324 BATHORYFrance, Spain, and Britain under the aegis of Dublin, or by some Duke of
Franconia who sought to restore the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne. Entirely
devoid of any taint of the Renaissance or Reformation, Ivan's Moscow lived by
its own pathological values in its own closed world. Yet forty years of unbridled
barbarity had failed to arouse the retribution which elsewhere would have
flowed as a matter of course. What is more, Ivan enjoyed a certain cachet in the
eyes of people not directly affected. It was all very well for Elizabeth of England
to foster trading contracts round the North Cape or for the Emperor in distant
Vienna to engineer diplomatic alliances. But for Poland-Lithuania, it was dif-
ferent. Resistance to Muscovy at this time was a matter both of principle and of
survival. When at his election Stefan Bathory had promised action 'for the
defence of Christendom', he was not calling for a crusade against the Turks,
whose culture he admired and whose suzerainty over Transylvania he had long
accepted. He was calling for war against Muscovy.^10 The war lasted for seven
seasons from 1576 to 1582. At first, the Republic was unable to respond to Ivan's
initial aggression. But in 1577 the Lithuanian Hetman, Nicholas Radziwill the
Red, captured Duneburg (Dvinsk); and in 1578 the Polish cavalry took Wenden
by storm in a nocturnal charge. In 1579, Bathory determined to carry the fight
into enemy territory. An army of 22,000 knights, drawing rations for at least
100,000 men - Poles, Lithuanians, Prussians, and Magyars — reduced Polotsk by
siege. In the south, Prince Ostrogski raided deep into Polesie. The next year
Bathory struck north to Vielikie Luki, driving a wedge between Moscow and
Livonia. Zamoyski cut his way through trackless forest for three weeks, before
destroying the fortress with mines and fire-balls. Hungarian engineers built a
firm road all the way back to Polotsk. In 1581, the campaign moved northwards
again, in the direction of the ruins of Novgorod. The Sejm had voted more than
2 million zl. over two years, on condition that the war was now brought to a
close. A clear result had to be obtained while funds lasted. Bathory had recruited
an expert force of foreign mercenaries. He had several German and Scottish reg-
iments, and a number of Italian, French, and Spanish captains. Ivan complained
that he was being attacked 'by the whole of Italy'. The principal obstacle lay in
the embattled city of Pskov. It was protected by walls some eight miles in cir-
cumference, defended by 7,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry, and commanded by
Prince Ivan Petrovich Shuyski. The siege was laid in August. Meanwhile,
Radziwill dared to approach the Tsar's residence at Staristsa on the Volga, and
Polish detachments roamed as far as Lake Ladoga. By now, Muscovy had lost
some 300,000 people in the war. Some 40,000 prisoners were in Polish hands.
Livonia was isolated from the east, and the Swedes, having taken Narva, were
advancing from the north. On 1 December Ivan sued for peace.
In the middle of the war, the religious factor was suddenly underlined when
Ivan sent an envoy to the Pope. He complained that the unity of Christendom
was being disturbed by the activities of a 'Turkish employee'. The Vatican
responded. Mindful of the long-held project of union between the Catholic and
Orthodox faiths, agreed in 1439 but never implemented, it dispatched a Jesuit