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John III Of Poland

John III of Poland

John (Jan) III Sobieski (August 17, 1629 – June 17, 1696) was the king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1674 to 1696. He was nicknamed by the Turks "Lion of Lehistan".

Royal titles

- Official title was (in Latin): Joannes III, Dei Gratia rex Poloniae, magnus dux Lithuaniae, Russie, Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Livoniae, Smolenscie, Kijoviae, Volhyniae, Podlachiae, Severiae, Czernichoviaeque, etc.
- English translation: John III, by the grace of God King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia (Ukraine & Belarus), Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia, Smolensk, Kyiv, Volhynia, Podlasie, Severia and Czernichow, etc.

Biography

Jan was born in 1629 at Olesko, Poland to Jakub (James) Sobieski (1580-1646), Voivod of Ruthenian Voivodship and Castellan of Kraków and Zofia Teofillia (Daniłowicz), granddaughter of Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski. He had won fame as outstanding military commander in wars against the Ottoman Empire, Tatars, Muscovy, Cossacks and Sweden. In 1665 he became Great Marshal of the Crown and Field Crown Hetman in 1666. In 1668 King Jan II Kazimierz appointed John Sobieski the Great Crown Hetman and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish army. After a distinguished military career, and following the death of King Jan II Kazimierz's successor, Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki, John Sobieski was elected by the szlachta (nobility) as king of Poland on May 21 1674 and was crowned on February 2, 1676. 1676 John Sobieski's military prowess, as exhibited in a war against the Ottoman Empire, contributed to his election as king of Poland. One of Sobieski's ambitions was to unify the Christian Europe in a crusade to drive the Turks out of Europe. He allied with the Holy Roman Emperor and joined the Holy League initiated by Pope Innocent XI to preserve Christendom. According to Oscar Halecki, noted Polish historical writer, John III planned to occupy Prussia with Swedish cooperation and French support. This undertaking was doomed to failure, because of the war with Turkey and the opposition of magnates. His greatest success came on September 12, 1683 as victor at the Battle of Vienna, with Polish, Austrian and German troops, once more against the Turks under Kara Mustafa. The pope and other foreign dignitaries then hailed Sobieski as the "Savior of Vienna and Western European civilization." In a letter to his wife he wrote, ...All the common people kissed my hands, my feet, my clothes; others only touched me, saying: Ach, let us kiss so valiant a hand!". Upon reaching Vienna, he joined up with the Austrians and Germans. Sobieski planned to attack on the 13th of September, but he had noticed that the Turkish resistance was weak and ordered full attack on September 12, 1683. At 4:00 a.m. Sobieski’s army of about 81,000 men attacked a Turkish army that numbered about 130,000. Sobieski charged with husaria forward and soon after the Turkish battle line was broken as the Turks scattered in confusion. At 5:30 p.m., Sobieski entered the deserted tent of Kara Mustafa and the battle of Vienna was over. husaria", oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1880, 58 x 100 cm, National Musemum in Kraków.]] In a strange twist of events a statue of John III Sobieski was brought to the city of Gdansk by people from his native land (from Lwów), when they were resettled there. Already John's family had been famous guests in the city.Lwów Now the statue overlooks the little park at the old Gdansk town hall, now a museum. King John III Sobieski, nicknamed by the Turks the "Lion of Lechistan", and the last great king of Poland, died in Wilanów, Poland on June 17, 1696. His wife, Marie Casimire, died in 1716 in Blois, France and her body was returned to Poland. They are interred together in Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland. King John III was succeeded by Augustus II, elector of Saxony who stayed in power primarily because of Russian support. On his death in 1733, a struggle for the crown of Poland ensued, referred to as the War of the Polish Succession. War of the Polish Succession

Battles under command of Sobieski

War of the Polish Succession
- Battle of Podhajce (1667)
- Battle of Bracław (1671)
- Battle of Mohylów (1671)
- Battle of Kalnik (1671)
- Battle of Krasnobród (1672)
- Battle of Niemirów (1672)
- Battle of Komarno (1672)
- Battle of Kałusz (1672)
- Battle of Chocim (1673)
- Battle of Bar (1674)
- Battle of Lwów (1675)
- Battle of Trembowla (1675)
- Battle of Wojniłów (1675)
- Battle of Żurawno (1676)
- Battle of Vienna (1683)
- Battle of Parkany (1683)
- Battle of Jazłowiec (1684)
- Battle of Żwaniec (1684)
- Battle of Jassy (1686)
- Battle of Suczawa (1691)

Marriage and family

1691 He was married to the widow of Jan "Sobiepan" Zamoyski, Marie Casimire Louise de la Grange d'Arquien (1641-1716), of Nevers, Burgundy, France, since July 5, 1665. Their children were: # James Louis Henry, (1667-1736) - Crown Prince # Teresa Kunegunde, (1676-1730) - In 1695, the Princess married Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria # Aleksander Benedykt, (1677-1713) # Konstanty Wladyslaw, (1680-1720) # Jan, (1682-1685)

Trivia

The constellation Scutum was named in honour of John III Sobieski by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius. The constellation represents his shield, and was originally known as the Scutum Sobiescii. While other constellations have been named after monarchs of modern times, such as Cor Caroli after King Charles II, this is the only one that is recognised by modern astronomers. American actress Leelee Sobieski claims to be his descendant. This is certainly not where she obtained her surname: John III had no great-grandchildren that bore the name Sobieski or Sobieska.

