Transcriber's Notes:
1. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. [.Z] represents Z with
a dot above it.
THE DELUGE.
Vol. I.
THE WORKS OF
HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ.
AUTHORIZED UNABRIDGED TRANSLATIONS BY
JEREMIAH CURTIN.
LIBRARY EDITION.
* * *
Historical Romances.
_Poland, Turkey, Russia, and Sweden_.
With Fire And Sword. 1 vol.
The Deluge. 2 vols.
Pan Michael. 1 vol.
_Rome in the time of Nero_.
"Quo Vadis." 1 vol.
Novels of Modern Poland.
Children of the Soil. 1 vol.
Without Dogma. 1 vol. (Translated by Iza Young.)
Short Stories.
Hania, and Other Stories. 1 vol.
Sielanka, a Forest Picture, and Other Stories. 1 vol.
* * *
On the Bright Shore. 1 vol.
Let Us Follow Him. 1 vol.
*** The above two are also included in the volume entitled
"Hania."
Yanko the Musician, and Other Stories, 1 vol.
Lillian Morris, and Other Stories, 1 vol.
*** The tales and sketches included in these two volumes are now
reprinted with others by Sienkiewicz in the volume entitled "Sielanka,
a Forest Picture, and Other Stories."
THE DELUGE.
An Historical Novel
OF
POLAND, SWEDEN, AND RUSSIA.
A SEQUEL TO
"WITH FIRE AND SWORD."
BY
HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ.
_AUTHORIZED AND UNABRIDGED TRANSLATION FROM
THE POLISH BY_
JEREMIAH CURTIN.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
Vol. I.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1915.
_Copyright, 1891_, by Jeremiah Curtin.
* * * * *
Printers
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U.S.A.
TO HON. CHARLES A. DANA,
Editor of "The Sun,"
New York.
Sir,--I beg to dedicate to you this translation of a remarkable work,
touching a period eventful in the history of the Poles, and the Slav
race in general. You will appreciate the pictures of battle and trial
contained in these volumes, for you know great events not from books
merely but from personal contact. You receive pleasure from various
literatures, and from considering those points of character by which
nations and men are distinguished; hence, as I think, THE DELUGE will
give you some mental enjoyment, and perhaps turn your attention to a
new field of history.
JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology,
November 25, 1891.
INTRODUCTION.
The wars described in THE DELUGE are the most complicated and
significant in the whole career of the Commonwealth, for the political
motives which came into play during these wars had their origin in
early and leading historical causes.
The policy of the Teutonic Knights gave the first of its final results
in the war of 1655, between Sweden and Poland, since it made the
elector independent in Prussia, where soon after, his son was crowned
king. The war with Great Russia in 1654, though its formal cause came,
partly at least, from the struggle of 1612, in which the Poles had
endeavored to subjugate Moscow, was really roused by the conflict of
Southern Russia with Poland to win religious and material equality.
The two fundamental events of Polish history are the settlement of the
Teutonic Knights in Prussia, through the action of the Poles
themselves; and the union of Poland with Lithuania and Russia by the
marriage of Yadviga, the Polish princess, to Yagyello, Grand Prince of
Lithuania.
Before touching on the Teutonic Knights, a few words may be given to
the land where they began that career which cut off Poland from the
sea, took from the Poles their political birthplace, and gave its name
and territory to the chief kingdom of the new German Empire, the
kingdom which is in fact the creator and head of that Empire.
Prussia in the thirteenth century extended from the Vistula eastward to
the Niemen, and from the Baltic southward about as far as it does at
present. In this territory lived the Prussians. East of the Niemen
lived the Lithuanians, another division of the same stock of people.
West of the Vistula lay Pomorye,[1] now Pomerania, occupied at that
time exclusively by Slavs under Polish dominion.
The Prussians, a people closely related to the Slavs, were still
Pagans, as were also the Lithuanians; and having a more highly
developed religion than either the pre-Christian Slavs or the Germans,
their conversion was likely to be of a more difficult nature.
At the end of the tenth and in the beginning of the thirteenth
centuries attempts were made to convert the Prussians; but the only
result was the death of the missionaries, who seem to have been too
greatly filled with zeal to praise their own faith and throw contempt
on that of the people among whom they were really only guests and
sojourners.
Finally, a man appeared more adroit and ambitious than others,--Christian,
a monk of Olivka, near Dantzig. This monk, we are told, had a knowledge
of the weak points of men, spoke Prussian as well as Polish, was not
seeking the crown of martyrdom, and never made light of things held
sacred by those to whom he was preaching. After a few years his success
was such as to warrant a journey to Rome, where he explained to Innocent
III. the results of his labor. The Pope encouraged the missionary, and
in 1211 instructed the Archbishop of Gnezen to aid Christian with his
co-workers and induce secular princes to help them.
Christian returned from Rome with renewed zeal; but instead of being
helped he was hindered, for tribute and labor were imposed on his
converts by the secular power. Since the new religion was coupled with
servitude, the Prussians were roused greatly against it.
Christian strove to obtain relief for his converts, but in vain. Then,
taking two native followers, he made a second journey to Rome, was
created first Bishop of Prussia, and returned again to the field.
The great body of Prussians now considered all converts as traitors.
