Polish History - the 17th century

The 17th century – 100 years of war

After the death of Zygmunt August the new ruler was always chosen by free election, but the crown was trusted twice to members of the same dynasty: Wazowie (Vasa) - Zygmunt III and his sons Władysław and Jan Kazimierz (John Casimir); the descendants of Catharine Jagiellonian and John the duke of Finland; and Wettinowie (August II Mocny (the Strong) and his son August III. After the long first election and short reign of Henry Walezy (Henri de Valois), the nobility, attached to the Jagiellonian dynasty, chose a queen – Anna Jagiellonian, sister of Zygmunt August, and then decided that duke of Transylvania – Stefan Batory will become her husband. Victory in the war with Russia during 1579 - 1582, resulted in the king’s capturing Livland and the Połocka land (truce in Jam Zapolski, 1582) and convinced that there is a necessity of a military reform, which he begun by creating the first professional army – the 2 thousand selected infantry. Military actions required funding, thus the monarch allowed the Brandenburg line of Hohenzollerns to take control over the Prussia Feud (because of the electors sickness).

Reign of Wazowie was a period of wars with Russia, Sweden and Turkey. The wars were accompanied with internal difficulties caused by struggles between the middleclass nobility and the baronage over the shape of the country’s political system, as well as the royal initiative to strengthen the central power. The royal project of treasure and military reform was protested by the parliament (1606), Zygmunt rejected the project of executive rulings for the Warsaw confederacy from 1573. This caused a rebellion of the nobility, which was ended by a failure of the nobility in Guzów, 1607. The king’s submission to the baronage caused Poland’s involvement in a political quarrel, so called Dymitriada (False Dimitris), i.e. an attempt to settle a Polish candidate on the Russian throne. This caused a war with Russia, the first phase of it ended with a beneficial, for Lithuania, treaty in Dywilno (1419) as the Smoleńska, Czernichawska and Siewierska lands were returned to it. These acquisitions were confirmed by the treaty in Polanów, in 1632 Russia trying to recover its loses took advantage of the Cossack rebellion (1648-1658) which was organized by Bohdan Chmielnicki against Poland. After the polish failure in Batoh (1652) Russia concluded a treaty with the Cossacks in Perejesław (1654) owing to which Russia gained Ukraine. This caused another Polish-Russian conflict, but despite victories (Vilnius, Grodno, Smoleńsk, 1655) Russia stopped the offensive because the Swedes invaded Poland. Despite the conflict with Poland, Russia did not want to enable further strengthening of Sweden over Baltic. When in 1660 the war was revived, hetman Jerzy Lubomirski after the victory in Połonka and Cudnów recaptured almost whole Ukraine. But because of financial difficulties, Poland was forced to conclude a treaty with Russia in Andruszów (confirmed by the K. Grzymułtowski truce in 1686) and accept dividing Ukraine.

The matter of Livland and the rivalry between the catholic and protestant line of Wazowie, which dates back to 1598 i.e. the seizure of the Swedish throne by Charles IX of Sodermans, were the causes of the long-term conflict between Poland and Sweden. Zygmunt III incorporated Estonia to Poland in response to the dethronement, Carl IX invaded the Polish Livlands, but was defeated in the battle of Kircholm (1605). The Poland-Sweden conflict revived during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), in which Sweden was an active participant, with the intention to capture the southern shores of Baltic. For these reasons Poland, which officially did not enter the war, became the aim of Swedish actions. The Swedes attacked the Ducal Prussia as well as the Pomerania by blocking the cereal trade. Despite victory on the sea (Oliwa, 1627) Poland was not able to defeat the Swedes on land and under the pressure of the French diplomacy, which wished to join Gustav II Adolf to the anti-Hapsburg coalition, they concluded a treaty with Sweden in Stary Targ (1629), providing her with access to the harbors of Prussia and 3,5% of duties from the Gdańsk harbor. After the death of the king of Sweden, the treaty was prolonged (Sztumska Village, 1635) to 26 years, the Swedes retreated from the harbors of Prussia and Pomerania, which was compensated to them by the Livlands.

The Thirty Years War and other polish difficulties were taken advantage of by the Hohenzollerns, who in 1618 joined the Prussian and Brandenburg Throne, they stopped paying feudal homage to the Polish rulers (the last one – 1641) and on the strength of the Wesfalski treaty they received the Western Pomerania along with Słupsk. In this way the mouth of Vistula became a part of the Brandenburg and Prussia district.