Publications

- Tatham, John Sobieski, (Oxford, 1881)
- Dupont, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Sobieski, (Warsaw, 1885)
- Salvandy, Histoire de Pologne avant et sous le roi Jean Sobieski, (two volumes, new edition, Paris, 1855)
- Coyer, Histoire de Jean Sobieski, (Amsterdam, 1761 and 1783)
- Waliszewski, Acta, (three volumes, Cracow, 1684)
- Rieder, Johann III., König von Polen, (Vienna, 1883)
- Chelmecki, König J. Sobieski und die Befreiung Wiens, (Vienna, 1883)
- Du Hamel de Breuil, Sobieski et sa politique de 1674 à 1683, (Paris, 1894)

August 17

August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 136 days remaining.

Events

- 1427 - First band of gypsies visits Paris, according to an account of the citizen of Paris
- 1807 - Robert Fulton's first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
- 1850 - Argentine's War of Independence hero, General José de San Martín, dies in Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), at the age of 77.
- 1862 - Indian Wars: Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They will be overwhelmed by the U.S. military six weeks later.
- 1863 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. Bombardment will not end until December 31, 1863.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Confederate forces defeated Union troops at the Battle of Gainesville.
- 1877 - Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill is fatally wounded by Billy the Kid. Cahill will die the next day, becoming the first person killed by the Kid.
- 1883 - Dominican Republic the first public performance of the Dominican National Anthem, Quisqueyanos valientes
- 1896 - London - Bridget Driscoll becomes the first person in the world to die in an automobile accident after being struck by a car travelling about 4 MPH.
- 1914 - World War I: The German army of General Hermann von Francois defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf at the Battle of Stalluponen.
- 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
- 1943 - World War II: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
- 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent from the Netherlands.
- 1953 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
- 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
- 1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. He thus became the first victim of the wall.
- 1963 - A ferry linking remote islands off the coast of Okinawa sinks, killing 112.
- 1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
- 1970 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet, Venus.
- 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
- 1979 - Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
- 1980 - Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
- 1988 - Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- 1991 - Wade Frankum starts his killing spree in Strathfield, Australia, an event that was later dubbed the Strathfield Massacre.
- 1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
- 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Izmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
- 2002 - In Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Museum opens to the public.
- 2004 - MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.
- 2004 - The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
- 2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.

Births

- 1473 - Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483?)
- 1562 - Hans Leo Hassler (baptised), German composer (d. 1612)
- 1578 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
- 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
- 1629 - King John III of Poland (d. 1696)
- 1786 - Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier (d. 1836)
- 1828 - Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
- 1844 - Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
- 1866 - Julia Marlowe, nee Sarah Frost, Shakespearean actress (d. 1950)
- 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (d. 1974)
- 1887 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican leader, Rastafari prophet (d. 1940)
- 1887 - Emperor Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
- 1893 - Mae West, American actress and playwright (d. 1980)
- 1904 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist
- 1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik, chess player (d. 1995)
- 1913 - W. Mark Felt, FBI associate director and Deep Throat Watergate informant
- 1913 - Rudy York, baseball player (d. 1970)
- 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, actress
- 1926 - Jiang Zemin, former President of the People's Republic of China
- 1929 - Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot (d. 1977)
- 1930 - Glenn Corbett, actor (d. 1993)
- 1930 - Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
- 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, West Indian-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1935 - Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
- 1939 - Luther Allison, blues musician, guitarist
- 1943 - Robert De Niro, actor
- 1948 - Rod MacDonald, musician
- 1951 - Alan Minter, boxer
- 1952 - Nelson Piquet, Brazilian formula one driver
- 1952 - Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
- 1954 - Eric Johnson, guitarist
- 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, singer and guitarist
- 1958 - Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
- 1959 - David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
- 1960 - Sean Penn, actor, director
- 1962 - Gilby Clarke, American musician Guns N' Roses
- 1964 - Colin James, blues musician
- 1966 - Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
- 1966 - William E. Dudley, American poet
- 1968 - Ed McCaffrey, American football player
- 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer
- 1970 - Jim Courier, American tennis player
- 1971 - Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- 1977 - Thierry Henry, French footballer
- 1977 - Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer (Nightwish)
- 1977 - William Gallas, French footballer
- 1980 - Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer

Deaths

- 1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England
- 1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
- 1510 - Edmund Dudley, English statesman
- 1657 - Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)
- 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, German novelist
- 1673 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
- 1720 - Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
- 1723 - Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
- 1768 (N. S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
- 1785 - Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of the Colony and the state of Connecticut (b. 1710)
- 1786 - King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
- 1834 - Husein Gradaščević, Bosniak rebel leader (b. 1802)
- 1850 - Don José de San Martín, Argentine general
- 1875 - Wilhelm Bleek, linguist
- 1880 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist
- 1896 - Bridget Driscoll, world's first automobile fatality
- 1901 - Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
- 1925 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin
- 1954 - Billy Murray, recording artist (b. 1877)
- 1969 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- 1973 - Jean Barraqué, French composer
- 1973 - Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations)
- 1973 - Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)
- 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress
- 1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist
- 1987 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi deputy (b. 1894)
- 1988 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
- 1990 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
- 1992 - Al Parker, actor
- 2004 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b. 1918)
- 2005 - John Bahcall, astrophysicist

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/17 BBC: On This Day] ---- August 16 - August 18 - July 17 - September 17 -- listing of all days ko:8월 17일 ja:8月17日 simple:August 17 th:17 สิงหาคม

1629

Events

- March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter.
- June 4: The VOC ship Batavia runs aground west of Australia.
- March 10 - Charles I of England dissolves Parliament starting the Eleven Years Tyranny in which there was no parliament.
- End of the reign of Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan
- Empress Meisho ascends to the throne of Japan

Births

- March 9 - Tsar Aleksey I of Russia (d. 1676)
- April 14 - Christiaan Huygens, Dutch scientist (d. 1695)
- May 8 - Niels Juel, Danish admiral (d. 1697)
- August 17 - John III Sobieski, King of Poland (d. 1696)
- September 9 - Cornelis Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1691)
- September 21 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Roman Catholic Cardinal (d. 1694)
- September 30 - Oliver Plunkett, Irish saint (d. 1681)
- Roderick O Flaherty, Irish chieftan and historian (d. 1718) See also :Category:1629 births.

Deaths

- January 27 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
- June 18 - Piet Pieterszoon Hein, Dutch naval officer (b. 1577)
- July 13 - Caspar Bartholin the Elder, Swedish physician and theologian (b. 1585)
- October 2 - Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1575)
- October 2 - Antonio Cifra, Italian composer (b. 1584)
- October 3 - Giorgi Saakadze, Georgian military commander (b. 1570)
- November - Hendrick ter Brugghen, Dutch painter (b. c. 1588) See also :Category:1629 deaths. Category:1629 ko:1629년

June 17

June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining.

Events

- 1497 - Battle of Deptford Bridge - Forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
- 1565 - Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
- 1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
- 1631 - Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spent more than 20 years to build her tomb, the Taj Mahal.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill - The battle actually takes place on Breed's hill by mistake. British forces take Breed's Hill outside of Boston.
- 1789 - In France, the Third Estate declares itself as a national assembly.
- 1839 - In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the Edict of Toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is later established as a result.
- 1863 - Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War
- 1876 - Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud - 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. [http://ne.essortment.com/battlerosebud_rfks.htm]
- 1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
- 1898 - The US Navy Hospital Corps is established.
- 1928 - Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean She was a passenger; Wilmer Stutz was pilot and Lou Gordon, mechanic.
- 1930 - U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff into law.
- Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans mass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
- 1933 - Union Station Massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash were gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.
- 1939 - Last public execution in France. Eugene Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the prison Saint-Pierre.
- 1940 - World War II: Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
- World War II: Sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
- The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
- 1944 - Iceland becomes independent from Denmark and forms a republic.
- 1948 - A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
- 1953 - Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
- 1960 - Ted Williams becomes the fourth member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1961 - The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
- 1963 - The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
- 1971 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.
- 1972 - Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.
- 1982 - The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
- 1991 - Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required all racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
- 1992 - A 'Joint Understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
- 1994 - Following a televised highway chase and a failed attempt at suicide, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Births

1239 to 1899

- 1239 - King Edward I of England (d. 1307)
- 1603 - Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)
- 1682 - King Charles XII of Sweden (d. 1718)
- 1691 - Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765)
- 1693 - Johann Georg Walch, German theologian (d. 1775)
- 1703 - John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (d. 1791)
- 1704 - John Kay, English inventor (d. 1780)
- 1714 - Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (d. 1762)
- 1714 - César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (d. 1784)
- 1718 - George Howard, British field marshal (d. 1796)
- 1808 - Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian author (d. 1845)
- 1810 - Ferdinand Freiligrath, German writer (d. 1876)
- 1811 - Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence fighter (d. 1879)
- 1818 - Charles Gounod, French composer (d. 1893)
- 1832 - Sir William Crookes, English physicist and chemist (d. 1919)
- 1881 - Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer (d. 1955)
- 1882 - Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)
- 1888 - Heinz Guderian, German General (d. 1954)
- 1898 - M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (d. 1972)
- 1898 - Carl Hermann, German physicist (d. 1961)

