Prince Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, nicknamed Hammer on the Cossacks (), was a notable member of the aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince of Vyshnivets, Lubny and Khorol in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the father of the future King of Poland, Michael I.
A notable magnate and military commander of Ruthenian and MoldavianGeorge Vernadsky, Michael Karpovich A History of RussiaФ. А. Брокгауз, И. А. Ефрон Енциклопедический словарь, Том 12 origin, Wiśniowiecki was heir of one of the biggest fortunes of the state and rose to several notable dignities, including the position of voivode of the Ruthenian Voivodship (today southeastern Poland and western Ukraine) in 1646. His conversion from Eastern Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism caused much dissent in Ruthenian lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Wiśniowiecki was a successful military leader as well as one of the wealthiest magnates of Poland, ruling over lands inhabited by 230,000 people.
A charismatic leader and skilled military commander, Wiśniowiecki became famous for his decisive and frequently cruel actions during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, in the course of which he achieved several victories against rebellious Zaporozhian Cossacks and engaged in a campaign of terror against their perceived supporters around Ukraine. He died during one of anti-Cossack campaigns in 1651. His son Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki would later become King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Biography
Youth
Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki was born in 1612; neither the exact date nor the place of his birth are known. His father, Michał Wiśniowiecki, of the Ruthenian Wiśniowiecki family,Lerski, Wróbel, Kozicki, p. 654 died soon after Jeremi's birth, in 1616. His mother, Regina Mohyła (Raina Mohylanka) was a Moldavian-born noblewoman of the Movilești family, daughter of the Moldavian prince Ieremia Movilă, Jeremi's namesake; she died in 1619. Both of his parents were of the Eastern Orthodox Church rite. Jeremi's mother was the first cousin of Petro Mohyla, the influential Orthodox theologian and metropolitan of Kyiv.Yakovenko, p. 325
Orphaned at the age of seven, Wiśniowiecki was raised by his uncle, Konstanty Wiśniowiecki, whose branch of the family were Roman Catholics. Jeremi attended a Jesuit college in Lviv and later, in 1629, he traveled to Italy, where he briefly attended the University of Bologna. He also acquired some military experience in the Netherlands. The upbringing by his uncle and the trips abroad polonized him, and turned him into one of the youngest magnates of Poland and Lithuania.
In 1631 Wiśniowiecki returned to the Commonwealth and took over from his uncle the management of his father's huge estate, which included a large part of what is now Ukraine. In 1632 he converted from Eastern Orthodoxy to Catholicism, an action that caused much concern in Ukraine. His decision has been analyzed by historians, and often criticized, particularly in Ukrainian historiography. The Orthodox Church feared losing a powerful protector, and Isaiah Kopinsky, metropolitan bishop of Kyiv and a friend of his mother, unsuccessfully pleaded with him to change his mind. Jeremi would not budge although he remained on decent terms with the Orthodox Church, avoiding provocative actions, and supported his uncle and Orthodox bishop Petro Mohyla and his Orthodox Church collegium.
Military and political career
Wiśniowiecki's courtier and first biographer, Michał Kałyszowski, counted that Jeremi participated in nine wars in his lifetime. The first of these was the Smolensk Campaign of 1633–34 against the Tsardom of Russia. In that war he accompanied castellan Aleksander Piaseczyński's southern army and took part in several battles, among them the unsuccessful siege of Putyvl; later that year they took Rylsk and Sevsk before retreating. The following year he worked with Adam Kisiel and Łukasz Żółkiewski, commanding his own private army of 4,000. As his troops formed two thirds of their army (not counting supporting Cossack elements), Jeremi, despite being the most junior of commanders, had much influence over their campaign. Lacking in artillery, they failed to take any major towns, but ravaged the countryside near Sevsk and Kursk. The war ended soon afterward, and in May 1634 he returned to Lubny. For his service, he received a commendation from the King of Poland, Władysław IV Vasa, and the castellany of Kyiv.
After the war Wiśniowiecki engaged in a number of conflicts with neighbouring magnates and nobles. Jeremi was able to afford a sizable private army of several thousands, and through the threat of it he was often able to force his neighbours to a favourable settlement of disputes. Soon after his return from the Russian front, he participated on the side of the Dowmont family in the quarrel over the estate of Dowmontów against another magnate, Samuel Łaszcz, located on his lands; soon after the victorious battle against Łaszcz he bought the lands from the Dowmonts and incorporated them into his estates.
Around 1636 the Sejm (Polish–Lithuanian parliament) opposed the marriage of King Władysław IV Vasa to Wiśniowiecki's sister, Anna. Following this, Jeremi distanced himself from the royal court, although he periodically returned to Warsaw, usually as one of the deputies to the Sejm from the Ruthenian Voivodeship (today southeastern Poland and western Ukraine). Soon afterward, Jeremi himself married Gryzelda Zamoyska, daughter of Chancellor Tomasz Zamoyski, on 27 February 1639, Gryzelda's 16th birthday.
