1.
Order of the Golden Fleece
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It became one of the most prestigious orders in Europe. The chaplain of the Austrian branch is Cardinal Graf von Schönborn and it is restricted to a limited number of knights, initially 24 but increased to 30 in 1433, and 50 in 1516, plus the sovereign. The Orders first King of Arms was Jean Le Fèvre de Saint-Remy, so that those knights and gentlemen who shall see worn the order. Should honor those who wear it, and be encouraged to employ themselves in noble deeds, the bishop of Châlons, chancellor of the Order, rescued the fleeces reputation by identifying it instead with the fleece of Gideon that received the dew of Heaven. He was succeeded as king by Philip V, a Bourbon, in either case the sovereign, as Duke of Burgundy, writes the letter of appointment in French. These, and other awards by Joseph, were revoked by King Ferdinand on the restoration of Bourbon rule in 1813, napoleon created by Order of 15 August 1809 the Order of the Three Golden Fleeces, in view of his sovereignty over Austria, Spain and Burgundy. This was opposed by Joseph I of Spain and the new order was never awarded, in 1812 the acting government of Spain awarded the order to the Duke of Wellington, an act confirmed by Ferdinand on his resumption of power, with the approval of Pope Pius VII. Wellington therefore became the first Protestant to be awarded the Golden Fleece and it has subsequently also been awarded to non-Christians, such as Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand. There was another crisis in 1833 when Isabella II became Queen of Spain in defiance of Salic Law that did not allow women to become heads of state and her right to award the Fleece was challenged by Spanish Carlists. Sovereignty remained with the head of the Spanish house of Bourbon during the republican and Francoist periods and is today by the present King of Spain. Knights of the Order are entitled to be addressed with the style His/Her Excellency in front of their name, King Juan Carlos I of Spain – Former Sovereign of the Order as King of Spain from 1975 to 2014. The problem of inheritance was avoided on the accession of Maria Theresa in 1740 as sovereignty of the Order passed not to herself but to her husband. Sovereignty remains with the head of the House of Habsburg, which was handed over on 20 November 2000 by Otto von Habsburg to his elder son, die Schatzkammer in Wien, Symbole abendländischen Kaisertums. Der Schatz des Ordens vom Goldenen Vlies, ISBN 3-7017-0541-0 Boulton, DArcy Jonathan Dacre,1987
2.
Grand Duke of Lithuania
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The following is a list of rulers over Lithuania—grand dukes, kings, and presidents—the heads of authority over historical Lithuanian territory. The timeline includes Lithuania as an entity or legitimately part of a greater sovereign entity as well as Lithuania under control or occupation of an outside authority. The incumbents and office-holders are listed by names most commonly used in English language, where appropriate, the alternations in Lithuanian, Ruthenian and Polish are included. The state of Lithuania formed in 1230s, when threatened by the Livonian Order in the north and he became the only crowned king of Lithuania. His state became known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after Grand Duke Jogaila became also king of Poland in 1386, the two states became closer connected and since 1440 both were ruled by a common ruler. In 1569 Union of Lublin was signed and a new entity—the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—emerged, the commonwealth was partitioned in 1795 and Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire till 16 February 1918. The Council of Lithuania was able to establish the sovereignty only in 1919, the first republic of Lithuania existed until 1940 when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. During the Soviet-German War, Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany, in 1944, as Germany was losing the war, Russia re-occupied Lithuania and established the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, the restored Republic of Lithuania is a democratic republic, a member of both the European Union and NATO. Title, Grand Duke except for Mindaugas, who became king of Lithuania, dates are approximate because of scant written sources. The act of union with Poland was signed as early as 1385, however. The monarchs retained separate titles for both parts of the state, and their numbering was kept separately, the Jagiellon dynasty was a direct continuation of the Gediminids. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established by Union of Lublin in 1569, the elected King of Poland was to be elected by Lithuanian noble families as a Grand Duke of Lithuania. The first ruler of the country was Sigismund II Augustus. Following the partitions in 1772,1793, and 1795, the commonwealth ceased to exist, there are some gaps in the timeline as it took a while to elect a new king. Title, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania declared independence on 16 February 1918 and invited Wilhelm of Urach to become king of Lithuania. The name of the state was the Kingdom of Lithuania, on 9 July 1918, the council declared that the Duke of Urach is to become King Mindaugas II of Lithuania. However, on 2 November, the council revoked this decision because of its unpopularity, the institution of President was created on 4 April 1919
3.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
4.
John II Casimir Vasa
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John II Casimir was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania during the era of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Duke of Opole in Upper Silesia, and titular King of Sweden 1648–1660. In Poland, he is known and commonly referred as Jan Kazimierz and his parents were Sigismund III Vasa and Constance of Austria. His older brother, and predecessor on the throne, was Władysław IV Vasa and his reign commenced amid the confusion and disasters caused by the great revolt of the Cossacks under Chmielnicki, who had advanced into the very heart of Poland. The power of the king had been stripped of almost all its prerogatives by the influence of the nobles. Russia and Sweden, which had long been enemies of Poland, availed themselves of its distracted condition. George II Rakoczy of Transylvania also invaded the Polish territory, while diet after diet was dissolved by abuses of the liberum veto, Charles X Gustav of Sweden triumphantly marched through the country, and occupied Kraków while John Casimir fled to Silesia. During these long disturbances John Casimir, though feeble and of a disposition, frequently proved his patriotism. In the following year he retired to France, where he was treated by Louis XIV. His wife had died without issue before his abdication, related to the Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, he was the third and last monarch on the Polish throne from the House of Vasa. He was the last ruler of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth bearing a connection to the Jagiellon dynasty. John Casimir was born in Kraków on 22 March 1609 and his father, Sigismund III, the grandson of Gustav I of Sweden, had in 1592 succeeded his own father to the Swedish throne, only to be deposed in 1599 by his uncle, Charles IX of Sweden. This led to a long-standing feud wherein the Polish kings of the House of Vasa claimed the Swedish throne and his mother, Queen Constance, was the daughter of Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria and also the younger sister of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. John Casimir for most of his life remained in the shadow of his older half-brother and he had few friends among the Polish nobility. He did, however, display talent as a military commander, between 1632 and 1635, Władysław IV sought to enhance his brothers influence by negotiating a marriage for John Casimir to Christina of Sweden, then to an Italian princess, but to no avail. In 1637 John Casimir undertook a mission to Vienna, which he abandoned to join the army of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1636 he returned to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and fell in love with Baroness Guldentern, in return, Władysław attempted to make him the sovereign of the Duchy of Courland, but this was vetoed by the Commonwealth parliament. He was then freed by a mission of the appointed Voivode of Smolensk. In 1641 John Casimir decided to become a Jesuit, in 1642 he again left the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, accompanying his sister to Germany
5.
John III Sobieski
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John III Sobieski, from 1674 until his death King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, was one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Sobieskis military skill, demonstrated in wars against the Ottoman Empire, sobieskis 22-year reign marked a period of the Commonwealths stabilization, much needed after the turmoil of the Deluge and the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Popular among his subjects, he was a military commander. After his victories over them, the Ottomans called him the Lion of Lechistan, official title, Jan III, z łaski bożej, król Polski, wielki książę litewski, ruski, pruski, mazowiecki, żmudzki, kijowski, wołyński, podlaski i czernichowski, etc. His father, Jakub Sobieski, was the Voivode of Ruthenia and Castellan of Kraków, his mother, John Sobieski spent his childhood in Żółkiew. After graduating from the Nowodworski College in Kraków in 1643, young John Sobieski then graduated from the faculty of the Jagiellonian University in 1646. After finishing his studies, together with his brother Marek Sobieski, John left for western Europe and they visited Leipzig, Antwerp, Paris, London, Leiden and The Hague. Both brothers returned to the Commonwealth in 1648, upon receiving the news of the death of king Władysław IV Vasa and the hostilities of the Khmelnytsky Uprising, they volunteered for the army. They both fought in the siege of Zamość and they founded and commanded their own banners of cavalry. Soon, the fortunes of war separated the brothers, in 1649, Jakub fought in the Battle of Zboriv. In 1652, Marek died in Tatar captivity after his capture at the Battle of Batih, John was promoted to the rank of pułkownik and fought with distinction in the Battle of Berestechko. A promising commander, John was sent by King John II Casimir to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire as one of the envoys in a mission of Mikołaj Bieganowski. There, Sobieski learned the Tatar language and the Turkish language and studied Turkish military traditions and it is likely he participated as part of the briefly allied Polish-Tatar forces in the 1655 Battle of Okhmativ. By 26 May 1656 he received the position of the chorąży koronny, during the three-day-long battle of Warsaw of 1656, Sobieski commanded a 2, 000-man strong regiment of Tatar cavalry. He took part in a number of engagements over the two years, including in the Siege of Toruń in 1658. In 1659 he was elected a deputy to Sejm, and was one of the Polish negotiators in the Treaty of Hadiach with the Cossacks. In 1660 he took part in the last offensive against the Swedes in Prussia, through personal connections, he became a strong supporter of the French faction in the Polish royal court, represented by Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga. In 1662 he was elected a deputy to the Sejm
6.
Lviv
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Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine and the seventh largest city in the country overall, is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. Named in honor of the Leo, the eldest son of Rus King Daniel of Galicia. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia from 1272 to 1349, from 1434, it was the regional capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland and was known as Lwów. In 1772, after the First partition of Poland, the city became the capital of the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and was renamed to Lemberg, in 1918 in a short time was the capital of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic. Between the wars, the city was again as Lwów and was the centre of the Lwów Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic. After World War II, it part of the Soviet Union. Administratively, Lviv serves as the center of Lviv Oblast and has the status of city of oblast significance. Lviv was the centre of the region of Galicia. The historical heart of the city, with its old buildings and cobblestone streets, survived Soviet, the city has many industries and institutions of higher education such as Lviv University and Lviv Polytechnic. Lviv is also the home of many cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra. The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Lviv celebrated its 750th anniversary with a son et lumière in the center of the city in September 2006. Lviv is located on the edge of the Roztochia Upland, approximately 70 kilometers from the Polish border and 160 kilometers from the eastern Carpathian Mountains, the average altitude of Lviv is 296 meters above sea level. Its highest point is the Vysokyi Zamok,409 meters above sea level and this castle has a commanding view of the historic city centre with its distinctive green-domed churches and intricate architecture. The old walled city was at the foothills of the High Castle on the banks of the River Poltva, in the 13th century, the river was used to transport goods. Lvivs climate is continental with cold winters and mild summers. The average temperatures are −3.1 °C in January and 18.3 °C in July, the average annual rainfall is 745 mm with the maximum being in summer. Lviv approximately receives 1,804 hours of sunshine annually, archaeologists have demonstrated that the Lviv area was settled by the 5th century. The area between the Castle Hill and the river Poltva was continuously settled since the 9th century, in 1977 it was discovered that the Orthodox church of St. Nicholas had been built on a previously functioning cemetery
7.
Wawel Cathedral
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The Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus on the Wawel Hill, also known as the Wawel Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. More than 900 years old, it is the Polish national sanctuary, the construction of the current one began in the 14th century on the orders of bishop Nanker. The Cathedral comprises a nave with aisles, transepts with aisles, a choir with aisles. The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650 by Bishop Piotr Gembicki, the altar painting of Crucified Christ by Marcin Blechowski is from the 17th century. Over the main altar stands a canopy of black marble supported by four pillars, designed by Giovanni Battista Trevano. Underneath the canopy is placed a silver coffin of national patron saint St. Stanislaus created between 1669-1671 after the one was stolen by the Swedes in 1655. The Wawel Cathedral has been the burial site for Polish monarchs since the 14th century. As such, it has significantly extended and altered over time as individual rulers have added multiple burial chapels. Financed by Sigismund I the Old, it was built between 1517 and 1533 by Bartolommeo Berrecci, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland. A square-based chapel with a dome, it houses the tombs of its founder. Notes Media related to Wawel Cathedral at Wikimedia Commons Wawel Cathedral official website
8.
Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland
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Eleanor Maria Josefa of Austria was, by her two marriages, Queen of Poland and Duchess of Lorraine. Born in Regensburg, she was the daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleanor married Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, on 27 February 1670 in the Jasna Góra Monastery. They had one stillborn son on 29 November 1670, in 1671, she had a miscarriage. The opposition of Michael spread rumours that Michael forced her to fake pregnancies, Queen Eleanor was regarded as a model of goodness, softness and loyalty toward her spouse. She learned Polish, although she preferred Latin, and accompanied Michael on his journeys around Poland. She remained in Poland for a couple of years after his death, Eleanor then married Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, on 6 February 1678 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The couple resided in Innsbrück in Austria and they were the parents of 6 children. She passed to her heirs the inheritance of the Gonzaga of Mantua, leopold, Duke of Lorraine Charles Joseph of Lorraine Eleanor of Lorraine Charles Ferdinand of Lorraine General Joseph Innocent Emanuel of Lorraine Francis Anthony Joseph of Lorraine. Abbot in Malmedy, Abbot in Stablo, Eleanor died at the age of 44, having outlived both of her husbands and 2 of her children
9.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
10.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
11.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
12.
Lithuanian language
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Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.9 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania, Lithuanian is a Baltic language, related to Latvian. It is written in a Latin alphabet, Lithuanian is often said to be the most conservative living Indo-European language, retaining many features of Proto-Indo-European now lost in other Indo-European languages. Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant, among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is extraordinarily conservative, retaining many archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. For this reason, it is one of the most important sources in the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation, the Proto-Balto-Slavic languages branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic, according to some glottochronological speculations, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between AD400 and AD600. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai and Sudinoi in the 2nd century AD, the differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after AD800, for a long period, they could be considered dialects of a single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century, also, the 13th- and 14th-century occupation of the western part of the Daugava basin by the German Sword Brethren had a significant influence on the languages independent development. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lords Prayer, the Hail Mary, printed books existed after 1547, but the level of literacy among Lithuanians was low through the 18th century, and books were not commonly available. Brought into the country by book smugglers despite the threat of prison sentences. Jonas Jablonskis made significant contributions to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language and his proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitijan dialect with some features of the eastern Prussian Lithuanians dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor. These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian language, Lithuanian has been the official language of Lithuania since 1918. During the Soviet era, it was used in official discourse along with Russian, Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian, was extinct by the 18th century, such an opinion was first represented by the likes of August Schleicher, and to a certain extent, Antoine Meillet. Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact while Schleicher, Meillet and others argued for a kinship between the two families. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski and he proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities, they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody, vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov believed in the unity of Balto-Slavic, but not in the unity of Baltic. In the 1960s, they proposed a new division, that into East-Baltic, West-Baltic, the Ivanov–Toporov theory is gaining ground among students of comparative-historic grammar of Indo-European language, and seems to be replacing the previous two stances in most PIE textbooks
13.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
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The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 13th century until 1795. The state was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, the Grand Duchy later expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus and other Slavic lands, including territory of present-day Belarus, parts of Ukraine, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe and it was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage. Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century, Mindaugas, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in the crusade by the Teutonic Knights. The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state emerged only at the reign of Gediminas. The reign of Vytautas the Great marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and it also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautass death, Lithuanias relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated, Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, the unsuccessful Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact, eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate government, laws, army, shortly after, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. The newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between the neighbours, with a truncated state remaining only nominally independent, after the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Austria in 1795. The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania name the name of the state as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia. The title of Grand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward, in the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus. Pagan Lithuanians initially paid tribute to Polotsk, but they grew in strength. The sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija, the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and in Prussia in 1226. The Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians. This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija, although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy. Likely Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes were from the same families, the formal acknowledgment of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state
14.
Kaributas
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Kaributas was a son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and reigned in Severian Novgorod until 1393. Kaributas was born some time after 1350 to Algirdas of Lithuania, born a pagan, around 1380 he was baptised in the Orthodox rite and became the prince of Severian Novgorod. He adopted the Christian name of Dmitry and hence is referred to as Dmitry Korybut. He appeared in politics during the Lithuanian Civil War when he supported his brother Jogaila against his uncle Kęstutis, in 1382 he began a rebellion in Severian Novgorod, engaging Kęstutis forces so that Jogaila could attack and capture lightly guarded Vilnius, capital of the Grand Duchy. He also witnessed the Treaty of Dubysa with the Teutonic Knights, for his service, he was awarded possessions in Navahrudak and Lida. Kaributas continued to support Jogaila, he witnessed the Union of Krewo, after the Ostrów Agreement, he refused to recognize Vytautas superiority and was defeated in a battle near Lida in early 1393. Kaributas was imprisoned and stripped of his possessions, however, he was soon released and given Zbarazh, Bratslav, and Vinnytsia. Severian Novgorod was given to Fedor, son of Liubartas, Kaributas appeared last in written sources in 1404 during a military campaign waged by Vytautas against the Principality of Smolensk. Kaributas married Princess Anastasia, daughter of Grand Prince Oleg II of Ryazan, among them were Helena, Fedor of Nesvizh, Sigismund Korybut, and Nastasia. Kaributas male-line descendants included Princes Zbaraski, Wiśniowiecki, Woroniecki, polish king Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki was named Korybut to foreground his agnatic descent from Kaributas
15.
