Aleksander Pracki

Entering Swedish service

Aleksander Pracki was among the officers considering submission to Sweden even before the battle of Wojnicz in October 1655. He had acted as an envoy for Aleksander Koniecpolski's soldiers. After entering Charles X Gustav's service, he received money to recruit troops and gathered men at Krosno.¹

The clash at Krosno

Historian Sławomir Augusiewicz cites a memoir that accuses Pracki's men of forcibly taking supplies even from quarters assigned to other Crown units. On 7 December Gabriel Wojniłłowicz attacked them near Krosno, entered the town, captured Pracki and ordered him shot. The memoir tells the story vividly, but Augusiewicz stresses its wider meaning: this was one of the first Crown military actions against Swedish rule after the autumn capitulations. The dramatic details of the capture come from a memoir and should be distinguished from the established outcome.¹

Novel and film

Pracki's choice illustrates a real problem reflected in Sienkiewicz's fictional changes of allegiance: Commonwealth soldiers fought on both sides in 1655. He is not separately identified in the cast of Hoffman's film.²