biographical notices on the illustrious knights of malta in the commonwealth of poland, xviith and...

Canadian Slavonic Papers

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES ON THE ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS OF MALTA IN THECOMMONWEALTH OF POLAND, XVIITH AND XVIIITH CENTURIESAuthor(s): Boleslaw SzczesniakSource: Études Slaves et Est-Européennes / Slavic and East-European Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1/2(Printemps-Eté/Spring-Summer 1963), pp. 81-86Published by: Canadian Association of SlavistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41055822 .

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Slavic and East European Studies

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES ON THE ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS OF MALTA IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF POLAND,

XVIITH AND XVIIITH CENTURIES

by

BOLESLAW SZCZESNIAK

Biographical data of the Polish Knights of St. John of Jerusalem are scattered over the most obscure archivistic or rare published material. A genuine satisfaction may be derived from a research in the biographical writings that pertain to the mediaeval Knights, for among them were prominent members of the royal house of Piast in the Sl^sk (Silesia) province of the Polish Kingdom. Little is known - if at all - about the Knights of the sixteenth century. Information about the seventeenth and eighteenth century Knights, however, is available. Long, meticulous search may produce satisfac- tory results.

Even modern histories are not too serviceable with reference to the Knights about whom we are interested in the present paper. The history of the prominent Polish families, from which the Knights descended, is abundant and well-documented. The Knights themselves, however, were neglected. They do not appear to have been regarded with any importance even in the family records. It is a strange phenomenon that the pride of the magnate families of the Polish Commonwealth did not manifest itself in the recognition of their members who belonged to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Various reasons accounting for this could be advanced. The main cause of the neglect is, perhaps, that the Polish aristocracy was not appreciably impressed by the monastic life. The clergy, or religious persons were regarded as burdensome to their economy. According to the Polish aristocratic* tradition, it was only as a last resort that one retired to a monastery or took upon oneself the profession of vows.

The ten sketches of the prominent Polish Knights of the Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem here given constitute a pioneering effort in opening the history of this Order to further research :

1 Bartholomaeus De Hador 2 Sigismundus Carolus Radziwitt 3 Alexander Judycki 4 Felix Woyanowski 5 Joannes de Tçczyn Ossolirìski 6 Augustinus Lubomirski 7 Casimirus Michael Pac 8 Viadislaus Judycki 9 James George Gordon 10 Adamus Stanislaus Grabowski

1. The Hador family is practically unknown in Poland. Presumably Fra Bartholomaeus d'Hador came to Poland, and, as so often happened with prominent foreign visitors, was engaged by King Sigismund III (1587-1632) for a function at his court. According to his letter dated December 28, 1622, to the new Grand Master Vasconcelles (1622-1623) he was Captain of the

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Etudes Slaves et Est-Européennes

Royal Guards and Prefect of the Court Attendants at Warsaw, during the reign of Sigismundus III. He was born about 1550, and had spent some time in Malta before coming to Poland, about 1602. In 1623 he was in his seventies. A point about Hador's Polish nationality, however, is indicated in some state- ments in his letter to the Grand Master, such as : " having returned from Malta to my homeland (patria mea), Poland ; " or Poland, " our Kingdom.

" Hador expresses, in his letter to the Grand Master of Malta, the true significance of the Polish campaigns against the Turks and Tartars as an essential part of the same work in which the Order of Malta was engaged x. His devoted friend was Duke Janusz Ostrogski, who (died in 1620) gave to the Knights of St. John, huge estates for the establishment of a new Commandery in Ostróg. It looks that d' Hador was instrumental in this important bequest.

2. Sigismundus Carolus Radziwitt belongs to the most illustrious Polish family in old Lithuania. He was born on December 4, 1591, at the family castle, in Nieswiez. He was the fourth son of Prince Nicolaus, nicknamed Sierotka, and Euphemia, daughter of Duke Janusz of Ostróg. His uncle was Cardinal Jerzy (Georgius) Radziwitt (1556-1600). Sigismundus was a Voyevode of Novogródek, but he also held the offices of Royal Prefect (Starosta) of Slonim, Upita and Szawle. He became Knight of Malta on the recommendation of the king, Sigismundus III, in 1611. He was received into the Order by the Grand Master Alof De Wignacourt (1601-1622) with whom he stayed in Malta for several years.

