Editing Registered Cossacks

{{Short description|16-17th century Polish–Lithuanian Cossack units}}
{{For|the modern Registered Cossacks|Registered Cossacks of the Russian Federation}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name = Zaporozhian Host
|image = Flag of the Zaporizhian Sich.svg
|caption = 
|nickname = 
|motto = 
|colors = 
|march = 
|ceremonial_chief = 
|type = [[Light cavalry]]<br>[[Skirmisher]]
|branch = Army
|dates = 1572–1699
|country = [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
|allegiance = [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
|command_structure=
|size = up to 40,000 (1649)
|specialization = [[Patrolling]]<br>[[Raid (military)|Raiding]]<br>[[Reconnaissance]]<br>[[Screening (tactical)|Screening]]<br>[[Shock tactics]]<br>[[Wagon fort]]
|current_commander = 
|garrison = Trechtymirów ([[Trakhtemyriv]]), [[Kiev Voivodeship]]
|battles = [[Livonian War]], [[Moldavian Magnate Wars]], [[Polish–Ottoman War (1620–21)|Polish–Ottoman War]], [[Polish–Muscovite War (1605–18)|Polish–Muscovite War]]
|notable_commanders = [[Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny]], [[Mykhailo Doroshenko]], others
|anniversaries =
}}
[[File:12. Ukr kozak.jpg|thumb|right|Registered Cossack's attire]]

'''Registered Cossacks''' ({{Langx|uk|Реєстрові козаки, Rejestrovi kozaky}},  {{langx|pl|Kozacy rejestrowi}}) comprised special [[Cossack]] units of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth army]] in the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>
[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CR%5CE%5CRegisteredCossacks.htm Registered Cossacks] at the [[Encyclopedia of Ukraine]]
</ref>

Registered Cossacks became a military formation of the Commonwealth army beginning in 1572<ref name="registered">{{in lang|uk}} [http://history.franko.lviv.ua/IIIr_1.htm Registered Cassacks at the Handbook of the History of Ukraine]</ref> soon after the [[Union of Lublin]] (1569), when most of the territory of modern [[Ukraine]] passed to the [[Crown of Poland]]. Registered Cossack formations were based on the [[Zaporozhian Cossacks]] who already lived on the lower reaches of the [[Dnieper River]] amidst the [[Pontic steppes]] as well as on self-defense formations within settlements in the region of modern [[Central Ukraine|Central]] and [[Southern Ukraine]].

== History ==
=== Origins ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin-left:1em;float:right;width:30%;"
|+ '''Seniors of the Registered Cossacks '''
|-
| align="center"|  '''Year'''
| align="center"|  '''Hetman'''
| align="center"| '''Notes'''
|-
| 1572
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Jan Badowski]]<ref name="haidamaka">{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.haidamaka.org.ua/0108.html Реєстрові козаки на державній службі (with reference to Sherbak, V. ''History of Ukrainian Cossacks: outlines in two volumes''. Publishing house "Kiev-Mohyla Academy". Vol.1. Kiev, 2006. p.800)]</ref>
| align="center"|
|-
| 1575
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Bohdan Ruzhynsky]]
| align="center"|
|-
| 1578
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Michał Wiśniowiecki (1529–1584)|Michał Wiśniowiecki]]<ref name="haidamaka"/>
| align="center"|
|-
| 1583
| style="text-align:left;"|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1590
| style="text-align:left;"|
| align="center"|
|-
| 1600
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Havrylo Krutnevych]]<ref name="haidamaka"/>
| align="center"|
|-
| 1603
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Ivan Kuchkovych]]<ref name="haidamaka"/>
| align="center"|
|-
| 1618
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Petro Konashevych]]<ref name="haidamaka"/>
| align="center"|
|-
| 1622
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Olifer Holub]]<ref name="haidamaka"/>
| align="center"| elected by Cossacks
|-
| 1623
| style="text-align:left;"| [[Mykhailo Doroshenko]]<ref name="haidamaka"/>
| align="center"| last hetman, replaced by a commissar
|-
| colspan="4"|<small></small>
|}

In 1524, King [[Sigismund I the Old|Sigismund I]] commissioned Semen Połozowicz and Krzysztof Kmitycz to organize permanent Cossack units to defend the lower [[Dnieper]]; however, the plan was not implemented due to a lack of funds.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=186}} The [[starosta]] of [[Cherkasy]], [[Ostap Dashkevych]], revived the idea at the 1533 Polish Sejm in [[Piotrków Trybunalski]]. Dashkevych tried to show that in order to protect the borders beyond the [[Dnieper]] River it would be necessary to maintain an army of 2,000 soldiers and several hundred [[cavalrymen]]. He pointed out the importance of establishing forts on the river's islands to keep [[Tatars|Tatar]] [[Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe|raids]] in check.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=186}} Although the plans to establish permanent Cossack units were not realized at that time, Polish and Lithuanian border starosts frequently made use of Cossack troops in fights against the Tatars, both for defensive purposes and in retaliatory raids.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=186-187}}

In 1568 [[Sigismund II Augustus]] sent a proposition to the [[Zaporozhian Cossacks|Zaporizhian Cossacks]] to join his royal service in exchange of payment. In 1570 [[Great Crown Hetman]] [[Jerzy Jazłowiecki]] formed first 300-men Cossack unit, under the command of {{ill|Jan Badowski|uk|Ян Бадовський}}, which was although disbanded after their death in 1575.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=259}}

=== Batory reforms ===
Elected King of Poland in 1575, the [[Prince of Transylvania]], [[Stephen Báthory]], undertook a comprehensive effort to bring order to the Ukrainian borderlands, where the Cossack element had grown into a significant force and was launching independent raids against the [[Ottoman Empire]] and its vassals, [[Moldavia]] and the [[Crimean Khanate]].{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=261}}{{sfn|Hrushevsky|2003|p=191}}

