Sarmatism

thumb|right|200px|Stanisław Antoni Szczuka in Sarmatian attire, wearing a [[kontusz]] thumb|"Treatise about two [[Sarmatia Asian and European and about their composition" by Maciej Miechowita (1517)]] thumb|200px|Sarmatian-style Karacena armor Sarmatism (or Sarmatianism; ; ) was an ethno-cultural identity within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the dominant Baroque culture and ideology of the nobility () that existed in the time from the Renaissance to the early 18th century. Together with the concept of "Golden Liberty", it formed a central aspect of the Commonwealth social elites’ culture and society. At its core was the unifying belief that the people of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth descended from the ancient Iranian Sarmatians, the legendary invaders of contemporary Polish and Roman lands in antiquity.

The term and culture were reflected primarily in 17th-century Polish literature, as in Jan Chryzostom Pasek's memoirs and the poems of Wacław Potocki. The Polish gentry wore a long coat, called kontusz, knee-high boots, and carried a (sabre), usually a . Moustaches were also popular, as well as decorative feathers in men's headgear. Poland's "Sarmatians" strove to achieve martial skill on horseback, believed in equality among themselves, and in invincibility in the face of the enemy. Sarmatism lauded past victories of the Polish military, and required Polish noblemen to cultivate the tradition.