JAN SOBIESKI The King Who Saved Europe Miltiades Varvounis Copyright © 2012 by Miltiades Varvounis. Library of Congress Control Number: 12011908923 ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4628-8081-2 Softcover 978-1-4628-8080-5 Ebook 978-1-4628-8082-9 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. This book was printed in the United States of America. To order additional copies of this book, contact: Xlibris Corporation 0-800-644-6988 www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk [email protected] 302121 CONTENTS Foreword Preface Introduction I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV Illustrations Chronological Table Brief Biographies Historical Gazetteer Selected Bibliography To those who consider themselves part of the Polish world. Foreword The late seventeenth century has had much in common with our early twentieth first century. Both periods could be seen as times in which governments with weak, self centered ideologies had little or no moral compass to guide them. Today, as then, we look to our leaders for action, integrity and truth but the problem is that we have few real leaders today. After reading this book you might ask yourself this question: ‘why can’t we have courageous leaders and heroes today as Poland did centuries ago in her great king, Jan III Sobieski?’ Despite being surrounded by a host of political, religious and ideological enemies, Sobieski could not be contained and was not limited by the challenges of his time. Well educated, loyal to those who placed their trust on him, a romantic, a chivalric knight and a devoted family man, Sobieski also had the skills and bravery of a Polish winged hussar. As you read this well researched book, I hope that you will be captivated by Sobieski’s Poland, an exotic and little known quarter of Europe (a quarter in the sense that few realise that this once powerful and religiously tolerant kingdom ruled benevolently a quarter of Europe). Jan Sobieski: The King Who Saved Europe, is not only a fascinating biography, but also an insight to a little known experiment in Polish democracy, in which kings were elected! This experiment was not without its failures, but also presented positive examples for future governments to learn from. Sobieski’s time, like ours, was a world with major villains of regional proportions terrorising Europe, Western Asia and the whole of Christendom. Many of Sobieski’s seventeenth century challenges are also present in our world today. The main difference is that he was brave, intelligent and faithful enough to stand against his enemies. What our world certainly needs today is true leaders like King Jan III Sobieski. Miltiades Varvounis demonstrates in an eloquent way just what made this man tick. What were his strengths and what truths did he base them on? They were principles and ideals which are often frowned upon today like family, faith, knowing right from wrong and not making excuses for them. Sobieski was the son of a wealthy and noble landowner with an impressive family tree including some of Poland’s finest statesmen and warriors. He made use of the finest European education which served him well, not only in his political career but also as a patron of the arts and commander of over half a dozen languages. Sobieski was baptised in battle at a young age and knew the horrors of war, losing his brother to the Tatars during the Cossack revolt of 1648. The young and successful Sobieski was trusted by his king and promoted to commander of troops; he was victorious in many famous battles during the ‘Deluge’ period in Polish history. Soon afterwards, he became a royal envoy to the the Ottoman Empire and to the Crimean Tatars, learning their language and tactics. Sobieski was blessed in life to have the love and devotion of a beautiful French princess, Marie Casimire Louise, who would become his queen and mother of his eight children. While away on campaigns, the King would have frequent contact with Marie, his most trusted and closest confidant and the love of his life. Throughout his 22 year reign, Sobieski united his nation during wars and invasions. He gained international fame through spectacular victories over the Swedes, Muscovites, Cossacks, Tatars and the powerful Ottoman Empire. These victories earned him the title ‘Lion of Lechistan.’ His fame and skills as commander spread across Europe and Western Asia. As the Western world’s arch enemy was laying siege to one of Europe’s major capitals, who did the Pope, the German and Austrian emperors plead with for military assistance to save Christendom? Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania! At the gates of Vienna, his skills as Christian allied army commander was equaled only by the reputation of his brave winged hussar knights. For a time, his stunning victory (which saved Christendom) stabilised his kingdom and regained prestige for Poland, weakened by a century of almost constant warfare. Today, as in the past, King Jan III Sobieski is considered one of Poland’s most popular and beloved kings. It is truly an honour to present you with this fascinating book about a true hero. As a Polish-American, I have always had a heartfelt connection with Jan III Sobieski. I am one of a few Americans who is actually involved in Polish history, in fact my work is deeply rooted in seventeenth century Poland. Many people today work with a cell phone, palm pilot or computer; my tools are the anvil, fire, hammers and files. I am a traditional armourer. I create historically accurate replica suites of Polish winged hussar armour, the type of armour worn by knights like Jan III Sobieski and his legendary cavalry four hundred years ago. And now, let Varvounis take you on an exciting journey back into a time of one of the world’s greatest heroes, King Jan III Sobieski of Poland. Enjoy! Eryk S. Jadaszewski Author of Polish Re-Enactors Handbook— Owner of Polish Hussar Supply Plus Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA Preface Jan Sobieski! Poland! Lithuania! Magical words, quickening the imagination and filling the mind with vivid memories of a glorious past; such glory and happiness would have been eclipsed if not for the stately bands of valiant warriors, who with gleaming lances and floating pennons, mounted upon noble steeds, whose glittering caparisons almost outshined the gorgeous costumes of their riders, composed of luxurious furs, oriental fabrics and rich jewels, mingled with the metallic panoply of war, dyed with the bloodshed in numerable combats, lost and won in the cause of liberty and Christendom, as opposed to Asian despotism and the dominion of Islam. Surrendered to the fascination of Polish history and particularly to Poland’s most illustrious ruler, Jan Sobieski, when I searched a few years ago about works on him in the world’s lingua franca, English, I was certain that I would find at least one. To my surprise, I found out that during the last decades no English- speaking author had brought Jan Sobieski to life. Some old biographies of him did exist, among them Sobieski: King of Poland by John B. Morton (1932) and John Sobieski of Edward H. R. Tatham (1881), but both of them were outdated, out of print, and godforsaken. As a civis Orbis Poloniae (citizen of the Polish world), I could not accept the idea that one of the most notable historical figures was totally absent from the modern American and British bibliography. Anyone today can find recent biographies of Ivan the Terrible, Frederick the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, William III of England, Charles XII of Sweden, even those of the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, the infamous Spanish King Phillip IV and the first Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro. Of course, I don’t want to underestimate the personalities mentioned above or to compare them with Jan Sobieski. Besides, it is always encouraging to see at the bookshelves of bookstores, biographies of rulers and commanders, even lesser known, who were immortalized by their actions, thus presenting us with the unique opportunity to learn about their exciting lives. But why, until now, hasn’t there been published beyond the boundaries of Poland a work about the king who saved Europe from the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna (1683); a battle which was the inspiration for J. R. R, Tolkien’s cavalry charge of the Rohirrim that lifted the siege of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings? Some will notice that the lack of knowledge in Polish is the major reason for a non-Pole to be unable to write a complete biography of this extraordinary monarch. To this I partly agree, but again, how come you can see works in English of other famous Polish personalities such as Mikolaj Kopernik, Marie Curie, Chopin, John Paul II, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Stanislaw August Poniatowski and even Ignacy Paderewski? Works that require access on Polish sources, therefore good knowledge in Polish by their authors. Although a great deal of literature has been published on Polish history since the 1990s, still, the ‘Lion of Lechistan (Poland)’ as was called by the Ottomans, remains forgotten and ignored. Now, imagine a similar situation with notable Greeks presented in various works, but without a single biography on the most famous Greek historical figure, Alexander the Great. This is the need that urged me to present to the English-speaking reader, as also to the Polish diaspora around the world, the achievements of one of the most fascinating men ever to sit on a throne or command an army. A king that lived in an era when the heroic age of warrior kings had almost gone, but not for him, the last European of his kind, personally exercised in war after war the supreme military command he had gained; and exercised it with such skill and won with his sword such renown, that he was acclaimed as the greatest soldier of his time. Despite his preference for the arts of peace, it was for war that he made such a singular mark on his country’s history—a country which he found devastated by the enemies but which he made again formidable and, for a little while, secure. It is not an exaggeration to claim that Jan Sobieski had a great record of victories, like those of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden—warrior leaders in their time, moulders of societies, makers of myth. His