Editing Registered Cossacks (section)

== Organization ==
{{History of Ukraine}}
{{Cossacks}}

Registered Cossacks formed an elite among the Cossacks, serving in the military under officers (''[[starshyna]]''), colonels (''[[polkovnyk]]'') and generals (''[[hetman]]''), under the [[Grand Crown Hetman]] (the highest Commonwealth military commander). A substantial minority of Cossacks formed skilled light [[cavalry]] units (''[[choragiew]]''), excellent [[skirmisher]]s trained in mounted [[archery]] (and later using [[firearms]]), making lightning raids, harassing heavier, slower formations and disengaging. Those units were often used as support for heavy elite Commonwealth cavalry, the [[husaria]], and were much cheaper to form than a hussar unit. The main Cossack units were the infantry, known for their [[Tabor (formation)|tabor formation]].

Registered Cossacks had many privileges, including [[personal freedom]], exemption from many [[tax]]es and duties, and the right to receive wages, although the Commonwealth military's fiscal problems, led to delayed payments, often via items like clothing or weapons instead of coin.

Many Cossacks were skilled warriors and their major income source came from raids on the southern neighbors of the Commonwealth: the ([[Ottoman Empire]] and its [[vassal]]s). However, only a small number were actually 'registered Cossacks'; the exact number was from few hundred to few thousand and varied over time, usually increasing during wartime. This led to many social and political tensions, especially as [[szlachta]] (Polish and Ukrainian gentry) continually attempted to force the Cossacks into submission as [[peasants]], while the Cossacks demanded significant expansions of the Cossack register. Furthermore, the Cossack-szlachta conflict was aggravated as Cossacks often supported Commonwealth [[monarch]]s like [[Wladyslaw IV Waza]] who were at odds with Polish szlachta who wished to further limit the monarch's powers. The tensions between the Cossacks and szlachta grew from the late 16th century and resulted in several [[uprising]]s with the registered Cossacks often forced to choose sides between supporting their own people or the szlachta-backed Commonwealth forces. Eventually the king's refusal to expand the registry led to the [[Khmelnytsky uprising]] of 1648.