The priests of the native religion roused the people, and attacked
those persons as renegades who had deserted the ancient faith and were
bringing slavery to the country. They went farther and fell upon
Mazovia, whence the propaganda had issued. Konrad, unable to defend
himself, bought them off with rich presents. The newly made converts
were killed, captured, or driven to deep forests.
Christian turned to the Pope a third time, and implored him to direct
against Prussia those Poles who were going to the Holy Land.
The Archbishop of Gnezen was instructed from Rome to make this change,
and the Poles were summoned against Prussia for the following year. The
crusade was preached also in Germany.
Warriors arrived from both countries in fairly large numbers, and
during their presence ruined villages and churches were rebuilt in the
district of Culm, where the conversions had taken place mainly. In a
couple of seasons the majority of the warriors found their way home
again. A second crusade was proclaimed, and men responded freely. All
these forces were simply guarding the missionaries and the converts,--a
position which could not endure.
Christian, seeing this, formed the plan of founding an order of armed
monks in Poland like the Knights of the Sword in Livonia. Konrad gave
his approval at once.
The Bishop of Modena, at that time papal legate in Poland, hastened the
establishment of the order; for to him it seemed the best agent to bend
the stiff necks of idolaters. Permission to found the order was
obtained from the Pope, and a promise of means to maintain it from
Konrad.
Christian, who had interested Rome and the West in his work, now gave
great praise before the world to the Prince of Mazovia, who thereupon
rewarded him with a gift of twelve castles and one hundred villages,
reserving merely sovereign rights without income. This gift was
confirmed to the Bishop of Prussia by Honorius III.
Christian labored so zealously that in 1225 he consecrated twenty-five
superior knights in his new order, which received the same rules as the
Livonian Knights of the Sword,--that is, the rules of the Templars.
The new knights were called Brothers of Dobjin, from the castle of
Dobjin, which Konrad gave them as a residence, adding the district of
Leslin near Inovratslav as a means of support.
As soon as the Brothers had settled in their castle, they attacked the
Prussians, ruined villages, and brought in plunder. The enraged
Prussians collected large forces, and attacked the land of Culm, with
the intent to raze Dobjin. On hearing this, Konrad with his own troops
and a general levy hastened to the relief of the order.
A bloody and stubborn battle of two days' duration was fought with
great loss on both sides. Konrad, despairing of victory, left the
field, thus causing the complete overthrow of the Poles. The surviving
Brothers of Dobjin took refuge in the castle, which the Prussians were
unable to capture. The order, shattered at its very inception, hoped
for reinforcements from abroad; but the Pope at that juncture was
sending a crusade to Palestine, and would not permit a division in the
forces of the West. The Prussians, elated with victory, plundered at
pleasure the lands bordering on their own.
In this disaster Christian conceived the idea of calling in the
Teutonic Knights against Prussia. This idea, suicidal from a Polish
point of view, was accepted by the Prince of Mazovia.
The Teutonic Order was founded in Palestine near the end of the twelfth
century to succeed some German hospitallers who had resided in
Jerusalem till the capture of the city by Saracens in 1187.
In a few years the new order became military, and under the patronage
of Frederick, Duke of Suabia, afterward the Emperor Frederick II.,
acquired much wealth, with great imperial and papal favor. Under Herman
Von Salza, who was grand master from 1210 to 1239, the future of the
order was determined, its main scene of action transferred to the West,
and that career begun which made the Teutonic Order the most remarkable
of the weapon-bearing monks of Europe. Herman Von Salza--a keen, crafty
man, of great political astuteness and ambition--had determined to win
separate territory for the order, and the dignity of Prince of the
Empire for the grand master.
Nothing therefore could be more timely for his plans than the
invitation from the Prince of Mazovia, who in 1225 sent envoys to
Herman; especially since the order had just been deprived in
Transylvania of lands given to support it while warding off heathen
Kumanians.
The envoys offered the Teutonic master Culm and some adjoining lands
for the order, in return for curbing the Prussians. Herman resolved to
accept, should the Emperor prove friendly to the offer. He hastened to
Frederick at Rimini, explained the whole question, received a grant in
which Konrad's endowment was confirmed; besides the order was given all
the land it could conquer and make subject to the Emperor alone. The
grand master's next care was to obtain papal approval.
Two envoys from Herman were sent to Poland, where they obtained, as the
chronicles of the order relate, a written title to Culm and the
neighboring land as well as to all Prussia which they could conquer.
Near Torun (Thorn) a wooden fortress was built, called in German
Fogelsang (Bird-song). This fortress was the first residence of the
knights, who later on had so much power and such influence in the
history of Poland.
Only two years later did Herman send his knights to Culm. One of the
first acts was to purchase for various considerations, from the Bishop
of Plotsk and from Christian, the Bishop of Prussia, their rights over
the lands granted them in Culm. The labor of conversion began, and soon
the grand master prevailed on the Pope to proclaim throughout Europe a
crusade against Prussia.