1900 to 1999

- 1900 - Martin Bormann, Nazi official (d. 1945)
- 1904 - Ralph Bellamy, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1907 - Charles Eames, American designer and architect (d. 1978)
- 1909 - Elmer Lee Andersen, Governor of Minnesota (d. 2004)
- 1910 - Red Foley, American musician (d. 1968)
- 1914 - John Hersey, American author (d. 1993)
- 1915 - Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist (d. 1996)
- 1915 - David "Stringbean" Akeman, American banjo player and actor (d. 1973)
- 1917 - Dean Martin, American singer (d. 1995)
- 1917 - Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician
- 1920 - François Jacob, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1923 - Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, American football player (d. 2004)
- 1927 - Martin Böttcher, German conductor
- 1929 - Tigran Petrosian, Georgian chess player (d. 1984)
- 1930 - Brian Statham, English cricketer (d. 2000)
- 1933 - Christian Ferras, French violinist (d. 1982)
- 1940 - George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1942 - Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian International Atomic Energy Agency director, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1943 - Newt Gingrich, American politician
- 1943 - Barry Manilow, American musician
- 1945 - Tommy Franks, American General
- 1945 - Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
- 1945 - Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist
- 1945 - Anupam Kher, Indian actor
- 1945 - Frank Ashmore, American actor
- 1946 - Peter Rosei, Austrian writer
- 1957 - Jon Gries, American actor
- 1958 - Jello Biafra, American musician and activist
- 1960 - Michael Monroe, Finnish singer (Hanoi Rocks)
- 1963 - Greg Kinnear, American actor
- 1964 - Michael Gross, German swimmer
- 1965 - Dermontti Dawson, American NFL, center
- 1966 - Jason Patric, American actor
- 1969 - Paul Tergat, Kenyan athlete
- 1975 - Chloe Jones, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1978 - Kumiko Aso, Japanese Actress
- 1979 - Nick Rimando, American soccer player
- 1980 - Venus Williams, American tennis player
- 1987 - Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer (W (Double You), Morning Musume, and MiniMoni)

Deaths

1091 to 1899

- 1091 - Dirk V, Count of Holland (b. 1052)
- 1463 - Princess Catherine of Portugal, writer (b. 1436)
- 1565 - Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (b. 1536)
- 1694 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic Cardinal (b. 1629)
- 1696 - John III Sobieski, King of Poland (b. 1629)
- 1719 - Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (b. 1672)
- 1734 - Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshal of France (b. 1653)
- 1740 - William Wyndham, English politician (b. 1687)
- 1762 - Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer (b. 1674)
- 1775 - Major John Pitcairn, British marine (killed in battle) (b. 1722)
- 1797 - Agha Muhammad Khan, Shah of Persia (b. 1742)
- 1813 - Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, English sailor and politician (b. 1726)
- 1898 - Edward Burne-Jones, English artist (b. 1833)

1900 to 1999

- 1940 - Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1952 - Jack Parsons, American rocket-fuel pioneer and renegade occultist (b. 1914)
- 1956 - Paul Rostock, German doctor (b. 1892)
- 1957 - Dorothy Richardson, English writer (b. 1873)
- 1961 - Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1979 - Duffy Lewis, baseball player (b. 1888)
- 1982 - Roberto Calvi, Italin banker (b. 1920)
- 1986 - Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
- 1996 - Thomas Kuhn, American philosopher of science (b. 1922)

2000 onwards

- 2001 - Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
- 2002 - Willie Davenport, American athlete (b. 1943)
- 2002 - Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Gerry McNeil, Canadian hockey player (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

- 1944 - Icelandic Independence Day, from Denmark
- National holiday of West Germany until 1990, see Workers' Uprising of 1953 in East Germany

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/17 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.britannica.com/eb/dailycontent?month=6&day=17 Encyclopædia Britannica: This Day in History] ---- June 16 - June 18 - May 17 - July 17 -- listing of all days ko:6월 17일 ms:17 Jun ja:6月17日 simple:June 17 th:17 มิถุนายน

1696

The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. See 1903.

Events

- April - Fire destroys the Gra Bet (or Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia.
- August 22 - Forces of Venice and Turkish troops clash near Molino
- December 24 - Inquisition burns number of Marrano Jews in Evora, Portugal
- Peter the Great becomes sole tsar of Russia.
- Polish replaces Ruthenian as an official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- A famine wipes out almost a third of the population of Finland.
- Abington, Pennsylvania, is settled.
- William Penn offers an elaborate plan for intercolonial cooperation largely in trade, defense, and criminal matters.

