Undoubtedly, Stefan Czarniecki loved his homeland - for his merits he was even immortalized in the Polish anthem. However, he loved ... money just as much, and treated war as his main source of income. How much did he earn this way?
During the Swedish Deluge, Czarniecki pushed into the shadow the crown hetmans:the great Stanisław "Rewera" Potocki and the field man Stanisław Lanckoroński. He was successful again and again, and the soldiers saw him as a true leader.
When Lanckoroński died at the beginning of 1657, the brave regiment seemed a natural candidate for the club. However, King Jan Kazimierz, influenced by the majority of senators, handed it over to Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski.
In the name of the Republic of Poland and… money
"I am not from salt or soil, but from what hurts me," commented the disappointed hero, making an allusion to Potocki's vast estates and the salt mines on which the Lubomirski family built their position.
The source of Stefan Czarniecki's wealth was military service.
For Czarniecki, the only source of wealth was military service - with all its "benefits", such as wounds, cold, hunger and discomfort, somehow included in the soldier's fare. Nevertheless, he managed to earn some money.
He fought bravely not only for the Republic of Poland, but also for money. Among the great Polish leaders, he was distinguished by one more trait - greed. Already in the spring of 1653, he took 10,000 "either zlotys or ducats" from a "significant rebel" for withdrawing from the siege of one of the Ukrainian towns. It is believed that it was about Monasterzyska, where he was badly wounded, and the "rebel" was supposed to be the famous Cossack colonel Bohun.
In December 1653 the nobility of Chełmno demanded that Czarniecki be punished and that the money obtained be transferred to pay for the army. However, similarly to the sums received for the Moscow prisoners taken prisoner in 1660, the commander did not share the acquired property with the soldiers.
Two million for the room
When in the years 1661–1663 unpaid Polish troops formed a confederation, Czarniecki became the target of unrefined attacks. They stigmatized the greed of the famous leader:
Don't be greedy Czarniecki, you'll have a mace,
Do not envy the army of earned wages,
Because you do not give it to him from your treasure.
You can read about the greatest leaders in our history in the book "Polish gods of war" . Buy with a discount on empik.com .
[…]
Remember that he was also a companion once.
You also enjoyed that deserved penny,
and now, he once became a Ruthenian voivode,
You push them away from the treasure, you shake your beard on them.
However, he was able to take care of the people of his banners. He organized better winter quarters for them. He paid some of the outstanding wages (probably no one lived to see the full amount), regardless of the claims of other units. "And in the old way our army was the most orderly and the best" - recalled in 1660 Pasek, a servant in Czarniecki's division.
The Ruthenian voivode (he received this title to wipe the tears of an unassigned mace), despite his great advancement, did not give up some of his military habits. This was noticeable, for example, in 1657, when he faced the army of the Transylvanian prince Jerzy Rakoczy. He defeated him near Magierów (it was in this battle that Sienkiewicz's Mr. Kmicic was wounded), which made Rakoczy willing to negotiate.
And while the Grand Hetman of the Crown Stanisław "Rewera" Potocki was ready to agree to the proposed conditions, Czarniecki, tempted by the vision of riches in the rolling stock, demanded a gigantic ransom.
It is not difficult to guess which commander the soldiers wanted to go to the fire for. With their support, the Ruthenian voivode was already planning an attack - even against the will of his older colleague. Ultimately, the clash did not take place - because Rakoczy agreed to pay one million zlotys to the army, and to his leaders ... two million.
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You can read about the secret of the successes of our greatest leaders in the book "Polish gods of war" . The above text is an excerpt from the chapter devoted to Stefan Czarniecki.
The title, lead, illustrations with captions, bolds and subtitles come from the editorial office. The text has undergone some basic editing to introduce more frequent paragraph breaks.
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