From Poland alone came twenty thousand men, and many more from other
parts of Europe. When the knights had made a firm beginning of work,
their design of independence was revealed. They wished to be rid of
even a show of submission to the Prince of Mazovia. They raised the
question by trying to incorporate the remaining Brothers of Dobjin, and
thus acquire the grant given them by Konrad. They had disputes also
with Bishop Christian and the Bishop of Plotsk. In 1234 the Bishop of
Modena was sent as papal legate to settle the disputes. The legate
decided, to the satisfaction of the bishops, that of all lands won from
the Pagans two thirds were to be retained by the knights and one third
given to the bishops, the church administration being under the order
in its own two thirds. For the Prince of Mazovia nothing was left,
though he asserted sovereign rights in Culm and Prussia, and would not
permit the order to acquire the grant given the Brothers of Dobjin by
incorporating the remaining members of that body.
The Teutonic Order would not recognize the sovereignty of the Polish
prince, and insisted on incorporating the Brothers of Dobjin. The
order, knowing that Konrad would yield only under constraint, placed
its possessions at the feet of the Pope, made them the property of the
Holy See. This action found success; the Pope declared Culm and all the
acquisitions of the order the property of Saint Peter, which the church
for a yearly tax then gave in feudal tenure to the Teutonic Knights,
who therefore could not recognize in those regions the sovereignty of
any secular prince. In August, 1234, the Pope informed Konrad in a
special bull of the position of the order, and enjoined on him to aid
it with all means in his power. The Polish prince could do nothing; he
could not even prevent the incorporation of the majority of the
remaining Brothers of Dobjin, and of the lands and property given for
their use he was able to save nothing but the castle of Dobjin.
Konrad now found himself in a very awkward position; he had introduced
of his own will a foreign and hostile power which had all Western
Europe and the Holy See to support it, which had unbounded means of
discrediting the Poles and putting them in the wrong before the world;
and these means the order never failed to use. In half a century after
their coming the knights, by the aid of volunteers and contributions
from all Europe, had converted Prussia, and considered Poland and the
adjoining parts of Lithuania as sure conquests to be made at their own
leisure and at the expense of all Western Christendom.
The first Polish territory acquired was Pomerania. The career of the
knights was easy and successful till the union of Poland and Lithuania
in 1386. In 1410, at the battle called by the names both of Grünwald
and Tannenberg, the power of the order was broken. Some years later
Pomerania was returned to Poland, and the order was allowed to remain
in East Prussia in the position of a vassal to the Commonwealth. In
this reduced state the knights lived for a time, tried to gain allies,
but could not; the most they did--and that was the best for the German
cause--was to induce Albert, a member of the Franconian branch of the
Hohenzollerns, to become grand master. He began to reorganize the
order, and tried to shake off allegiance to Poland; but finding no aid
in the Empire or elsewhere, he acted on Luther's advice to introduce
Protestantism and convert Prussia into a secular and hereditary duchy.
This he did in 1525. Poland, with a simplicity quite equal to that of
Konrad, who called in the order at first, permitted the change. The
military monks married, and were converted into hereditary nobles.
Albert became Duke of Prussia, and took the oath of allegiance to
Poland. Later the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg inherited the duchy,
became feudatories of Poland as well as electors at home. This was the
position during the war between Sweden and Poland described in THE
DELUGE. Frederick William, known as the Great Elector, was ruling at
that time in Brandenburg and Prussia. He acted with great adroitness
and success; paying no attention to his oath as vassal, he took the
part of one side, and then of the other when he saw fit. He fought on
the Swedish side in the three days' battle around Warsaw in which Yan
Kazimir was defeated. This service was to be rewarded by the
independence of Prussia.
Hardly had the scale turned in favor of Poland when the Great Elector
assisted Yan Kazimir against Sweden; and in the treaty of Wehlau (1657)
Poland relinquished its rights over Prussia, which thus became
sovereign and independent in Europe. This most important change was
confirmed three years later at the peace of Oliva.
Frederick, son of the Great Elector, was crowned "King in Prussia" at
Königsberg in 1701. The Elector of Brandenburg became king in that
territory in which he had no suzerain.
At the first division of Poland, Royal Prussia of THE DELUGE, the
territory lying between the Vistula and Brandenburg, went to the new
kingdom; and Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia became continuous
territory.
The early success of the Teutonic Knights was so great that in the
third half century of their rule on the Baltic their power overshadowed
Poland, which was thus seriously threatened. Toward the end of the
fourteenth century, however (1386), the Poles escaped imminent danger
by their union with Lithuania and Russia. Through this most important
connection they rose at once from a position of peril to one of safety
and power.
This union, brought about through the marriage of the Polish princess
Yadviga to Yagyello, Grand Prince of Lithuania, and by exceedingly
adroit management on the part of the Polish nobles and clergy, opened
to the Poles immense regions of country and the way to vast wealth.
Before the union their whole land was composed of Great and Little
Poland, with Mazovia (see map); after the union two thirds of the best
lands of pre-Tartar Russia formed part of the Commonwealth.
Since Poland managed to place and maintain itself at the head of
affairs, though this roused at all times opposition of varying violence
in the other two parts of the Commonwealth, the social ideals and
political structure of Poland prevailed in Lithuania and Russia, so far
as the upper classes were concerned. In Lithuania, by the terms of the
union, all were obliged to become Catholic; in different parts of
Russia, which was Orthodox, the people were undisturbed in their
religion at first; but after a time the majority of the nobles became
Catholic in religion, and Poles in language, name, manners, and ideas.