As a Knight of St. John, Sigismundus held the office of Commander of Poznan, Stwotowicze and Pociejów (or Pociejki). As General Commissioner of the Grand Master he accepted for solemn profession in the Knights of Malta a prominent young nobleman, Adalbertus Srzedziriski 2.

In 1610, his father, Nicolaus Sierotka, gave to the Order his estates of Stwolowicze and Pociejki. His son, Sigismundus Carolus, was appointed the first Knight Commander of the Stwotowicze Commandery. He stayed at the court of Queen Constantia of Poland, as a courtier, until he was called to Malta in 1618.

In 1619 Sigismundus was sent to Vienna to represent the Grand Master Alof De Wignacourt as a General Commissioner.

During the Thirty Years War the Knights of Malta gave help to the emperor. Sigismundus RadziwiH organized an army in which many Poles served. The Malta help given to the emperor was sustained by the private treasury of Sigismundus. He commanded troops of Archduke Leopold of Austria. And thus also, fought against the revolutionary Protestant Czechs in 1619 and 1620, and thereby helping the emperor to defeat them at the White Mountain 3.

He became Commander of Poznan Commandery in 1624, after the death of Bartholomaeus Nowodworski, and was installed solemnly by Bishop Joannes Wçzyk on February 28, 16254.

He was general in the imperial army5 and took part with his army of Lisowczyki in the adventurous Spanish wars of 1622-1623. Previously he was known for his military accomplishments in the Polish war against the Turks. In Poland he led his army against Muscovy in 1633, at Smolensk and Skowronkowa Gòra (Skowronkowa Mountain in Belo-Ruthenia) ; against the Turks near Chocim in 1621 ; against the Swedes in Polish or East Prussia in 1627 and 1628. He joined actively the cult of the Madonna of the Loretto

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House and founded the collegiate church at Stwolowicze, endowing it with the village of Berezowiec. In 1619 he joined the newly founded Sancta Militia, an international movement among the princes to organize a crusade against the Turks. He died in Assisi on November 5, 1642, at the age of fifty. His tomb is in the Church of St. Francis. Upon it there is an inscription made at the order of his paternal cousin, Prince Adalbertus (or Albrycht) Stanislaus Radziwitt (1595-1656). Fra Sigismundus is also known as the founder of a Uniate church in Derewnia and of a hospital for the poor in Kroszyn, 1626, and in his own Commandery of Stwolowicze of a parish church in 1639 6.

3. Alexander Judycki was the grandson of Basilius Judycki, who was famous for his knightly deeds during the reign of Sigismund II (1548-1572). His father was Constantinus of Rzeczyce. K. Niesiecki in his Polish Peerage 7 does not give the dates of his birth or death. He mentions that he was a courtier, perhaps of Sigismund III (1587-1632). The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland (Slownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego) enumerates two Judycki, Thomas and Nicolaus, as Knight Commanders of the Stwolowicze Commandery 8. He seems to be of Polish-Belorussian background.

4. Felix Woyanowski (d. 1624) is a scion of an old Polish family from Prussia. His great-grandfather was a castellan of Gdansk (Danzig), his grandfather served King Sigismundus II (1548-1572) as a Royal Prefect (starosta) of Grudziadz. Felix Woyanowski was Knight Commander of the Commandery of Poznan, 1600-1624. He died at Gdansk and was buried in the Dominican church. The grave inscription on the wall of the church reads : " Sarcinam corporis hie deposuit, qui cum strenuus exitisset miles, virtute crevit et meritis, 1621, Gedani 9."

5. Joannes Ossoliñski de Tçczyn, born on November 1, 1612, was the fourth son of Maximilianus Ossoliñski of Tçczyn and Helena Kazanowski of Kazanów. He was Knight Commander of the Poznan Commandery in 1642- 1682. This information is all that could be gathered concerning him. The Ossoliñski family is one of the most prominent noble houses, distinguished for its services to the Polish nation and the Commonwealth. A biography of this Knight and scion of the great family is still to be written. King Vladislaus IV, in his letter to the Grand Master Antoine De Paule (1623-1636) praises Fra Joannes, " a professed Knight ... of his own heroic way of life 10."