The expansive line of Baltic policy was continued by another Swedish king, Charles Gustav. He took advantage of the civil war (the Chmielnicki rebellion in Ukraine) and the Polish-Russian War, and in 1655 entered Poland, in an instant campaign he seized Warsaw and Cracow, forcing Jan Kazimierz to escape. A part of the royal army, Polish and Lithuanian hetmans joined the victorious Carl Gustav. The nobility hoped that the Swedish king would uphold the hitherto prevailing privileges and the dissenters expected a tolerant religion policy from the protestant ruler. But the Swedes did not respect arrangements with the nobility, they destroyed and robbed the country, imposing contributions, confiscating private and the church’s goods. This caused an anti-Swedish rebellion, of which the courageous defense of the monastery in Częstochowa (November/December 1655) the formation of a confederacy in Tyszowice (December 1655) as well as the return of Jan Kazimierz were culminating points. The king wanted the peasants to have a wide participation in the struggle and therefore he pledged (Lwów, 1656) to improve their situation. In this situation Charles Gustav proposed a dismemberment of Poland to the Transylvanian prince, the Brandenburg elector and the Cossack chieftain. But hetmans Stefan Czarnecki and Jerzy Lubomirski forced the duke’s invasion back and dislodged the Swedes out of the country. The renouncement of claims for the Ducal Prussia and giving the Hohenzollerns sovereign power there (the Wawel-Bydgoszcz treaty, 1657) neutralized the Brandenburg elector. In historiography the war between Poland and Sweden was called “the Flood” , it was ended by a truce in Oliwa in 1660.

The duchies over Danube were the causes of the conflict between Poland and Turkey. Moldavia, Wołoszczyzna, the Turkish feuds became the terrains which interested the Ukrainian magnates – Potoccy and Wiśniowieccy – at the end of the 16th century. The relations were also spoiled by the Cossack invasions on Turkish cities (Kaffa, Synopa, Trapezunt) and the pillaging expeditions of Tatars, lieges of the sultan on the lands of southern-eastern Poland. The expedition of Lisowszczykowie was a direct cause of the war. In 1619 they forced the Turkish feud, Transylvanian price – Gabor Bethlen back from Vienna. Gabor besieged the Austrian capital with the Hungarian and Czech rebels. After the first defeat in Cecora (1620), the Polish were able to stop the invasion of Turkey and Tatars in Chocim (1621), but had to resign from their political plans over Danube. Fifty years later, Turkey was alarmed by the pro-Hapsburg policy of the king - Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, and by taking advantage of Poland’s weakness it captured Kamieniec Podolski in 1672, and then entered Ukraine reaching Lwów. The Polish failure was confirmed by the treaty in Buczaczu. Turkey gained Podole, Bracławszczyzna, a part of Kijowszczyzna and a tribute paid to the sultan. The victory of hetman Jan Sobieski in Chocim (1673) allowed to partly cancel the unbeneficial conditions of the Buczaczu treaty, but on the strength of the treaty in Żurawno (1678) Turkey kept Podole. The war victories of Sobieski brought him the throne, which he acceded as Jan III. In the matter of foreign policy the king wanted a pact with France and Sweden, and to rise against Brandenburg and regain the influences in Ducal Prussia. But this conception evoked resistance of the nobility, which demanded to continue the pact with Turkey and to recapture of Podole and Ukraine. This was resulted by a pact with Austria and a relief for Vienna, which was besieged by the army of vizier Kara Mustafa (1683). The wars with Turkey made Sobieski famous, but the Habsburgs were the real beneficiaries of this situation, they captured Hungary and Transylvania. Poland recaptured Ukraine and Podole (treaty in Karłowice, 1699). The wars with Russia, Sweden and Turkey waged by Poland during the whole 17th century led to territorial, population and economic loses. The peasant households and small estates of the nobility suffered mostly from the crisis. Lack of purchasing power caused by the impoverishment of villages brought about the collapse of trade and craft in the cities. The magnates gained importance in political life. Wars with the Orthodox and Protestant neighbors caused the increase of intolerance against native dissenters. In 1658 the Arians were banished from the country, in 1668 the parliament forbade abandoning the catholic religion.

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17th century