HAIDUKS, hi'duks (Hung. hajdu, drover, plural hajduk). A term formerly applied among the Balkan Slays to the bandit mountaineers. who, like the Greek klephts, were generally Chris tians and opposed to Turkish rtile. Such bands —each one having a chief—the Karam basha were found among the Serbs and Bulgarians from the beginning of Turkish rule. Some of their chiefs became distinguished as partisan leaders. Those who killed Turks only were regarded by their people as patriots rather than as bandits. They were popular heroes, and did much to bring on the final struggle for independence. In Hun gary this designation was applied to a class of mercenary foot-soldiers. As a reward for their services in the struggle against the Hapsburgs, Stephen Boeskay, Prince of Transylvania. grant ed them, in 1605, the privileges of nobility, and a large stretch of territory as their own possession.
The Haiduk district remained independent of the local authorities, and under the direct ad ministration of the national Government, until after the Revolution of 1848. Ilaiduks adopted Calvinistic Protestantism early in the Reforma tion. In 1376 this district was incorporated with portions of two adjoining districts into a new administrative division known as the Haiduk County. with Debreczin for its capital. In Hun gary and Poland the term is also applied to the domestics of the great houses. in France in the eighteenth century it was given to the outriders of the carriages of the rich. These outriders wore Hungarian costumes and carried swords until prohibited by royal ordinance, in 1779, from bearing this mark of military rank. Consult Rosen, Die Balkanhaiduken (Leipzig, 1878).