6. Hieronymus Augustinus (1648-1706), a son of the Grand Marshal Georgius Sebastianus Lubomirski (1616-1667), was a prominent statesman - like his father - of the Polish Commonwealth, and is shown for his famed knightly deeds displayed in the wars against the Turks. He joined King John III of Poland in his expedition for the liberation of Hungary and Austria from the Turks in 1683 ". He was Marshal at the court of King John and Grand General of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom, (Hetmán Wielki Koronny). He also held several other offices of distinction. His military deeds against the Infidels were inspired, according to a prominent writer, K. Neisiecki, by the very fact that he was a brave Malta Knight. He was praised for many accomplishments under Kings John III and Michael I. In 1685 he was dispensed from his vows ; and he married a daughter of Bohusz or Bokum by whom he had six children. The marriage caused him a number of difficulties created by the Papal Nuncio Obizzo Pallavicini (1632-1700) 12.

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His statemanship had the benefit of profound educational background built up in Poland as well as in foreign countries. He studied law at Padua University.

Hieronymus Lubomirski is known for his brave participation in the fight against the revolutionary Ukrainian Kozaks and Tartars at Braclaw and Doroszenka in 1671. This was during the reign of King Michael I (1668-1673). Subsequently he served, not always loyally, Grand General John Sobieski (1674-1696), later elected king of Poland 13.

Lubomirski as a Knight of Malta competed for the administration of the famous Ostróg Ordination, bequeathed to the Knights by Duke Janusz Ostrogski, afterwards seized by Duke Dimitr Wisniowiecki for his wife, Theophila of Zastaw, niece of Duke Janusz. Lubomirski was praised by public opinion, expressed during the meeting of the Proszowice Assembly (sejmik) : " he has done many deserving things for the Commonwealth . . . military difficulties and labours he accepted like an ordinary soldier, he did not spare his health in the fight for God's church and against the infidels (Turks) 14."

7. Casimirus Michael Pac (d. 1682), is the same person referred to in K. Niesiecki's Peerage as Michael Casimirus 15. He was the ninth son of Petrus, voyevode of Troki in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Hs is known as the most prominent knight of the turbulent times of the reign of kings John Casimir (1648-1668) and Michael, his successor. Fra Casimir was chief military commandant (Hetmán) of the Lithuanian army fighting the Swedes, which invaded the Baltic provinces of the Commonwealth in 1655-1656. During the wars with the Muscovites he led the victorious battles at Witebsk and Mohilów in Belorussia. He contributed greatly to the victory over the Turks and Tartars at Chocim in 1673, for which King John III is so famed.

Pac is known for his great piety and purity of life. As a benefactor of many religious orders he is celebrated for the building of the beautiful baroque church of St. Peter in Antokol in Wilno (Vilna) for the canons of St. Augustine. He is buried at the very entrance to the great shrine and on the pavement the inscription still says : Hie jacet peccator 16.

Michael Casimirus Pac belongs among the most illustrious men of the history of the Polish Commonwealth, combining as he did the virtue of knightly character with great interest in promoting culture and civilization in the Borderlands of Poland.

It is apparent from the history of the illustrious Sapieha house, that in 1712 Andreas Sapieha borrowed from Casimirus Pac, Knight of Malta, a diamond-and-ruby-set sceptre of the Grand Hetmán. This must be another Casimirus Pac, the one who married Teresia Christina Sapieha on June 25, 1712. Fra Casimirus Michael Pac d. 1682 as a professed Knight17.

8. Vladislaus Nicolaus Judycki (d. 1670) son of Georgius Judycki, was a member of the prominent Polish family, well known for its brave participation in the wars against the Muscovites, Tartars and the Turks. Vladislaus Judycki was a Royal Colonel of Artillery and Castellan of Nowogródek. In the wars against the Swedes and Muscovites, during the reign of King John Casimir

(1648-1668), he distinguished himself by freeing from enemy possession the towns of Dzisna and Siebiez in Lithuania.

