Esaul

(from the Turkish iasaul, “head,” “chief”), a post and rank in prerevolutionary Russia in the cossack hosts after 1576. There were esaul generals and field, regimental, artillery, sotnia, stanitsa, and host esauly. From 1798 to 1800 the rank of esaul was made equivalent to the rank of cavalry captain (rotmistr).