Śmierć rycerza kresowego i jego "sepulcrum"

ENThe period between 1569 and1965 was rife with wars conducted by the Republic of Poland with the Duchy of Moscow, with Turkey, Sweden and armed detachments of Tartars, Cossacks, and Italians. Poets, eulogists, and preachers saw the fight and death of knights taking part in these wars as heroic acts, and thus elevated them into heroes, especially that the enemies were often the Followers of the Orthodox church, or Protestants and Muslims. Any detailed reading of the contemporary sources (memoirs, letters) shows that the war reality was far more complex and the heroes far less heroic. Among the few exceptions were Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Stanislaus Żółkiewski who died at the battle field, thus becoming the symbols of "Christian knights." Most of the knights, like Stanisław Koniecpolski, Lew Sapieha, and Wincenty Gosiewski or Jan Zamoyski ended their days at home, often even during a feast. The military merits of the deceased were praised particularly during the funerals. Heroic acts of a knight were presented in the form of an extended family iconography in church-mausoleums, chapels, tombs and also in inscriptions. The simplest form of commemorating a frontier knight was by placing in a church an epitaphic or a tombstone showing his image in full armour. This attribute of knighthood can be found on most tombstones that time. Knights are presented there differently: e.g. Stanisław Radziwiłł (Vilnius, the Bernardine church, workshop of Willem van den Blocke, 1618-1612) and Paweł Stefan Sapieha 'Holszany, Gdańsk workshop) were shown in a fecumbent position, while Mikołaj Wolski in a kneeling posture (Krzemienicą, ca. 1612). In this respect, a unique example is the tomb of Mikołaj Radziwiłł "Sierotka" in Nieśwież (1588-1593), where the deceased is presented in pilgrims Sarments, and his armor is placed around his kneeling figure. In Nowogródek there is an epitaph of Jerzy Rudomino and his eight comrades fallen at the battle o.Except for Rudomino, all the other figures are shown headless, with their heads lying near them at the battle ground. From amidst the clouds emerges the figure of Madonna with an Infant, holding a rosary and a wreath. Knights and their military victories are most sumptuously presented in church-mausoleums. The collegiate church in Zamość (1587-1600; Bernardo Morando) is at the same time monumentum victoriae of the Hetman over his enemies. This is highlighted, for example, by panoply placed in frieze metopes and on the tombstone of the defunct In the grand chapel of St. I.awrence in Żółkiew (1606-1618; P. Szczęśliwy, A. Przychylny) Hetman Stanislaus Żółkiewski was buried. His tomb was to commemorate his military prowess and at the same time to glorify the Polish "sword." Entablature metopes are filled with military attributes and symbols: mounted knights (St. Martin and St. George) and eagles (symbols of military prowess). The church also houses a painting "The Battle of Kłuszyn" (ca. 1620, Sz. Boguszewicz) showing the greatest victory of Hetman Żółkiewski. The iconographic program is completed with a tombstone displaying Hetman Żółkiewski in a glorifying standing posture, wearing armor and holding a mace in his hand. The inscription extols Hetman's fights pro fide Christi al paltia sacra. Not always was it possible to commemorate the deceased in a special way. Ordinary soldiers, killed at the battle ground, were buried on the spot. Sometimes their graves took the shape of barrows in the steppe. Żółkiewski wrote: "I wish my grave were the grave-mould of the borders of the Republic of Poland, so that the successors were encouraged to expand the borders of the state of the Republic of Poland.".