He was Knight Commander of the Stwolowicze Commandery. The

distinguished Judycki family had two other Knights of Malta : Thomas and Basilius, Commanders of the Poznan Commandery18.

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9. Adamus Stanislaus Grabowski was a scion of the famed family of Grabów (hence Grabowski) in Polish Pomerania. The Grabowskis were distinguished for their cultural and administrative activities in Polish Prussia and Warmia. Adamus Stanislaus, Commandant of the Order of Malta, was bishop (1741-1767) of Warmia (Ermland), and Marshal of the Nobility in Prussia. He was decorated by many foreign rulers and as a bishop of Warmia was a prince-bishop. He died in 1767 in Lidzbark, leaving to his brother, Joannes Michael, his personal estates and hereditary titles. His tomb is in the cathedral of Warmia in Frombork. His successor in Warmia was the great Polish poet and humanist, Bishop Ignatius Krasicki, who praised Bishop Grabowski for his great achievements for Poland as a senator of Prussia in the Polish Diet and as a prince-bishop of Warmia 19. Grabowski was first a bishop of Chehnno (Culm), next Wtodawek (Vladislavia), and finally of Warmia. His library is partly preserved in the diocesan library of Plock. He is known for erudition, cultural attainments and elegance, but not especially for the episcopal virtues, however 20.

Born at Chetmo on September 3, 1698, son of Andreas, educated in law, he was a notary at Skarszew. Next he was a canon at Poznan, and according to Franciscus Rzepnicki, an ecclesiastical historian, contemporaneous with Grabowski, he became a Suffragan Bishop of Poznan. King August III (1733- 1763) sent him to Pope Clement XII (1730-1740) with an announcement of the King's succession to the Polish crown. In 1737 he succeeded Bishop Franciscus Czapski in Chelmno. Then in 1738 he succeeded Christophorus Szembek in the bishopric of Wtodawek. In 1741, he took over the great diocese of Warmia after C. A. J. Szembek 21. Fra Adamus combined wordly elegance with high ecclesiastical positions, but he distinguished himself in the cultural life of the Polish Enlightenment.

10. Count James George Gordon, of Scottish descent, apparently of the Gordons who settled in Poland in the middle of the seventeenth century, belongs prominently to the history of the Polish Knights of Malta. He was received as a Knight of Justice on April 29, 1706. Msgr. A. Mifsud in his Knights Hospitallers asserts that Pope Clement XI (1700-1721) and Tsar Peter I (1682-1725) asked Grand Master Perellos (1697-1720) to admit Gordon into the Order22. Gordon stayed for a long time at the court in St. Petersburg.

Tsar Peter cast his eyes upon the Eastern provinces of the Polish Com- monwealth, especially since there existed in Ostróg the rich ordination bequeathed to the Order of Malta 23. This could be an element in his diplomacy of encroachment. Gordon was sent as an envoy of the Schismastic tsar to the most Catholic military order of St. John of Jerusalem. An old technique, very well known to the historians, of promises and hopes of union with the Roman See, was employed. The decaying Order accepted tsarist diplomacy with the expectation that from Moscow might come strength for the Knights who would be glad to found a new commandery in the tsardom now promising speedy Westernization.

In 1711 King Stanislaus Leszczyriski (1706-1711) of Poland sent Gordon as his ambassador24 to Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccafull (1697- 1720) to negotiate the settlement of the Ostróg Ordination, and the establishment there of an independent Polish Commandery instead. The embassy was not successful, however.

University of Notre Dame 85




FOOTNOTES

1. Hador's family is not mentioned in Polish reference works, nor is he indicated in the Podrecznik Zwiqzku Polskich Kawalerów Mahañskich (Warszawa, Published by the Association of the Polish Knights of Malta, 1932). For d'Hador's letter see Sebastiano Pauli, Codice diplomatico del Sacro Ordine Gerosolimitano oggi di Malta, 2 vols. (Lucca, 1733-1737), vol. II, pp. 276-277.

