Salvete Omnes,
Yesterday, i.e., the 21st of September, but in 1609AD, Polish-Lithuanian army crossed the border the Commonwealth-Muscovy border and advanced onto Smolensk, the most important fortress of the western Muscovy, guarding the so called Smolensk Gate.
Since 1582 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy had been under the truce, although our Polish-Lithuanian magnates supported Dmitry, the alleged son of Ivan IV, who even married and crowned a tsarina Maryna Mniszech, Polish noblewoman.
Since 1605AD Muscovite realm, Grand Duchy of Muscovy, was in the throes of the civil war known as the Dimitriads, where various factions of the Muscovite aristocrats aided by Polish-Lithuanian magnates, foreign mercenary armies and foreign powers, like Sweden etc, were meddling within the Russian realm. Technically, upon the murder of tsar Dmitry I in 1606, there was a tsar or grand duke Vasili IV Shuisky in Kremlin, but his fraction had to face Dmitri II, known as false Dmitry II, whose armies and popularity with the population allowed for control of rather vast areas of the huge Muscovite realm since 1608AD.
Since 1600AD Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth already had been in a war, this was a dynastic war against the usurper Karl IX of the kingdom of Sweden, where the war was mostly carried by Lithuanian army with many private banners and companies. Ducal forces were under the commanded of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, victor of Kircholm 1605.
King Sigismund III, the scion of the Swedish Vasa dynasty elected by the noble host to sit on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth throne in 1587, and his councilors decided to breach the 1582 AD truce and to attack Smolensk, taken by the Muscovite armies in 1514AD. The ship had sailed- Mars ruled.
 |
| Smolensk on the Dniepr/Dnieper River 1609-11 |
Royal Polish army was divided into various divisions, the advance party was led by Lew Sapieha, a chancellor of Lithuanian, and Stanislaw Stadnicki, castellan of Przemysl - reached Smolensk on September 28.
Then came hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski division, with the artillery park = reached the camps on September 29.
And finally the king's division and court with the rest of the army and thousands of wagon trains filled with ammunition, powder, food, fodder and other supplies and necessities, but also thousands of servants, traders, and camp followers.
King and his contingent crossed the border, via a bridge over the river Iwala or Iwata, on the 21 of September, 1609 and reached Smolensk camps on October 1, 1609.
The anonymous diary of this campaign tells that in vanguard 800 Hungarian infantry marched first, then the 200 [infantry] of starost of Sacz [Stanislaw Lubomirski], 100 [infantry] of lord of Krakow[Janusz Ostrogski], then 100 strong horse banner of Old Polish Kozak cavalry of starost of Sacz, then lord of Krakow also a 100strong Kozak cavalry. Thena very fine 200 winged hussars banner of starost of Sacz. Just before the His Majesty person and retinue(70 strong) a very well equipped 100-lancer strong winged hussar banner of lord of Krakow. After the king [marched] the court banner of 600 lancers, after them a 150 horse [reiter] banner made out of Prussians, Pomeranians and 'Inflanteers' under pan Nowodworski*, each rider with two carbines. After them a 100 strong Kozak cavalry royal banner. Then 1400 German infantry under [Ludwik] Weiher [marched across the bridge]. The weather was fine, no clouds in the sky and this fine weather lasted until the evening. The king arrived in Wasylov where he joined hetman [Zolkiewski] already in the camp there. This day a finely equipped banner of prince Porycki, 150 horse strong, came[to our side]. (page 65 of the diary).
According the Polish archives, during the quarter of the 5th of July through Ocbober 5, 1609 the cavalry arm of the army consisted of:
- 2,300 winged hussars or lancers
- 800 Polish kozak cavalry
- 300 "German' reiters.
By the next quarter - October through January 1610, the number of winged hussars would grow to 4000 lancers, Polish Kozaks to 900 horsemen, while reiters would fall to 269. Again in 2 quarters- January to July 1610AD the winged hussar would drop to 2205 lancers, Polish Kozaks to 400, and the reiters would grow again to 300 horsemen (after Kazimierz Gorski, 1895).
Infantry - German, Hungarian hajduk, Polish hajduk and royal guards - and artillery - cannon masters, gunsmiths, gun crews and craftsmen - also waved in numbers during the first year of the siege - started with 4213 officers and soldiers, went down to 2513 (June) and to 1698 in July 1610. Gunmasters
The siege continued during the summer of 1610, the following winter and spring of 1611. During this period hetman Zolkiewski defeated the allied army at Klushino, July 1610, and consequently the Muscovite Shuisky regime collapsed and victorious and Sun Tsu-like hetman Zolkiewski entered Moscow and new era, our Poles in Moscow, ensued.
 |
| King Sigismund III victorious at Smolensk |
Finally our king ended victorious in June 1611AD, when on the 13th the Polish army stormed and captured the fortress, king had medals made for the happy occasion. During the final assault knight of Order of Malta pan Bartlomiej Nowodworski *, Nalecz coat of arms, sallied to blow the gate and having succeeded became a hero. Winged Hussar Samuel Maskiewicz wrote his diaries describing the war. Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski wrote his famous work about his war - Poczatek i progres wojny moskiewskiej. Another warrior ,Mikolaj Scibor Marchocki also wrote his history of the war.
Meantime, since 1605 many thousands of Cossacks, Zaporozhian and Don, roamed the Muscovite lands siding with this or that party or power But perhaps more importantly it was during this period that the new Polish light cavalry was born: the Lisowczycy (Lisowski' kozacy [singular Lisowczyk, kozak lisowski] cossacks), one could say also to the detriment of the civilian populations in Muscovy and in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and further west in the Holy Roman Epire and Hungaries.
For the project about Khotyn 1621 I did draw two Lisowski kozaks.
Valete
No comments:
Post a Comment