Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Complete Works of
HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ
(1846-1916)
Contents
The Trilogy
With Fire and Sword
The Deluge
Pan Michael
Other Novels
Without Dogma
Children of the Soil
Quo Vadis
The Knights of the Cross
On the Field of Glory
Whirlpools
In Desert and Wilderness
The Shorter Fiction
Yanko the Musician and Other Stories
Lillian Morris and Other Stories
Hania and Other Stories
Let Us Follow Him
Sielanka: A Forest Picture, and Other Stories
In Vain
Life and Death and Other Legends and Stories
The Short Stories
List of Short Stories in Chronological Order
List of Short Stories in Alphabetical Order
Non-Fiction and Dramas
So Runs the World
The Delphi Classics Catalogue
© Delphi Classics 2017
Version 1
The Complete Works of
HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ
By Delphi Classics, 2017
COPYRIGHT
Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz
First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.
© Delphi Classics, 2017.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.
ISBN: 978 1 78656 094 0
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The Trilogy
Wola Okrzejska, a village in the administrative district of Gmina Krzywda, eastern Poland — Sienkiewicz’ birthplace
Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum in Wola Okrzejska, established in 1965
With Fire and Sword
AN HISTORICAL NOVEL OF POLAND AND RUSSIA
Translated by Jeremiah Curtin
With Fire and Sword was first published in 1884 and forms the first work in Sienkiewicz’ Trilogy, followed by The Deluge (1886) and Pan Michael (1888). It is a historical fiction novel, set in the seventeenth century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, during the events of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The novel was initially serialised in several Polish newspapers, as chapters appeared in weekly instalments. It gained enormous popularity in Poland and by the turn of the twentieth century had become one of the most popular works of Polish literature. The text became obligatory reading in Polish schools and has been translated into most European languages.
The Khmelnytsky Uprising was a Cossack rebellion within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, taking place between the years of 1648 and 1657. It led to the creation of a Cossack Hetmanate in Ukrainian lands. Under the command of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, allied with the Crimean Tatars and local peasantry, fought against the armies and paramilitary forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The insurgency was accompanied by mass atrocities committed by Cossacks against the civilian population, especially against the Roman Catholic clergy and the Jews.
Sienkiewicz’ Trilogy is formed as a vehicle for expressing Polish patriotism in a Poland partitioned and deprived of independence. The novel avoided censorship by using a historical setting concerning wars with past enemies other than the countries ruling parts of Poland at the time — Russia, Germany and Austria. Although there are inevitable deviations, the main historical framework of the novel is authentic, with strands of a fictional story interspersed with real events. Many characters are historical figures, including Jeremi Wiśniowiecki and Bohdan Khmelnytsky. In his research, Sienkiewicz used memoirs and chronicles of the Polish nobility for details on life in seventeenth century Poland. The author later explained that the novel was written ‘to lift up the heart of the Polish nation’ in the unhappy period following the failed January Uprising during the era of the partitions of Poland.
With Fire and Sword opens with Jan Skrzetuski, lieutenant of the armoured regiment of Prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, giving assistance to Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki, as his party are returning from a mission to the Khan through the Wilderness. At Czyhryn the next day, Skrzetuski learns that Chmielnicki was escaping to the Sitch. In a tavern he throws Czapliński, a voluble officer, out through the door. It is here that he also becomes acquainted with Zagłoba and the Lithuanian Podbipięta, who wishes to join the service of Prince Jeremi in order to fulfil his family vow of cutting off the heads of three infidels, all at the same time with one blow.
On their way to Lubni, the party comes to the assistance of two women, one of whom is Helena Kurcewicz, returning to her aunt’s home that belongs to her. Jan’s party are invited back to Rozlogi where Jan meets Bohun, a Cossack, adopted as a sixth son by the old princess, who is Helena’s aunt. Bohun is keen to pick a quarrel but is sent away and Jan is able to declare his love for Helena. Skrzetuski realises that the girl is being mistreated and denied her rights, so she ensures the princess promises Helena to him instead of Bohun or he will have Prince Jeremi help her recover her home. The lieutenant finally arrives at Lubni and tells his comrades about his mission to the Crimea. Prince Jeremi returns and entertainments are laid on. To while away the time, Skrzetuski fences with his friend, Michał Wołodyjowski and receives a response to his letter sent to Helena via Rzędzian, his assistant. Before long, revolution is afoot...