Births

- March 5 - Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)
- June 11 - Francis Edward James Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
- June 27 - William Pepperrell, English colonial soldier (d. 1759)
- July 14 - William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer (d. 1761)
- August 2 - Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1754)
- August 12 - Maurice Greene, English composer (d. 1755)
- September 27 - Alphonsus Liguori, Italian founder of the Redemptionist order (d. 1787)
- October 13 - John Hervey, Lord Hervey, English statesman and writer (b. 1743)
- December 22 - James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (d. 1785)

Deaths

- January 11 - Charles Albanel, French missionary explorer in Canada (b. 1616)
- February 8 - Tsar Ivan V of Russia (b. 1666)
- March 14 - Jean Domat, French jurist (b. 1625)
- March 18 - Robert Charnock, English conspirator
- April 17 - Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French writer (b. 1626)
- April 30 - Robert Plot, British naturalist (b. 1640)
- May 10 - Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (b. 1645)
- May 30 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (b. 1638)
- June 17 - John III of Poland (b. 1629)
- August 2 - Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander at the Massacre of Glencoe (b. 1630)
- September 17 - John III Sobieski, King of Poland (b. 1629)
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Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Republic of the Two Nations, or Republic of Both Nations (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Žečpospolita or Abiejų tautų respublika, Belarusian: Рэч Паспалітая or Рэч Паспалітая Абодвух Народаў, Latin: Regnum Serenissima Poloniae) was a federal monarchy–republic formed by the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569, lasting until 1795. The Commonwealth was an extension of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, a personal union between those two states that had existed from 1386. The Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous states in Europe and for over two centuries successfully withstood wars with the Teutonic Order, the Mongols, the Russians, the Ottomans, and Sweden. The Commonwealth was notable for its political system, which was a precursor to modern democracy and federation; for its remarkable religious tolerance; and for the second-oldest codified national constitution in the world. Its economy was dominated by agriculture. While the Commonwealth's first century was a golden age for both Poland and Lithuania, the second century was marked by military defeats, a return to serfdom for the peasants, and growing anarchy in political life. The Duchy of Warsaw, established in 1807, traced its origins to the Commonwealth. Other revival movements appeared during the January Uprising (1863–1864) and in the 1920s, when Józef Piłsudski advanced the concept of a federation of Międzymorze (translatable as "Tween-Seas"). Today's Republic of Poland considers itself a successor to the Commonwealth.

History

The creation of the Commonwealth by the Union of Lublin in 1569 was one of the signal achievements of Sigismund II Augustus, last king of the Jagiellon dynasty. His death in 1572 was followed by a three-year interregnum during which adjustments were made to the constitutional system that effectively increased the power of the nobility (the szlachta) and established a truly elective monarchy. The Commonwealth reached its Golden Age in the first half of the 17th century. Its powerful parliament (the Sejm) was dominated by nobles who were reluctant to wage offensive wars, thus sparing the country the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. The Commonwealth was mostly victorious against numerous incursions by Sweden, Russia, and vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and even managed for a time to take Moscow during the Russian Time of Troubles. From 27 September 1610 to 4 November 1612 Moscow belonged to the Commonwealth. Commonwealth power waned after the double blow of 1648: history's greatest Cossack rebellion (the Chmielnicki Uprising, supported by Crimean Khanate Tatars, in the eastern territories of Kresy), which resulted in Cossacks falling under the Muscovy sphere of influence in 1652, and the Swedish invasion in 1655 (supported by troops of Transylvanian duke George II Rakoczy and Friedrich Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg), known as the Deluge, provoked by the policies of Commonwealth kings from the Swedish royal House of Vasa. In the late 17th century, the weakened Commonwealth under King Jan III Sobieski was still strong enough to deal crushing defeats to the Ottoman Empire: in 1683, the Battle of Vienna marked the final turning point in a 250-year struggle between the forces of Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Over the next 16 years (in the "Great Turkish War") the Turks would be permanently driven south of the Danube River, never to threaten central Europe again. By the 18th century, the Commonwealth was facing many internal problems and was vulnerable to foreign influences. This destabilized its political system almost to the brink of anarchy. Attempts at reform, such as those made by the Four-Year Sejm of 1788–1792, which culminated in the May 3rd Constitution of 1791, came too late, and the country was partitioned in three stages by the neighboring Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, and Austrian Empire. By 1795 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been completely erased from the map of Europe. Poland and Lithuania re-established their independence, as separate countries, only in 1918. How the Commonwealth disappeared from the map of Europe: Image:Rzeczpospolita 1600.png|The Commonwealth at its greatest extent (ca. 1630) Image:Rzeczpospolita.png|Losses in the effect of the Deluge (1648) Image:Rzeczpospolita Rozbiory 1.png|The First Partition (1772) Image:Rzeczpospolita Rozbiory 2.png|The Second Partition (1793) Image:Rzeczpospolita Rozbiory 3.png|The Third Partition (1795). Poland disappears for 123 years (or for 12 years — to Duchy of Warsaw).

