2017. Vol. 5, no. 2. Roman Hautala, Gulevich V.P.

2017. Vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 437-459

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2017-5-2.437-459

   LETTER OF POLISH HETMAN JAN ZAMOYSKI
“ABOUT PASSAGE OF TATARS THROUGH POKUTTYA IN 1594”

Roman Hautala 1,2, V.P. Gulevich 3
1 Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences
Kazan, Russian Federation
2 University of Oulu
Oulu, Finland
romanhautala@gmail.com

3 Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Kiev, Ukraine
gulevych_v@ukr.net 

The present article contains the text of the letter sent by Polish hetman Jan Zamoyski to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini August 12, 1594 describing the circumstances of the recent invasion of Tatar troops in Hungary. Judging by contents of the letter, Zamoyski did not hide his desire to be justified in the eyes of the Roman Curia for the ineffectiveness of his actions, which would have to prevent Tatars to invade Hungary through Ukrainian territory that was subordinated to Rzeczpospolita. Thus, this letter is interesting for two reasons. In the first place, Zamoyski’s letter contains detailed information about movement of Tartar troops to the west and stratagemme of khan Ghazi Giray, which allowed Tatars to lull Polish hetman and painlessly penetrate into Hungarian territory. On the other hand, the letter contains somewhat clumsy attempts of Zamoyski to justify his unsuccessful actions, which represent a particular interest.
This article, therefore, contains the Latin text of the letter and its Russian translation as well as the preface and necessary comments to the text explaining the reasons and the very course of Tatar invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary. In addition, the authors placed facsimiles of two handwritten copies of the letter from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan at the end of the article.

Keywords: Ottoman conquest of the Balkans in the late 16th century, invasions of the Crimean Tatars in Central and Eastern Europe, Hungarian Kingdom, Rzeczpospolita, Polish hetman Jan Zamoyski

For citation: Hautala R., Gulevich V.P. Letter of Polish Hetman Jan Zamoyski “About Passage of Tatars through Pokuttya in 1594”. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2017. Vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 437–459 + 22 р. ill. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2017-5-2.437-459

Thanks

I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Monsignor Francesco Braschi for assisting in the work on the Codex of Pinelli in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, as well as for the provision of photocopies, which greatly facilitated publication of the text – R.H.

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About the authors: Roman Hautala – Ph.D. (History), Senior Research Fellow, Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (7, Baturin Str., Kazan 420111, Russian Federation); Docent, Historical branch at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3898-0107, ResearcherID: H-9114-2016 (1, Pentti Kaiteran Str., Historia, PL 1000, 90570, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland). E-mail: romanhautala@gmail.com

Vladislav P. Gulevich – MA (History), Chief Adviser, Office for Relations with the Local Government and the Local Authorities to the Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (5, M. Grushevsky Str., Kiev 01008, Ukraine). E-mail: gulevych_v@ukr.net

Received  January 16, 2017   Accepted for publication  April 25, 2017
Published  June 30, 2017