Szlachta
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The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges between 1333 and 1370 during the reign of King Casimir III the Great, in 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown Kingdom of Poland, the existing Lithuanian nobility formally joined this class. As the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth evolved and expanded in territory, its membership grew to include the leaders of Ducal Prussia, the origins of the szlachta are shrouded in obscurity and mystery and have been the subject of a variety of theories. Traditionally, its members were owners of landed property, often in the form of manor farms or so-called folwarks, the nobility negotiated substantial and increasing political and legal privileges for itself throughout its entire history until the decline of the Polish Commonwealth in the late 18th century. During the Partitions of Poland from 1772 to 1795, its members began to lose these legal privileges, the legal privileges of the szlachta were legally abolished in the Second Polish Republic by the March Constitution of 1921. The notion that all Polish nobles were social equals, regardless of their status or offices held, is enshrined in a traditional Polish saying. —which may roughly be rendered, The noble on the croft Is the voivodes equal, or the tenant farmer noble stands equal to the noble army commander. The term szlachta is derived from the Old High German word slahta, the Polish rycerz and the Polish herb. Poles of the 17th century assumed that szlachta came from the German schlachten, early Polish historians thought the term may have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. Some powerful Polish nobles were referred to as magnates and możny, see Magnates of Poland, the Polish term szlachta designated the formalized, hereditary noble class of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth, hereditary szlachta are referred to as nobilitas and are indeed the equivalent in status of the English nobility. Today the word szlachta in the Polish language simply translates to nobility, in its broadest meaning, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods granted today by some European monarchs. Occasionally, 19th-century non-noble landowners were referred to as szlachta by courtesy or error, in the narrow sense, szlachta denotes the old-Commonwealth nobility. In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of szlachta as gentry rather than nobility. This mistaken practice began due to the status of some szlachta members being inferior to that of the nobility in other European countries. The szlachta included those almost rich and powerful enough to be magnates down to rascals with a lineage, no land, no castle, no money, no village. As some szlachta were poorer than some non-noble gentry, some particularly impoverished szlachta were forced to become tenants of the wealthier gentry. In doing so, however, these szlachta retained all their constitutional prerogatives, as it was not wealth or lifestyle, but hereditary juridical status, an individual nobleman was called a szlachcic, and a noblewoman a szlachcianka
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Magnate
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Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus, great, designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities. In reference to the Middle Ages, the term is used to distinguish higher territorial landowners and warlords such as counts, earls, dukes. In England, the class went through a change in the later Middle Ages. It had previously consisted of all tenants-in-chief of the crown, a group of more than a hundred families, the emergence of Parliament led to the establishment of a parliamentary peerage that received personal summons, rarely more than sixty families. A similar class in the Gaelic world were the Flatha, in the Middle Ages a bishop sometimes held territory as a magnate, collecting the revenue of the manors and the associated knights fees. In the Tudor period, after Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry VII would make parliament attaint undesirable nobles and magnates, thereby stripping them of their wealth, protection from torture, and power. Henry VII also used the Court of the Star Chamber to have powerful nobles executed, Henry VIII continued this approach in his reign, he inherited a survivalistic mistrust of nobles from his father. Henry VIII ennobled very few men and the ones he did were all new men, novi homines, greatly indebted to him, the term was specifically applied to the members of the Upper House in the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary, the Főrendiház or House of Magnates. In the Early and High Middle Ages the highest title was vojvoda, during the Serbian Empire the higher court members held titles such as despot, sevastokrator and kesar. During foreign rule, under the Ottoman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, Republic of Venice, and later in the Revolution, in Spain, since the late Middle Ages the highest class of nobility hold the appellation of Grandee of Spain. In Sweden, the wealthiest medieval lords were known as storman, great men, a similar description and meaning as the English term magnate. Aristocracy Szlachta, in Poland Boyar, in Eastern Europe Velikaš, in Serbia and Croatia Magnat This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
17.
Cossacks
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Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, predominantly located in Ukraine and in Russia. The origins of the first Cossacks are disputed, though the 1710 Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk claimed Khazar origin, the Zaporizhian Sich were a vassal people of Poland–Lithuania during feudal times. Under increasing pressure from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the century the Sich declared an independent Cossack Hetmanate. Afterwards, the Treaty of Pereyaslav brought most of the Ukrainian Cossack state under Russian rule, the Sich with its lands became an autonomous region under the Russian-Polish protectorate. The Don Cossack Host, which had established by the 16th century. Together they began a systematic conquest and colonisation of lands in order to secure the borders on the Volga, the whole of Siberia, and the Yaik, Cossack communities had developed along the latter two rivers well before the arrival of the Don Cossacks. By the 18th century, Cossack hosts in the Russian Empire occupied effective buffer zones on its borders, the expansionist ambitions of the Empire relied on ensuring the loyalty of Cossacks, which caused tension given their traditional exercise of freedom, democratic self-rule, and independence. By the end of the 18th century, Cossack nations had transformed into a special military estate. The government provided only firearms and supplies for them, Cossack service was considered the most rigorous one. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Tsarist regime used Cossacks extensively to perform police service and they also served as border guards on national and internal ethnic borders. During the Russian Civil War, Don and Kuban Cossacks were the first nations to open war against the Bolsheviks. By 1918, Cossacks declared the independence of their nations and formed the independent states, the Ukrainian State, the Don Republic. The Cossack troops formed the core of the anti-Bolshevik White Army. With the victory of the Red Army, the Cossack lands were subjected to Decossackization, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cossacks made a systematic return to Russia. Many took a part in Post-Soviet conflicts and Yugoslav Wars. In Russias 2010 Population Census, Cossacks have been recognized as an ethnicity, there are Cossack organizations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, and the United States. Max Vasmers etymological dictionary traces the name to the Old East Slavic word козакъ, kozak, the ethnonym Kazakh is from the same Turkic root. In written sources the name is first attested in Codex Cumanicus from the 13th century, in English, Cossack is first attested in 1590
18.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
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Khmelnytsky Uprising
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The Khmelnytsky Uprising was a Cossack rebellion within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648–1657, which led to the creation of a Cossack Hetmanate in Ukrainian lands. The insurgency was accompanied by atrocities committed by Cossacks against the civilian population, especially against the Roman Catholic clergy. The uprising has a meaning in the history of Ukraines relationship with Poland. The event triggered a period of turbulence and infighting in the Hetmanate known as the Ruin. With the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Union in 1569, a number of Ruthenian lands were gradually absorbed under the control of a powerful aristocratic republic — the Rzeczpospolita. Although the local nobility was granted full rights within the Rzeczpospolita, local Orthodox traditions were also under siege from the assumption of ecclesiastical power by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1448. Born to a family, Bohdan Khmelnytsky attended Jesuit schools. At the age of 22 he joined his father in the service of the Commonwealth, after being held captive in Constantinople, he returned to life as a registered Cossack, settling in his hometown of Subotiv with a wife and several children. He participated in campaigns for Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski, led delegations to King Władysław IV Vasa in Warsaw, the course of his life was altered, however, when Aleksander Koniecpolski, heir to Hetman Koniecpolskis magnate estate, attempted to seize Khmelnytskys land. In 1647 Chyhyryn starost Daniel Czapliński openly started to harass Khmelnytsky on behalf of the younger Koniecpolski in an attempt to force him off the land. He twice sought assistance from the king by traveling to Warsaw, having received no support from Polish officials, Khmelnytsky turned to his Cossack friends and subordinates. The case of a Cossack being unfairly treated by the Poles found a lot of not only in his regiment. All through the autumn of 1647 Khmelnytsky traveled from one regiment to the other and had numerous consultations with different Cossack leaders throughout Ukraine and his activity raised the suspicions of Polish authorities already used to Cossack revolts, and he was promptly arrested. Polkovnyk Mykhailo Krychevsky assisted Khmelnytsky in his escape, and with a group of supporters he headed for the Zaporozhian Sich. Cossacks were already on the brink of the new rebellion as plans for the new war with the Ottoman Empire advanced by the Polish king Władysław IV Vasa were cancelled by Sejm. Rumors about the hostilities with the infidels were greeted with joy. However, the Cossack rebellion might have fizzled in the manner as the great rebellions of 1637–1638. He realized that Cossacks, while having an excellent infantry, could not hope to match the Polish cavalry, however, combining Cossack infantry with Crimean Tatar cavalry could have provided a balanced military force and given the Cossacks a chance to beat the Polish army
20.
