Before Gustavus Adolphus captured Riga: Jan Siciński’s expedition to Estonia in 1618. A political and military case study

ABSTRACT

This article examines Jan Siciński’s expedition to Estonia in 1618, which was the last battle before Gustavus Adolphus captured Riga in 1621. The expedition took place during the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden, one of the significant conflicts in the period from 1600 to 1660. The battles were fought on today’s Estonia and Latvia territories. This article answers several questions: What was the significance of the battles for the armistice talks in 1618? What place does the expedition play in the conflict between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden? Finally, were these encounters groundbreaking in this war?

KEYWORDS:

• Estonia
• Polish-Swedish wars
• Jan Siciński
• Krzysztof II Radziwiłł
• Gustavus II Adolphus

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The author has chosen to use contemporary historical names from the seventeenth century, usually in German, of towns in Livonia and Estonia.

2. Riksarkivet, Stockholm (hereafter – RA)/1133/1133.07/~/32, 32.

3. RA/Krigsarkivet, Täby, Sweden (hereafter – KrA)/0377/B73, 68.

4. Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych, Archiwum Radziwiłłów IV, Warsaw (hereafter – AGAD AR)/23/303, 45.

5. RA/2115/III/1/302.

6. AGAD AR IV/23/303, 49.

7. Archiwum Państwowe w Szczecinie, Archiwum Książąt Szczecińskich, Szczecin (hereafter – APS AKS), I–884, 7.

8. The speed of message delivery between Tallinn and Sweden in the first third of the seventeenth century was, on average, 40 days. It depended on the time of year and the sailing time; it could last from less than a week to many months (Küng 2021, 297).

9. PAN Biblioteka Kórnicka, Kórnik, Poland (hereafter – PAN KR), rkps 289, 509.

10. AGAD AR II, nr 674a, 1.

11. APS AKS, I–884, 27, 56.

12. Rossiiskaya natsional’naya biblioteka, St. Petersburg (hereafter – RNB), f. 971, оp. 2, d. 192, l. 4.

13. In another census from the fall of 1618, his brother Alexander appears (Wisner 1970, 32).

14. APS AKS, I–884, 27.

15. RA/1133/1133.07/~/32, fol. 32.

16. RA/KrA/0377/B73, pp. 60, 68.

17. RNB, f. 971, оp. 2, d. 192, l. 4.

18. PAN KR, rkps 289, 509.

19. RA/1133/1133.07/~/32, 34.

20. The first date is for the Julian calendar (Old Style or OS), and the second is for the Gregorian (New Style or NS). The Swedes used the former, and the Poles and Lithuanians used the latter. Sweden did not fully adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1753.

21. AGAD AR IV/23/303, 45; RA/KrA/0377/B73, 57–58.

22. According to Paradowski, the mercenary infantry company came from the Stiernsköld’s Regiment (Paradowski 2013, 61).

23. RA/KrA/0377/B73, 70–71, tab. 1–2.

24. RA/1133/1133.07/~/32, fol. 36 v.

25. RA/KrA/0377/B73, fol. 57–58.

26. RA/KrA/0377/B73, fol. 71.

27. RA/KrA/0406/28/055/001; RA/KrA/0406/28/055/004 a; Eesti Rahvusarhiiv (hereafter – RA, EAA), RA, EAA.5393.1.9.1; RA, EAA.1.2.C-IV-173.1; RA, EAA.2072.9.5.5; RA/KrA/0406/28/028/001.

28. RA/1133/1133.07/~/31, 131 v.

29. APS AKS, I–742, 2.

30. APS AKS, I–884, 56.

31. APS AKS, I–884, 56.

32. RA/1133/1133.07/~/12, 70 v, 72.

33. Eesti Rahvusarhiiv, SRA Baltiska fogderäkenskaper fol. 390, Pärnumaa 1618. aasta revisjon. Pärnu lossilään (Audru, Koonga, Tori, Tõstamaa).

