Lithuanian Civil War (1700)

In 1693, the Grand Hetman of Lithuania Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger quartered the Lithuanian army in the bishop's manors, however it was only allowed to station the army in state estates and forbidden in church estates.[3] Thus, Brzostowski initiated a legal case against Sapieha, which ended with Sapieha financially compensating Brzostowski.[3] Nevertheless, the bishop complained to the king, that Sapieha, with his ties to Austria, wants to depose the king and crown himself.[3] Having received a letter of protection against Sapieha, the bishop began to act defiantly.[3]

On 18 April 1694, the bishop excommunited Sapieha in the Vilnius Cathedral, forbidding him to enter churches and receive sacraments.[3] Nonetheless, the Lithuanian army remained loyal to its hetman.[3] In the same evening, nobles of Vilnius and their ladies gathered at Sapieha Palace in Antakalnis.[3] Since almost all the monasteries in Vilnius lived from Sapieha's donations, they did not follow through with the bishop's excommunication as they did not want to upset their main donator.[3] Sapieha, who was never pious, went deliberately to the monastery churches to hear Mass.[3] After Brzostowski confronted the monks, they answered that they could ignore his excommunication as their only chiefs were the superior generals of their religious orders.[3]

Confusion ensued with the whole country being agitated and both sides publishing many pamphlets.[3] The Sapieha's did not follow the bishops and his clergy, and the rowdy local nobility in the sejmiks was controlled by the army.[3] Even Michał Stefan Radziejowski, the Primate of Poland, sent a letter of rebuke to Brzostowski and annulled the excommunication of Sapieha, yet the Pope's nuncio supported the bishop and took Sapieha to a trial in the Warsaw's nunciature.[3]

In 1694, Sapieha marched with his army against the Ottoman army and halted in Dubienka.[3] Once there, his troops send delegates to the king, declaring their loyalty to Sapieha and demanding that the king pay them appropriate salaries.[3] On 6 October 1694, at Uścieczko, the Grand Hetman of Lithuania, Jan Sapieha, and the Grand Hetman of the Crown Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski led the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of Poland respectively to victory against the Ottoman Empire and Tatars from the Crimean Khanate.[3] After the battle, Jabłonowski sent a letter to Pope Innocent XI commending Sapieha.[3] So, Brzostowski had to leave Rome without gaining anything and his excommunication was forgotten.[3] Jan Sapieha was greeted as a victor when he returned to Vilnius.[3] While Sapieha was away, the Lithuanian nobility was split into those supporting Sapieha and the anti-Sapieha coalition.[3]

In the royal election of 1697, the Sapiehas supported François Louis, Prince of Conti for the Polish-Lithuanian throne while most of the Lithuanian nobility and the Oginski family supported Augustus II the Strong. Once August II won the election, Sapieha went over to the king's side, who issued a universal, that ordained Oginski and his supporters to cease their activities, but the cruel civil war went on in 1698 regardless.[3]

Furthermore, the Coaequatio iurium was passed in the royal election without opposition because the Sapieha's and their loyalists boycotted the election.[3][4] The military conflict turned into civil war when Coaequatio iurium was passed.[1] This law curtailed the powers of Lithuanian ministers, specifically those of the Hetmans' and the Treasurer's.[3] This law specifically targeted the Sapieha family.[3] The Grand Chancellor of Lithuania, Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, allowed the equalization to go through, even at the cost of his own position's powers.[3] Among the changes passed in the sejm of 1697 was the introduction of the Polish language in the documents of Lithuania.[3] Sapieha disregarded the new law, thus giving his enemies an opportunity to accuse him even more of self-will.[3] While the Grand Hetman controlled the Lithuanian army, he managed to curb the violent activity of noble bands.[3] By 1698, an agreement was reached between the king and Lithuanian nobility whereby the Lithuanian army's size was slashed by more than half in an attempt to subvert Sapiehas power, thus resulting in diarchy.[1][5]

The situation became inflamed again in early 1700. An anti-Sapieha noble, Sebastian Cedrowski fired a pistol at the carriage of Hetman Sapieha in February. Soon after Karol Radziwill was chosen as the Marshall of the 1700 Lithuanian Tribunal, which the Sapiehas took as a personal affront.

In 1700 February, August II was in war with Sweden and thus required military aid from the Sapiehas.[1] On 3 July 1700, without the permission of the Commonwealth's Sejm, the King allowed Jan Sapieha to hire an army of 3,660 soldiers to fight the Swedes.[1] The Republicans opposed the formation of this corps, seeing it as leading to the reestablishment of the hegemony of the Sapiehas.[1] Their fear was reinforced with the success of the Sapieha in gaining control of Lithuania's Treasury and Tribunal.[1] The szlachta's dissatisfaction was increased even more when they heard of the decision to quarter the Saxon Army and its auxiliary corps raised by Sapieha for winter in the territory of the Grand Duchy, even if the anti-Sapieha coalition and the Sapiehas had agreed to disperse the Sapiehan auxiliary corps on 21 August 1700.[1]

Lithuanian Field Hetman Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki

Wanting to halt the continued formation and dislocation of Sapieha's corps and the resulting reinstatement of Sapiehan hegemony, a pospolite ruszenie of the Lithuanian nobility was declared by the leaders of the anti-Sapiehan coalition.[1] They claimed they were doing it in accordance with the King's universal of July 1, which ordered the nobility to prepare the country's defence against Swedish invasion.[1] This was a ruse, however, as there was no danger of Swedish invasion in the autumn of 1700, so it can be concluded that it was aimed at the Sapieha's.[1]

August II manoeuvred in between the two sides, because he needed Sapieha's support, but still want to keep the power of Sapieha's in check.[3] Moreover, the king illegally maintained the Saxon Army in Lithuania, pretending to do it for the protection of the nobles, while actually assembling his forces for the campaign in Livonia, as the Great Northern War had already started in 1700.[3] August II asked the Polish and Lithuanian senators to declare war on Sweden.[3] The Polish refused, but Sapieha agreed, even if he protested against the stationing of the Saxon army.[3] So, Sapieha was forced to recruit an army, which he did with the money he used to give the Saxons, and lead it.[3]

Sapieha also appealed to the confederates, inviting them to contribute as well, but the Field Hetman of Lithuania Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki, instead of defending his country from the Swedes, attacked Sapieha at Valkininkai.[6] Misled by the insincere mediation of Bishop Brzostowski, Sapieha did not assemble enough troops and was defeated in 1700.[6]

The Sapiehas were defeated in the Battle of Valkininkai on 18 November, and lost their dominant position in the Grand Duchy, never to regain it in the future.

Sapieha left for Vilnius with his brother Benedykt, leaving his son, the Lithuania's Koniuszy Michał Sapieha to negotiate capitulation with the Confederates of Valkininkai.[6] The enraged nobles did not want to negotiate, slashed the young Sapieha with swords and promulgated a confederative act depriving Jan Sapieha of the Grand Hetman's position, manors and wealth.[6] Oginskis and his supporters occupied Vilnius, the Sapieha manors were ravaged, with Sapieha himself fleeing to Warsaw.[6] Augustus II appointed a commission to investigate the quarrel and, now with Sapieha's consent, stationed the Saxon army in Lithuania.[6]