The novel was first translated in 1898 by Jeremiah Curtin, who was Sienkiewicz’ “authorised” translator. The publisher, Little, Brown and Co., paid a commission to Sienkiewicz for his endorsement, as at that time a foreign work was not protected by copyright in America. Thus, another translation by Samuel A. Binion (who translated many other books by Sienkiewicz) was published by R. F. Fenno and Co. around the same time as Curtin’s, but without Sienkiewicz’ endorsement.
Title page of an early edition
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXV.<
br />
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CHAPTER XL.
CHAPTER XLI.
CHAPTER XLII.
CHAPTER XLIII.
CHAPTER XLIV.
CHAPTER XLV.
CHAPTER XLVI.
CHAPTER XLVII.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CHAPTER XLIX.
CHAPTER L.
CHAPTER LI.
CHAPTER LII.
CHAPTER LIII.
CHAPTER LIV.
CHAPTER LV.
CHAPTER LVI.
CHAPTER LVII.
CHAPTER LVIII.
CHAPTER LIX.
CHAPTER LX.
CHAPTER LXI.
CHAPTER LXII.
CHAPTER LXIII.
EPILOGUE.
NOTES.
A key event of the Khmelnytsky Uprising: ‘Bohdan Khmelnytsky Entering Kiev’ by Mykola Ivasiuk
Film poster for the 1999 film adaptation
TO
PROF. JOHN FISKE,
MY CLASSMATE AND FRIEND, MY FELLOW-TRAVELLER IN
BOTH HEMISPHERES, THE LUMINOUS HISTORIAN
OF DECISIVE PERIODS IN AMERICA,
IS DEDICATED THIS VOLUME CONCERNING A MOMENTOUS
CONFLICT IN EUROPE.
JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Washington, D.C.,
April 7, 1890.
Map of the Polish Commonwealth
INTRODUCTION.
The history of the origin and career of the two Slav States, Poland and Russia, is interesting not merely because it contains a vast number of surprising scenes and marvellous pictures of life, not merely because it gives us a kaleidoscope as it were of the acts of men, but because these acts in all their variety fall into groups which may be referred each to its proper source and origin, and each group contains facts that concern the most serious problems of history and political development.
The history of these two States should be studied as one, or rather as two parts of one history, if we are to discover and grasp the meaning of either part fully. When studied as a whole, this history gives us the life story of the greater portion of the Slav race placed between two hostile forces, — the Germans on the west, the Mongols and Tartars on the east.
The advance of the Germans on the Slav tribes and later on Poland presents, perhaps, the best example in history of the methods of European civilization. The entire Baltic coast from Lubeck eastward was converted to Christianity by the Germans at the point of the sword. The duty of rescuing these people from the errors of paganism formed the moral pretext for conquering them and taking their lands. The warrior was accompanied by the missionary, followed by the political colonist. The people of the country deprived of their lands were reduced to slavery; and if any escaped this lot, they were men from the higher classes who joined the conqueror in the capacity of assistant oppressors. The work was long and doubtful. The Germans made many failures, for their management was often very bad. The Slavs west of the Oder were stubborn, and under good leadership might have been invincible; but the leadership did not come, and to the Germans at last came the Hohenzollerns.
For the serious student there is no richer field of labor than the history of Poland and the Slavs of the Baltic, which is inseparable from the history of Mark Brandenburg and the two military orders, the Teutonic Knights and the Knights of the Sword.
The conquest of Russia by the Mongols, the subjection of Europeans to Asiatics, — not Asiatics of the south, but warriors from cold regions led by men of genius; for such were Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and the lieutenants sent to the west, — was an affair of incomparably greater magnitude than the German wars on the Baltic.
The physical grip of the Mongol on Russia was irresistible. There was nothing for the Russian princes to do but submit if they wished to preserve their people from dissolution. They had to bow down to every whim of the conqueror; suffer indignity, insult, death, — that is, death of individuals. The Russians endured for a long time without apparent result. But they were studying their conquerors, mastering their policy; and they mastered it so well that finally the Prince of Moscow made use of the Mongols to complete the union of eastern Russia and reduce all the provincial princes of the country, his own relatives, to the position of ordinary landholders subject to himself.
The difference between the Poles and Russians seems to be this, — that the Russians saw through the policy of their enemies, and then overcame them; while the Poles either did not understand the Germans, or if they did, did not overcome them, though they had the power.
This Slav history is interesting to the man of science, it is interesting also to the practical statesman, because there is no country in the Eastern hemisphere whose future may be considered outside of Russian influence, no country whose weal or woe may not become connected in some way with Russia. At the same time there are no states studied by so few and misunderstood by so many as the former Commonwealth of Poland, — whose people, brave and brilliant but politically unsuccessful, have received more sympathy than any other within the circle of civilization, — and Russia, whose people in strength of character and intellectual gifts are certainly among the first of the Aryan race, though many men have felt free to describe them in terms exceptionally harsh and frequently unjust.
