15
MICHAL:
The Austrian Candidate (1669-1673)
The Wisniowiecki (Vyshnyevyetskyy), the 'Lords of Cherry Village', possessed
one of the most redoubted names of the Ukraine. The protoplast of the clan,
Dymitr Wieniowiecki (d. 1563), half Ruthenian, half Romanian, had founded
the first Cossack sich at Chortyca on the Dnieper. He died on the hook in
Istambul, having been captured by the Turks for piracy. His son signed the
Union of Lublin. His grandson led the notorious expedition to Moldavia in
- His great-grandson, Prince Jarema Wisniowiecki (1612-51), Wojewoda of
Ruthenia, the chief enemy of Bohdan Chmielnicki, was one of the most colour-
ful and controversial figures of Polish history. In that most popular of all Polish
historical novels, Ogniem i mieczem (By Fire and Sword) of Henryk
Sienkiewicz, he appears as a rumbustious nobleman, fighting for the Republic
and punishing the Cossacks and the Tartars with calculated severity. In the eyes
of other commentators, he was a common bandit, a despoiler of widows, a turn-
coat, a traitor. Wherever the full truth may lie, one cannot deny that he was
involved in some acts of sensational cruelty, and also that he was popular
enough among his peers.^1 Over the previous century, the Wisniowiecki family
had amassed one of the great fortunes of the Republic, wrested from the virgin
lands beyond the Dnieper, worked by some 230,000 serfs, and defended by one
of the fiercest of private armies. In the prevailing circumstances, one might well
have expected them to produce a challenger for the throne. No one would have
expected them to produce a nonentity like Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki
(1640-73), Prince Jarema's son, the reserve candidate of an Austrian electoral
intrigue, the unwitting pawn of ambitious supporters. This mountain of a fam-
ily brought forth a royal mouse.
The reign of Michal Korybut lasted barely four years. In this time, a few
salient events occurred in the Republic. First, in July 1669, the King was elected,
virtually by mistake. Second, in July 1670 in celebration of the French party's
defeat, he married the Archduchess Eleonora of Habsburg. Having greeted his
bride on the Silesian frontier, he led the bridal party to the ancient cloister of
Jasna Gora, where the wedding took place in the company of the Nuncio, the
Empress, and the Senate. The wedding breakfast was recorded for posterity by
the Nuncio with obvious relish: