Who was Stanislaw Zolkiewski?

He was a Polish hetman, later grand hetman and grand chancellor of the Crown (1547 to 1620), one of the Commonwealth's boldest commanders, famous for his victory at Klushino in 1610.

What is Zolkiewski famous for?

For the Battle of Klushino in 1610, where his outnumbered army beat a Russian force supported by foreign mercenaries and opened the road to Moscow.

Did Poland really capture Moscow?

Yes. After Klushino a Polish-Lithuanian garrison occupied the Moscow Kremlin from 1610, but the arrangement collapsed and the garrison was forced out by 1612.

How did Zolkiewski die?

He was killed in 1620 at the Battle of Cecora in Moldavia, cut down while covering the retreat of his outnumbered army against the Ottomans and Tatars.

Was Zolkiewski Polish?

Yes, he was a commander of the Polish Crown within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, holding the offices of grand hetman and grand chancellor of the Crown.

How is Zolkiewski remembered?

As one of the most daring commanders in Polish history and a far-sighted statesman, best known for Klushino and the brief Polish presence in Moscow.

Stanislaw Zolkiewski: the hetman who marched on Moscow

Stanislaw Zolkiewski was one of the boldest commanders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a hetman and statesman whose victory at Klushino in 1610 briefly put Polish soldiers inside the Moscow Kremlin. He served the state for over half a century and, in old age, died sword in hand covering his army's retreat.

A lifetime of service

Born in 1547, Zolkiewski rose through the wars¹ of the late 16th century to become one of the Commonwealth's leading soldiers, and eventually Grand Hetman and Grand Chancellor of the Crown. He fought Cossacks, Tatars, Swedes and Muscovites², and was known for daring, mobile campaigns rather than caution.

Klushino, 1610

In the summer of 1610, during the Polish-Muscovite War, Zolkiewski, then field hetman of the Crown, met a Russian army¹ supported by foreign mercenaries near Klushino. Though heavily outnumbered, he attacked at dawn³ and, with repeated hussar charges, broke the enemy in one of the most lopsided victories of the age. The road to Moscow lay open.

Portrait of Stanislaw Zolkiewski, National Museum in Krakow — Portrait of Stanislaw Zolkiewski, anonymous, 17th to 18th century (National Museum, Krakow). Public domain.

Outnumbered many times over, he attacked at dawn and opened the road to Moscow.

Moscow and its price

After Klushino, Zolkiewski negotiated an agreement to place the Polish prince Wladyslaw⁴ on the Russian throne, and a Polish-Lithuanian garrison entered the Kremlin. But King Sigismund's ambitions overreached the deal¹, the arrangement collapsed, and the garrison was besieged and forced out by 1612⁵. It remains one of the most dramatic and contested episodes in the history of the two nations.

Painting of a crowded royal hall where a captive tsar bows before the Polish king — Jan Matejko, The Shuisky Tsars at the Sejm in Warsaw, 1892 (National Museum in Kraków): Zolkiewski presents the captive Tsar Vasili IV Shuisky to King Sigismund III in 1611. Public domain

Death at Cecora

In 1620, now in his seventies¹, Zolkiewski led an army into Moldavia against the Ottomans and their Tatar allies. Outnumbered and let down by mutinous troops, his force was overwhelmed during its retreat at Cecora, and the old hetman was killed covering the withdrawal¹. He is remembered as a brilliant, restless commander and a statesman whose warnings his country did not always heed.

Painting of the wounded old hetman supported by companions amid Ottoman attackers and a red banner — Walery Eljasz-Radzikowski, The death of Stanislaw Zolkiewski with his confessor, Father Szymon Wybierski, at Cecora in 1620 (painted before 1905). Public domain

See his greatest victory at the Battle of Klushino, or meet his peers in the greatest commanders in Polish history.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Muzeum Historii Polski (polishhistory.pl), “Stanisław Żółkiewski: Between Military Service and Private Interests” ↩ a b c d e
dzieje.pl (Muzeum Historii Polski / PAP), “Sejm przyjął uchwałę ws. ustanowienia roku 2020 Rokiem Hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego” ↩
Robert Szcześniak, Kłuszyn 1610 (Bellona (seria Historyczne Bitwy), 2008). ↩
Stanisław Żółkiewski, Początek i progres wojny moskiewskiej, the hetman's own account of the 1609-1611 campaign, Klushino and the Moscow treaty. ↩
Jerzy Besala, Stanisław Żółkiewski (Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1988). ↩
Wikipedia, “Stanislaw Zolkiewski, Wikipedia”