At that time Wiśniowiecki also engaged in a political conflict over titles of nobility, in particular, the title of prince (kniaź). The nobility in the Commonwealth was officially equal, and used different and non-hereditary titles than those found in rest of the world (see officials of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth); the gist of the conflict, which took much of the Sejm's time around 1638–41, revolved around whether old princely titles (awarded to families before their lands were incorporated into the Commonwealth in the 1569 Union of Lublin), and new titles, awarded more recently by some foreign courts, should be recognized. Wiśniowiecki was one of the chief participants in this debate, successfully defending the old titles, including that of his own family, and succeeding in abolishing the new titles, which gained him the enmity of another powerful magnate, Jerzy Ossoliński. Other than this conflict, in his years as a deputy (1635–46), Jeremi was not involved in any major political issues, and only twice (in 1640 and 1642) did he serve in the minor function of a commissar for investigating the eastern and southern border disputes.
In 1637 Wiśniowiecki might have fought under Hetman Mikołaj Potocki against the Cossack rebellion of Pavlo Pavliuk (the Pavliuk uprising); Jan Widacki notes that historians are not certain whether he did and in either case, no detailed accounts of his possible participation survive. A year later, returning from the Sejm and from the engagement ceremony with Gryzelda, he gathered a 4,000 strong division that participated in putting down of the Ostryanyn uprising and arrived at the region affected by the unrest in June that year. Together with Hetman Potocki he defeated the insurgents at the Battle of Zhovnyn, which turned into a rather difficult siege of the Cossack camp that lasted from 13 June till the Cossack relief forces were defeated on 4 August, and the Cossacks capitulated on 7 August.
Political rise In 1641, after the death of his uncle Konstanty Wiśniowiecki, Jeremi became the last adult male of the Wiśniowiecki family and inherited all the remaining estates of the clan, despite a brief conflict with Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł who also claimed the inherited land. The conflict stemmed from the fact that Konstanty asked Jeremi to take care of his grandchildren, but their mother, Katarzyna Eugenia Tyszkiewicz, married Aleksander, who declared himself able and willing to take care of her children – and their estates. A year later, Katarzyna Eugenia decided to divorce Aleksander, and the matter was settled in favor of Jeremi.
Wiśniowiecki also fought against the Tatars in 1640–46, whose raids on the south-east frontier of the Commonwealth endangered his holdings. In 1644 together with Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski he took part in the victorious Battle of Ochmatów, in which they crushed forces of Crimean Tatars led by Toğay bey (Tuhaj Bej).
In 1644, after the false news of the death of Adam Kazanowski, Wiśniowiecki took over his disputed estate of Rumno by subterfuge. For this he was at first sentenced to exile, but due to his influence, even the King could not realistically expect to enforce this ruling without a civil war. Eventually after more discussions at local sejmiks and then in the Sejm, he won the case and was granted the right for Rumno. In 1646, after the death of Koniecpolski, he became the voivode of Ruthenia. He invaded and took over the town of Hadiach which was also being claimed by a son of Koniecpolski, Aleksander Koniecpolski, but a year later, in 1647, he lost that case and was forced to return the town.
Wiśniowiecki's position as voivode of Ruthenia gave him a seat in the Senate, the upper chamber of the Sejm. He was the third member of the Wiśniowiecki family to gain that privilege. Soon afterward, however, he refused to support King Władysław's plan for a war against the Ottoman Empire, even though the King offered him the rank of a Field Crown Hetman.
In the autumn of 1646, Wiśniowiecki invaded and took over the position of starost of Kaniv, vacated recently by the banished Samuel Łaszcz. He did so without any legal justifications, which caused a court ruling against him, which was, however, never enforced. Later that year, he raised a large private army of about 25,000 for an unknown purpose, as noted by Widacki, who writes that the army, which Jeremi raised at an immense cost for a short time, did not participate in any engagement, nor did it have any clear purpose. He notes that such an army might have been useful in provoking the Ottomans, but as Jeremi was opposed to the war with them up to the point of refusing the office of hetman, his actions are puzzling even for modern historians.
A rich heir and one of the most powerful magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Wiśniowiecki was one of the last princes to base their claims on power over Ruthenia upon dynastic grounds. His view of his own status as "first among equals" in Commonwealth politics was demonstrated in 1647, when, following a perceived insult to the prince's dignity, Wiśniowiecki's army of 4,000 men surrounded the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, threatening to fight anyone who would go against his will, "even the king". This scandal was settled only after the intervention of mediators.Yakovenko, p. 325
Khmelnytsky uprising Initial retreat Wiśniowiecki fought against the Cossacks again during the Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648–51. At the time of the outbreak of the revolt he was staying in Lubny, and he began mobilizing his troops after receiving information about the growing unrest. In early May the prince learned about the Cossack victory at the Battle of Zhovti Vody. Receiving no orders from Hetmans Mikołaj Potocki and Marcin Kalinowski, he began moving on his own, soon learning about the second Cossack victory at Battle of Korsuń, which meant that his troops (about 6,000 strong) were the only Polish forces in Transdnieper at that moment. After taking in the situation, he began retreating towards Chernihiv; his army soon became a focal point for various refugees. Passing Chernihiv, he continued through Liubech to Brahin.