Bernhard von Prittwitz

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Bernhard von Prittwitz, the "Terror Tartarorum", in 1541 (original hung in the Warsaw Royal Castle )

Bernhard von Prittwitz (also Bernardus Pretwitz , Pret (t) ficz ; * around 1500 in Silesia ; † 1561 in Trembowla ) was a Silesian officer in the service of the Polish crown from the noble family of those von Prittwitz . He was landlord and starost of Ulanów (today Ulaniw ), Bar (1540–1552) and Trembowla (1552–1561, today Terebowlja ).

Prittwitz was a Polish national hero at the time and after his warlike successes received two names of honor that have lasted for generations: Bartłomiej Paprocki (1540–1614), the founder of Polish heraldry , referred to him in 1575 as the Terror Tartarorum , the terror of the Tatars and Krzysztof Warszewicki ( Varsevitius , 1543–1603) called him Murus Podoliae , the Wall of Podolia , in 1598 to commemorate his successful fight against the many raids by the Islamic Crimean Tatars and Nogai Tatars who settled in the Budschak , Jedisan and Dobruja areas .

family

Prittwitz was the son of the landowner Peter von Prittwitz , lord of the estates Gaffron, Rippin, Mangschütz and Kraschen ( Groß Wartenberg region ), Stronn ( Oels region ), as well as Haideberg and Myslniów ( Schildberg region ), and Ludmila von Stwolinsky .

The Russian cavalry general , Carl Baron von Prittwitz , later said that during his long stay in Poland, and especially in Warsaw , he had heard the rumor repeatedly that Bernhard's father, Peter, had already been a voivode of Podolia and had met Queen Bona Sforza , wife of King Sigismund of Poland had a love affair. This should probably justify the personal favoring of Bernhard by Queen Bona (see below). But there were innumerable rumors about the foreign queen.

Information about his first wife is not known. From this marriage he had a son Albert . His second marriage was in 1551 with Barbara Zawadzka , alias Branczlikowna , with whom he had a son Jakob and a daughter. Jacob later became a voivode. The von Prittwitz family living in Poland died out very soon.

Life

Polish Rittmeister (until 1540)

The coat of arms of the von Prittwitz and Gaffron family, Polish ancestral coat of arms Wczele or Szachownica (chessboard)

Prittwitz probably came at an early age from Silesia to Poland and entered I. at the service of the Polish King Sigismund, who before his accession Duke of Glogau and Opole , and royal Bohemian governor of his elder brother, King Vladislav of Bohemia and Hungary in Silesia had been. Both of them may have known each other from that time. Perhaps also because his father Peter had already served in the Polish military, as he owned two estates in Poland. In any case, son Bernhard is mentioned as a man at the Polish royal court as early as 1526. Later he also served his successor Sigismund II of Poland .

In 1537 Prittwitz is named as the royal cavalry captain and commander of a group of 120 horsemen. But since 1530 he has been serving in the border area to the "Tatar Empire". At that time, Tatars were all enemies of Christianity or all non-Christian peoples of the Orient , mainly the Turks . The town of Bar, as well as the neighboring towns of Trembowla and Ulanów, had already been attacked by Tatars frequently in earlier times.

By 1538, Prittwitz must have achieved great merits in the fight against the Tatars and thus also the favor of Queen Bona Sforza, an Italian, because the queen finally managed to get the king, contrary to the prevailing opinion, to the "foreigner" Prittwitz In 1538 he gave the large estates around Koniacyn, in today 's Vinnytsia Oblast . But at least Prittwitz's battle successes had the result that he had to report to the Polish Reichstag in 1538/1539 . Queen Bona also provided further benefits in 1539: Prittwitz was given the city and Scharawka Castle (55 km northwest of Bar) with all its goods for lifelong use, from 1550 as property.

Starost of Ulanów, Bar and Trembowla (from 1540)

Finally, in 1540, Queen Bona entrusted him with the post of Starost de Bar, whose district belonged to her herself.

A "Starosta" (Polish district) were appointed only Polish noblemen at that time that with the past in this district royal goods - - mostly hereditary fief were. Both in times of peace and in times of war, the Starost was the district captain , so in addition to his office as head of administration, he was also the military commander in chief . The appointment of a “foreigner” like Prittwitz to the Starost was an extraordinary honor. Probably under his influence, the city of Magdeburg was granted town charter in 1540 .

Signature of Bernhard von Prittwitz as captain on bar in 1550: "Berhanrth prytwycz, Haupman auff baur with meyner eygen Hannth schryff"

Prittwitz became "the man of providence for the Podolian lands" (source: Pulaski ): The small fortress Bar offered accommodation and food for only 30 men. Therefore Prittwitz gradually built a new kind of defense system. He formed his own troop of approx. 300 men from Cheremiss and Cossacks , which he placed in small, well-mounted groups in castle-like fortifications in villages in the area. He also positioned scouts in the border areas. For the first time, Prittwitz made it impossible for the Tatars to unexpectedly attack Polish settlements in the Bar district as before. The new "warning system" made it possible to concentrate the "flying border guards" in the endangered area within a very short time. What was also new was that the enemy himself was attacked and pursued until he was worn out, captured or killed. Prittwitz is said to have won over 70 battles with the Tatars over the years. His defense system and his fighting technique were therefore adopted by all Cossacks. The Silesian Prittwitz became one of the first great Cossack leaders.