To these was added a large immigration of Polish nobles seeking
advancement and wealth. All Russia found itself after a time under
control of an upper class which was out of all sympathy with the great
mass and majority of the people.
During the Yagyellon dynasty, which lasted from 1386 to 1572, the
religious question was not so prominent for any save nobles; but
ownership of their own land and their own labor was gradually slipping
away from the people. During the reign of Sigismund III. (1587-1632),
religion was pushed to the foreground, the United Church was brought
into Russia; and land and religion, which raise the two greatest
problems in a State, the material and the spiritual, were the main
objects of thought throughout Russia.
Under Vladislav in 1648 the storm burst forth in Southern Russia. There
was a popular uprising, the most wide-spread and stubborn in history,
during which the Poles lost many battles and gained one great victory,
that of Berestechko; the Southern Russians turned to the North, and
selected the Tsar Alexai Mihailovich as sovereign.
Jan. 8, 1654, there was a great meeting in Pereyaslav,[2] at which
Bogdan Hmelnitski, hetman of the Zaporojian army and head of all
Southern Russia, after he had consulted with the Cossacks, took his
place in the centre of the circle, and in presence of the army, the
people, and Buturlin, the envoy of Alexai Mihailovich, said:--
"Gentlemen, Colonels, Essauls, Commanders of hundreds, the whole
Zaporojian army, and all Orthodox Christians,--You know how the Lord
delivered us from the hands of our enemies who persecuted the Church of
God and were envenomed against all Christians of our Eastern Orthodoxy.
We have lived six years without a sovereign, in endless battles against
our persecutors and enemies who desire to root out the church of God,
so that the Russian name may not be heard in our land. This position
has grown unendurable, and we cannot live longer without a sovereign.
Therefore we have assembled a council before the whole people, so that
you with us may choose from four sovereigns that one whom you wish. The
first is the Sovereign of Turkey, who has invited us under his
authority many times through his envoys; the second is the Khan of the
Crimea; the third the King of Poland, who, if we wish, may receive us
into former favor; the fourth is the Orthodox sovereign, the Tsar and
Grand Prince Alexai Mihailovich, the sole ruler of all Russia, whom we
have been imploring six years with unceasing petitions. Choose whom you
like. The Sovereign of Turkey is a Mussulman; you all know how our
brethren, the Greeks, Orthodox Christians, suffer, and what persecution
they endure from godless men. A Mussulman also is the Khan of the
Crimea, whom we took into friendship of necessity, by reason of the
unendurable woes which we passed through. Of persecutions from Polish
lords it is needless to speak; you know yourselves that they esteemed a
Jew and a dog more than a Christian, our brother. But the great
Orthodox sovereign of the East is of one faith with us, one confession
of the Greek rite; we are one spiritual body with the Orthodoxy of
Great Russia, having Jesus Christ for our head. This great sovereign,
this Christian Tsar, taking pity on the suffering of our Orthodox
church in Little Russia, giving ear to our six years' entreating, has
inclined his heart to us graciously, and was pleased to send with his
favor dignitaries from near his person. If we love him earnestly, we
shall not find a better refuge than his lofty hand. If any man is not
agreed with us, let him go whither he pleases; the road is free--"
Here the whole people shouted: "We choose to be under the Orthodox
sovereign; better to die in our Orthodox faith than to go to a hater of
Christ, to a Pagan!"
Then the Pereyaslav colonel, Teterya, passed around in the circle, and
asked in every direction: "Are all thus agreed?"
"All with one spirit," was the answer.
The hetman now said: "May the Lord our God strengthen us under the
strong hand of the Tsar."
The people shouted back in one voice: "God confirm us! God give us
strength to be one for the ages!"
The hetman, the army, and the representatives of Southern Russia took
the oath of allegiance to the Tsar. The result of this action was a war
between the Commonwealth on one side, and Northern and Southern Russia
on the other. The Commonwealth being thus occupied on the east, Sweden
decided to attack on the west.
The war between Russia and the Commonwealth lasted thirteen years, and
ended with a truce of thirteen years more, made at Andrusovo. By this
agreement the city and province of Smolensk went to Russia, and all the
left bank of the Dnieper, while Kieff was to be occupied by Poland
after two years. This truce became a treaty during the reign of
Sobyeski. Kieff remained with the Russians, and peace was unbroken till
the second half of the following century, when all Russia west of the
Dnieper was restored to the East in nearly the same limits which it had
before the Tartar invasion; excepting the territory included in
Galicia, and known as Red Russia.
Jeremiah Curtin.
Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology,
November 25, 1891.
REMARKS ON PERSONAGES IN "THE DELUGE."
Yan Kazimir was a son of Sigismund III., who was a son of King John of
Sweden and Catherine, daughter of Sigismund I. of Poland.
John of Sweden was succeeded by his son Sigismund, who under the name
of Sigismund III. was elected King of Poland in 1587 to succeed his
mother's brother, Sigismund Augustus, the last descendant of Yagyello
in the male line.
