Following the reforms of king Stephen Báthory ( r. 1576–1586), the Polish military officially adopted the unit and transformed it into heavy shock cavalry, with troops recruited from the Polish nobility. The early hussars were light cavalry units of exiled Serbian warriors who came to Poland from Hungary as mercenaries in the early 16th century. The wings were traditionally assembled from the feathers of raptors, and the angel-like frame was fastened onto the armour or saddle. It was customary to maintain a red-and-white colour scheme, and to be girded with tanned animal hide. The hussar dress was ostentatious and comprised plated body armour ( cuirass, spaulders, bevors, and arm bracers) adorned by gold ornaments, a burgonet or lobster-tailed pot helmet and jackboots as well as versatile weaponry such as lances, long thrusting swords, sabres, pistols, carbines, maces, hatchets, war hammers, and horseman's picks. The hussars ranked as the elite of Polish cavalry until their official disbanding in 1776. Their epithet is derived from large rear wings, which were intended to demoralize the enemy during a charge.
The Polish hussars ( / h ə ˈ z ɑːr s/ Polish: husaria ), alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702.
