been trying to find out about Hungarian Hussars - if you know more get in touch. This image is by Bruno Mugnai from the Helion book on White Mountain.
The following is from the Imperialist Army 2 Cavalry Osprey.
Hussars. Differentiating between regular and irregular units of Hungarian and
Croat light cavalry has been difficult even for Hungarian historians, and
is confused by nomenclature. In this period, the term 'huszar' meant any
Hungarian cavalryman, of whichever branch. However, it usually refers to
the lightly armoured cavalry which had come to prominence in Europe
in the mid-16th century. Like the Croats, they were raised from irregulars
on the Military Frontier, as mercenary bands organized by local nobles,
fighting alongside Hayduk infantry under an Ober-Hauptmann. As the
Thirty Years' War began, 6 units each of 500-1,000 hussars - Esterhazy,
Palffy, Forgach, Somogyi, Nadasdy, and the Raab hussars under Lengyel -were raised by local magnates in 1619. However, the number soon fell,
and in 1624 the term hussar vanished from the army lists for a decade.
It was only in 1630 that two new units were raised, joined by a third the
following year. In 1632 Graf Stephan Palffy raised 1,000 Hungarian
(hussar-) lancers. Organized like their Croatian counterparts, the first
regular hussar regiments were raised in 1634, and thereafter there were
always two or three in Imperial service until the end of the wars.
