Prominent Poles
Stanislaw Koniecpolski Field Hetman of the Crown and later Grand Hetman of the Crown, magnate, official (starosta and castellan), voivode of Sandomierz.
Born: 1590/1594 (the date not certain), Koniecpol, Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died: March 11, 1646, Brody, Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
Summary. Stanislaw Koniecpolski lived a life that involved almost constant warfare, and during his military career he won many victories. He is considered to be one of the most skilled military commanders in the history of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Early days. Stanislaw Koniecpolski was born into the noble, magnate family of Koniecpolski (coat of arms Pobog), likely in their seat of Koniecpol. His father was Aleksander Koniecpolski, voivode (palatine) of Sieradz, a staunch supporter of king Sigismund III of the Swedish House of Vasa. His mother was Anna Sroczycka, daughter of Stanislaw Sroczycki, voivode of Kamieniec Podolski, who brought into the Koniecpolski family large estates in Podolia. Stanislaw's brothers were Krzysztof (voivode of Belsk), Remigiusz (bishop of Chelm), Jan (castellan and voivode of Sieradz) and Przedbor. Stanislaw Koniecpolski had a speech impediment since childhood, and throughout his life he stuttered on longer words. His father's influence at the royal court got him, at the age of 15, the Commonwealth district office of starosta of Wielun. From 1603 he studied at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. After several years of studies he was sent by his father to the royal court, to continue his education in a more practical fashion; he stayed there for a year or two. Afterwards Koniecpolski returned to his family's estates.
Early career. In 1610 he took part in the Dymitriads against Muscovy, (Battle of Kluszyn). During the siege of the Smolensk fortress in 1611, his brother Przedbor was killed and Stanislaw returned to Koniecpol with his body. In the autumn of the same year he rejoined the army and under the command of Grand Lithuanian Hetman Chodkiewicz. In 1612 Koniecpolski joined the units of wojsko kwarciane (regular Commonwealth army) in Ukraine under the command of hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski, who greatly influenced his career. In 1614 he was given the responsibility of destroying rebellious units of wojsko kwarciane, led by Jan Karwacki and together with Jan Zolkiewski won a victory at Rohatyn and captured Karwacki. In 1615 he married Zolkiewski�s daughter, Katarzyna, who died a year later in labor with his first son. In 1617 alongside Zolkiewski he took part in the Moldavian Magnate Wars. In 1618, during the session of the Commonwealth parliament (Sejm), king Sigismund III Vasa granted the bulawa (ceremonial mace or baton) of Grand Crown Hetman to Stanislaw Zolkiewski and the baton of Field Crown Hetman to Koniecpolski. Koniecpolski thereafter married Krystyna Lubomirska, who in 1620 gave birth to Aleksander.
In 1620 Koniecpolski and Zolkiewski led the army to Cecora to fight against Khan Temir. The army numbered over 10,000, which consisted mostly of the private forces of various magnates. In the ensuing battle Zolkiewski was killed and Koniecpolski and many magnates were taken captive. They were transported to Bialograd near Constantinople to the Castle of Seven Towers and held in the Black Tower. They returned to Poland in 1623, in the aftermath of the Ottoman defeat at Khotyn and stabilization of Polish-Ottoman relations, helped by OKUP of 30,000 talars. In 1624, the Khan Temir's forces attacked the Commonwealth once again. One of his armies was intercepted and destroyed on February and the remainder crushed in June. For his victory the Sejm awarded Koniecpolski 30,000 zlotys and in 1625 made him voivode of Sandomierz. In 1625 Koniecpolski gathered a 12,000-strong army to fight the rebellion of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. He promised all Cossacks loyal to the Commonwealth fair treatment, and death to the rebels. The conflict ended with a ceasfire; the Cossack register was set at 6,000; and again they promised to stop raiding the Black Sea. In 1626 the Tatars invaded again, razing and pillaging territories as far as the voivodeships of Belz, Halicz and Lwow, while some advance units reached the cities of Tarnopol and Tremblowla. A small army under Koniecpolski managed to defeat the rear guard of the main Tatar army. In 1626 the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus (Gustaf Adolf den Store) , king of Sweden, crossed the Commonwealth borders rekindling the Polish-Swedish War. Koniecpolski's forces moved to the Prusy Krolewskie with amazing speed. He had 10,000 men against over 20,000-strong Swedish force. Koniecpolski managed to stop the Swedish attack and forced the units under Axel Oxenstierna into a defense. The Sejm agreed to raise money for the war. The Swedes planned to strike Koniecpolski from two directions - Oxenstierna from direction of the Vistula and Johann Streiff von Lauenstein and Maximilian Teuffel, Freiherr von Guntersdorf- Germans serving in the Swedish army- from Swedish held Pomerania (Pomorze). The flooding of the Vistula disrupted their plans and allowed Koniecpolski to intercept the enemy units coming from Pomorze. In 1627 near Czarne they forced the Swedish forces to surrender, leaving behind their banners and insignia. Some Swedish soldiers and mercenaries changed sides at that time. This victory also convinced the Elector of Brandenburg to declare his support for the Commonwealth, and the Lithuanian forces resumed the offensive in Inflanty. Gustavus Adolphus was once again wounded and the Swedes retreated. After the battle, Koniecpolski saw the need to reform the army and strengthen the firepower of infantry and artillery to match the Swedish units. Koniecpolski's tactics led to the defeat of a Swedish flotilla by the small Polish Navy on 28 November, 1627, at the battle of Oliwa. In 1628 the Polish forces, lacking funding, were forced to stop their offensive and switch to defense. Gustavus Adolphus captured Nowy and Brodnica. The Sejm decided to increase the funds for the war after the battle of Gorzno, where Stanisoaw Potocki was defeated. Austria sent help to the Commonwealth in the form of units under field marshall Jan Georg Arnheim. Nonetheless, Koniecpolski was forced to withdraw Commonwealth forces from many strategic Polish strongholds in Prussia. In time, hetman Koniecpolski managed to recapture Puck. The final battle took place on 27 June, 1629 near Trzciana. The Swedes attacked in the direction of Grudziadz, were stopped, and retreated to Szturm and Malbork. Koniecpolski attacked the rear guard led by Jan, count of Ren, and destroyed it. He also repelled a counterattack by Swedish riddare, where another counterattack was led by Gustavus Adolfus with 2,000 riddare. This counterattack was also stopped, and the Swedish forces were saved by the last reserve units led by field marshall Herman Wrangel, who finally managed to stop the Polish attack. 1,200 Swedes were killed, including the count of Ren, Jan Wilhelm Reingraff, and a few hundred were captured. Polish losses were under 200 killed and injured. However this victory was not followed up politically and militarily. A cease-fire in Stary Targ (Truce of Altmark) on 26 October, 1629 was in favor of the Swedes generally recognized as the dominant power on the southern Baltic Sea coast. They got the right to tax Polish trade moved through the Baltic (3,5% on the value of goods) and kept control of many cities in Prusy Krolewskie.
