of the seventeenth century, made of polished iron
with copper ornamentation. "Wings" are attached to the back side, the laths of the
wings are made of woodIn 1776 the Sejm liquidates this unit and in return creates national cavalry (lancers)Uhlans typically wore a double-breasted jacket (kurta) with a coloured panel (plastron) at the front, a coloured sash, and a square-topped Polish lancer cap (czapka). Their lances usually had small swallow-tailed flags (known as the lance pennon) just below the spearhead.
Even today there is not many changes in Polish uniform of army (I don`t know for possible latest reforms from NATO time)...
Marshall Pilsudski in 1920Petelicki in 1990 
