Capitulation of Kėdainiai (1655)

Course of events

In the summer of 1655 Charles X Gustav sent Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie to Livonia with orders to march into Lithuania¹. No sooner had de la Gardie landed at Riga on 25 July than an envoy of Janusz and Bogusław Radziwiłł appeared before him with a declaration of submission. He concluded an agreement with them on 10 August and then issued a manifesto to the Lithuanian estates². After the battle with Muscovy at Vilnius, the Lithuanian army under Hetman Radziwiłł, its commander-in-chief, had been weakened by the departure of some of its units. The hetman set out for Samogitia and near Kėdainiai, in the presence of the Swedish commissioner Bengt Skytte, proclaimed Lithuania’s submission on 18 August. Henryk Wisner dates the document itself to 17 August; the distinction is between its date and proclamation.²³

The signatories pledged fidelity to the King of Sweden as Grand Duke of Lithuania. They undertook to join forces with him, provided it was not against the King of Poland and the Commonwealth, and they placed the crown lands in his hands. They stipulated that the Grand Duchy should not be incorporated into Sweden, but united with it as it had been with the Crown⁴. Signatories included Janusz Radziwiłł, treasurer and field hetman Wincenty Gosiewski, canon Jerzy Białłozor and Samuel Komorowski. Henryk Wisner's study of the original act shows that older copies wrongly inserted Bishop Piotr Parczewski, Bogusław Radziwiłł, “Kazimierz Białozor” and “Adam Komorowski”.³ Wisner names Jerzy Karol Hlebowicz, Aleksander Judycki and Jan Stankiewicz among those present who did not sign³. Kubala additionally names Pac among opponents of the act and reports that Judycki was imprisoned⁵. Gosiewski signed under duress and was arrested when he tried to leave the camp⁶.

Later Radziwiłł summoned the Lithuanian estates to Kėdainiai. De la Gardie came in person and was received with ceremony, and those present signed a second act. In it they recognised the King of Sweden and his successors as the lawful kings and grand dukes of Lithuania and renounced the pacts with the Commonwealth⁷.

Kubala does not date the second act⁷. The Museum of Polish History dates the Union of Kėdainiai to 20 October 1655. The Grand Duchy accepted Swedish protection and broke its union with Poland; Charles Gustav was to become grand duke. The signatories included Janusz Radziwiłł, Wincenty Gosiewski, Bishop Piotr Parczewski, canon Jerzy Białłozor, voivode Mikołaj Korff and more than 1,100 representatives of the nobility, clergy and army⁸³. On 21 October, the imprisoned Gosiewski promised de la Gardie not to escape from his camp⁹.

Mikołaj Kazimierz Szemiot was among those present at the October negotiations. According to his later account, he objected to the Swedish terms but ultimately signed the acts of 20 October. His surviving poem is both an eyewitness account and an effort to explain his own choice.¹⁰

Forces and losses

There was no fighting at Kėdainiai. De la Gardie sent 600 foot and 200 horse to take Biržai, Bauska and Palanga, and behind this detachment Löwenhaupt set out with the whole army of seven thousand men. The Lithuanian garrison of Biržai, 500 strong, swore allegiance to Löwenhaupt². Six hundred foot were brought in to arrest Gosiewski⁷.

Significance

By virtue of these acts the whole of Samogitia passed under Swedish rule, together with the districts of Ukmergė, Upytė and Braslaw and part of the Kaunas district⁷. John II Casimir Vasa declared Radziwiłł a traitor and appointed his opponent, the voivode of Vitebsk, Sapieha, commander-in-chief of the Lithuanian army¹¹. Abandoned by his supporters, Radziwiłł died at Tykocin on 31 December 1655¹².

In the novel

In the novel the act is read out at Kėdainiai by a Mr Komorowski; that passage alone does not establish that the author meant Samuel, the historical signatory. It contains a condition close to the one Kubala summarises from the August document¹³:

2) Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie nie będzie do Szwecji wcielone, lecz z nią takim sposobem połączone, jak dotąd z Koroną Polską, to jest, aby naród narodowi, senat senatowi, a rycerstwo rycerstwu we wszystkim było równe.

Henryk Sienkiewicz, The Deluge (Potop)¹⁴

(Our translation: "2) The Grand Duchy of Lithuania shall not be incorporated into Sweden, but joined with it in the same manner as hitherto with the Crown of Poland, that is, so that nation be equal to nation, senate to senate and knighthood to knighthood in all things.")

Who represented Sweden

The Lithuanian study hosted by the defence ministry identifies Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie and Bengt Skytte, governor of Estonia, as Sweden’s representatives. This concerns the final agreement of 20 October; it should not be applied indiscriminately to earlier negotiations and acts at Kiejdany¹⁵.