Jeremi Wiśniowiecki | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byDaniel Schultz | |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Full name | Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki |
| Born | 1612 Lubny,Kyiv Voivodship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
| Died | 20 August 1651(1651-08-20) (aged 38–39) Pawołocz, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
| Noble family | Wiśniowiecki |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki |
| Father | Michał Wiśniowiecki |
| Mother | Regina Mohyła (Raina Mohylanka) |
PrinceJeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, nicknamedHammer on the Cossacks (Polish:Młot na Kozaków), was a notable member of thearistocracy of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince ofVyshnivets,Lubny andKhorol in theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland and the father of the futureKing of Poland,Michael I.
A notablemagnate and military commander withRuthenian andMoldavian[1][2][3] origin, Wiśniowiecki was heir of one of the biggest fortunes of the state and rose to several notable dignities, including the position ofvoivode of theRuthenian Voivodship (today Poland and Ukraine) in 1646. His conversion fromEastern Orthodoxy toRoman Catholicism caused much dissent in Ruthenian lands (part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). Wiśniowiecki was a successful military leader as well as one of the wealthiestmagnates of Poland, ruling over lands inhabited by 230,000 people.
Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki was born in 1612; neither the exact date nor the place of his birth are known.[4] His father,Michał Wiśniowiecki, of theRuthenianWiśniowiecki family,[5] died soon after Jeremi's birth, in 1616.[6] His mother,Regina Mohyła (Raina Mohylanka) was aMoldavian-born noble woman of theMovilești family, daughter of the Moldavian PrinceIeremia Movilă, Jeremy's namesake; she died in 1619.[7] Both of his parents were of theEastern Orthodox Church rite;[7] Jeremy's uncle was the influential Orthodox theologianPetro Mohyla, and his great-uncle wasGheorghe Movilă, theMetropolitan of Moldavia.[citation needed]
Orphaned at the age of seven, Wiśniowiecki was raised by his uncle,Konstanty Wiśniowiecki, whose branch of the family wereRoman Catholics.[7] Jeremi attended aJesuit college inLviv and later, in 1629, he traveled to Italy, where he briefly attended theUniversity of Bologna. He also acquired some military experience in the Netherlands.[7][8] The upbringing by his uncle and the trips abroadpolonized him, and turned him into one of the youngestmagnates of Poland and Lithuania.[8]
In 1631 Wiśniowiecki returned to theCommonwealth and took over from his uncle the management of his father's huge estate, which included a large part of what is nowUkraine.[8][9] In 1632 he converted from Eastern Orthodoxy to Catholicism, an action that caused much concern in Ukraine.[9] His decision has been analyzed by historians, and often criticized, particularly inUkrainian historiography.[9][10] The Orthodox Church feared losing a powerful protector, andIsaiah Kopinsky,metropolitan bishop ofKyiv and a friend of his mother, unsuccessfully pleaded with him to change his mind.[10] Jeremi would not budge although he remained on decent terms with the Orthodox Church, avoiding provocative actions, and supported his uncle and Orthodox bishopPetro Mohyla and hisOrthodox Church collegium.[10]
Wiśniowiecki's courtier and first biographer, Michał Kałyszowski, counted that Jeremi participated in nine wars in his lifetime.[11] The first of those was theSmolensk Campaign of 1633–34 against theTsardom of Russia.[11] In that war he accompanied castellan Aleksander Piaseczyński's southern army and took part in several battles, among them the unsuccessful siege ofPutyvl; later that year they tookRylsk andSevsk before retreating.[12][13] The following year he worked withAdam Kisiel and Łukasz Żółkiewski, commanding his ownprivate army of 4,000.[14] As his troops formed 2/3 of their army (not counting supportingCossack elements), Jeremi, despite being the most junior of commanders, had much influence over their campaign.[14] Lacking in artillery, they failed to take any major towns, but ravaged the countryside near Sevsk andKursk.[15] The war ended soon afterward, and in May 1634 he returned to Lubny.[15] For his service, he received a commendation from the King of Poland,Władysław IV Vasa, and the castellany of Kyiv.[16]
