THE SWEDISH CONNECTION 341General Miiller, who had directed his forces against the monastery of Czestochowa,
was now faced with a more severe task, for he was defying the Almighty... The
monastery of Jasna Gora is consecrated to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, whose famous
and miraculous icon is to be found there, painted on a board of cypress wood by Saint
Luke the Evangelist himself. It was this icon, a source of great veneration and of
immense treasure amassed from the offerings of three centuries, that inspired the enemy
to lay the siege and to offset his war costs by plunder. The initiator of the enterprise
was apparently a Czech, Jan Weihard, Count Vresovic, whom Miiller sent ahead with
four thousand troops to frighten the monks by a demonstration of strength. Vresovic
approached the monastery to a peal of trumpets, and rudely ordered that the gates be
opened... But having met with a refusal based on religious arguments, the Swedes
decided to apply force.
After Vresovic ... Miiller arrived from Wielun at the head of nine thousand infantry-
men, and with a train of artillery. It was a formidable force, originally destined for the
campaign in Prussia ... But the fathers of Jasna Gora, called on again to admit a Swedish
garrison, replied boldly that they were bound to God's service by their vows and that to
surrender the ancient place of pilgrimage would be sacrilege.
When negotiations brought no result, the Swedes began a violent bombardment of the
walls. Then, in order to spread fear among the defenders, they started to hurl in blazing
firebrands, setting the monastery's barn alight together with a great quantity of corn.
Next, all around the monastery, they set up a camp with wooden palisades and gun
emplacements. Miiller took the northern side, from which he tried to rush the defences.
The southern side was held by the Landgraf of Hesse and Colonel Sadowski. But their
attacks had little effect. The walls were banked with earth on the inside, and only a few
bricks were displaced by the cannon. Before long, the defenders opened fire in reply. The
aim of their gunners was so accurate, that after three hours the Swedes were obliged to
pull back with great loss. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of houses adjacent to the
monastery, where the enemy had found shelter, set their homes on fire, not counting the
cost, and reduced them to dust...
The Swedes renewed their attack on the 19th November, the Day of the Transfigura-
tion of the Virgin. They had received six explosive mortars from Cracow, and a great
store of ammunition. Their soldiers, fresh from nearby billets, went into battle with
enthusiasm... The Gigantomachie, the official printed description of this siege, records
that the bullets and missiles fell so thick on the church and tower that they seemed to be
in flames. But the use of unnatural means did not succeed. The cannon-balls bounced off
the walls and tiles or flew over the church roof, causing no damage. The artillerymen and
pyro-technicians could not cope ... Since many of them died horrible deaths, the enemy
ascribed their failure to the work of evil spirits... But Miiller was most angered by the
monks, who would climb to the top of the tower and in full choir pour down pious
hymns on his soldiers. They made him a laughing-stock...
Among the defenders were Stefan Zamoyski of the Roza clan, the Sword-bearer of
Sieradz, and Piotr Czarniecki, cousin of [Stefan Czarniecki]... Over-all command was
taken by the Prior of the monastery, Augustyn Kordecki, who also took great care of the
artillery. Zamoyski commanded the infantry ...
Once when the Swedes had postponed their attacks on account of poor light,
Czarniecki determined to deal them a nocturnal surprise. Sallying from the walls at the
break of dawn at the head of sixty soldiers he crept right into the General's encampment,
where he fell on the weary and somnolent Swedes with a sudden shout and a hail of