House of Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
21.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
22.
Treaty of Buchach
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The Treaty of Buchach was signed on 18 October 1672 in Buczacz between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, ended the first phase of the Polish-Ottoman War. King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, unable to raise an army against the Ottomans. In 1676 it was revised with the Treaty of Żurawno, davies, Brian L. Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700. List of treaties Treaty of Buchach at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
23.
Ruthenia
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Ruthenia is a proper geographical exonym for Kievan Rus and other, more local, historical states. It was applied to the area where Ruthenians lived, the word Ruthenia originated as a Latin rendering of the region and people known originally as Rus. A group of Varangians known as the Rus settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik. In European manuscripts dating from the 13th century, Ruthenia was used to describe Rus, a territory long disputed as an early part of Hungary, and from the 10th century Ruthenia and Poland, formed the Chervian Towns, now mostly in Poland, partly in Ukraine. This laid the foundation of the modern Russian state, the Muscovy population was Eastern Orthodox and used the Greek transcription of Rus, being Rossia, rather than the Latin Ruthenia. Due to their usage of the Latin script rather than the Cyrillic script, other spellings were also used in Latin, English and other languages during this period. The use of the term Ruthenia in the lands of ancient Rus survived longer as a used by Ukrainians for Ukraine. By 1840 the superior term, Малая Русь, Little Rus, or Rus Minora, for Ruthenians became derogative in the Russian Empire, and they began calling themselves Ukrainians, for Ukrayina. In the 1880s and 1900s, the popularity of the ethnonym Ukrainian spread, in time the term Ruthenian became restricted to western Ukraine, an area then part of the Austro-Hungarian state. By the early 20th century, the term Ukraine had replaced Ruthenia in Galicia/Halychyna, rusin has been one of official self-identifications of the Rus population in Poland. Until 1939, for many traditional Ruthenians and Polish, the word Ukrainiec meant a person involved in or friendly to a nationalist movement, however, some other Slavish languages definitely separate the Ruthenian meaning from its Russian neighbour. While Galician Ruthenians considered themselves to be Ukrainians, the Carpatho-Ruthenians were the last East Slavic people that kept the ancient historic name, nowadays, the term Rusyn is used to describe the ethnicity and language of Ruthenians who are not forced to the Ukrainian national identity. Carpatho-Ruthenia formed part of the Hungarian Kingdom from the late 11th century, in May 1919, it was incorporated with nominal autonomy into Czechoslovakia. After this date, Ruthenian people have been divided among three orientations, on 15 March 1939 the Ukrainophile president of Carpatho-Ruthenia, Avhustyn Voloshyn, declared its independence as Carpatho-Ukraine. On the same day Hungarian Army fascist regular troops, allies of Adolf Hitler, in 1944 the Soviet Army occupied Carpatho-Ruthenia, and in 1946, annexed it to the Ukrainian SSR. Officially, there were no Rusyns in the USSR, in fact, Soviet and some modern Ukrainian politicians, as well as Ukrainian government claim that Rusyns are part of the Ukrainian nation. Nowadays some of the population in the Zakarpattya oblast of Ukraine consider themselves Rusyns yet they are still a part of the whole Ukrainian national identity, a Rusyn minority remained after World War II in northeastern Czechoslovakia. According to critics, the Ruthenians rapidly became Slovakized, in 1995 the Ruthenian written language became standardized
24.
Battle of Khotyn (1673)
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Polish-Lithuanian forces and Wallachian regiments were 30 thousand strong. The Turks commanded 35 thousand troops and 120 guns, in this battle rockets of Kazimierz Siemienowicz were deployed successfully. The victory allowed the Poles to revoke the unfavourable Peace of Buczacz, khotyn was conquered and controlled by many different states, resulting in many name changes. Other name variations include Chotyn, or Choczim, the Turkish forces withdrew from Poland after having their supplies captured and most of their artillery. Sobieski and the returned to Warsaw for elections following the death of Michael Wisniowiecki, King of Poland. Alan Palmer, The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, the King Who Saved Europe, Xlibris,2012, ISBN 978-1-4628-8081-2. Winged Hussars, Radoslaw Sikora, Bartosz Musialowicz, BUM Magazine,2016
25.
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. Ferdinand was born in Graz, the eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg and his first wife, educated by the Jesuits, he became Archduke of Austria in 1621, King of Hungary in 1625, and King of Bohemia in 1627. Leader of the party at court, he helped negotiate the Peace of Prague with the Protestant states. Having been elected King of the Romans in 1636, he succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor in 1637, during the last period of the war, in 1644 Ferdinand III gave to all rulers of German states the right to conduct their own foreign policy. This way the emperor was trying to gain allies in the negotiations with France. This very edict contributed to the erosion of the imperial authority in the Holy Roman Empire. After 1648 the emperor was engaged in carrying out the terms of the treaty, on 20 February 1631 Ferdinand III married his first wife Archduchess Maria Anna of Spain. She was the youngest daughter of Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria and they were first cousins as Maria Annas mother was a sister of Ferdinands father. They were parents to six children, Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans Maria Anna Mariana, married her maternal uncle Philip IV of Spain. She was a daughter of Leopold V, Archduke of Austria and they were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria Anna of Bavaria. They had a son, Karl Josef, Archduke of Austria. He was Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1662 to his death, in 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga. She was a daughter of Charles IV Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel, Maria Anna Josepha of Austria, who married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. Ferdinand Josef Alois, Archduke of Austria Ferdinand III was a patron of music. He studied music under Giovanni Valentini, who bequeathed his works to him. Some of Ferdinands own compositions survive in manuscripts, masses, motets, hymns and other sacred music and his Drama musicum was praised by Athanasius Kircher, and the extant works, although clearly influenced by Valentini, show a composer with an individual style and a solid technique. Recordings of Ferdinands compositions include, Jesu Redemptor Omnium, with Schmelzer, Lamento Sopra La Morte de Ferdinand III. Leopold I, Sonata Piena, Laudate Pueri, Ferdinand III, Hymnus Jesu Corona Virginum
26.