Sigismund III. was dethroned by the Swedes, and his issue excluded from
the succession. Duke Charles, the ablest of Gustavus Vasa's sons, and
uncle of Sigismund, was made king as Charles IX.
This Charles IX. was father of Gustavus Adolphus. Gustavus Adolphus was
succeeded by his only daughter, Christina, who would not marry, and who
after reigning for a time resigned in favor of her cousin Karl Gustav
of Zweibrücken,[3] son of the only sister of Gustavus Adolphus.
Gustavus Vasa was therefore the great-grandfather of both Yan Kazimir
and Karl Gustav, who were thus second cousins. The Polish Vasas laid
claim to the Swedish crown, thereby causing the Commonwealth during
sixty years much loss in money and men. Yan Kazimir relinquished this
claim when he made peace with Sweden.
Before his election Yan Kazimir, being a cardinal, was dispensed from
his vows by the Pope. Chosen king, he married Louise Marie, daughter of
the Duke of Nevers, a woman of strong will and much beauty.
Discouraged and wearied by many wars and reverses, and more than all by
the endless dissensions of magnates, Yan Kazimir resigned the kingly
office in 1668, and retired to France. Being now a widower, he became
Abbot of St. Germain and St. Martin, and lived on his stipend from
these foundations, for the Poles refused to continue his pension. It
seems, however, that he did not remain in seclusion till the end, for
he is mentioned as marrying in secret a widow who had once been a
laundress. He died in 1672, remembering the world much more than the
world remembered him.
Yan Zamoyski, one of the most celebrated nobles in Polish history, was
the grandfather of Sobiepan Zamoyski. The time of Zamoyski's success
was during the reign of Stephen Batory, who gave him more offices and
power than any citizen of the Commonwealth had ever enjoyed. As
castellan of Cracow, he was the first among lay senators; as starosta
of the same territory, he had extensive jurisdiction over criminals in
Little Poland; as hetman, he was commander of all the military forces
of the kingdom; as chancellor, he held the seals, without which no
official act of the king had validity.
Perhaps the most notable action in Zamoyski's career as a civilian
during Batory's reign was his treatment of the Zborovskis, one of whom
he had beheaded, and another condemned to decapitation and infamy. The
hatred of the Zborovskis for Zamoyski became so intense that later on
they tried to seat their candidate, Maximilian of Austria, in
opposition to Sigismund III., Zamoyski's choice and that of the
majority. The Zborovski party brought their candidate to the gate of
Cracow, intending to enthrone him with armed hand. Zamoyski repulsed
and pursued them to Silesia, where he defeated and made Maximilian
prisoner. The Austrian Archduke was held in captivity till he renounced
all claim to the throne. This is the captivity to which Sobiepan refers
on page 324, Vol. II.
Zamoyski had Sigismund impeached in 1592, not to condemn him, but to
give him a lesson. Zamoyski's course in this affair, and his last
speech in the Diet of 1605 are his most prominent acts during a reign
in which he was first in opposition, as he had been first on the king's
side during Batory's time. Zamoyski died in 1605, alarmed, as Lelevel
says, for the future of his country.
Sobiepan Zamoyski, who conceived such a friendship for Zagloba, married
the daughter of Henri de la Grange, a captain in the guard of Philip,
Duke of Orleans. After Zamoyski's death, his widow, a woman of great
beauty and ambition, married Sobyeski, subsequently elected king to
succeed Michael Vishnyevetski, who is mentioned on page 253, Vol. II.
Kmita, the hero of THE DELUGE, was probably of the Kmitas of Little
Poland, and of those who inherited lands granted Poles in Lithuania and
Russia after the union.
Kmitsits, which means "son of Kmita," as "starostsits" means "son of a
starosta," is the name used by Sienkiewicz; but as that word would
baffle most English readers, I have taken Kmita, the original form of
the family name. Kmita is mentioned in Solovyóff's Russian history as
co-operating with Sapyeha and Charnyetski against Hovanski and
Dolgoruki; in that connection he is called Kmitich.
NOTES.
POLISH ALPHABET.
Since the Polish alphabet has many peculiar phonetic combinations which
are difficult to one who does not know the language, it was decided to
transliterate the names of persons and places in which such
combinations occur in this book. The following are the letters and
combinations which are met with most frequently;--
Polish Letters. English Sounds.
_c_ _ts_
_ch_ _h_
_cz_ _ch_
_rz_ _r_ followed by the French _j_
_sz_ _sh_
_szcz_ _shch_
_w_ _v_
_[.z]_ _j_
In this transliteration _ch_ retains its ordinary English sound. _J_ is
the French _j_; the vowels _e_, _i_, _u_, are, respectively, _ai_ in
"bait," _ee_ in "beet," _oo_ in "pool," when long; when short, "bet,"
"bit," "put" would represent their values. _I_, when unaccented and
followed by a vowel, is sounded as _y_.
The following names will illustrate the method of this
transliteration:--
Polish Form of Name. Form in Transliteration.
Potocki Pototski
Chudzynski Hudzynski
Czarnkowski Charnkovski
Rzendzian Jendzian
Bleszynski Bleshynski
Szandarowski Shandarovski
Szczaniecki Shchanyetski
Wlostowski Vlostovski
[.Z]yromski Jyromski
In Jendzian and Jechytsa,--the only names, as I believe, beginning in
Polish with _rz_ in this work,--the initial _r_ has been omitted in the
transliteration on account of the extreme difficulty, for any one not a
Pole, of pronouncing _r_ followed by the French _j_.
