Servants in the Polish Mercenary Cavalry, Based on Registers from 1531 and 1538

Abstract

Pacholęta stood out among servants in knights’ retinues. Likely, they were young boys who were useful in caring for horses, weapons and many other activities. Their work was not visible on the battlefield, but it was required to achieve combat readiness of the knights and other men-at-arms. Was the service of pacholęta changing over the years? Due to a short-age of historical sources describing their service, historians have not investigated the role of pacholęta and instead gave more attention to men-at-arms who directly influenced the results of battles.

The objective of this article is to examine the role of pacholęta in knights’ retinues. It focuses on the preserved sources on the Obertyn campaign in 1531 and the Khotin campaign in 1538. Analysing these sources will enable the researchers to understand how pacholęta were recorded in retinues, the role they held during combat, and the conditions of their service. Such information is available only through signature registers, acts, and military articles from dating 16^th century and earlier. Because these subjects have not yet received much attention from historians, this work may serve as a contribution and an introduction to further research on the role and presence of servants not only in social but also in knightly ranks in the Kingdom of Poland during the reign of the Jagiellon dynasty.