Cecilia Renata of Austria
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Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria was Queen of Poland as consort to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealths King Władysław IV Vasa. Cecilia Renata was a daughter of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, of the House of Habsburg, born in 1611 in Graz, she was chosen as bride by the Polish nobility. She married Władysław on 9 August in Vienna by proxy, and then in Warsaw in person on 12 September 1637, and this was the first royal coronation outside of Kraków, the historic, former capital of Poland, and this greatly angered the Polish nobility. A law was instigated to reserve coronations to Kraków in 1638, young and energetic, she soon began organising the royal court to her liking. She was popular, especially for her politeness, one noble wrote in his memoirs that she insisted other women sit with her, even though she was queen. Cecilia could not remove her husbands mistress, Hedwig Łuszkowska, by herself, in 1638, Cecilia and Władysław visited Vienna. Cecilia advocated the Habsburg and pro-Catholic point of view and allied herself with the faction of chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński. Her political opponent at the court was the faction of Adam Kazanowski, whose influence over King Władysław, his childhood friend, Kazanowski was allied with Chancellor Piotr Gembicki, who thus became one of her opponents. Her influence was strong for the first 2–3 years of marriage, after 1638/1639 when Władysław realised that Habsburgs were prepared to give him little assistance, her power waned, and he started to disregard her advice. Cecilia kept in contact with her brothers and continued an attachment with them. On 23 March 1644 Cecilia Renata gave birth her third child and she died next day as a consequence of an infection, likely related to her recent childbirth. Following her sudden death, Cecilia Renata was deeply mourned by both Władysław and the Royal Polish court and she also left a good impression on the public, mostly for her piety and good will. The Significance of the Crown Portrait of King Sigismund II Augustus by Peter Danckerts de Rij
27.
Queen of Poland
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This list concerns the historical monarchs of Poland, from the Middle Ages to 1795. For presidents and other heads of state of Poland during the 20th and 21st centuries, Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes or by kings. During the latter period, a tradition of election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe. The birth of Poland as an independent nation coincides with the ascension of Duke Mieszko I and he was succeeded by his son, Bolesław I the Brave, who greatly expanded the boundaries of the Polish state and ruled as the first king in 1025. The following centuries gave rise to the mighty Piast dynasty, consisting of kings such as Mieszko II Lambert, Przemysł II or Władysław I the Elbow-high and dukes like Bolesław III Wrymouth. The dynasty ceased to exist with the death of Casimir III the Great in 1370, in the same year, the Capetian House of Anjou became the ruling house with Louis I as king of both Poland and Hungary. During the reign of Casimir IV Jagiellon and Sigismund I the Old culture flourished and this era of progress, also known as the Polish Renaissance, continued until the Union of Lublin under Sigismund II Augustus, which unofficially marked the end of the Polish Golden Age. The meaningful rule of the Vasa dynasty initially expanded the Commonwealth, developing the arts and crafts, as well as trade and commerce. King Sigismund III Vasa, a talented but somewhat despotic ruler, involved the country in many wars and his son, Władysław IV Vasa, fiercely defended the Commonwealths borders and continued the policy of his father until death, unlike John II Casimir whose tragic rule forced his abdication. The election of John III Sobieski to the Polish throne was a great success and his brilliant military tactics led to the victory at Vienna in 1683 and partial recapture of land from the Ottoman Empire. However, the years that followed werent as successful, the long and ineffective rule of the Wettin dynasty placed the Commonwealth under the influence of Saxony, additional feud with rebelled nobility and most notably Stanisław I Leszczyński and France diminished the influence of Poland-Lithuania in the region. This led to the partitions that occurred under King Stanisław II Augustus, yet another enlightened, the last sovereign was Frederick Augustus I as Duke of Warsaw, who throughout his political career attempted at rehabilitating the Polish state. After Poland declared independence in 1918, the monarchy was abolished, uwagi o godłach napieczętnych Piastów Histmag. org June 14,2009 Duczmal M. Jagiellonowie. Dybkowska A. Żaryn J. Żaryn M. Polskie dzieje, od czasów najdawniejszych po współczesność, wyd. Rzeczpospolita w dobie złotej wolności, Kraków 2001, ISBN 83-85719-56-3 Grodziski S. Polska w czasach przełomu, Kraków 2001. ISBN 83-85719-45-8 Grodziski S. Porównawcza historia ustrojów państwowych, Kraków 1998, ISBN 83-7052-840-6 Grzybowski S. Dzieje Polski i Litwy, Kraków 2000. ISBN 83-85719-48-2 Morby J. E. Dynastie świata, przewodnik chronologiczny i genealogiczny, Kraków 1995, s. ISBN 83-7006-263-6 Wyrozumski J. Dzieje Polski piastowskiej, Kraków 1999, henryk Brodaty i jego czasy, wyd
28.
Tomasz Zamoyski
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Tomasz Zamoyski was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman and magnate. Tomasz was the 2nd Ordynat of the Zamość estates, the town of Tomaszów was named after him. He married Katarzyna Ostrogska in 1620 and had three children with her, media related to Tomasz Zamoyski at Wikimedia Commons
29.
Lubny
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Lubny is a city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the center of the Lubny Raion, the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Its estimated population was around 47,101 in 2015, Lubny is reputed to be one of the oldest cities in Ukraine, allegedly founded in 988 by knyaz Vladimir the Great of Kiev. The first written record, however, dates from 1107, initially, it was a small wooden fortress above the Sula River. The fortress quickly grew, and in the 15th or 16th century, the town was ruled by Magdeburg rights and had a coat of arms. In 1596, Lubny was the site of the last battle of Severyn Nalyvaiko against the Poles, in the 17th century the city was one of the largest in the area. In 1638 it had 2,646 inhabitants, between 1648 and 1781, the town was the headquarters of the Lubny Cossack Regiment. After a railroad line was constructed through Lubny in 1901, industry quickly grew, during the German occupation in the Second World War, Lubny was the centre of major partisan movement. On October 16,1941 over a thousand of the citys Jews, today, Lubny is a large industrial and cultural centre. Many automotive and farm equipment factories were established during the growth of industry between 1901 and the 1930s, as well, Lubny is a major producer of meat and milk products, furniture and bread. Over 40 types of ice cream are made in the factories. Lubny also has its own team, Lubny Nyva. Several museums and art galleries are located there, and the Lubny institute district is known for the bookstores that carry a variety of technical and non-technical books. As well, a newspaper, Visnyk is published in the city. Lubny is considered the capital of the Poltava Oblast. Lubny is divided into eight microdistricts, each raion is governed by a specially-appointed secretary, the secretaries are responsible for handling issues in their raion. Lubny Zemstvo Stamps - The gallery of local postage stamps of the Lubny Zemstvo Post Office
30.