ACCENT.
All Polish words, with few exceptions, are accented on the syllable
next the last, the penult. The exceptions are foreign names, some
compounds, some words with enclitics. Polish names of men and places
are generally accented on the penult.
* * * * *
MAP OF THE POLISH COMMONWEALTH.
This map, though diminutive, contains data through which the reader may
see, at least in part, the historical course of the Commonwealth.
The territory is indicated which was lost to the Teutonic Knights, and
which became later the kingdom of Prussia. On the east are indicated
the Russian lands which became connected with Poland, and which rose
against Polish rule in 1618. These lands are included between the lines
running north and south on the map, and which are designated,
respectively, "Western limit of Russia before the Tartar invasion,"
"Eastern limit of the Polish Commonwealth at the accession of Yan
Kazimir."
The names of more important places mentioned in FIRE AND SWORD and THE
DELUGE appear also on the map. A few of these names are not so familiar
in their Polish forms, which I have preserved; therefore the German is
given, as follows:--
Polish. German.
Elblang Elbing
Glogov Glogau
Gnyezno Gnesen
Taurogi Tauroggen
Tyltsa Tilsit
Opol Oppeln
Poznan Posen
* * * * *
TITLES OF RANK AND ADDRESS.
The highest military rank in Poland was grand hetman; next in order
came field-hetman, which has appeared inadvertently in these volumes as
full hetman. "Your worthiness," so frequently used, would be better
translated "your dignity," "dignity" being used in the sense of
"office." The terms Pan, Pani, and Panna are applied, respectively, to
a gentleman, a married lady, and an unmarried lady; they are now
equivalent to Mr., Mrs. or Madame, and Miss.
[Illustration: Map of the Polish Commonwealth at the accession of Yan
Kazimir.]
THE DELUGE
CHAPTER I.
There was in Jmud a powerful family, the Billeviches, descended from
Mendog, connected with many, and respected, beyond all, in the district
of Rossyeni. The Billeviches had never risen to great offices, the
highest they had filled were provincial; but in war they had rendered
the country unsurpassed services, for which they were richly rewarded
at various times. Their native nest, existing to this day, was called
Billeviche; but they possessed many other estates, both in the
neighborhood of Rossyeni and farther on toward Krakin, near Lauda,
Shoi, Nyevyaja, and beyond Ponyevyej. In later times they branched out
into a number of houses, the members of which lost sight of one
another. They all assembled only when there was a census at Rossyeni of
the general militia of Jmud on the plain of the invited Estates. They
met also in part under the banners of the Lithuanian cavalry and at
provincial diets; and because they were wealthy and influential, even
the Radzivills, all powerful in Lithuania and Jmud, had to reckon with
them.
In the reign of Yan Kazimir, the patriarch of all the Billeviches, was
Heraclius, colonel of light-horse and under-chamberlain of Upita. He
did not dwell in the ancestral nest, which was rented at that time by
Tomash, the sword-bearer of Rossyeni; Heraclius Billevich owned also
Vodokty, Lyubich, and Mitruny, situated near Lauda, surrounded, as if
with a sea, by agriculturists of the petty nobility.
Besides the Billeviches there were only a few of the more considerable
families in the neighborhood, such as the Sollohubs, the Montvills, the
Schyllings, the Koryznis, the Sitsinskis,--though there was no lack of
smaller nobility of these names; finally, the whole river region of
Lauda was thickly studded with so-called "neighborhoods," or, in common
parlance, _zastsianki_,[4] occupied by the nobility of Lauda, renowned
and celebrated in the history of Jmud.
In other neighborhoods of the region the families took their names from
the places, or the places from the families, as was customary in
Podlyasye; but along the river region of Lauda it was different. In
Morezi dwelt the Stakyans, whom Batory in his time settled there for
bravery at Pskoff; in Volmontovichi, on good land, swarmed the Butryms,
the bulkiest fellows in all Lauda, noted for few words and heavy
hands,--men who in time of provincial diets, raids on property, or wars
were wont to go in close rank and in silence. The lands in Drojeykani
and Mozgi were managed by the numerous Domasheviches, famed hunters;
these men tramped through the wilderness of Zyelonka as far as Wilkomir
on bear-trails. The Gashtovts occupied Patsuneli; their women were
famous for beauty, so that finally all pretty girls around Krakin,
Ponyevyej, and Upita were known as Patsuneli girls. The Sollohubs Mali
were rich in horses and excellent cattle, bred in forest pastures. The
Gostsyeviches in Goshchuni made tar in the woods, from which occupation
they were called Gostsyevichi Charni (Black) or Dymni (Smoky),--the
Black or Smoky Gostsyeviches.
There were other villages and families also. The names of many of them
are still extant; but these villages are not situated as before, and
men call them by other names. Wars came too with misfortunes and fires,
villages were not always rebuilt on the ruins; in a word, much has
changed. But in that time old Lauda was still flourishing in its
primeval estate; and the nobles had reached their highest repute a few
years before, when, fighting at Loyovo against the uprisen Cossacks,
they covered themselves with great glory under the lead of Yanush
Radzivill.
