Five meters of Ottoman script. A unique peace treaty, for which the greatest military leader of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, paid with his life, was displayed in Warsaw

As reported by the Dzieje.pl portal, the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, on Archivist's Day, displayed the original Turkish peace treaty, dated October 1623.

The parchment, almost five meters long and 65 centimeters wide, was drafted in Istanbul in the Ottoman language, backed with linen and adorned with a golden tughra — the personal monogram-emblem of the young Sultan Murad IV. Together with the charter to King Sigismund III Vasa, it was delivered by the Lviv Armenian merchant Krzysztof Sierobkowicz, who conducted complex preliminary negotiations.

This rare artifact, included in UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' heritage list, is usually kept rolled in a special cardboard tube and is inaccessible to the public. It is a direct diplomatic continuation of the agreement concluded beneath the walls of Khotyn exactly 405 years ago, in October 1621.

Павялічыць

The Myth of the 'Eternal Enemy'

The display of the rare document was accompanied by a discussion among historians, who are challenging persistent historical stereotypes.

Dr. Andrzej Drozd of the University of Warsaw, one of the leading specialists on the heritage of Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, emphasized that the modern perception of Turkey as an existential, eternal enemy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a product of 19th-century partition propaganda and the romantic literature of Henryk Sienkiewicz.

In reality, pragmatic and peaceful relations had been maintained between the countries for decades, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund the Old in 1533.

Павялічыць

The crisis of the early 17th century was provoked not by Ottoman ambitions, but by the reckless policies of King Sigismund Vasa himself and the border magnates. The 1620–1621 war began with a chain of mutual provocations.

While Zaporozhian Cossacks raided Varna and the suburbs of Istanbul, burning the Turkish fleet, Sigismund Vasa decided to support the Austrian Habsburgs in the Thirty Years' War. Units of Lisowczyks, hired with Austrian money, invaded Transylvania in 1619, which was a vassal of the Sultan, and lifted the siege of Vienna. The enraged 17-year-old Sultan Osman II considered this a direct violation of peace.

Павялічыць

The Crown army, under the command of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, tried to preemptively act in Moldavia, but in the autumn of 1620 suffered a complete defeat at Cecora. Żółkiewski died in battle, his severed head was sent to Istanbul, and Field Hetman Koniecpolski was taken prisoner.

The path to Warsaw and Vilnius was open, and panic began in the state.

How the Salvation of the State Was Entrusted to a Litvin

When the Crown forces were destroyed, and European monarchies refused real assistance (the Pope and the English king sent meager funds only after the campaign ended), the entire burden of the war fell on the shoulders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The 60-year-old Grand Hetman of Lithuania, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, was appointed commander-in-chief.

Павялічыць

For the Belarusian lands, Chodkiewicz was a figure of national titan scale. A representative of an ancient family, who held the richest estates in Bykhaw, Shklov, Mysha, Lyakhavichy, and Svislach, he gained worldwide fame already in 1605, when at Kircholm, with four thousand warriors, he utterly defeated a 14,000-strong Swedish army.

Chodkiewicz always staunchly defended the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, openly conflicted with the king over the lack of army funding and agreed to lead this campaign already gravely ill. Shortly before the expedition, he married twenty-year-old Anna Alojza Ostrogska, but never had a chance to live a family life, departing from his estate for the war.

Chodkiewicz demanded to assemble a 50,000-strong army, but the Sejm could only field about 30,000 soldiers. The situation was saved by the hetman's long-time associate, Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, who brought about 40,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks to Khotyn. They were opposed by a gigantic Ottoman army of 100,000 to 120,000 men under the personal command of Sultan Osman II.

Павялічыць

The Last Battle and Death on the Ramparts of Khotyn

The battle beneath the walls of Khotyn Castle on the Dniester River unfolded in early September 1621 and lasted six weeks. Chodkiewicz insisted on moving the war to Moldavian territory and chose the tactic of a fortified camp, intending to exhaust the enemy. The Ottoman forces conducted a series of powerful assaults, directing their main blows at the Cossack camp and the positions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's army.

The decisive moment came on September 7, when the Turks managed to break through to the main rampart. Chodkiewicz personally led a frontal counter-attack of hussars and drove the enemy outside the camp.

However, the defenders' situation was critical. Diseases and famine began, the Tatars cut off supply routes, and the Grand Hetman himself, from September 11, could no longer rise from his bed and commanded the regiments from his tent.

Павялічыць

Sensing the approach of death, on September 23, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz convened a war council and handed his mace (bulava) to Crown Cup-bearer Stanisław Lubomirski, urging the commanders to fight to the end. The next day, September 24, 1621, the heart of the renowned commander stopped.

News of the leader's death was attempted to be hidden from the soldiers, but the Turks learned of it through spies and launched a new assault. The camp defenders held their ground, although after the battle on September 28, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army had literally one barrel of gunpowder left.

Exhausted and frightened by the approaching cold, the Turks agreed to negotiations, unaware of how close the enemy camp was to defeat. On October 9, a truce was signed.

A Treaty at the Cost of a Genius's Life

The historical paradox is that the grandiose battle, which cost the life of the greatest military leader of his time, ended with a return to the previous status quo.

The treaty, now displayed in Warsaw, brought the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth not a single new piece of land. The state border along the Dniester remained unchanged. The parties simply reconfirmed old obligations: the Sultan promised to restrain the Tatars from raiding Ukraine and to appoint loyal Christian hospodars in Moldavia, while the royal authority promised to stop the Cossacks' sea campaigns.

A few months after returning to Istanbul, the unlucky Sultan Osman II was strangled as a result of a Janissary uprising.

Павялічыць

The body of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz rested in Volhynia, and his relatives divided the gigantic inheritance for another two years, in which, besides castles and lands, there remained about one hundred thousand zlotys of private debt — these colossal funds the hetman spent from his own pocket on equipping and supplying the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's troops.

The five-meter document with exquisite Arabic script and the golden tughra of Murad IV remains a monument to how Warsaw's senseless geopolitical adventure demanded the ultimate sacrifice from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's best military mind.

Captivated by the pathos of saving Europe from the 'infidel invasion', history textbooks often forget that beneath the walls of Khotyn, the Belarusian magnate saved the state from the folly of its own monarch.

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