Vyshnivets
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Vyshnivets, formerly known as Wiśniowiec, is an urban-type settlement in the Zbarazkyi Raion of the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. Before World War II the village was located in Poland, the town served as a family seat of the Polish princely Wiśniowiecki family, as of the 15th century, and received its name from the family. The town was noted for its cherry orchards. In the mid-1500s, one of the descendants, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, was distinguished by his service to Ivan the Terrible. His grandson, Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, also known as Yarema Vyshnevetsky was also a military commander. During the time of the leadership of Princes Michael and Valusah Wiśniowiecki, as of 1674, architectural landmarks in the town include a 15th-century castle, and palace and park, constructed in the 18th century by the Vyshnevetskyi family. The town is associated with the Holocaust. Prior to the commencement of World War II, approximately 5,000 persons of Jewish faith were residents of the town, the town was directly in the path of the German invasion of Russia in June 1941, following the repudiation by Germany of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. On August 11–12,1942, German troops and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police executed nearly 2,700 Jewish men, women and children, of those executed, approximately 900 were children. It is estimated less than 100 of the town residents of Jewish faith ultimately survived the Holocaust. In 1960, Vyshnivets was changed from the status of a village, the population of the town was 3,469 as of 1994. Vyshnivets Palace House of Wiśniowiecki Wiśniowiec massacres ShtetLinks - Vishnevets at JewishGen Urban-type settlement of Vyshnivets, Vyshnivets, Truth and myths of the kniaz Vyshnevetsky family
31.
Volhynia
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Volhynia or Volyn is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe straddling Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, while the territory that still carries the name is Volyn Oblast, Volhynia has changed hands numerous times throughout history and been divided among competing powers. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been part of the independent nation of Ukraine, among important cities are Lutsk, Rivne, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Iziaslav, Novohrad-Volynskyi. In other versions, the city was located over 20 km to the west of Volodymyr-Volynskyi near the mouth of Huczwa River, before the partitions of Poland, eastern edge stretched a little west along the right-banks of Sluch River or just east of it. Volhynia is located in basins of Western Bug and Prypyat, therefore most of its rivers flow either in northern or western directions, relative to other historical regions, it is northeast of Galicia, east of Lesser Poland, and northwest of Podolia. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, and it is considered to overlap a number of other regions, among which are Polesia. Territories of historical Volhynia are now part of the Volyn, Rivne, major cities include Lutsk, Rivne, Kovel, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Kremenets, and Starokostiantyniv. Before World War II, many Jewish shtetls, such as Trochenbrod, at one time all of Volhynia was part of the Pale of Settlement designated by Imperial Russia on its southwesternmost border. The land was mentioned in works of the Arabian scholar Al-Masudi who denoted the local tribe as people of Valin, in his work of 947-948 Al-Masudi mentions that Valinians as an intertribal union were ruled by their leader Madjak. In the opinion of Ukrainian historian Yuriy Dyba, the chronicle phrase «и оустави по мьстѣ, и по лузѣ погосты и дань и ѡброкы» reflects the actual route of the Olgas raid against Drevlians further to the west up to the Western Bugs right tributary Luha River. As early as 983, Vladimir the Great appointed his son Vsevolod the ruler of the Volhynian Principality and in 988 established the city of Volodymer. The first records can be traced to the Ruthenian chronicles, such as the Primary Chronicle, which mentions tribes of the Dulebe, Buzhan, volhynias early history coincides with that of the duchies or principalities of Halych and Volhynia. These two successor states of the Kievan Rus formed Halych-Volhynia between the 12th and the 14th centuries, after 1569 Volhynia formed a province of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period many Poles and Jews settled in the area, the Roman and Greek Catholic churches became established in the province. In 1375 was established a Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodomeria but it was suppressed in 1425, many Orthodox churches joined the latter organization in order to benefit from a more attractive legal status. Records of the first agricultural colonies of Mennonites date from 1783, after the Third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Volhynia was annexed as the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire. It covered an area of 71,852.7 square kilometers, many Roman Catholic church buildings were also given to the Russian Church, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lutsk was suppressed on orders of Empress Catherine II. In 1897, the population amounted to 2,989,482 people and it consisted of 73.7 percent East Slavs,13.2 percent Jews,6.2 percent Poles, and 5.7 percent Germans
32.
Daniel Schultz
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Jerzy Daniel Schultz known also as Daniel Schultz the Younger was a famous painter of the Baroque era, born and active in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He painted many Polish and Lithuanian nobles, members of the family, local Patricians, such as the astronomer Johannes Hevelius, animals. His work can be found at the Wawel Castle State Art Collections, the National Museum in Warsaw, the Stockholm National Museum, the Hermitage Museum, after his uncles death he travelled to France and the Netherlands to continue his studies for about three years. Schultz became the leading artist at the Warsaw court of the Polish kings in the half of the 17th century. In 1649 he became a painter to the Polish king John II Casimir Vasa. Schultz returned to his hometown around 1660, yet time to time worked on royal commissions in Warsaw. His great portraits of Polish kings and nobles are among the best examples of Baroque art in Poland, the most notable of his works Crimean Falconer of King John II Casimir with his Family was painted in 1664. It depicts Crimean Agha Dedesh with his sons and servants, the eldest son of Agha was entitled Royal Falconer in reward for his fathers support during the Polish war with Russia. This work was painted during Aghas visit to Warsaw after successful invasion of the Left-bank Ukraine, rich color variations of cerise, dark green and orange create an ideal composition with silver-brown tone of the painting. His greatest activity occurred during the reign of John II, at that time Schultz painted many portraits and religious paintings. For the abdicating king he painted Saint Casimir, which was displayed in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. After kings death, he painted his portrait, that was later placed in the Marble Room at the Royal Castle among preserved 22 effigies of the Polish monarchs by Peter Danckerts de Rij. The inspirations of Rembrandt and Philippe de Champaigne are visible in his works, Schultz lived in Gdańsk at the same time as the engraver Jeremias Falck, who often engraved portraits after Schultzs paintings. Website devoted to Daniel Schultz and his work Schultzs gallery at malarze. com
33.
