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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Samuel Zborowski i jego czasy

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The history of the Zborowski Family is full of puzzles, the most intriguing of which is the story of an impetuous and brave Royal Cavalry Captain operating in Podole, an outlaw and a convict – Samuel Zborowski; to some – an excellent knight and a fencer dedicated to fighting for noblemen’s liberty which was threatened by the despotic rule of Stefan Batory and the exorbitant ambitions of the ruler’s right hand – Jan Zamoyski; to others – on the other hand – an anarchist and an adventurer personifying the worst nobleman’s traits, like arrogance, self-interest, not reckoning with the state authority and ruthlessness in treating people occupying lower levels of social hierarchy. Still, contrary to the opinions of romantics, that was not exclusively a drama of an individual. The case of Samuel Zborowski became a problem of the national importance, made use of by both Stefan Batory who wanted to impose an iron-fist rule and the nobility who fought to have their privileges preserved. Today, it is not easy to separate the historical truth from the 16th-century propaganda and rumours spread on purpose. It is even the harder to free oneself from the stereotypes defined as “praise of a loser” and “rebuke of a career”. Their popularity has continued until today, with views on the role of an individual’s success and failure in public life changing only. One needs to take into account the historical reality, that is the law and customs in force then. This allows avoiding isolation of the main hero of the biography from the noblemen’s community that he was so close to after all. A lot of controversy was raised, for example, by the question of not precisely delineated border between the private and public spheres. The more so as it was not uncommon to have bribery, betrayal or ruthlessness condemned in the times of Old Poland. The vicissitudes of Samuel Zborowski got entwined with the events of the key importance to the Republic of Poland which was being formed in front of his eyes – a state co-ruled by the nobility. Within less than three years following its establishment there commenced a fight between rival factions, fueled with the climate of three periods of post-Jagiellonian interregnum succeeding one another. A considerable role was also played by the political practice of rulers who strove to oppose tendencies towards limiting the ruler’s prerogatives. The conflicts between individuals were accompanied by strives between provinces and also between denominational groups. The Calvinists, whom Samuel Zborowski represented, among others, perfectly realized their unstable position in consequence of being in minority, as well as the binding principle of supporting the royal power on the dominant Church. The then political practice indicated that the ruling monarch’s personal views on the problem of tolerance was of lesser importance than interests of the throne. The dissenters’ and Catholics’ opinions on the case of Samuel Zborowski did not always result from the professed dogmas. A far stronger influence was that exerted by political views, the example of which could be the accounts of OEwiêtos³aw Orzelski, Reinhold Heidenstein, Pawe³ Piasecki, Jan Dymitr Solikowski, Maciej Stryjkowski, Marcin Kromer, Marcin – and more properly following his death Joachim – Bielski, Wawrzyniec Miller, the Reverend Jan Piotrowski, or those by the Papal Nuncios in the Republic of Poland. Many of them contain the source which is omitted as a rule, that is the correspondence of the Silesian Camera, which features current information relating to the country’s political life and its most significant animators. Among the manuscript sources the following registers are distinctive in the first place: the Crown Mertica (Metrica Regni Poloniae), the Lithuanian Metrica (Acta Magni Ducatus Lithuaniae) and also the municipal books of Cracow and Lvov. Because of numerous existing copies of source material that are found in different archives, I distinguish selected documents and acts available from, among others, the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, and – more precisely – the Radziwi³³s’ Archive, Czo³owski Collection and the Zamoyskis’ Archive. The last collection includes, apart from Stefan Batory’s or Jan Zamoyski’s documents, also preserved letters by the Zborowskis and information concerning their family, copies of documents dealing with the sentence passed on Samuel Zborowski, and even a register of all cases and letters connected with his person. The copious correspondence kept in the Radziwi³³s’ Archive includes, among others, letters of Jan Zamoyski and Jan Zborowski. The correspondence written by Andrzej, Jan and Piotr Zborowski is contained in Department II of the Radziwi³³s Archive. Czo³owski Collection includes information relating to Samuel himself and his sons and brothers. The Zborowski brothers’ correspondence is available from the Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kórnik. The resources of the Wróblewskis’ Library in Vilnius contain also fairly rich relevant source materials. A critical analysis of the historical sources allows concluding that Samuel Zborowski was neither a bloody brawler nor a noble knight, but rather an awkward oppositionist without any profound knowledge about grand politics and – undoubtedly – guilty of perpetrating many crimes and offences, although their range has remained unclear until today. His place within the network of political intrigues is a problem area, since it is usually considered that he was rather easily influenced by others than himself a man pulling the strings. Still, the analysis of the sources does not confirm this because Samuel Zborowski distinguished himself by independence and persuading him to change his standpoint did not always end successfully. He was not able to cope with effects of his exile and did not find an effective way to get rehabilitated, and – indeed – quite on the contrary – he was himself responsible for aggravating his situation greatly. The sentence which weighed on him heavily caused him to be easily sacrificed in order to force the insubordinate magnates to be obedient. In the epoch of Old Poland, Samuel Zborowski became, for a short time, one of the examples of abuse of power by the King and the Chancellor, as well as their attempts to limit noblemen’s privileges.