KOTŁUBAJ - THE LIFE OF JANUSZ RADZIWI³³ Vilnius 1859

KOTŁUBAJ Edward

LIFE OF JANUSZ RADZIWIŁŁ

Ś. Roman State prince of Birża and Dubinki, count of Nevel and Siebież, voivode of Vilnius [...].

Vilna-Vitebsk 1859. M. Mindelsohn, pp. VIII, 460; format 14.5x21 cm

Janusz Radziwill (the younger) of the coat of arms of Trąby (born December 12, 1612 in Popiel, died. December 31, 1655 in Tykocin) - prince of Birża and Dubinki, Grand Hetman of Lithuania from 1654, voivode of Vilnius from 1653, marshal of the Main Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1648, starosta general of Samogitia and field hetman of Lithuania from 1646, civun of Retov in 1644-1655, chamberlain of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1633, starosta of Mstislavl from 1643-1645, starosta of Kamenets, starosta of Kazimiersk from 1638, starosta of Sejvy, and extraordinary ambassador of the Commonwealth to the Republic of the United Provinces in 1633.

The book describes the turbulent life of the controversial figure Janusz Radziwill.

At the behest of King Wladyslaw IV, he became a royal envoy. As an MP, he traveled to the States General, to Brussels to Infanta Isabella, and to England. Then, at the behest of Wladyslaw IV, he conducted an army enlistment. Upon his return to the country, he fielded a hussar standard with his own funds. For his services to the country, he was awarded the title of chamberlain of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At his father's side he took part in the Smolensk War. In 1633 he participated in the Battle of Smolensk, which ended in victory for the Lithuanians. On February 25, 1634, after the surrender of the Russian army under Mikhail Shein, he entered the Russian army camp at the head of an infantry regiment to flag down Polish banners and seize camp equipment.
After the war, he served as chamberlain at the court of Vladislav IV.
In 1637 he became a deputy to the Sejm from the land of Vilnius. In 1639 there were riots in Vilna between Calvinists and Catholics. In 1640 there were riots again during a funeral. Both issues were discussed at the Sejm. In 1640 Janusz was again a deputy at the Sejm, from where they wanted to expel him for his participation in the riots.
After the outbreak of the Khmelnytsky uprising, at the head of the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he fought against the Cossacks. In 1649 he was victorious at the Battle of Loyov. In the 1651 campaign, he smashed the Cossack army in another battle at Lojiv and took Kiev. He then commanded in the inconclusive Battle of Belaya Cerkiew. He was against the conclusion of the White Cerkiev settlement.
In 1648 he supported the election of Jan Kazimierz as king of Poland, for which he received the starosty of Borisov. In 1648 he signed the election of Jan II Casimir Vasa from the Duchy of Samogitia, and signed his pacta conventa. Despite this, relations between the hetman and the king were full of resentment. They stemmed from the king's policy of seeking to consolidate royal power and curb the power of the magnates. In response, Janusz Radziwill, Jan Leszczynski, Krzysztof Opalinski and Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski formed the so-called "magnate conspiracy," planning a coup. In 1652, Wladyslaw Wiktoryn Siciński, a deputy from the Uptown area, broke off the sejm, possibly on Janusz Radziwill's instructions. In 1654, there was a scuffle at the Sejm over vacant Hetman posts, and the Sejm was also broken off. In the same year, Jan Kazimierz granted Radziwill the dignity of grand hetman, but at the same time his enemy Wincenty Aleksander Gosiewski became field hetman.
After the Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1654, he unsuccessfully tried to stop the overwhelming Moscow forces. He won a victory over part of the Russian army at the Battle of Shklov, but his forces were shattered at Shepelevichi. He also lost at Novy Bychov and at Vilna. He was partly to blame for being unprepared to defend Smolensk, a key border fortress.
Political calculations and resentment toward Jan Kazimierz led Prince Janusz to pact with the Swedes on his own. In early August 1655, in Riga, Gabriel Lubieniecki signed an agreement with Sweden on behalf of Prince Radziwill. The agreement was confirmed in Yasvoyny on August 17 jointly by hetmans Radziwill and Gosiewski. On October 20, 1655, a treaty was concluded in Kiejdany with a representative of Charles X Gustav. The treaty recognized Sweden's protectorate over Lithuania and was a rupture of the Polish-Lithuanian union. The treaty was signed by many senators and more than a thousand Lithuanian nobles, including Radziwill himself.
Against Janusz Radziwill's policy came the Lithuanian families headed by the Sapiehs (including the Radziwills from the line on Olitsa and Nesvizh), fearing the Hetman's domination. Defeated in the field, seriously ill, and militarily and financially dependent (his property in Lithuania was regularly plundered by his opponents) on the Swedes, he led battles in Podlasie against Pavel Sapieha's Lithuanian army[28]. Radziwill saw his only salvation in maintaining his position in breaking the union of Lithuania with Poland and creating a principality, ruled by the Radziwills under the protection of Sweden. Hence, on December 6, 1656, his relative Boguslaw Radziwill was listed as an ally in the Treaty of Radnot between Sweden and Transylvania.

Uncommon!

HARDCOVER HALF LEATHER BINDING OF THE PERIOD. GILT LETTERING ON SPINE. MARMORIZED CARDBOARD. CARD EDGES DECAYED

Condition DB/ missing pieces.455-458 [1k. with letters to Anna Maria Radziwillowna, 1k. table of contents], despite the defect EXEMPLOYMENT WORTH NOTICE.