In the course of negotiations with Cossack representatives, he established a permanent 500-man Cossack unit, whose members were registered and received regular pay. The king granted them a banner, a seal, and a mace, and designated the town of [[Trakhtemyriv]] as their official residence.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=261}} Prince [[Michał Wiśniowiecki (1529–1584)|Michał Wiśniowiecki]] was appointed as the supreme commander of the host, with {{Ill|Jan Oryszowski|pl}} as its military leader and Jancza Beger as the scribe. In return, the Cossacks were forbidden from conducting independent raids.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=261}}

The unit took part in the [[Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory|war against Muscovy]]. Later registers recorded varying numbers of Cossacks officially enlisted—up to 600 in 1583 and 1,000 in 1590. Although payments were often irregular, the very existence of the register, along with royal edicts confirming their autonomy from local administration, fostered among the Cossacks a sense of estate-based distinctiveness.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=262}} The register also failed to put an end to Cossack raids, in which registered Cossacks often participated.{{Sfn|Yakovenko|2011|p=262-263}}

In 1590 the [[Sejm]] issued a new declaration re-creating the Cossack units. A royal [[edict]]  issued on July 25, 1590, envisaged registering 1,000 Cossacks for policing duty in order to prevent unauthorized raids into neighboring countries.<ref name="haidamaka"/> The registered Cossacks were paid from 5 to 12 [[Polish zloty|zlotys]] each quarter, and the Zaporizhian Sich was selected as their headquarters.<ref name="haidamaka"/> As the Polish interests aimed in securing the Swedish crown, however, the Cossack movement was allowed to grow out of control, leading to a series of local rebellions by [[polkovnyk]] [[Krzysztof Kosiński]] and [[Severyn Nalyvaiko]], with assistance from [[kosh otaman]] of the Zaporozhian Cossacks [[Hryhoriy Loboda]].{{sfn|Hrushevsky|2003|p=214}}

== 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. 

==Cossack Hetmanate==
{{main|Cossack Hetmanate}}
According to the [[Treaty of Zboriv]], signed on August 17, 1649, the number of Registered Cossacks increased up to forty thousand.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin-left:1em;width:21%;"
|+The Regiments of Registered Cossacks in 1649.<ref>Marek Gędek. ''Atlas historyczny wojen polskich'', pp. 90-91. Bellona, Warszawa 2009. {{ISBN|978-83-11-11642-9}}</ref>
|-
! # !!Headquarters !! Number of Registered Cossacks
|-
| 1 || [[Bila Tserkva]] || 2990 
|-
| 2 || [[Bratslav]] || 2662
|-
| 3 || [[Cherkasy]] || 2990
|-
| 4 || [[Chernihiv]] || 998
|-
| 5 || [[Chyhyryn]] || 3220
|-
| 6 || [[Kalnyk]] || 2050
|-
| 7 || [[Kaniv]] || 3167
|-
| 8 || [[Kiev]] || 2002
|-
| 9 || [[Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi|Korsun]] || 3470
|-
| 10 || [[Kropyvna]] || 1993
|-
| 11 || [[Myrhorod]] || 3009
|-
| 12 || [[Nizhyn]] || 991
|-
| 13 || [[Pereyaslav]] || 2986
|-
| 14 || [[Poltava]] || 2970
|-
| 15 || [[Pryluky]] || 1996
|-
| 16 || [[Uman]] || 2977
|}

==Liquidation==

A Russian-Polish alliance was formed against [[Bohdan Khmelnitsky]], with his Cossacks being declared rebels against all order. [[Don Cossack]] raids on Crimea left Khmelnitsky without the aid of his usual Tatar allies {{citation needed|date=April 2025}}. The rebellion ended with the 1654 [[Treaty of Pereyaslav]] in which Khmelnitsky's Cossacks, so as to destroy the Russian-Polish alliance against them, pledged their loyalty to the [[Russian Tsar]], who guaranteed their protection, the recognition of their [[Cossack starshyna|starshyna]] (officer-nobility) and their property and autonomy under his rule, freeing the Cossacks from the Polish sphere of influence in favor of Russian [[hegemony]]. Despite this, individual Cossacks continued to settle in regions of [[Right-bank Ukraine]], which remained part of the Commonwealth under the [[Treaty of Andrusovo]] (1667). As a result, Registered Cossacks remained an official unit of the Polish–Lithuanian army until the liquidation of Cossacks as a separate class in the Commonwealth with the [[Treaty of Karlowitz]] in 1699.<ref>{{cite web|title=Гайдамацький рух: воля без долі|date=2008|author=Іван Бутич|url=http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/4_08_4.html|website=Воєнна Історія|lang=uk|access-date=2025-04-16}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Elected Cossacks]] - Ukrainian Cossacks officially recognized under [[Russian Empire|Russian imperial]] rule. 

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|first=Mykhailo |last=Hrushevsky |author-link=Mykhailo Hrushevsky |title=Illustrated History of Ukraine |publisher=BAO |location=Donetsk |year=2003 |isbn= 966-548-571-7 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Yakovenko |first=Natalia |author-link=Natalia Yakovenko |title=Historia Ukrainy do 1795 roku |date=2011 |location=Warsaw |language=pl |trans-title=History of Ukraine until 1795}}

==External links==
* [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CR%5CE%5CRegisteredCossacks.htm Registered Cossacks] at [[Encyclopedia of Ukraine]].

[[Category:1572 establishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:Cossacks]]
[[Category:Military history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:Military history of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1572]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Zaporozhian Host]]