All the Lauda men served in the regiment of old Heraclius
Billevich,--the richer with two horses, the poorer with one, and the
poorest as attendants. In general, these nobles were warlike, and
especially enamoured of a knightly career; but in questions which
formed the ordinary subjects of discussion at a provincial diet they
were less skilled. They knew that there was a king in Warsaw; that
Radzivill and Pan Hlebovich were starostas in Jmud, and Pan Billevich
at Vodokty in Lauda. That was sufficient for them; and they voted as
Pan Billevich instructed them, convinced that he wanted the same as Pan
Hlebovich, and that the latter went hand in hand with Radzivill.
Radzivill was the king's arm in Lithuania and Jmud; the king was the
consort of the Commonwealth, the father of the legion of nobles.
Pan Billevich was, in fact, a friend rather than a client of the
powerful oligarchs in Birji, and a greatly esteemed one at that; for at
every call he had a thousand voices and a thousand Lauda sabres,--and
sabres in the hands of the Stakyans, the Butryms, the Domasheviches, or
the Gashtovts were despised at that period by no man on earth. It was
only later that everything changed, just at the time when Pan Heraclius
Billevich was no more.
This father and benefactor of the nobles of Lauda died in 1654. In that
year a terrible war[5] flamed forth along the whole eastern line of the
Commonwealth; Pan Billevich did not go to it, for his age and his
deafness did not permit; but the Lauda men went. When tidings came that
Radzivill was defeated at Shklov, and the Lauda regiment in an attack
on the hired infantry of France was cut almost to pieces, the old
colonel, stricken by apoplexy, yielded his soul.
These tidings were brought by a certain Pan Michael Volodyovski, a
young but very famous warrior, who instead of Heraclius had led the
Lauda regiment by appointment of Radzivill. The survivors came with him
to their inherited fields, wearied, weighed down, and famished; in
common with the whole army, they complained that the grand hetman,
trusting in the terror of his name and the spell of victory, had rushed
with small forces on a power ten times greater than his own, and thus
had overwhelmed the army and the whole country.
But amid the universal complaining not one voice was raised against
Volodyovski. On the contrary, those who had escaped lauded him to the
skies, relating wonders of his skill and his deeds. And the only solace
left the survivors was the memory of the exploits performed under the
young colonel's leadership,--how in the attack they had burst through
the first line of reserves as through smoke; how later they fell on the
French mercenaries and cut to pieces with their sabres the foremost
regiment, on which occasion Pan Volodyovski with his own hand killed
the colonel; how at last, surrounded and under fire from four sides,
they saved themselves from the chaos by desperate fighting, falling in
masses, but breaking the enemy.
Those of the Lauda men who, not serving in the Lithuanian quota, were
obliged to form a part of the general militia, listened in sorrow but
with pride to these narratives. It was hoped on all sides that the
general militia, the final defence of the country, would soon be
called. It was agreed already that Volodyovski would be chosen captain
of Lauda in that event; for though not of the local residents, there
was no man among them more celebrated than he. The survivors said,
besides, that he had rescued the hetman himself from death. Indeed, all
Lauda almost bore him in its arms, and one neighborhood seized him from
another. The Butryms, the Domasheviches, and the Gashtovts disputed as
to whose guest he should be for the longest period. He pleased that
valiant nobility so much that when the remnant of Radzivill's troops
marched to Birji so as to be brought to some order after the defeat, he
did not go with others, but passing from village to village took up his
abode at last in Patsuneli with the Gashtovts, at the house of Pakosh
Gashtovt, who had authority over all in that place.
In fact, Pan Volodyovski could not have gone to Birji in any event, for
he was so ill as to be confined to the bed. First an acute fever came
on him; then from the contusion which he had received at Tsybihovo he
lost the use of his right arm. The three daughters of his host, who
were noted for beauty, took him into their tender care, and vowed to
bring back to his original health such a celebrated cavalier. The
nobility to the last man were occupied with the funeral of their former
chief, Heraclius Billevich.
After the funeral the will of the deceased was opened, from which it
transpired that the old colonel had made his granddaughter, Aleksandra
Billevich, daughter of the chief hunter of Upita, the heiress of all
his property with the exception of the village of Lyubich. Guardianship
over her till her marriage he confided to the entire nobility of
Lauda--
"who, as they were well wishing to me," continued he in the will, "and
returned kindness for kindness, let them do the same too for the orphan
in these times of corruption and wickedness, when no one is safe from
the license of men or free of fear; let them guard the orphan from
mischance, through memory of me.
"They are also to see that she has safe use of her property with the
exception of the village of Lyubich, which I give, present, and convey
to the young banneret of Orsha, so that he may meet no obstacle in
entering into possession of it. Should any man wonder at this my
affection for Andrei Kmita, or see in it injustice to my own
granddaughter Aleksandra, he must and should know that I held in
friendship and true brotherly love from youthful years till the day of
his death the father of Andrei Kmita. I was with him in war, he saved
my life many times; and when the malice and envy of the Sitsinskis
strove to wrest from me my fortune, he lent me his aid to defend it.