After the war Wiśniowiecki engaged in a number of conflicts with neighbouring magnates and nobles.[17][18] Jeremi was able to afford a sizable private army of several thousands, and through the threat of it he was often able to force his neighbours to a favourable settlement of disputes.[19] Soon after his return from the Russian front, he participated on the side of the Dowmont family in the quarrel over the estate of Dowmontów against another magnate,Samuel Łaszcz, located on his lands; soon after the victorious battle against Łaszcz he bought the lands from the Dowmonts and incorporated them into his estates.[18]
Around 1636 theSejm (Polish parliament) opposed the marriage of KingWładysław IV Waza to Wiśniowiecki's sister,Anna.[20] Following this, Jeremi distanced himself from the royal court, although he periodically returned toWarsaw, usually as one of the deputies to the Sejm from theRuthenian Voivodeship (todayUkraine).[21] Soon afterward, Jeremi himself marriedGryzelda Zamoyska, daughter of ChancellorTomasz Zamoyski, on 27 February 1639, Gryzelda's 16th birthday.[22]
At that time Wiśniowiecki also engaged in a political conflict over nobility titles, in particular, the title ofprince (kniaź).[23] The nobility in the Commonwealth was officially equal, and used different and non-hereditary titles than those found in rest of the world (seeofficials of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth); the gist of the conflict, which took much of the Sejm's time around 1638–41, revolved around whether old prince titles (awarded to families before their lands were incorporated into the Commonwealth in the 1569Union of Lublin), and the new titles, awarded more recently by some foreign courts, should be recognized.[23] Wiśniowiecki was one of the chief participants in this debate, successfully defending the old titles, including that of his own family, and succeeding in abolishing the new titles, which gained him the enmity of another powerful magnate,Jerzy Ossoliński.[23] Other than this conflict, in his years as a deputy (1635–46), Jeremi wasn't involved in any major political issues, and only twice (in 1640 and 1642) he served in the minor function of a commissar for investigating the eastern and southern border disputes.[23]
In 1637 Wiśniowiecki might have fought under HetmanMikołaj Potocki against theCossack rebellion ofPavlo Pavliuk (thePawluk Uprising);Jan Widacki notes that historians are not certain whether he did and in either case, no detailed accounts of his possible participation survive.[24] A year later, returning from theSejm and from the engagement ceremony with Gryzelda, he gathered a 4,000 strong division that participated in putting down of theOstrzanin Uprising and arrived at the region affected by the unrest in June that year.[25] Together with Hetman Potocki he defeated the insurgents at theBattle of Żownin, which turned into a rather difficult siege of the Cossack camp that lasted from 13 June till the Cossack relief forces were defeated on 4 August, and the Cossacks capitulated on 7 August.[26]
In 1641, after the death of his uncleKonstanty Wiśniowiecki, Jeremi became the last adult male of the Wiśniowiecki family and inherited all the remaining estates of the clan, despite a brief conflict withAleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł who also claimed the inherited land.[27] The conflict stemmed from the fact that Konstanty asked Jeremi to take care of his grandchildren, but their mother,Katarzyna Eugenia Tyszkiewicz, married Aleksander, who declared himself able and willing to take care of her children – and their estates.[27] A year later, Katarzyna Eugenia decided todivorce Aleksander, and the matter was settled in favor of Jeremi.[27]
Wiśniowiecki also fought against theTatars in 1640–46, whose raids on the south-east frontier of the Commonwealth endangered his holdings.[28] In 1644 together withHetmanStanisław Koniecpolski he took part in the victoriousBattle of Ochmatów, in which they crushed forces ofCrimean Tatars led byToğay bey (Tuhaj Bej).[29]
In 1644, after the false news of the death ofAdam Kazanowski, Wiśniowiecki took over his disputed estate ofRumno by subterfuge.[19] For this he was at first sentenced toexile, but due to his influence, even the King could not realistically expect to enforce this ruling without a civil war.[19][30] Eventually after more discussions at localsejmiks and then in theSejm, he won the case and was granted the right for Rumno.[30] In 1646, after the death of Koniecpolski, he became thevoivode of Ruthenia. He invaded and took over the town ofHadiach which was also being claimed by a son of Koniecpolski,Aleksander Koniecpolski, but a year later, in 1647, he lost that case and was forced to return the town.[30][31]