Grand Crown Hetman. In 1630 the Cossacks under Taras Fedorovych captured the fortress of Korsun. Koniecpolski laid siege to Pereyaslav, but lacking the support of artillery and infantry, he could not break its walls. The Cossacks, lacking supplies, agreed to negotiations, and the Kurukow agreement was reinstated. Koniecpolski's opinion was that harsh punishment should be dealt to all rebels but the Cossack situation in the long run was better remedied not by military suppression, but by fairer and more equal treatment, such as an increase in the number of Cossack soldiers (rejestr) and the regular payment of wages. In 1632, few months before his death, Zygmunt III Waza awarded to Koniecpolski the position of Grand Crown Hetman. After the king's death, the hetman played a major role directing political affairs in the Commonwealth and supported the free election of the son of Zygmunt, Wladyslaw IV Waza in 1632. In return, a year after the election, in 1633, Wladyslaw rewarded Koniecpolski with the office of the castellan of Cracow, the most prestigious office among the Commonwealth district offices. Since then, Koniecpolski became an influential advisor to the new king. Over the coming years, Koniecpolski, together with Chancellor Ossolinski, would become an important supporter of Wladyslaw but he never supported any of Wladyslaw's actions that were not supported by the Sejm. In 1633 Koniecpolski thwarted the Turks' attacks on the Commonwealth, defeating their forces under Sasowy R�g and later that year, with an army of 11,000 valiantly resisted and repulsed a larger Ottoman invasion force of over 20,000 at Kamieniec Podolski. Those defeats and the tough stance of Koniecpolski convinced the Turks to sign a new treaty in 1634, which repeated the statements of the Treaty of Chocim from 1621. This ended the Ottoman-Commonwealth War. In 1635 after Cossacks under Ivan Sulima had destroyed the Polish fort "Kudak", Koniecpolski led an expedition that retook the fort and punished the insurgents; Sulima was taken prisoner and later executed. Koniecpolski understood the need to modernize the army and actively cooperated with Wladyslaw IV on various projects leading to this goal, like drafting mercenary units experienced in the western art of war, and further development of artillery. He also supported the plan to create the Commonwealth Baltic Fleet. Koniecpolski became the de facto unofficial ruler of Ukraine, as king Wladyslaw entrusted him with most political decisions about this south-eastern region of the Commonwealth. With the knowledge and support of the king, Koniecpolski sent and received diplomatic missions from Istanbul, carried out negotiations and signed out treaties, and as a hetman, had a direct control over a significant part of Commonwealth military. He had his own espionage network stretching from Muscovy to the Ottoman Empire itself.
The magnate. He was a possessor of 16 districts (starostwa), and his yearly revenue was over 500,000 zlotys. He sponsored the construction of the Koniecpolski Palace in Warsaw. He founded the town of Brody, set up workshops producing Persian-type samite fabrics, carpets and rugs there. He also constructed a fortified palace in Podhorce (now Pidhirtsi, Ukraine) with beautiful Italian gardens. More than 100,000 people lived on his estates in Western Ukraine. Koniecpolski was regarded as an honorable and fair person, and liked by most of the gentry.
Last years. One of the Koniecpolski's greatest victories was during the winter campaign against the Turks in 1644. This was the largest army he had commanded so far: 19,000 soldiers. He dealt a crushing defeat to Toğay bey's forces near Ochmatow. This victory led Wladyslaw IV to consider waging an offensive war against the Turks. Koniecpolski supported the limited war against the Crimean Chanate, but opposed Wladyslaw's plan to wage the war on the entire Ottoman Empire, considering it an unrealistic folly. He set forth his strategic concept in a plan he titled "Dyskurs o Zniesieniu Tatarow Krymskich" (A Discourse on the Destruction of the Crimean Tartars). Koniecpolski also strongly advised that a coalition with Moscow would be useful for this campaign. An astute statesman, Koniecpolski foresaw danger in the discontent of the Cossacks and advocated a policy designed to accommodate their demands, unfortunately with little support and success. After Koniecpolski's wife Krystyna died, Koniecpolski soon married the 16 year old Zofia Opalinska, daughter of future Crown Marshal Lukasz Opalinski in 1646. Koniecpolski died in 1646 in Brody.
This article uses mostly material from the Wikipedia article "Stanislaw Koniecpolski" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia
supplemented with:
Dzikie Pola
Return to home page:
Prominent Poles
