Samuel Pufendorf and Some Stories of the Northern War 1655-1660
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SAMUEL PUFENDORF JAGI ELLON IAN STUDIES IN HISTORY Editor in chief Jan Jacek Bruski Vol. 5 Wojciech Krawczuk SAMUEL PUFENDORF AND SOME STORIES OF THE NORTHERN WAR 1655-1660 Jagiellonian University Press REVIEWER BjÖrn Asker SERIES COVER DESIGN Jan Jacek Bruski COVER DESIGN Agnieszka Winciorek Front cover: Th e siege of Cracow, 1655 (Fragment), by Erik Dahlbergh, private collection Th is publication was fi nanced by the Jagiellonian University in Krakow – Faculty of History © Copyright by Wojciech Krawczuk & Jagiellonian University Press First Edition, Kraków 2014 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any eletronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereaft er invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers ISBN 978-83-233-3699-0 ISSN 2299-758X www.wuj.pl Jagiellonian University Press Editorial Offi ces: Michałowskiego 9/2, 31-126 Kraków Phone: +48 12 663 23 81, +48 12 663 23 82, Fax: +48 12 663 23 83 Distribution: Phone: +48 12 631 01 97, Fax: +48 12 631 01 98 Cell Phone: + 48 506006 674, e-mail: [email protected] Bank: PEKAO SA, IBAN PL 80 1240 4722 1111 0000 4856 3325 Contents Preface ........................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements .................................................................................. 15 Chapter I: A sense of time ....................................................................... 17 Th e fortress .......................................................................................... 18 Th e siege ............................................................................................... 19 Th e legend ............................................................................................ 22 Pufendorf’s tale ................................................................................... 26 Chapter II: Judging the deeds ................................................................. 31 Another Lion of the North? .............................................................. 33 Th e commander .................................................................................. 39 Th e face of war .................................................................................... 47 Blaming the king ................................................................................. 51 Th e interferences ................................................................................. 55 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 57 Chapter III: Exotic encounters, forgotten tales ................................... 59 Th e winged horsemen ........................................................................ 61 “Such an attack my eyes will never see again” ................................. 65 Beware – the Tatars are coming! ....................................................... 70 Th e Swedish horse .............................................................................. 74 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 78 Chapter IV: Th e chanceries at war ......................................................... 81 Th e Offi ce of the State ........................................................................ 82 Th e king’s secret .................................................................................. 85 5 Th e seals and titles .............................................................................. 90 Th e postal issues ................................................................................. 97 Th e battle of Ven ................................................................................. 99 Th e war on memory ........................................................................... 100 Conclusions ......................................................................................... 104 Chapter V: War on the water .................................................................. 107 Water as weapon ................................................................................. 110 Th e crossings of Lech and San Rivers .............................................. 112 Pirates and diplomats ......................................................................... 115 Th e African dimension ...................................................................... 120 Dominium Maris Baltici .................................................................... 122 Conclusions ......................................................................................... 124 Chapter VI: Th e swamps and narrow roads – the landscape ............ 125 Th e images ........................................................................................... 130 Th e illustrations and the reality ........................................................ 132 Aft erthoughts ............................................................................................ 139 Bibliography .............................................................................................. 143 Index ........................................................................................................... 157 Preface Due to the drought in the summer of 2012 water in the Vistula River fell to an extraordinarily low level and parts of the riverbed were exposed. Among a variety of rubbish a group of fi ne baroque sculptures made of marble emerged; the architectural ornaments, parts of a chiselled fountain, a cartouche with the coat of arms of the Royal House of Vasa. Th ese were remnants of the booty that the Swedes seized in Warsaw in 1656. One of the many, overloaded trans- port boats sank right aft er the departure. All subsequent attempts to pick up the heavy sculptures failed. Only aft er 350 years, a group of scientists from the University of Warsaw managed to unearth this treasure.1 Th e age of the Second Northern War 1655–1660, also called “Th e Swedish Deluge,” still arouses an avid interest in Poland, nor is it for- gotten in the neighbouring countries. Th e North was understood dif- ferently, in a broader sense than it is today. Not only did it refer to Scandinavia, but also to Poland, Lithuania and Russia. Th e present borders of Sweden, the origins of Prussian militarism, the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian state and the strengthening of Russia – all these issues can be associated with the said few years, or more specifi cally, with the time of the war. Th anks to the outstanding novelists, fi rst of all, Henryk Sienkiewicz, the recollection of a he- roic struggle became an integral part of the Polish collective memory. Similar memories and legends also exist in other countries: Danes 1 Th e project began in 2009. Hubert Kowalski and Justyna Jasiewicz, “XVII-wieczne mar- mury. Skarby z dna Wisły,” Uniwersytet Warszawski. Pismo Uczelni, no. 56 (February 2012): 30–31, http://portal.uw.edu.pl/c/document_library/get_fi le?uuid=750ea1a4-72ff -418b- aab3-c9d49a5765ba&groupId=5799051 [7 June 2014]. 7 recall the lost province of Skåne and Swedes the famous crossing over the frozen Belts. Th e confl ict began in the summer of 1655 with the Swedish at- tack on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Already at that point the contemporaries did not believe that the newly crowned King of Sweden, Charles X Gustav, from the House of Zweibrücken, was so sensitive about the titles and seals – the King of Poland, John Casimir from the House of Vasa, used the title of the King of Sweden aft er his father King Sigismund.2 Th e problem did not concern old dynastic disputes. For Sweden, defi ned by historians today as a fi scal-mili- tary state, the new confl ict was the best solution to all the troubles. Charles Gustav was an experienced commander of the Th irty Years War (1618–1648) and had a well trained army at his disposal. Th e Commonwealth, in turn, was weakened by the long wars with the Cossacks and Moscow, the state was torn by internal confl icts, and powerful magnates were able to eff ectively block the authority of the King. Since Charles Gustav was supported by the Swedish Council of the Realm, high commanders wanted to take advantage of this situa- tion, even if the Swedish peasants and pastors objected to a new war. Yet the initial military successes of 1655 proved to be unstable. Th e great national uprising in Poland and Lithuania seriously weak- ened the position of the Swedish army. Th e war spread over larger circles. Th e Tsar of Russia, Th e Prince of Transylvania, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Emperor, joined one or the other side. Louis XIV and Oliver Cromwell encouraged Charles Gustav to make military intervention in the Empire. Th is would mean a further expansion of the confl ict on the scale of whole Europe. Th e King of Sweden, how- ever, chose a diff erent path – in 1657, he abandoned a theatre of war in Poland and attacked Denmark. Aft er a great victory and the ensu- ing peace treaty in Roskilde in 1658, he decided soon to launch once again the war against the old enemy: Denmark. Th e titanic struggle ended with the death of Charles Gustav in 1660, which resulted in 2 Michael Roberts, Th e Early Vasas. A History of Sweden, 1523–1611 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 327–393. 8 the settlement of the confl ict and signing great peace treaties: 1) Swe- den with the Commonwealth,