Therefore I, Heraclius Billevich, under-chamberlain of Upita, and also
an unworthy sinner standing now before the stern judgment of God, went
four years ago, while alive and walking upon the earthly vale, to Pan
Kmita, the father, the sword-bearer of Orsha, to vow gratitude and
steady friendship. On that occasion we made mutual agreement, according
to ancient noble and Christian custom, that our children--namely his
son Andrei and my granddaughter Aleksandra--were to be married, so that
from them posterity might rise to the praise of God and the good of the
State, which I wish most earnestly; and by the will here written I bind
my granddaughter to obedience unless the banneret of Orsha (which God
forbid) stain his reputation with evil deeds and be despoiled of honor.
Should he lose his inheritance near Orsha, which may easily happen, she
is to take him as husband with blessing; and even should he lose
Lyubich, to pay no heed to the loss.
"However, if by the special favor of God, my granddaughter should wish
in praise of Him to make an offering of her virginity and put on the
habit of a nun, it is permitted her to do so, for I know that the
praise of God is to precede that of man."
In such fashion did Pan Heraclius Billevich dispose of his fortune and
his granddaughter, at which no one wondered much. Panna Aleksandra had
been long aware of what awaited her, and the nobles had heard from of
old of the friendship between Billevich and the Kmitas; besides, in
time of defeat the thoughts of men were occupied with other things, so
that soon they ceased to talk of the will.
But they talked of the Kmitas continually in the house at Vodokty, or
rather of Pan Andrei, for the old sword-bearer also was dead. The
younger Kmita had fought at Shklov with his own banner and with
volunteers from Orsha. Then he vanished from the eye; but it was not
admitted that he had perished, since the death of so noted a cavalier
would surely not have escaped notice. The Kmitas were people of birth
in Orsha, and lords of considerable fortune; but the flame of war had
ruined those regions. Districts and entire lands were turned into
deserts, fortunes were devoured, and people perished. After the
crushing of Radzivill no one offered firm resistance. Gosyevski, full
hetman, had no troops; the hetmans of the Crown with their armies in
the Ukraine were struggling with what strength they had left and could
not help him, exhausted as well as the Commonwealth by the Cossack
wars. The deluge covered the land more and more, only breaking here and
there against fortified walls; but the walls fell one after another, as
had fallen Smolensk. The province of Smolensk, in which lay the fortune
of the Kmitas, was looked on as lost. In the universal chaos, in the
general terror, people were scattered like leaves in a tempest, and no
man knew what had become of the banneret of Orsha.
But war had not reached Jmud yet. The nobles of Lauda returned to their
senses by degrees. "The neighborhoods" began to assemble, and discuss
both public and private affairs. The Butryms, readiest for battle,
muttered that it would be necessary to go to Rossyeni to the muster of
the general militia, and then to Gosyevski, to avenge the defeat of
Shklov; the Domasheviches, the hunters, had gone through the wilderness
of Rogovo by the forests till they found parties of the enemy and
brought back news; the Smoky Gostsyeviches smoked meat in their huts
for a future expedition. In private affairs it was decided to send
tried and experienced men to find Pan Andrei Kmita.
The old men of Lauda held these deliberations under the presidency of
Pakosh Gashtovt and Kassyan Butrym, two neighborhood patriarchs. All
the nobility, greatly flattered by the confidence which the late Pan
Billevich had placed in them, swore to stand faithfully by the letter
of the will, and to surround Panna Aleksandra with well-nigh fatherly
care. This was in time of war, when even in places to which war had not
come disturbance and suffering were felt. On the banks of the Lauda all
remained quiet, there were no disputes, there was no breaking through
boundaries on the estates of the young heiress, landmarks were not
shifted, no ditches were filled, no branded pine-trees were felled on
forest borders, no pastures were invaded. On the contrary, the heiress
was aided with provisions,--whatever the neighborhood had; for
instance, the Stakjans on the river sent salt-fish, wheat came from the
surly Butryms at Voimontovichi, hay from the Gashtovts, game from the
Domasheviches (the hunters), tar and pitch from the Gostsyeviches. Of
Panna Aleksandra no one in the villages spoke otherwise than as "our
lady," and the pretty girls of Patsuneli waited for Pan Kmita perhaps
as impatiently as she.
Meanwhile came the summons calling the nobility. The Lauda men began to
move. He who from being a youth had grown to be a man, he whom age had
not bent, had to mount his horse. Yan Kazimir arrived at Grodno, and
fixed that as the place of general muster. There, then, they mustered.
The Butryms in silence went forth; after them others, and the Gashtovts
last,--as they always did, for they hated to leave the Patsuneli girls.
The nobles from other districts appeared in scant numbers only, and the
country was left undefended; but God-fearing Lauda had appeared in full
quota.
Pan Volodyovski did not march, for he was not able yet to use his arm;
he remained therefore as if district commander among the women. The
neighborhoods were deserted, and only old men and women sat around the
fires in the evening. It was quiet in Ponyevyej and Upita; they were
waiting on all sides for news.
Panna Aleksandra in like manner shut herself in at Vodokty, seeing no
one but servants and her guardians of Lauda.