In March 1540 the Tatars had advanced to the city of Vinnytsia in northern Podolia. Prittwitz opposed them with a small group of Cossacks, drove them back around 100 km to Ochakov in the Jedisan, at that time one of the most important permanent places of the Ottoman Empire on the Black Sea , stole rich booty from them and returned with Tatar women and children as prisoners back. In 1541 Prittwitz again invaded the Tatar territories and advanced as far as Belgrade in Budschak. In 1550 the Tatars invaded Polish Podolia again , this time together with the Wallachians , and besieged the fortress of Bar, which was well armed with at least 56 large and 1,120 small hook boxes . This time Prittwitz not only defended the siege and the attacks, but brought back the Tatars a big defeat by own failures .

Later, when King Sigismund II. August forbade him from further retaliatory campaigns against the Tatars for political reasons, Prittwitz instead ensured better border and city fortifications within his area of ​​responsibility. These security measures were a prerequisite for the beginning of peaceful settlement. Under the protection of the “glorious Starosten” Prittwitz, the entire region of Bar and Vinnytsia was populated, and trade and agriculture began to flourish.

During his tenure, not a single village in the Bar district was reported to have been cremated by Tatars. The fact is that numerous villages, towns and castles in Podolia emerged during this period.

Silesian homeland

In all years Prittwitz never let his contact with his Silesian homeland and his own family in Silesia be broken off. So is z. B. Correspondence known with Duke Albrecht I of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1551/1552), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order or with the Brieger Duke Georg II (1554). He also owned the Stronn estate in his homeland, which he shared with his brother Balthasar in 1548 .

Prittwitz had perhaps met Duke Albrecht of Prussia, whose mother Sophie was the sister of King Sigismund I, at the Polish court. Or he had already been in the duke's service as a young man; after all, he was also known in Silesia as an equestrian leader. Prittwitz was very open to Protestantism - like the entire family, who became Protestant at an early age. Therefore Prittwitz tried to recruit 12,000 soldiers for Duke Albrecht in Poland to support the Protestant struggle.

"Terror Tartarorum"

Bernhard von Prittwitz, "Terror Tartarorum", in 1541 (engraving from the 19th century based on the original painting)

Prittwitz's victorious battles against the Tatars, which after decades of enduring at the border finally made the population of Poland breathe a sigh of relief and represented a turning point in the Tatar defense, had to cause a great sensation. That is why he enjoyed great fame, great awe and great esteem during his lifetime - especially among Polish youth. For example, a grandson of the castellan von Biecki, who had served as a noble boy for King Sigismund I, asked expressly for permission to learn horseback riding at Prittwitz. A legend later also reported: "Just as it was reported before the times of Osowski and Prittwitz that children who screamed too much in the cradle were frightened with their names so that they would be quiet." (Source: Johann Sinapius ).

Prittwitz died in Trembowla in 1561. But even after his death, the enemy is said to have fled at the mere sight of Polish armies - believing that the "Terror Tartarorum" was still in command. Ukrainian Cossacks are said to have sung the "horror of the Tatars" in their war songs many years later. A Polish chronicler reported in 1726 that Prittwitz was still in high regard - 170 years after his death. And King Johann II Casimir is said to have put up a portrait of Prittwitz in his room.

Another argument for his military achievements is that only two years after Prittwitz's death, King Sigismund II established a standing army in Poland in order to be able to counter the renewed destruction in the border provinces by the Tartars, and long after his death the rhyme “Za Pana Pretfica wolna od Tatar granica ”(In Prittwitz times the border was free of Tatars) was very popular in Poland.

Prittwitz's tombstone once bore the inscription in Latin quoted here in German:

Wanderer, see how uncertain man's dwelling is;
I came from Silesia;
Podolia praises the dead;
I have taught the army the art of war;
I have slain Tartars, Turks and Wallachians;
therefore I was dear to the great king of the Sarmatians, Sigismund I;
I have received certificates of honor and I am celebrated on everyone's lips;
now I'm covered by this little mound of earth
abandoned by all;
neither treasure nor piety nor my fate have helped me;
not even my warfare was of any use to me;
so if you are pious, I ask you not to forget Prittwitz when you pass by here.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Bernhard von Prittwitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 9, 2006 .
personal data
SURNAME Prittwitz, Bernhard von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Terror Tartarorum; Murus Podoliae
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Silesian district administrator, district captain and landowner
DATE OF BIRTH before 1526
PLACE OF BIRTH Silesia
DATE OF DEATH 1561
Place of death Terebowlja