On 4 April 1646 Wiśniowiecki received the office of thevoivode of Ruthenia, which granted him a seat in theSenate of Poland.[32] He was the third member of the Wiśniowiecki family to gain that privilege.[32] Soon afterward, however, he refused to support King Władysław's plan for a war against theOttoman Empire, even though the King offered him the rank of aField Crown Hetman.[33]
Then the autumn of 1646, Wiśniowiecki invaded and took over the starostwo kaniowskie vacated recently by banishedSamuel Łaszcz.[34] He did so without any legal justifications, which caused a court ruling against him; a ruling that was however never enforced.[34] Later that year, he raised a large private army of about 25,000 for a purpose unknown, as noted by Widacki, who writes that the army, which Jeremi raised with an immense cost for a short time, did not participate in any engagement, nor did it have any clear purpose.[35] He notes that such an army might have been useful in provoking the Ottomans, but as Jeremi was opposed to the war with them up to the point of refusing the hetman office, his actions are puzzling even for the modern historians.[35]
Wiśniowiecki fought against the Cossacks again during theKhmelnytsky Uprising in 1648–51. He received information about a growing unrest,[36] and began mobilizing his troops, and in early May learned about the Cossack victory at theBattle of Zhovti Vody.[37] Receiving no orders from HetmansMikołaj Potocki andMarcin Kalinowski, he began moving on his own, soon learning about the second Cossack victory atBattle of Korsuń, which meant that his troops (about 6,000 strong) were the only Polish forces inTransdnieper at that moment.[38] After taking in the situation, he began retreating towardsChernihiv; his army soon became a focal point for various refugees.[39] Passing Chernihiv, he continued throughLiubech toBrahin.[39] He continued toMazyr,Zhytomir, andPohrebyshche, stopping briefly in Zhytomir for the localsejmik.[40] After some skirmishes nearNemyriv,Makhnivka andStarokostiantyniv (Battle of Starokostiantyniv) against the Cossack forces,[41] by July he would arrive nearZbarazh.[42]
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Wiśniowiecki's fighting retreat had a major impact on the course of the war. In the words of the historianWładysław Konopczyński, "he was neither defeated, nor victorious, and thus he made the peace more difficult." Politicians in safe Warsaw tried to negotiate with the Cossacks, who in turn used Wiśniowiecki's actions as an excuse to delay any serious negotiations.[43]
Around late August or early September, Wiśniowiecki met with the armyregimentarzsWładysław Dominik Zasławski-Ostrogski,Mikołaj Ostroróg andAleksander Koniecpolski. He was not on overly friendly terms with them, as he resented being passed in military nominations, but after short negotiations, he agreed to follow their orders, and thus reduced to a junior commander status which had little impact over the next phase of the campaign.[44] On 23 September, their forces were, however, defeated at theBattle of Pyliavtsi; near the end of the battle some accounts suggest Wiśniowiecki was offered the hetman's position, but refused.[45] On 28 September in Lviv, Wiśniowiecki, with popular support, was given a field regimentarz nomination; about a week later this nomination was confirmed by the Sejm.[46] To the anger of Lviv's townfolk, he decided to focus on retreating towards the key fortress inZamość instead of Lviv; he would leave garrisons on both towns, and keep his army in the field.[47] In the end, the cities were not captured by the Cossacks, who in the light of the coming winter decided to retreat, after being paid a ransom by both town councils; no other large field battle took place that year.[47]
