page_title: Clan Ostoja
section_title: 17th century
hierarchical_section_title: Clan Ostoja / Chronology / Commonwealth era / 17th century
caption_attribution_description: Marcin Szyszkowski Bishop of Kraków, anonymous portrait of XVII century image taken by user:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepańczyk
context_page_description: Clan Ostoja was a powerful group of knights and lords in late-medieval Europe. The Clan encompass families in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Upper Hungary, Hungary, Transylvania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Prussia. The Clan crest is the Ostoja coat of arms, and the battle cry is Ostoja or Hostoja. The Clan adopted the Royal-Sarmatian tamga draco emblem.
  During the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Clan adopted several Lithuanian and Belarusian families, generally of Ruthenian princely origin, and transformed into a Clan of landlords, senators and nobility. Members of the Clan worked together closely, often living close to each other. They held high positions, and held a great amount of land and properties in both Commonwealth and in Upper Hungary in medieval times, including many great gothic style castles. Members of the Clan of Ostoja ruled several feudal lordships in Upper Hungary between 1390 and 1434 and Transylvania in 1395-1401 and again in 1410-1414, during the time of Duke Stibor of Stiboricz.
context_section_description: The 17th century provided much more activity from the Clan. First half of the century was the Golden Age of the Commonwealth. In Lithuania families were fighting for supremacy in the Grand Duchy which led to many confrontations. The leading families were those of Prince Radziwiłł, Prince Sapieha and Pac. In Volyn, Podole and Ukraine the Wisniowiecki family reached the supremacy of the area. The estimated number of people working for Wisniowiecki on his estates was almost 300,000 at that time.
  In Lithuania, the Sluszka and Unichowski families of the Clan of Ostoja raised in great power. Krzysztof Słuszka became Voivode of Livonia and Aleksander Słuszka Castellan of Samogitia and later Voivide of Minsk, then Voivode of Novogrod and ended as Voivode of Trakai in 1647. Samuel Unichowski of Ostoja followed up 40 years later and also became the Voivode of Trakai. Lady Elżbieta Słuszka (1619–1671) was the richest and most powerful Lady of the Commonwealth. She was the Crown Court Marshall and after the death of her first husband inherited the Kazanowski Palace in Warsaw. Josef Bogusław Sluszka (1652–1701) was Hetman and Castellan of Trakai and Vilnius. Dominik Michał Słuszka (1655–1713) was the Voivode of Polotsk and finally Aleksander Jozef Unichowski became the Castellan of Samogitia.
  Other families in Lithuania that were part of the Clan of Ostoja became very wealthy. Prince Boratynski's family joined the Clan already in  1450 and was often holding high military rank. Prince Palecki's family also joined at the same time. The Danielewicz family was by adoption included in the Pac family and inherited part of their great land possessions including Bohdanow and the town of Kretinga.
  In Poland, the Szyszkowski family of Ostoja became very powerful. Piotr Szyszkowski was the Catellan of Wojno 1643, Marcin Szyszkowski was the Bishop of Kraków and Prince of Siewierz and Mikołaj Szyszkowski became the Prince-bishop of Warmia in 1633. Both Prince Mikołaj and Prince Marcin had great impact on the politics of the Commonwealth. Following information is mainly taken from Polish Wikipedia.
  Salomon Rysiński (1565–1625) was famous writer at the time, Krzysztof Boguszewski was one of the most famous painters and artists of Greater Poland and Stanisław Bzowski (1567–1637) was member of Dominican Order, friend of reforms, appointed by Vatikan City to write down its history.
  Wojciech Gajewski was the Castellan of Rogozin 1631-1641, Łukasz Gajewski became Castellan of Santok in 1661, Michał Scibor-Rylski the Castellan of Gostyn in 1685, Mikołaj Scibor Marchocki, the Castellan of Malogoski (Żarnòw) 1697 and Jan Stachurski was leading the army against the Cossac uprising as Major General in 1664.
  The most famous Clan members in that century were Kazimierz Siemienowicz, General of artillery, military engineer, artillery specialist and the pioneer of rocketry, whose publication was for 200 years used as the main artillery manual in Europe, and Michał Sędziwój (Michael Sendivogius, Sędzimir) (1566–1636), from the Sędzimir branch of the Clan, was a famous European alchemist, philosopher and medical doctor. A pioneer of chemistry, he developed ways of purification and creation of various acids, metals and other chemical compounds. He discovered that air is not a single substance and contains a life-giving substance-later called oxygen-170 years before Scheele and Priestley. He correctly identified this 'food of life' with the gas (also oxygen) given off by heating nitre (saltpetre). This substance, the 'central nitre', had a central position in Sędziwój's schema of the universe. Sędziwój was famous in Europe, and was widely sought after as he declared that he could make gold from quicksilver, which would have been a useful talent. During a demonstration on how to make the gold, in presence of the Emperor Rudolph II, Sędziwój was captured and robbed by a German alchemist named Muhlenfels who had conspired with the German prince, Brodowski, to steal Sędziwój's secret.
caption: Marcin Szyszkowski of Ostoja 1554-1630, Bishop of Kraków, Prince of Siewierz
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