State organization and politics

Commonwealth military

Offices in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] Commonwealth armies were commanded by four hetmans. The armies comprised:
- Wojsko kwarciane: Regular units with wages paid from taxes (these units were later merged with the wojsko komputowe)
- Wojsko komputowe: Semi-regular units created for times of war (in 1652 these units were merged with the wojsko kwarciane into a new permanent army)
- Pospolite ruszenie: Szlachta levée en masse
- Piechota łanowa and piechota wybraniecka: Units based on peasant recruits
- Registered Cossacks: Troops made up of Cossacks, used mainly as infantry, less often as cavalry (with tabors) were recruited until 1699
- Royal guard: A small unit whose primary purpose was to escort the monarch and members of his family
- Mercenaries: As with most other armies, hired to supplement regular units
- Private armies: In time of peace usually small regiments (few hundred men) were paid for and equipped by magnates or cities. However, in times of war, they were greatly augmented (to even a few thousand men) and paid by state Some units of the Commonwealth used fairly unique tactics. These units included:
- Hussars: heavy cavalry armed with lances; their charges were extremely effective until advances in firearms in the late 17th century substantially increased infantry firepower. Members were known as towarzysz husarski and were supported by pocztowy's.
- Pancerni: medium cavalry, armed with sabers or axes, bows, later pistols. Second important cavalry branch of the Polish army.
- Cossacks: general name for all Commonwealth units of light cavalry, even if they did not contain a single ethnic Cossack; fast and maneuverable like oriental cavalry units of Ottoman Empire vassals, but lacking the firepower of European cavalry such as the Swedish pistol-armed reiters.
- Tabor: military horse-drawn wagons, usually carrying army supplies. Their use for defensive formations was perfected by the Cossacks, and to a smaller extent by other Commonwealth units. The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of the Commonwealth.

Golden Liberty

Commonwealth Navy, oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1869, 298×512 cm, National Museum (Warsaw).]] The political doctrine of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was: our state is a republic under the presidency of the King. Chancellor Jan Zamoyski summed up this doctrine when he said that "Rex regnat et non gubernat" ("The King reigns but does not govern"). The Commonwealth had a parliament, the Sejm, as well as a Senat and an elected king. The king was obliged to respect citizens' rights specified in King Henry's Articles as well as in pacta conventa negotiated at the time of his election. The monarch's power was limited, in favor of a sizable noble class. Each new king had to subscribe to King Henry's Articles, which were the basis of Poland's political system (and included near-unprecedented guarantees of religious tolerance). Over time, King Henry's Articles were merged with the pacta conventa, specific pledges agreed to by the king-elect. From that point, the king was effectively a partner with the noble class and was constantly supervised by a group of senators. The foundation of the Commonwealth, the unique "Golden Liberty" (Polish Zlota Wolność, a term used from 1573), included:
- free election of the king by all nobles wishing to participate;
- Sejm, the Commonwealth parliament which the king was required to hold every two years;
- pacta conventa (Latin), "agreed-to agreements" negotiated with the king-elect, including a bill of rights, binding on the king, derived from the earlier King Henry's Articles;
- rokosz (insurrection), the right of szlachta to form a legal rebellion against a king who violated their guaranteed freedoms;
- liberum veto (Latin), the right of an individual Sejm deputy to oppose a decision by the majority in a Sejm session; the voicing of such a "free veto" nullified all the legislation that had been passed at that session; during the crisis of the second half of the 17th century, Polish nobles could also use the liberum veto in provincial sejmiks;
- konfederacja (from the Latin confederatio), the right to form an organization to force through a common political aim. confederatio in 1573," by Jan Matejko]] The provinces of the Commonwealth enjoyed wide autonomy. Each voivodship had its own parliament (sejmik), which exercised serious political power, including choice of poseł (deputy) to the national Sejm and charging of the deputy with specific voting instructions. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania had its own army, treasury and other institutions. The Golden Freedoms created a state that was unusual for its time. Perhaps the most similar political system existed in the city-state Republic of Venice, and it is interesting to note that both states were known as the Most Serene Republic. At a time when most European countries were headed toward centralization, absolute monarchy and religious and dynastic warfare, the Commonwealth experimented with decentralization, confederation and federation, democracy, religious tolerance and even pacifism. Since the Sejm usually vetoed a monarch's plans for war, this constitutes an interesting argument for the democratic peace theory. This unique system stemmed from the victories of the szlachta (noble) class over other social classes and over the political system of monarchy. In time, the szlachta accumulated enough privileges (such as those established by the Nihil novi Act of 1505) that no monarch could hope to break the szlachta's grip on power. The Commonwealth's political system is difficult to fit into a simple category, but it can be tentatively described as a mixture of:
- confederation and federation, with regard to the broad autonomy of its regions. It is however difficult to decisively call the Commonwealth either confederation of federation, as it had some qualities of both of them;
- oligarchy, as only the szlachta—around 10% of the population—had political rights;
- democracy, since all the szlachta were equal in rights and privileges, and the Sejm could veto the king on important matters, including legislation (the adoption of new laws), foreign affairs, declaration of war, and taxation (changes of existing taxes or the levying of new ones). Also, the 10% of Commonwealth population who enjoyed those political rights (the szlachta) was a substantially larger percentage than in any other European country; note that in 1831 in France only about 1% of the population had the right to vote, and in 1867 in the United Kingdom, only about 3%;
- elective monarchy, since the monarch, elected by the szlachta, was Head of State;
- constitutional monarchy, since the monarch was bound by pacta conventa and other laws, and szlachta could disobey any king's decrees they deemed illegal.

