Bogusław Radziwiłł a Rosja

ENThe article is dedicated to the memory of Tadeusz Wasilewski, who dealt with the biography of Bogusiaw Radziwill, master of the horse of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. T. Wasilewski did not enjoy an opportunity for benefiting from research conducted in Russian archives. The ability to make use of these sources rendered it possible to supplement numerous episodes in the magnate's biography. Radziwill start ed attaching greater importance to relations with Russia in 1655, when the Russian armies encroached his landed estates. He relied on protecting his property with the assistance of the Swedes, and at the same time tried to win Russian consent for creating a separate principality as a Swedish protectorate. In 1656 it became obvious that everything pointed to a war between Russia and Sweden, Radziwill turned for support to the elector of Brandenburg, to whom he was related. In 1657 Friedrich Wilhelm appointed him the governor of Ducal Prussia and the commander of the armies stationing there. The chancellor of Courland advised the Russians not only to return the Radziwill estates but also to request that King Jan Kazimierz do the same. The prime condition for confirming the right to the estates was, however, the ac ceptance of Russian superiority. The plans pursued in Moscow included RadziwiH's aid in incorporating the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1658 the war between the Commonwealth and Russia flared up again. The military situation grew inauspicious for Radziwill, but among the entourage of Alexei Mikhailovich he gained a spokes man in the person of Afanasiy Lavrentievich Ordin-Nashchokin, who counted on gaining a favourable peace with the Commonwealth thanks to the backing of the Brandenburg elector. A number of circumstances at the end of 1659 rendered the relations between the Russian authorities and Radziwill more complicated.One of the reasons was the fact that detachments from Sluck attacked Cossack and Russian troops; the Russian commander informed that Lithuania armies under Radziwill had joined forces with the Brandenburg troops in Courland. Radziwill attempted to convince the Russian commanders that he was not an opponent of Russia, and in doing so he maintained contacts with the Russian authorities. Nonetheless, he was inca pable of guaranteeing security for all his estates. The summer campaign of 1660 in the war between Russia and the Commonwealth ended with the defeat and with drawal of the Russian armies, and the magnate no longer attached importance to connections with the Russian authorities. [Translated by Aleksandra Rodzinska-Chojnowska].