Karol Ferdynand Vasa
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Prince Charles Ferdinand Vasa, was a Polish nobleman, prince, priest, Bishop of Wrocław from 1625, bishop of Płock from 1640 and Duke of Opole from 1648 to 1655. Charles Ferdinand was the son of King Sigismund III Vasa and his wife Constance of Austria. Charles Ferdinand spent his childhood and youth in the care of his mother at the court in Warsaw. On March 23,1624, he received from Pope Urban VIII dispensation, in this case, cardinal-protector Cosmo de Torres intervened with the pope. On May 3,1625, through the efforts of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. On October 22,1625 he received approval for the post. On January 18,1626, despite being a minor and not having a proper ordination ceremony he was installed as bishop. After the death of his mother in 1631, together with his brother John Casimir he inherited the city of Żywiec in Lesser Poland. During the reign of Władysław IV, Charles Ferdinand resided mainly in Warsaw, being a close relative of the royal court, however, he was not interested in politics and had no ambition to acquire the secular authorities. Between 1632 and 1648 he devoted his time mostly to work, financial affairs. In 1640 he was appointed the Bishop of Płock, later he has launched a tough policy and decisive steps to quell the civil war in Polish occupied Ruthenia and Ukraine. He received the support of majority of senators and bishops in the Polish Sejm. At the forefront of opposition to Charles Ferdinand Vasa stood Janusz Radziwiłł and his brother Bogusław Radziwiłł, after losing the election, Charles Ferdinand received, from his brother and newly elected king, the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz. He then retired from public life and he settled on the estates of the bishops in Płock, in Mazovia. His main residence was a renaissance castle in Brok. In 1651, he took care of the orphaned and deprived of estates in Ruthenia, Vasa financed his travels abroad and provided thorough education and studies in the best schools of Europe. Charles Ferdinand Vasa died on May 9,1655 in Wyszków and he was buried in the Jesuit Church in Warsaw. Charles Ferdinand Vasa left a fortune and the majority of it was spent on various foundations of churches in the country
34.
Voivode
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Voivode is an Eastern European title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force. It derives from the word vojevoda, which in early Slavic meant the bellidux, i. e. the military commander of an area, in Byzantine times it referred to mainly military commanders of Slavic populations, especially in the Balkans. In medieval Serbia it meant an official and - before the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century - the commander of a military area. During Ottoman times, Voivode was the title borne by the ruler of a province, whose powers included the administration, security, the same title was borne by the Ottoman official who oversaw the “Chora Metzovo” each time. The word gradually came to denote the governor of a province, the territory ruled or administered by a voivode is known in English as a voivodeship. In the English language, the title is translated as duke or prince. In Eastern European terminology, the rank of a voivode is considered equal of that of a German Herzog, a voivode was often considered to be an assistant of the Knyaz. During military actions the voivode was in charge of an army that consisted of the local population, the voj, while the knyaz had its own regular military formation. As of 2016 in Poland the term means the centrally-appointed governor of a Polish province or voivodeship. The Polish title is rendered in English as palatine or prince palatine. Other similar titles include Margrave, Governor-General, and others, with the expansion of the Russian Empire the title of voivode was superseded by namestnik. Later, voivode denoted the highest military rank in the principalities of Montenegro and Serbia, in the Romanian medieval principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, voievode became part of the official titulature of the sovereign prince, showing his right to lead the entire army. Voivode or vajda was also the title of the Hungarian governors of Transylvania in the Middle Ages, baida was a title of a Ruthenian nobleman and Cossack leader Dmytro Vyshnevetsky. Similarly, the leaders in the Balkans were called voivodes. The term derives from Slavic voi or vojsko + vodi, the word has developed to take various forms in the modern Slavic languages, such as vojvoda, wojewoda, воевода, войвода or воевода, воєвода, vévoda and војвода. It has also borrowed into some non-Slavic languages, taking such forms as voievod, vajda. Voivode is also related to state such as Vojvodina, Polish provinces voivodeship. For this reason, the Slavic terms are translated as duke
35.
Sandomierz
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Sandomierz is a town in south-eastern Poland with 25,714 inhabitants, situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Sandomierz County, Sandomierz is known for its Old Town, which is a major tourist attraction. In the past, Sandomierz used to be one of the most important urban centers not only of Lesser Poland, but also of the whole country. The name of the city might have originated from the Old Polish Sędomir, composed of Sędzi- and mir, or more likely from the given name Sędzimir. Sandomierz is known in German, Sandomir, Latin, Sandomiria, Yiddish, צויזמיר, Hungarian, Szandomir, Ukrainian, Сандомир or Судомир, Russian, Сандомир, Sandomierz is one of the oldest and historically most significant cities in Poland. Archeological finds around the city indicate that humans have inhabited the area since neolithic times, the city came into existence in the early Middle Ages, taking advantage of an excellent location at the junction of Vistula and San rivers, and on the path of important trade routes. The first known mention of the city comes from the early 12th-century. The testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth, in which he divided Poland among his sons, designated Sandomierz as the capital of one of the resulting principalities, in the course of the 13th century the city suffered grievous damage during raids by Tatars in 1241,1259 and 1287. The old wooden buildings of the town were completely destroyed, as a result, in 1286 the High Duke of Poland Leszek II the Black, effectively refounded the city under Magdeburg Law. The city archives preserve the founding document, after the re-unification of the Polish lands in the 14th century, the former principality became the Sandomierz Voivodeship, incorporating large areas of southeastern Poland. Until 1474, it was one of two voivodeships of Lesser Poland, together with Krakow Voivodeship, in 1474, Lublin Voivodeship was created from eastern part of Sandomierz Voivodeship. At this time Sandomierz had about 3,000 inhabitants and was one of the largest Polish cities, in the middle of the 14th century the city was burned again during a raid by the Lithuanians. It was rebuilt during the rule of king Casimir III of Poland, the layout of the city has survived practically unchanged since that time until the present day. The following three hundred years, running until the middle of the 17th century, were prosperous for the city. The most important historical buildings were built during this period and this golden age came to an end in 1655 when Swedish forces captured the city in the course of the Deluge. After briefly holding out in the city, the withdrawing Swedes blew up the castle, in the next 100 years the economy of Poland suffered a decline, which also affected the city. A great fire in 1757 and the First Partition of Poland in 1772, as a result, Sandomierz lost its role as an administrative capital. In 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, fighting between the forces of Austria and of the Duchy of Warsaw caused damage to the city, after 1815 it found itself in the Russian Empire
Media related to Michał Korybut Wisniowiecki at Wikimedia Commons