The brightest Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was not lucky with monarchs. Its kings deserted the country, ruined the treasury and entangled Poland in the most devastating wars. The worst of them, however, was ...
The line of Polish Vases was ensured continuity. Władysław IV with his first wife had a son. His younger brother, Jan Kazimierz - convinced that he did not have the slightest view of the Polish throne - could lead an adventurous life. As Sławomir Leśniewski states in his book devoted to the times of the Swedish Deluge:
Before he was elected king of the Commonwealth, he became a hero of failed ventures and scandals in Western Europe .
He wanted to become the commander of the imperial troops and almost lost his life. Instead of his regular army, he brought three thousand ragged men to the country. He was to become the viceroy of Portugal, but ended up in a French prison, and betrayed a guard who wanted to help him escape . Finally, he decided to join the Jesuits in Italy. Although he was not ordained a priest, he became a cardinal. Nevertheless, he returned to Poland in the most secular attire, with a sword at his side. In 1648, such a herb, against all chances and predictions, sat on the Polish throne.
Private interest above the fate of the kingdom
Jan Kazimierz did not feel particularly responsible for the fate of Poland and definitely preferred his own family and his stubborn majesty over its interests . One of the nineteenth-century native historians had no mercy on him on this matter. Tadeusz Korzon in his work entitled "The fate and misery of Jan Sobieski" he stated directly:
Jan Kazimierz never felt patriotic; he was not even a Pole. The Jagiellonian blood of his grandmother Katarzyna disappeared in a mixture of Swedish and German blood, and his upbringing at the father's court made his nature foreign. […] He was not able to think with national logic and love his homeland with a Polish heart.
Jan Kazimierz in a Polish costume. On a daily basis, the king walked with a foreigner and he did not think of himself as a Pole.
Although the international situation was not very conducive to this, and Poland was surrounded by threats from the Tsar, the Khan and the raging Cossacks, Jan Kazimierz did not intend to relinquish his claims to the Swedish crown. Every now and then he sent new messages to Stockholm, still using the title of King of Sweden. He not only demanded recognition of the rights of the Polish Vasa line to the throne, but also the handing over of Livonia or Finland as a fief and twenty thousand soldiers to carry out armed system reforms on the Vistula.
When in 1654 the Swedish queen Krystyna decided to abdicate and hand over the crown to Charles Gustav, the situation even worsened. Relations with the Swedes grew so inflamed that - as Zbigniew Wójcik comments on the biographer of Jan Kazimierz in the words of Samuel Pufendorf, describing the times of Karol Gustaw - [...] hand . This occurrence took place in 1655 and became known as the Swedish Deluge.
He liked to puff up horns even for powerful people
When Jan Kazimierz married his brother Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, the widow of his brother, the bride was just over thirty years old and was not an ugly, intelligent woman. The king and the queen were not united by great love, but by pure calculation, but at least it was appropriate to keep up appearances. However, Jan Kazimierz did not bother too much with this. In that era, the romances of rulers and dignitaries did not shock anyone. One of the magnates, Jan Sobiepan Zamoyski, even kept his small harem. In order for the romances to go away dry, it was enough to exercise moderation. Jan Kazimierz could not do that.
In 1651, when he and his army set out against the Cossacks, one of the magnates accused him of having an affair with his wife, who was in a military camp with her husband. The dispute started with a high "C" because the horns were spiced on the Crown Deputy Chancellor.
It could have been turned into a court anecdote, had it not been for the fact that the stag was the queen's protégé Hieronim Radziejowski, who decided to describe everything in a letter to Ludwika Maria. In addition, he accused the ruler of fatal leadership. The problem was that the betrayed man had a passionate passion for his good-natured wife, and at the news of the cupids between the king and the chancellor, he felt a mixture of rage and jealousy.
The affair with the romance in the background turned into a serious row, which ended in the magnate's divorce and bringing him to trial for insulting his majesty. Radziejowski was considered an enemy of the motherland and a traitor. First Rogacz escaped to Vienna, and when he did not do anything there, he left for Sweden, where he became one of the architects of the alliance against Poland.
A complete healer?
Jan Kazimierz Waza owed the Polish crown to Ludwika Maria in large part. His brother's widow, in exchange for a promise of marriage, helped him win the election. The king did not quite know what he was getting into when he became involved with the Nevera princess. Ludwika Maria was a consummate politician with an established position. She tied the most powerful people in the country to herself, giving her French courtiers everything for them. When Jan Kazimierz could not cope, the queen intervened.
This was the case when the court fell into conflict with the powerful magnate of Borderlands Jeremi Wiśniowiecki. Ludwika Maria took on the role of mediator and reconciled the conflicting parties, obtaining the benefits of the famous commander in favor of the crown.
Louis Maria Gonzaga was able to manipulate the king flawlessly.
The Queen was able to steer her husband exceptionally skillfully. After all, while he was wrecking the world in his bachelor days, she had long been an important player in international politics. As one Brandenburg MP described, she achieved her goal through insistence, harassment, complaints, and other gimmicks . In the biography of the queen by Zofia Libuszowska ("The Wife of Two Vases"), significant words are uttered:
Some people also looked with concern at the growing position of the queen, who was much more individual than her husband, and her goals seemed dangerous for the magnate coterie.
It was under the influence of Ludwika Maria that candidates for individual offices were selected and it was through her intercession that Jan Kazimierz distributed royal lands. Most often, both of them fell into the hands of people from outside the current circle of the highest authority. In this way, the cunning French woman built a party of people around the court who owed their entire career to the grace of the king and queen.
The ruler also bequeathed all his personal property to his wife and ceded her sovereign rights over the Opole and Racibórz regions. There was no fiery feeling between the royal couple. Their marriage was motivated by calculation and a common goal, but when Ludwika Maria died, Jan Kazimierz was completely unable to find himself in the new situation. She was constantly in control of the situation.
He fled the country during the Deluge
The name of the Swedish Deluge comes from the fact that the army of Charles Gustav spilled over the country like a wave of swollen waters. It turned out that Jan Kazimierz was unable to defend his kingdom. When subsequent cities and lands fell under the invader's pressure, panic began to spread over the Vistula River. The Poles were losing battle after battle, and military troops and hetmans began to move over to the Swedish side. The king withdrew first to Krakow, and then fled abroad, to Silesia under imperial rule. In the same direction was a long procession of refugees fleeing with their property.
An allegorical painting depicting the triumph of Charles X Gustav over Poland and Lithuania.
Military defeats and the loss of the country completely wrecked Jan Kazimierz. In addition, Charles Gustaw tried with all his strength to catch the retreating king. To Głogówek, where Ludwika Maria was staying, a loser and unwilling man reached Głogówek, who was unbearably heavy with the Polish crown. Jan Kazimierz was fed up. As Zofia Libiszowska describes it in the words of an extremely reluctant diarist to the queen:
»By various ways the king was animating the king during the day and at night to support the Swedish war, the already desperate husband and other senators at the king's side were stimulated.« She also did not allow her unstable husband to follow the promises of Charles Gustav, who, trying to lure the royal couple from the borders of the empire, tempted them with peaceful offers.
Although the Swedes finally managed to oust the country and make peace with them, the Commonwealth was in ruins. The treasury was empty, numerous wars left their mark on the demographics of the country, and anarchy was increasing. Jan Kazimierz tried to carry out systemic reforms with poor success. In addition, Lubomirski's roches broke out. When Louis Marie died in 1667, the king lacked the motivation to act. He abdicated the following year and that was one of the best things he did for Poland.