Poczet (plural Poczty) was the smallest organized unit of soldiers in Kingdom of Poland

Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)

The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...

 and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

 from the 15th until the 18th century. The name of a medium or heavy-cavalry soldiers in poczet was pocztowy.

In the cavalry, each poczet was commanded by a towarzysz husarski

Towarzysz husarski

Towarzysz husarski or Husarz , was the name of a type of heavy cavalryman in Poland....

or towarzysz pancerny

Towarzysz pancerny

Towarzysz pancerny was a medium-cavalryman in 16th-18th century Poland, named for his chainmail armor...

. Several Poczets were combined to form larger units such as the Chorągiew

Choragiew

Chorągiew was the basic administrative unit of the Polish cavalry from the 14th century. An alternative name until the 17th century was Rota.The name may derive from Slavic word Khorugv ....

(Company

Company (military unit)

A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...

, or more correctly, the equivalent of the medieval Lances fournies

Lances fournies

The Lances fournies was a medieval army squad that would have surrounded a knight in battle, consisting of a small team built of squires, men-at-arms , archers, attendants and the knight himself...

).

Pocztowy was an assistant and subordinate of the Towarzysz

Towarzysz

A Towarzysz was sort of a junior cavalry officer or rather knight-officer in the autorament narodowy Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth National army, both in cavalry and infantry, from the 16th century until 1794 AD....

, in some respects similar to more ancient knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

's servant - page

Page (servant)

A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...

 or squire

Squire

The English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...

. He was armoured like his superior, but fought in the second or third line and was responsible for guarding his back and flanks in a battle.

Further reading

• Richard Brzezinski, Polish Winged Hussar 1576-1775 (Warrior Series 94), Oxford: Osprey, 2006. ISBN 1-84176-650-X
• Richard Brzezinski, Polish Armies 1569-1696, 2 vols, London: Osprey Publishing, 1987, ISBN 0-85045-736-X and ISBN 0-85045-744-0