The political players

See also list of szlachta. The major players in the politics of the Commonwealth were:
- monarchs, who struggled to expand their power and create an absolute monarchy.
- magnates, the wealthiest of the szlachta, who wanted to rule the country as a privileged oligarchy, and to dominate both the monarch and the poorer nobles.
- szlachta, who desired a strengthening of the Sejm and rule of the country as a democracy of the szlachta. The magnates and the szlachta were far from united, with many factions supporting either the monarch or various of the magnates.

Shortcomings of the Commonwealth

Once the Jagiellons had disappeared from the scene in 1572, the fragile equilibrium of the Commonwealth's government began to shake. Power increasingly slipped away from the central government to the nobility. In their periodic opportunities to fill the throne, the szlachta exhibited a preference for foreign candidates who would not found another strong dynasty. This policy often produced monarchs who were either totally ineffective or in constant debilitating conflict with the nobility. Furthermore, aside from notable exceptions such as the able Transylvanian Stefan Batory (1576–1586), the kings of foreign origin were inclined to subordinate the interests of the Commonwealth to those of their own country and ruling house. This was especially visible in the policies and actions of the first two elected kings from the Swedish House of Vasa, whose politics brought the Commonwealth into conflict with Sweden, culminating in the war known as The Deluge (1648), one of the events that mark the end of the Commonwealth's Golden Age and the beginning of the Commonwealth's decline. The aftermath of the rokosz of Zebrzydowski (1606–7) marks the time when magnates significantly increased their power, and this szlachta democracy has transformed into magnate oligarchy. The Commonwealth's political system was vulnerable to outside interference, as Sejm deputies bribed by foreign powers might use their liberum veto to block attempts at reform. Such actions sapped the power of the Commonwealth and threw it into political paralysis and anarchy for over a century (from the mid-17th century to the end of the 18th century), while its neighbors stabilized their internal affairs and increased their military might.

Late reforms

18th century on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1891, 227×446 cm. Royal Castle (Warsaw).]] Eventually the Commonwealth did make a serious effort to reform its political system, adopting in 1791 the May 3rd Constitution, Europe's first codified national constitution and the world's second, after the United States Constitution that began functioning in 1789. The revolutionary Polish Constitution recast the erstwhile Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a unitary state with a hereditary monarchy and abolished many of the deleterious features of the old system. The new constitution:
- abolished the liberum veto and the confederation;
- provided for a separation of powers among legislative, executive and judicial branches of government;
- established "popular sovereignty" and extended political rights to include not only the nobility but the bourgeoisie;
- increased the rights of the peasantry;
- preserved religious tolerance (but with a condemnation of apostasy from the Catholic faith). These reforms came too late, however, as the Commonwealth was immediately invaded from all sides by its neighbors. The latter feared the revolutionary implications of the May 3rd Constitution's political reforms and the prospect of the Commonwealth regaining its position as a European empire. In the end the May 3rd Constitution was never fully implemented, and the Commonwealth entirely ceased to exist only four years after the Constitution's adoption.