2. Sigismund Srzedzinski (d. 1616), a prominent Knight of St. John of Jerusalem, who fought bravely against the Turks with the Knights at Morea. His funeral was solemnly celebrated by the Polish nation. Great Dominican orator and preacher, Fabian Birkowski, delivered over his grave the famous oration, which was published in 1623 by Bartfomiej Nowodworski with introduction and biographical notes. K. Estreicher mentioned the rare publication in his Bibliografia Polska. Cf. S. Orgelbrand (ed.), Encyklopedyja powszechna (Warsaw, 1859-1868, first ed.), vol. XXIII (1866), pp. 925-926. Judging from the family name, the Knight was from Srzeda, Poznan Voyevodship.

3. Cf. Edward Kothxbaj, Galerja meswiezska portretów radziwillowskich opisana historycznie (Wilno, 1857), pp. 331-335, and a portrait facing p. 330.

4. Cf. Podrecznik, pp. 44-45. 5. See Kasper Niesiecki, Herbarz polski, ed. by Jan Nep. Bobrowicz (Leipzig, 1839-1846), vol.

VIII (1841), pp. 74-75. 6. Cf. Kothibaj, op. cit., p. 334. 7. Cf. Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. IV, pp. 504-505. 8. See Filip Sulimirski (ed.), Slownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (Warszawa, 1880-1902),

vol. XII, p. 635. 9. See Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. DC, p. 387 ; Podrecznik, p. 43.

10. Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. VII (1841), p. 156; Jerzy Ossoliñski, Pamietnik, 1595-1621 (Wroclaw, 1952), p. 19 ; Podrecznik, p. 45.

11. Cf. Piwarski, Hieronim Lubomirski hetmán wielki Koronny (Krakow, 1829), pp. 31-39. 12. Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. VI (1841), pp. 164-165. 13. Cf. Encyklopedja wojskowa (Warszawa, 1930-), vol. V, p. 159. 14. Cf. Piwarski, op. cit., pp. 8-9. 15. Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. VII, pp. 224-227 ; Estreicher in his Bibliografia polska, No. 1671, quotes

a very rare pamphlet by Andrew Mlodzianowski, Suppetiœ militares Michœlis Pac ex divis Polonœ gentis tutelaribus, Wilno, n.d. It should supply the rare bibliographical data of C. Pac.

16. See Wielka illustrowana encyklopedja powszechna (Krakow, 1929), vol. XII, p. 67; Ency- lopedja wojskowa, vol. VI, pp. 214-215.

17. Cf. Sapiehowie : Materjaly historyczno- genealogiczne i majqtkowe (St. Petersburg, 1894), vol. Ill, pp. 132, 182.

18. See Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. IV, pp. 508-509; Orgelbrand, op. cit., vol. VII (1900), p. 557; Encyklopedja wojskowa, vol. Ill, p. 704, here the name of his father is given as Gregorius.

19. Niesiecki, op. cit., vol. IV, pp. 268-269; Slownik geograficzny, vol. X, (1893), pp. 5-13; Orgelbrand, op. cit., vol. X, (1862), pp. 395-406; idem, 2nd. ed., vol. VI (1900), pp. 276-277.

20. S. L. Linde, Janociana sive clarorum atque illustrium Poloniœ auctorum (Varsovie, 1776- 1819), vol. Ill, pp. 155-156.

21. Franciscus Rzepnicki, Vitœ prœsulum Poloniœ, Magnus D uca tus Lithuania; (Poznan, 1761- 1736), vol. II, pp. 361-362; P. B. Gams, Series episcoporum ecclesie catholicœ (Leipzig, 1931), pp. 346, 358.

22. Cf. A. Mifsud, Knights Hospitallers of the Ven. Tongue of England in Malta (Valetta, 1V14J, pp. 39-40.

23. The Russian encyclopedia, Entsiklopedicheskii slovar (St. Petersburg, iWb), vol. Avili, pp. 503-504, treats the city and district of Ostróg as a Russian province. It was never really Russian.

24. Mifsud, op. cit., p. 234. At that time, however, reigned King Augustus in, an any oi reier I exiled for a short time to Saxony by the Swedes as well as by a faction of Polish magnates. For the writings and political activities of the Bishop A. S. Grabowski, see Ludwik Finkel, Bibliografia historii polskiej (Warszawa, 1956), vol. I, Nos. 4660, 4679, 4680, 4693, 4697, 1309, 13105.

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