Meanwhile, theconvocation sejm of 1648 hadelected a new king,Jan Kazimierz II Vasa. Wiśniowiecki supported other candidates, such asGeorge I Rákóczi andKarol Ferdynand Vasa (Jan Kazimierz's brother).[48] Due to the opposition from Jeremi's detractors, he was not granted a hetman position, although after a full two days of debate on the subject he was granted a document that stated he had a "power equal to that of a hetman."[49] Wiśniowiecki faction, arguing for an increase in army size, was once again marginalized by the faction that hoped for a peaceful resolution. In the end, the King and most of the szlachta were lulled into a false sense of security, and the military was not reinforced significantly.[50] To add an insult to an injury, the coronation sejm of January–February 1649, held inKraków, revoked Wiśniowieck's regimentarz rank.[50]
In the first half of 1649, the negotiations with the Cossacks fell through, and the Polish–Lithuanian military began gathering near the borders with Ukraine. A major camp was inZbarazh, where Wiśniowiecki would arrive as well in late June, after gathering a new army of 3,000 inWiśnicz, which was all he was able to afford at that time, due to most of his estates being overrun by the Cossacks.[51] Wiśniowiecki's arrival raised the morale of the royal army, and despite having no official rank, both the common soldiers and the new regimentarz promised to take his advice, and even offered him the official command (which he refused).[51] During thesiege of Zbarazh, Wiśniowiecki was thus not the official commander (role was taken by regimentarzAndrzej Firlej) but most historians agree he was the real, if unofficial, commander of the Polish–Lithuanian army.[52] The siege would last until the ceasefire of theTreaty of Zboriv.[53] Wiśniowiecki's command during the siege was seen as phenomenal, and his popularity among the troops and nobility rose again, however the King, still not fond of him, gave him a relatively small reward (the land grant ofstarostwo przasnyskie, much less when compared to several others he distributed around that time).[53] Needing Wiśniowiecki's support in December that year, the King granted him once again a temporary hetman nomination, and several more land grants.[54] In April 1650, Wiśniowiecki had to return his temporary hetman office to Mikołaj Potocki, recently released from Cossack's captivity.[54] During December that year, in light of the growing tensions withMuscovy, Wiśniowiecki's military faction succeeded in convincing the Sejm to pass a resolution increasing the size of the army to 51,000, the largest army since the Cossack unrest began two years earlier.[55]
The truce of Zboriv did not last long, and in the spring of 1651 Khmelnytsky's Cossacks began advancing west again.[56] On 1 June 1651 Wiśniowiecki brought his private army to face the Cossacks inSokal.[57] He commanded the left wing of the Polish–Lithuanian army in the victoriousBattle of Berestechko on 28–30 June .[58] The Polish–Lithuanian army advanced after the retreating Cossacks, but on 17 July the King "left the whole army toPotocki ... and having given the order that the army march into Ukraine, the King himself parted ... to Warsaw to celebrate his victories over the Cossacks."[59] Later that year, on 14 August, Wiśniowiecki suddenly fell ill while in a camp near the village ofPawołocz, and died on 20 August 1651, at the age of only 39.[60] His cause of death was never known, while some (even contemporaries) speculated he was poisoned, but no conclusive evidence to support such a claim have ever been found.[61] Based on sparse descriptions of his illness and subsequent investigations, some medical historians suggest the cause of death might have been a disease related tocholera.[61] However, one account states, "following a cheerful conversation with other officers who had congregated for a military council in his tent on Sunday 13 August N.S. he had eaten some cucumbers with zest and washed them down with mead, and from that contracted dysentery. After lying ill for a week, he died there, atPavoloch".[62] He was given a "ceremonial funeral with the entire army present. On 22 August Wiśniowiecki's body was seen off with the utmost pomp on its journey to his residence".[62]
Wiśniowiecki's indebted family was not able to provide him with a funeral his rank and fame deserved. In the end, he never received the large funeral and the temporary location of his body, the monastery of the Holy Cross atŁysa Góra, became his final resting place.[63] His body was believed lost in a fire at the end of the 18th century, which would prevent a modern reexamination of the cause of his death,[61] although a body purported to be his had been discovered byOblates in 1936. In the interwar period, the authenticity was questioned by the magnate's biographer,Władysław Tomkiewicz [pl], who argued that the body had been burned in a fire in 1777. Forensic examination in 1980[64][65] showed that the body belonged to another person, who was taller and died at a more advanced age than Wiśniowiecki. No traces of theautopsy performed in the 17th century were found; however, it is likely that this person lived in the same historical period[66] and their corpse was kept on display in the monastery as Wiśniowiecki.[67]
