Stanisław Lanckoroński

Before the Swedish invasion

Stanisław Lanckoroński (d. 1657) had an established military career before 1655. He defended Zbarazh in 1649 and became one of the temporary commanders after the crown hetmans were captured. He received the office of Crown field hetman in 1654 and fought the Cossack and Russian forces at Okhmativ early in 1655. Sweden thus invaded a Commonwealth whose army was already committed to an exhausting war in the east¹².

Wojnicz and the change of allegiance

In autumn 1655 Lanckoroński and Grand Hetman Stanisław “Rewera” Potocki commanded the Crown army against Charles X Gustav. Their engagement at Wojnicz on 3 October turned into a defeat when the main Swedish force arrived. Lanckoroński narrowly escaped capture²³.

The hetmans subsequently submitted their troops to Sweden, but Lanckoroński later joined the anti-Swedish Tyszowce confederation. In 1656 he had to reaffirm his commitment to the royal cause. He regained effective authority as field hetman, though John Casimir distrusted him and some soldiers initially resisted his command. His course illustrates the unstable allegiances of 1655–56 more accurately than a simple division into lifelong loyalists and traitors²⁴.

Novel and film

Sienkiewicz's The Deluge includes the hetman in the military background, but the novel is not a documentary biography. Hoffman's film concentrates on Kmicic, Oleńka and selected commanders; no separate Lanckoroński role has been verified in its cast⁵⁶.