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France and England Didn’t Own Chivalry: Have You Heard of the Polish Knight Zawisza Czarny?

France and England Didn’t Own Chivalry: Have You Heard of the Polish Knight Zawisza Czarny?

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Due to the popularity of the King Arthur legends, knights and chivalry are often associated with England and France. Yet one of the knights that best embodied knightly virtue is a Polish man named Zawisza Czarny. A local noble from Garbow in modern-day southeast Poland, Zawisza was a valiant soldier, an honorable diplomat, and a man brave enough to stand his ground in the face of certain defeat. Little is known about Zawisza, but researchers from the Institute of History, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin have embarked on a project to uncover more about the famed Polish knight.

Zawisza Family Records

Zawisza Czarny was popularly referred to as Zawisza the Black because of his thick, black hair. He apparently enjoyed the moniker because he had a suit of black armor custom built. Today, this can still be seen in Częstochowa, Poland at the Jasna Góra Monastery, which is better known for its famed shrine of the Virgin Mary. Zawisza was probably born around 1379 into a family that bore the Sulima coat of arms of the Szlachta (a Polish caste of legally privileged nobles). Records show that in 1397 (at the age of 18) Zawisza married Barbara, a woman from a noble family that bore the Piława coat of arms, another branch of the Szlachta. Together, they had four sons.

Sulima coat of arms.

Sulima coat of arms. (CC BY-SA 3.0) It is said Zawisza Czarny’s family bore this coat of arms.

Barbara is well remembered because some believe that it is through her connections that Zawisza gained the attention of the Royal Court. Barbara was the niece of Piotr Wysz Radoliński, Bishop of Krakow. Piotr worked in the court of Queen Jadwiga, better known in Western Europe as Queen Hedwig. Crowned in 1384, Hedwig was the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, a post that she held until her death in 1399 due to complications from childbirth. Hedwig married the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila in 1386 after he converted to Roman Catholicism. Jogaila thus became King Władysław II Jagiełło.

He served as a co-ruler with Hedwig, although he spent a good deal of time converting Lithuania to Christianity and stamping out the trouble caused by the Teutonic Knights, who felt that the King’s conversion was a sham and kept trying to conquer Lithuania with the intention of killing all of the still-pagan Lithuanians. Upon Hedwig’s death in 1399, King Władysław II Jagiełło became sovereign of Poland and commander of Poland-Lithuania until his death in 1434 of a bad cold.

King Władysław II Jagiełło, detail of the Triptych of Our Lady of Sorrows in the Wawel Cathedral.

King Władysław II Jagiełło, detail of the Triptych of Our Lady of Sorrows in the Wawel Cathedral. (Public Domain)

Zawisza Czarny at the Battle of Grunwald

During this time, Zawisza Czarny was presumably training as a knight and fighting in tournaments, at which he won much acclaim. The next time Zawisza’s name appears in the historical records is at the Battle of Grunwald between Poland-Lituania and the Teutonic Knights. It was one of the largest battles in Medieval Europe and was memorialized by the artist Jan Matejko in his 1878 painting, Battle of Grunwald. It is the image of Zawisza in this painting that is most widely used to depict him.

Zawisza served with distinction during the battle, which was a resounding success for King Władysław II Jagiełło. Zawisza was made a part of the delegation that negotiated a peace deal with Sigismund of Luxemburg, King of Hungary-Bohemia, perhaps because of this distinction or his reputation as a superb knight, or his family connections. The deal would become known as the Treaty of Lubowla.

The Battle of Grunwald.

The Battle of Grunwald. (Public Domain) This painting has the most famous depiction of Zawisza Czarny. (See the top image of this article for the detail of the painting showing Zawisza.)

Zawisza Czarny, The Champion

In 1412, Zawisza cemented his place of honor in the eyes of the two monarchs at a tournament held by Władysław II and Sigismund. In all, there were about 1,500 knights there from all over Europe. It was Zawisza who won the tournament. Today, we know him better as the Black Knight who defeated Sir John II of Aragon at the tournament in Perpignan in modern-day southwest France. Zawisza continued to fight in tournaments and to serve as a diplomat for the King of Poland for many years. It is “through victories in numerous European tournaments, at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth century that he gained the fame which today the biggest stars of sport and pop culture enjoy” (Klapa, 2016).

Zawisza Czarny: The Black Knight.

Zawisza Czarny: The Black Knight. (gdansk.zhp.pl)

Zawisza Czarny’s Uncertain Cause of Death

In 1428, Zawisza was called upon to join King Sigismund in his war against the encroaching Ottoman Turks. It proved to be a disastrous expedition. Zawisza fought the Turks at the Siege of Golubac, a fortress on the banks of the Danube in modern-day Serbia. Defeated by the main Ottoman army under Sultan Murad II, Sigismund ordered the retreat back to the Hungarian side of the Danube. Zawisza was in charge of guarding the soldiers and horsemen as they got onto the boats that would ferry them across the river. Legend has it that, when it was time for him to make the crossing, “Zawisza Czarny was angry the King acted as a coward [and] refused to retreat. Instead he continued fighting” (MessageToEagle, 2016). It is certain that he died as a result of this decision; however, whether he was killed in combat or was executed later while in Ottoman captivity is not known for certain.

The Golubac fortress.

The Golubac fortress. (CC BY-SA 3.0) Zawisza Czarny fought his last battle at the Siege of Golubac.

This much is known about the once famed knight. Yet at a fundamental level, he is still a great mystery. In particular, the identity of his family and place of origin are not known.

“We know that he was born there [in Garbow] and he was proud of his roots. That feeling has subsided despite the meteoric career in medieval tournaments. Whenever he was in Western Europe, he referred to himself as his father and grandfather: of Garbów” said Dr. Tomisław Giergiel from Institute of History, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, leader of the Zawisza research team (Klapa, 2016). The project came about when Dr. Giergiel realized that, despite the many monuments to Zawisza of Garbow, “in the available archaeological documentation from the area of Garbów there isn't a single site from the Middle Ages” (Klapa, 2016). In other words, the home of Zawisza’s family is missing – there is no castle or mansion or any other indication that a noble family once lived in the area.

“There had to be a feudal centre there, associated with the fact that this was the residence of the Zawisza family, who ruled the land. There had to be rural settlements,” insists Dr. Giergiel.

His team’s search will be complicated by the many Garbows now in eastern Poland including Stary Garbow, Nomy Garbow, and Gmina Garbow. The Zawisza project is still ongoing.

Top image: Zawisza Czarny. Photo Source: (Alchetron)

By Kerry Sullivan

Sources:

Klapa, Marek. "The Search for the Family Home of Zawisza Czarny." Science and Scholarship in Poland. Science and Scholarship in Poland, 04 June 2016. Web.
http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,409104,the-search-for-the-family-home-of-zawisza-czarny.html

MessageToEagle. "Zawisza Czarny: Most Famous Polish Knight And The Quest For His Family Home." MessageToEagle. MessageToEagle, 26 Apr. 2016. Web.
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/zawisza-czarny-most-famous-polish-knight-and-the-quest-for-his-family-home/

 

Comments

Was pleasure to read this article.
All the Best,

Grajewski

In Polish language we read sz like sh and cz like ch in English.

Kerry Sullivan's picture

Kerry Sullivan

Kerry Sullivan has a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts and is currently a freelance writer, completing assignments on historical, religious, and political topics.

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