Mercury wing - early hussars Orsza 1514

Salve,

      following the post before the last post I am going to turn to a curious element of the Polish early hussars equipment depicted in the Orsza AD (1514 battle of Orsha now in Belarus) painting:
the so called Mercury wing or 'gilded, tooled leather flap attached to the boot 

instep' (''removed when not in saddle'')  - I am citing here what  dr David 

Nicolle  said in 'Polish Medieval Armies' (from Osprey Military Publishing) on 

page 47.

I am going to copy the reconstructed early hussar there with some comments 

on the reconstruction in the near future, following the thread on the 

anniversary of AD 1514 Orsza battle.

Anyway, the 'wing' seems to me  to follow the tradition of the Greek 

mythology, of the winged shoes worn by Hermes (Roman Mercury) and known

as 'talaria.' After all this was the Renaissance :) 

This Hungarian nobleman seems to be wearing them albeit covered by the 

hem of his caftan/robe..

The various styles of Mercury wing on Polish early hussars, plus stirrups,

spurs and boots; in the last detailed image the hussars had crossed the river 

and are removing water from their boots and clothing, soon to rejoin the

battle, and Mercury wing is nowhere to be seen, perhaps stowed away before

the crossing of Dnieper River:

  

 The above images come  from battle of Orsha painting AD 1520-30s