When was the Battle of Humenné?

On 23 November 1619 according to Ronikier; Pieńkowski describes two days of fighting, on 23 and 24 November.

Who were the Lisowczycy?

Polish light horsemen formed by Aleksander Lisowski in the wars with Muscovy. They served without regular pay and lived largely by plunder, and were famous both for daring and for cruelty.

Why is Humenné called the first relief of Vienna?

When Gabriel Bethlen heard that his ally Rákóczi had been routed, he lifted his siege of Vienna. The historian Adam Kersten gave the campaign that name.

How did the Lisowczycy win at Humenné?

After their ranks broke, Rákóczi's infantry ran into their camp to loot it. The Polish horsemen turned back and charged the disordered enemy; Pieńkowski reads the retreat as a deliberate feint.

Was Poland officially at war in 1619?

No. Sigismund III supported the Habsburgs but kept up an appearance of neutrality; the recruiting was done through the Hungarian magnate György Drugeth of Homonna, and the king later disowned the expedition.

Battle of Humenné, 1619: the Lisowczycy and the first relief of Vienna

Quick answer

What happened at the Battle of Humenné?

In November 1619, early in the Thirty Years' War, a large force of Lisowczycy, Polish light horsemen recruited with King Sigismund III's quiet blessing to help Emperor Ferdinand II, crossed the Carpathians and defeated the Transylvanian army of George Rákóczi near Humenné in today's Slovakia. With a feigned flight they drew Rákóczi's men into breaking ranks to plunder their camp, then turned and routed them. When the news reached Gabriel Bethlen, who was besieging Vienna, he lifted the siege, which is why Polish historians call it the first relief of Vienna.¹

In the autumn of 1619 the Habsburgs were in trouble. The Bohemian revolt that opened the Thirty Years' War had spread to Silesia and Moravia, and, as the historian Radosław Lolo explains for the Museum of Polish History, Gabriel Bethlen, the prince of Transylvania, invaded Upper Hungary and Slovakia and on 27 October joined the rebels in besieging Vienna itself.²

Emperor Ferdinand II looked for help in many places, among them Poland. King Sigismund III Vasa had signed a family pact with the Habsburgs in 1613 that the Polish parliament never ratified. He would not intervene openly, but, after consulting Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, he agreed to a quieter solution: to send the emperor the Lisowczycy.³

Horsemen without a paymaster

The Lisowczycy, also called elears, were a formation of light cavalry created by Aleksander Lisowski during the wars with Muscovy. Maciej Adam Pieńkowski, writing in Histmag, quotes the historian Adam Kersten: they were not part of the regular army, drew no steady pay and lived mostly by plunder, a mix of nobles, townsmen and peasants who elected their own officers. They rode light, without baggage, and were armed with whatever they had, from wheel-lock carbines to composite bows and sabers.⁴

Back from Muscovy and plundering the southeastern borderlands, they were a problem at home. Sending them to the emperor, Lolo notes, got rid of the problem and helped the Habsburgs at the same time. To keep up the appearance of neutrality, the recruiting was left to a Hungarian magnate living in Poland, György Drugeth of Homonna, whom Bethlen had driven out and who wanted his estates back.⁵

Through the passes

The Lisowczycy crossed the Polish border probably on 21 November, most likely by the Łupków pass, Pieńkowski writes, numbering 8,000 to 10,000 men; Jerzy Ronikier's lexicon of Polish battles gives about 10,000. Bethlen's ally George Rákóczi had blocked the Carpathian passes from Dukla to Wetlina with about 7,000 men: 2,500 heavy cavalry, 2,500 Hungarian light horse and 2,000 infantry. The commander of the Lisowczycy, Walenty Rogawski, led his men through smaller passes and came out behind the enemy near the town of Humenné on the Laborec river.⁶

Pieńkowski cautions that the course of the battle is not fully clear, though the sources agree it lasted two days; Ronikier gives the date as 23 November. On the first day part of the Polish force came down the valley of the Udava and beat Rákóczi's cavalry where the river meets the Laborec.⁷

The feigned flight

The decisive fight came on the second day, near the village of Zavda in Ronikier's account. At first the Hungarians had the better of it; their heavy cavalry broke the Polish ranks and the Lisowczycy fled. Rákóczi, sure of victory, sent his infantry forward, and it burst into the Polish camp and began to loot it. Then the Polish banners turned and charged the scattered enemy. Pieńkowski reads the flight as a deliberate ruse, a feigned retreat in four columns toward their own camp; either way, Rákóczi let his army lose its order and walked into the trap. He escaped with a handful of men and left about 3,000 on the field.⁸

The first relief of Vienna

The victory opened Upper Hungary to the Lisowczycy, who pursued Rákóczi, besieged him briefly in Makovica castle and then spread out to plunder around Košice. Bethlen, hearing of his ally's defeat, lifted the siege of Vienna and pulled back across the Danube. Adam Kersten called this the first relief of Vienna, a name Lolo endorses. Pieńkowski adds a caution: plague raging in Bethlen's camp weighed just as much in his decision.⁹

For Poland the expedition brought little gain and much trouble. Sigismund III disowned it as Homonna's private venture, the Lisowczycy came home in disorder and plundered again, and in January 1620 crown troops broke them up near Miechów. Whether the expedition helped provoke the Polish-Ottoman war of 1620 to 1621, which opened with the disaster at Cecora, is disputed: Pieńkowski counts it among the causes, while Lolo cites the historian Ryszard Majewski, who showed that view to be unfounded.¹⁰