Jan III Sobieski: Encyclopedia II - Jan III Sobieski - Biography

Jan III Sobieski - Biography

Jan Sobieski was born 1629 at Olesko, Poland, to Jakub (James) Sobieski (1580-1646), Voivod of the Ruthenian Voivodship and Castellan of Kraków, and Zofia Teofillia (Daniłowicz), granddaughter of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski. He had won fame as an outstanding military commander in wars against the Ottomans, Tatars, Muscovites, Cossacks and Swedes.

In 1665 he became Great Marshal of the Crown, and in 1666 Field Crown Hetman. In 1668 he was appointed by King Jan II Kazimierz the Great Crown Hetman and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army. After a distinguished military career, and following the death of Jan II Kazimierz's successor, Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, Sobieski was on May 21, 1674, elected by the szlachta (nobility) to be King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and was crowned February 2, 1676.

Jan Sobieski's military prowess, demonstrated in war against the Ottoman Empire, contributed to his election as King of Poland. One of his ambitions was to unify Christian Europe in a crusade to drive the Turks out of Europe. He made alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor and joined the Holy League initiated by Pope Innocent XI to preserve Christendom.

According to Polish historian Oskar Halecki, Sobieski planned to occupy Prussia with Swedish cooperation and French support. This undertaking was doomed because of war with Turkey and the opposition of the Commonwealth's magnates.

Sobieski's greatest success came September 12, 1683, with his victory at the Battle of Vienna, in command of Polish, Austrian and German troops, against the Turks under Kara Mustafa. The Pope and other foreign dignitaries hailed Sobieski as the "Savior of Vienna and Western European civilization." In a letter to his wife he wrote, "All the common people kissed my hands, my feet, my clothes; others only touched me, saying: 'Ah, let us kiss so valiant a hand!'"

Upon reaching Vienna, he joined up with the Austrians and Germans. Sobieski planned to attack on the 13th of September, but he had noticed that the Turkish resistance was weak and ordered full attack on September 12, 1683. At 4:00 a.m. Sobieski’s army of about 81,000 men attacked a Turkish army that numbered about 130,000. Sobieski charged with husaria forward and soon after the Turkish battle line was broken as the Turks scattered in confusion. At 5:30 p.m., Sobieski entered the deserted tent of Kara Mustafa and the battle of Vienna was over.

In a strange twist of events a statue of John III Sobieski was brought to the city of Gdansk by people from his native land (from Lwów), when they were resettled there. Already John's family had been famous guests in the city.

Now the statue overlooks the little park at the old Gdansk town hall, now a museum.

King Jan III Sobieski, nicknamed by the Turks the "Lion of Lechistan", and the last great king of Poland, died in Wilanów, Poland on June 17, 1696. His wife, Maria Kasimira, died in 1716 in Blois, France and her body was returned to Poland. They are interred together in Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland.

King John III was succeeded by Augustus II, elector of Saxony who stayed in power primarily because of Russian support. On his death in 1733, a struggle for the crown of Poland ensued, referred to as the War of the Polish Succession.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki