Treaty of Radnot

Course of events

Charles X Gustav and his allies agreed on a proposed division of Commonwealth territory. The planned partition was not carried out.¹

A closer look

The proposed division promised extensive lands to Sweden, an independent Ukraine for Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Nowogródek region to Bogusław Radziwiłł, and much of the remainder to George II Rákóczi as a prospective king of Poland. Rákóczi later invaded the Commonwealth, but the planned partition was never carried out.¹

Who planned the division?

At Radnot, representatives of Charles X Gustav reached an agreement with Frederick William of Brandenburg, George II Rákóczi of Transylvania, Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossack side and Bogusław Radziwiłł. Facing Commonwealth resistance and new threats, Sweden sought allies willing to fight for promised territory.¹

A map that remained a proposal

According to the museum, Sweden was to receive Royal Prussia, Kuyavia, northern Mazovia and Samogitia among other lands. Khmelnytsky was promised an independent Ukraine, Bogusław Radziwiłł the Nowogródek voivodeship, and Rákóczi much of the remainder together with the Polish crown. These were diplomatic provisions, not borders established on the ground.¹

What happened instead?

Rákóczi entered the Commonwealth and cooperated with Swedish forces, but his campaign ended in defeat. The proposed division never took place. Polish writing sometimes describes the treaty as a forerunner of later partitions; it was an unrealised seventeenth-century plan.¹