The leading elements of this history on its western side are Poland, the Catholic Church, Germany; on the eastern side they are Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy, Northern Asia.
Now let us see what this western history was. In the middle of the ninth century Slav tribes of various denominations occupied the entire Baltic coast west of the Vistula; a line drawn from Lubeck to the Elbe, ascending the river to Magdeburg, thence to the western ridge of the Bohemian mountains, and passing on in a somewhat irregular course, leaving Carinthia and Styria on the east, gives the boundary between the Germans and the Slavs at that period. Very nearly in the centre of the territory north of Bohemia and the Carpathians lived one of a number of Slav tribes, the Polyane (or men of the plain), who occupied the region afterwards called Great Poland by the Poles, and now called South Prussia by the Germans. In this Great Poland political life among the Northwestern Slavs began in the second half of the ninth century. About the middle of the tenth, Mechislav (Mieczislaw), the ruler, received Christianity, and the modest title of Count of the German Empire. Boleslav the Brave, his son and successor, extended his territory to the upper Elbe, from which region its boundary line passed through or near Berlin, whence it followed the Oder to the sea. Before his death, in 1025, Boleslav wished to be anointed king by the Pope. The ceremony was denied him, therefore he had it performed by bishops at home. About a century later the western boundary was pushed forward by Boleslav Wry-mouth (1132-1139) to a point on the Baltic about half-way between Stettin and Lubeck. This was the greatest extension of Poland to the west. Between this line and the Elbe were Slav tribes; but the region had already become marken (marches) where the intrusive Germans were struggling for the lands and persons of the Slavs.
The eastern boundary of Poland at this period served also as the western boundary of Russia from the head-waters of the western branch of the river San in the Carpathian Mountains at a point west of Premysl (in the Galicia of to-day) to Brest-Litovsk, from which point the Russian boundary continued toward the northeast till it reached the sea, leaving Pskoff considerably and Yurieff (now Dorpat) slightly to the east, — that is, on Russian territory. Between Russia, north of Brest-Litovsk and Poland, was the irregular triangle composing the lands of Lithuanian and Finnish tribes. From the upper San the Russian boundary southward coincided with the Carpathians, including the territory betw
een the Pruth to its mouth and the Carpathians. This boundary between Poland and Russia, established at that period, corresponds as nearly as possible with the line of demarcation between the two peoples at the present day.
During the two centuries following 1139, Poland continued to lose on the west and the north, and that process was fairly begun through which the Germans finally excluded the Poles from the sea, and turned the cradle of Poland into South Prussia, the name which it bears to-day.
At the end of the fourteenth century a step was taken by the Poles through which it was hoped to win in other places far more than had been lost on the west. Poland turned now to the east; but by leaving her historical basis on the Baltic, by deserting her political birthplace, the only ground where she had a genuine mission, Poland entered upon a career which was certain to end in destruction, unless she could win the Russian power by agreement, or bend it by conquest, and then strengthened by this power, turn back and redeem the lost lands of Pomerania and Prussia.
The first step in the new career was an alliance with Yagello (Yahailo) of Lithuania, from which much was hoped. This event begins a new era in Polish history; to this event we must now give attention, for it was the first in a long series which ended in the great outburst described in this book, — the revolt of the Russians against the Commonwealth.
To reach the motives of this famous agreement between the Lithuanian prince and the nobles and clergy of Poland, — for these two estates had become the only power in the land, — we must turn to Russia.
Lithuania of itself was small, and a prince of that country, if it stood alone, would have received scant attention from Poland; but the Lithuanian Grand Prince was ruler over all the lands of western Russia as well as those of his own people.
What was Russia?
The definite appearance of Russia in history dates from 862, when Rurik came to Novgorod, invited by the people to rule over them. Oleg, the successor of this prince, transferred his capital from Novgorod to Kieff on the Dnieper, which remained the chief city and capital for two centuries and a half. Rurik’s great-grandson, Vladimir, introduced Christianity into Russia at the end of the tenth century. During his long reign and that of his son Yaroslav the Lawgiver, the boundary was fixed between Russia and Poland through the places described above, and coincided very nearly with the watershed dividing the two river-systems of the Dnieper and the Vistula, and serves to this day as the boundary between the Russian and Polish languages and the Eastern and Catholic churches.