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Janusz Radziwiłł

Janusz Radziwiłł (2 December 1612-31 December 1655), also known as Jonušas Radvila, was Grand Hetman of Lithuania from 1654 to 1655, succeeding Janusz Kiszka and preceding Pawel Jan Sapieha. During the Swedish Deluge of 1655, he seceded from Poland-Lithuania and swore vassalage to the Swedish king Charles X Gustav.

Biography[]

Janusz Radziwiłł was born in Papilys, Poland-Lithuania in 1612, a scion of a Polonized Lithuanian noble family of the Calvinist Protestant faith. He served as a diplomat to Holland and England under King Wladyslaw IV Vasa before being appointed Court Chamberlain of Lithuania in 1633 and accompanying the king on campaign during the Smolensk War of 1634. On his father's death in 1641, he became one of the wealthiest magnates in the entire Commonwealth, and he became a senator and Field Hetman of Lithuania in 1646. In 1649, he defeated the rebellious Cossacks of the Zaporizhian Sich at the Battle of Mazyr and the Battle of Loyew, and he captured Kyiv in August 1651 before fighting the Cossacks to a draw at the Battle of Bila Tserkva in September 1651.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Polish War of 1654-1667, Radziwiłł was elevated to Grand Hetman of Lithuania. Relations between him and King Jan II Casimir worsened as the Russians overran Lithuania and Jan Casimir seemed to neglect the grand duchy's defense. The fall of Vilnius to the Russians persuaded Radziwiłł to side with the Swedish king Charles X Gustav of Sweden when he invaded in June 1655, and he declared Lithuania a Swedish protectorate on 17 August 1655. Many other Polish nobles joined Radziwiłł in defecting to the Swedes, but Jan Casimir was able to regain power after the Swedish siege of Jasna Gora failed. Radziwiłł was besieged by loyal Commonwealth forces at Tykocin, where he died of natural causes.

Gallery[]

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