The majority of theWiśniowiecki family estates were foundon the eastern side of theDnieper River (Volhynian,Ruthenian andKyivVoivodships), and most of them were acquired by Jeremi's grandfather,Aleksander Wiśniowiecki, in the 16th century.[68][69] The capital of his estate was located at a fortified manor atLubny, where his father rebuilt an old castle; the population of the town itself could be estimated at 1,000.[70] Wiśniowiecki inherited lands inhabited, according to an estimate from 1628, by about 4,500 people, of which Lubny was the largest town. Smaller towns in his lands includedKhorol,Pyriatyn andPryluky.[70] By 1646 his lands were inhabited by 230,000 people.[71] The number of towns on his lands rose from several to about thirty, and their population increased as well.[71] The prosperity of those lands reflected Wiśniowiecki's skills in economic management, and the income from his territories (estimated at 600,000złotys yearly) made him one of the wealthiest magnates in the Commonwealth.[17] Because of its size and relatively consistent borders, Wiśniowiecki's estate was often namedWiśniowieczczyzna ("Wiśniowieckiland").[68]
Despite his wealth, he was not known for a lavish life.[72] His court of about a hundred people was not known for being overly extravagant, he built no luxurious residences and did not even have a single portrait of himself made during his life.[72] It is uncertain how Wiśniowiecki looked, although a number of portraits and other works depicting him exist.[73]Jan Widacki notes that much of the historiography concerning Wiśniowiecki focuses on the military and political aspects of his life, and few of his critics discuss his successes in the economic development of his estates.[17]
Wiśniowiecki was widely popular among the noble class, who saw in him a defender of tradition, a patriot and an able military commander.[74] He was praised by many of his contemporaries, including a poet,Samuel Twardowski, as well as numerous diary writers and early historians.[74] For his protection of civilian population, including Jews, during the Uprising, Wiśniowiecki has been commended by early Jewish historians.[75] Until the 19th century, he has been idolized as the legendary, perfect "knight of the borderlands", his sculpture is among the twenty sculpture of famous historical personas in the 18th century "Knight Room" of the royalWarsaw Castle.[74]
In the 19th century this image started to waver, as a new wave inhistoriography began to reinterpret his life, and as the era ofpositivism in Poland put more value on builders, and less on warriors.[76] Further, at that time the Polish historians began to question the traditional view of the "Ukrainian problem", and the way that the Polish noble class had dealt with the Cossacks. Slowly, Wiśniowiecki's image as a hero began to waver, with various aspects of his life and personality being questioned and criticized in the work of historians such asKarol Szajnocha andJózef Szujski.[76]
While Wiśniowiecki's portrayal (as a major secondary character) in the first part ofHenryk Sienkiewicz'strilogy,With Fire and Sword which describes the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Uprising, was rather positive, criticism of his persona intensified, in particular from Sienkiewicz detractors such asZygmunt Kaczkowski andOlgierd Górka.[77] The 1930s saw a first modern historical work about Wiśniowiecki, byWładysław Tomkiewicz [pl].[78] In the era of thePeople's Republic of Poland, the Communist Party's ideology dictated that all historians present him as an "enemy of the people", although this began to be relaxed after 1965.[79] Widacki, analyzing the work of other historians notes thatWładysław Czapliński was rather sympathetic to Wiśniowiecki, whilePaweł Jasienica was critical of him.[79]Andrzej Seweryn played Jeremi Wiśniowiecki in the 1999 filmWith Fire and Sword.[80]
Wiśniowiecki was the main subject of one ofJacek Kaczmarski's 1993 songsKniazia Jaremy nawrócenie (The Conversion of Knyaz Jarema).[81]