34. RA/KrA/0406/28/028/001; RA, EAA.854.4.469.30; RA, EAA.854.4.469.32.

35. RA/54/2/M1289.

36. RA, EAA.854.4.640, 1.

37. RA/1133/1133.07/~/32, fol. 41.

38. According to Wilhelm Hasse, the Pomeranian prince’s informant, the commander was Lieutenant Wrangel, APS AKS, I–884, 71.

39. RA/1133/1133.07/~/32, fol. 41.

40. Broomé wrote that it was a baptism of fire for Wachtmeister’s and Maydel’s units, but the first unit is mentioned in the descriptions of military operations in Russia (Broomé 1950, 121).

41. APS AKS, I–884, 72.

42. AGAD AR II, nr 674a, 1.

43. PAN KR, rkps 294, 442; AGAD AR XI, nr 35, 621.

44. AGAD AR V, nr 3683, 36–38.

45. AGAD AR IIs, nr 294, 2.

46. AGAD AR VII/8/60, 10.

47. RNB, f. 971, op. 2, d. 146, l. 34, fol. 1.

48. AGAD AR II, nr 671a, 1.

49. AGAD AR V, nr 12,789/I, 5.

50. RNB, f. 971, оp. 2, d. 146, l. 34, fol. 1 v.

51. Eesti Rahvusarhiiv, Regestid 1619–1624, pp. [15–16, 23].

52. Eesti Rahvusarhiiv, Regestid 1615–1618, pp. [15, 20–21].

53. Eesti Rahvusarhiiv, Regestid 1615–1618, p. [24].

54. RA/KrA/0455/G I 1617/10.

55. APS AKS, I– 42, 2; RA/1133/1133.07/~/12, fol. 76–77.

56. RA/KrA/0455/G I 1618/8.

57. AGAD AR IV, t. 23, k. 303, 62–63; RNB, f. 971, op. 2, d. 146, l. 35, fol. 1; AGAD, AR IV, t. 23, k. 304, 9; AGAD, AR IV, t. 23, k. 303, 11; AGAD, AR IIs, nr 298, 1; AGAD, AR IV, t. 23, k. 303, 20; Biblioteka Narodowa, nr IV 6658, fol. 27 v, 29 v–30.

58. AGAD AR II, nr 673a, 1; AGAD AR II, nr 674a, 1.

59. AGAD AR II, nr 683, 1–2; AGAD AR II, nr 684, 1; AGAD AR II, nr 675a, 1; AGAD AR II, nr 679a, 1; RNB, f. 971, op. 2, d. 147, ö. 7, fol. 1 v; AGAD AR II, nr 684a, 1–2.

60. RNB, f. 971, оp. 2, d. 147, l. 7, fol. 1.

61. AGAD AR IV/23/304, 11, 19; AGAD AR II, nr 705, 1–8.

62. RA/2115/III/1/302.

63. RA/2115/III/1/302.

64. RA/2115/III/1/302.

65. AGAD AR II, nr 674a, 3; AGAD AR II, nr 677a, 1; RA/1133/1133.07/~/12, 73–75.

66. AGAD AR II, nr 705, 1–8.

67. AGAD AR II, nr 705, 11–12.

68. AGAD AR II, nr 705, 18–21.

69. AGAD AR II, nr 687a, 1.

70. AGAD AR IIs, nr 301, 1; AGAD AR IIs, nr 302, 1–2.

71. AGAD AR IIs, nr 301, 2; AGAD AR IIs, nr 302, 2–3; RA/2115/III/1/302. See also (Norberg 1974),: 68–75 (Hallendorf 1903),; 308–309.

Additional information

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Mariusz Balcerek

Mariusz Balcerek works in the Provincial Public Library – the Copernicus Library in Torun. His research interests focus on the military history of the early modern period. In 2010, he defended his doctoral thesis in the Institute of History and Archival Studies of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. The PhD thesis title was “The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia during the war between Poland and Sweden in the years 1600–1629” (published in 2012). He has been published in the following journals: Zapiski Historyczne, Open Military Studies, and Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. Since 2011, he has been editor-in-chief of Folia Toruniensia, responsible for the journal’s content.