Sejmiki litewskie 1695 r. wobec klątwy rzuconej na wojewodę wileńskiego i hetmana wielkiego litewskiego Kazimierza Jana Sapiehę

Abstract

On April 18, 1694, Bishop of Vilna Konstantyn Kazimierz Brzostowski excommunicated Vilna Voivode and Grand Hetman of Lithuania Kazimierz Jan Sapieha. This was another installment of the conflict between the Sapiehas, who ruled in Lithuania, and the opposition to them, led by John III Sobieski. The pretext for such actions by the clergyman was the laying out of Lithuanian military troops on the estates of the Vilna chapter. Although Sapieha did not break the applicable law and customs in this case, the event provided a pretext for the escalation of a conflict that had been growing for some time. It quickly moved to the parliamentary arena, both the Sejm and the sejmiks. To the charge of laying the Lithuanian army to rest, the clergyman quickly added other offenses of the Sapiehas, such as disobeying the law, violating the freedoms of the nobility and, most generally, hegemony. An interesting issue in this case will be the position of the Lithuanian pre-Sejm sejmiks on the curse cast by Brzostowski, which would consequently be the resultant of the support given by the nobility to the Sapiehas or the Bishop of Vilna. Of course, not all the sejmiks supported the all-powerful family in Lithuania – the Sapieha hegemony was not broken, but support for the excommunication was certainly a visible element of the growing revolt against the said family. Taking the side of Brzostowski and the excommunication was by no means an endorsement of the Bishop of Vilna, who did not enjoy an impeccable reputation among the nobility, but an expression of opposition to the Sapiehas and support for the opposition led by John III Sobieski. Translated by Stefan Kubiak