What is "hajduk"

n. 1 (context historical English) An outlaw, highwayman(,) or freedom fighter in the Balkans. 2 (context archaic English) A mercenary foot soldier in Hungary. 3 (context historical English) A halberdier of a Hungarian noble. 4 (context historical English) An attendant in German or Hungarian courts.

Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, brigands, highwaymen or freedom fighters in Southeastern Europe, and parts of Central and Eastern Europe.

In the Ottoman Empire, the term hajduk was used for Balkan bandits, brigands, while for the South Slavs it was used for bandits who "protected" Christians against perceived Ottoman oppression. In the 17th century, the concept was firmly established in the Ottoman Balkans, related to increased taxes, Christian victories against the Ottomans, and general security decline. Hajduk bands predominantly numbered one hundred men each, with a firm hierarchy under one leader. They targeted Ottoman representatives and rich people, mainly Muslims, for plunder or punishment to oppressive Ottomans, or revenge.

In Balkan folkloric tradition, the hajduk (hajduci or haiduci in the plural) is a romanticised hero figure who steals from, and leads his fighters into battle against, the Ottoman or Habsburg authorities. They are comparable to the English legend of Robin Hood and his merry men, who stole from the rich (which as in the case of the hajduci happened to be also foreign occupants) and gave to the poor, while defying seemingly unjust laws and authority.

In reality, the hajduci of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries commonly were as much guerrilla fighters against the Ottoman rule as they were bandits and highwaymen who preyed not only on Ottomans and their local representatives, but also on local merchants and travelers. As such, the term could also refer to any robber and carry a negative connotation.

The hajdúk ( hajdú) were irregular or mercenary soldiers of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Hajduk (sometimes misspelled hadjuk) may refer to:

• Hajduk, brigands active in the Balkans in the 16th to 19th centuries
• Hajduk (Kingdom of Hungary), mercenary soldiers in 16th- and 17th-century Hungary
• Hajduk (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), bodyguards in 17th- and 18th-century Poland

It may also refer to the following sport clubs:

• HNK Hajduk Split, Croatian football club
• FK Hajduk Beograd, Serbian football club
• FK Hajduk Kula, Serbian football club
• FK Hajduk Veljko, Serbian football club

It may also refer to the following people:

• Stacy Haiduk, American actress
• Frankie Hejduk, American football (soccer) player
• Milan Hejduk, Czech ice hockey player

The word hajduk entered the Polish language from Hungarian in the late 16th century. It was initially a colloquial term for a style of footsoldier, Hungarian or Turco- Balkan in inspiration, that was introduced by King Stephen Báthory in the 1570s, and who formed the backbone of the Polish infantry arm from the 1570s until about the 1630s. Unusually for this period, Polish-Lithuanian hajduks wore uniforms, typically of grey-blue woollen 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 polearms.

Contrary to popular opinion, the small axe they often wore tucked in their belt (not to be confused with the huge half-moon shaped berdysz 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 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 who they called hajduks, thereby creating the meaning of the term 'hajduk' as it is generally understood in modern Polish.