Economy

May 3rd Constitution The economy of the Commonwealth was dominated by feudal agriculture. Typically a nobleman's landholding comprised a folwark, a large farm worked by serfs to produce surpluses for internal and external trade. The peasantry's situation worsened from the late 17th century on, when the landed szlachta sought to compensate for falling grain prices by increasing the peasants' workload, thus leading to the creation of second serfdom, a phenomena common throughout contemporary Eastern Europe. second serfdom The Commonwealth's preoccupation with agriculture, coupled with the szlachta's dominance over the bourgeoisie, resulted in a fairly slow process of urbanization and thus a fairly slow development of industries. While similar conflicts among social classes may be found all over Europe, nowhere were the nobility as dominant as in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. There is, however, much debate among historians as to which processes most affected those developments, since until the wars and crises of the mid-17th century the cities of the Commonwealth had not markedly lagged in size and wealth behind their western counterparts. The Commonwealth did have numerous towns and cities, commonly founded on Magdeburg rights. Some of the largest trade fairs in the Commonwealth were held at Lublin. See the geography section, below, for a list of major cities in the Commonwealth (commonly capitals of voivodships). Although the Commonwealth was Europe's largest grain producer, the bulk of her grain was consumed domestically. Estimated grain consumption in the "Crown" (Poland proper) and Prussia in 1560–70 was some 113,000 tons of wheat (or 226,000 łaszt (a łaszt, or "last," being a large bulk measure; in the case of grain, about half a ton). Average yearly production of grain in the Commonwealth in the 16th century was 120,000 tons, 6% of which was exported, while cities consumed some 19% and the remainder was consumed by the villages. The exports probably satisfied about 2% of the demand for grain in Western Europe, feeding 750,000 people there. Commonwealth grain achieved far more importance in poor crop years, as in the early 1590s and the 1620s, when governments throughout southern Europe arranged for large grain imports to cover shortfalls in their jurisdictions. 1620s, by Wilhelm August Stryowski (1834–1917), 110×138 cm.]] Still, grain was the largest export commodity of the Commonwealth. The owner of a folwark usually signed a contract with merchants of Gdansk (German Danzig), who controlled 80% of this inland trade, to ship the grain north to that seaport on the Baltic Sea. Many rivers in the Commonwealth were used for shipping purposes: the Vistula, Pilica, Western Bug, San, Nida, Wieprz, Niemen. The rivers had relatively developed infrastructure, with river ports and granaries. Most of the river shipping moved north, southward transport being less profitable, and barges and rafts were often sold off in Gdańsk for lumber. From Gdańsk, ships, mostly from the Netherlands and Flanders, carried the grain to ports such as Antwerp and Amsterdam. Gdańsk ships accounted for only 2–10% of this maritime trade. Besides grain, other seaborne exports included lumber and wood-related products such as tar and ash. By land routes, the Commonwealth exported hides, furs, hemp, cotton (mostly from Wielkopolska) and linen to the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire, including cities like Leipzig and Nuremberg. Large herds (of around 50,000 head) of cattle were driven south through Silesia. The Commonwealth imported spices, luxury goods, clothing, fish, beer and industrial products like steel and tools. A few riverboats carried south imports from Gdańsk like wine, fruit, spices and herring. Somewhere between the 16th and 17th centuries, the Commonwealth's trade balance shifted from positive to negative. trade balance]] trade balance (Sigismund III Vasa period)]] With the advent of the Age of Exploration, many old trading routes such as the Amber Road lost importance as new ones were created. Poland's importance as a caravan route between Asia and Europe diminished, while new local trading routes were created between the Commonwealth and Russia. But even with improvements in shipping technology the Commonwealth remained an important link between Occident and Orient, as many goods and cultural artifacts passed from one region to another via the Commonwealth. For example, Persian carpets imported across the Commonwealth were actually known in the West as "Polish carpets". Also, the price of eastern spices in Poland was several times lower than in western ports, which led to the creation of a distinct Polish cuisine, owing much both to the eastern and western influence. Commonwealth currency included the złoty and the grosz. The City of Gdańsk had the privilege of minting its own coinage. If such a commonwealth of countries existed in 2005, it might have been among the largest economies in the world.

Culture

Gdańsk Gdańsk, built 1726]] 1726, Museum of Arts (Łódź)]] Łódź–1645 and frequently remodeled. Foreground: equestrian statue of Prince Jozef Poniatowski by Bertel Thorvaldsen]] Bertel Thorvaldsen]] Bertel Thorvaldsen in front of Warsaw Castle]] Warsaw Castle and blue silk żupan. Holds hetman's baton (buława hetmańska)]] The Commonwealth was one of the important European sites for the development of modern social and political ideas. It was famous for its unique quasi-democratic political system praised by philosophers such as Erasmus, was known for a near-unparallelled religious tolerance during the Counter-Reformation, hence the numerosity of peacefuly coexisting Catholic, Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and even Muslim communities. It gave rise to the famous Christian sect of Polish Brethren, antecedents of the British and American Unitarians. With its unique political system, the Commonwealth gave birth to political philosophers such as Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503–1572), Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (1530–1607) and Piotr Skarga (1536–1612). Later, works by Stanisław Staszic (1755–1826) and