Kajetan

Kajetan of Sorbia (c. 746-791) was King of the Sorbs from 769 to his death in 791.

## Family

### Spouse(s)

Ewa
Thyra
 At least 13 other wives

### Issue

Swietoslaw
Tadeusz
Dobravy
Gawel
Dragomira
Radomila
Lidia
Karel
Vojtech
Possibly others

## Early Life and Ancestry

Kajetan was born in Brennaburg, in modern-day Brandenburg, to Boriwoj z Dervan and Elzbieta z Samo around 746. He'd had an older brother, Stratzslav, who had died during childhood. Frankish chronicals say that Kajetan had strangled his brother as a young boy, but historians now deem this to be untrue. His father, Boriwoj, was the descendant of Dervan, a previous king of the Sorbs, and his mother was a great-granddaughter of Samo. His father had owned a good deal of land in eastern Sorbia, and had several thousand men under his command and was a loyal adviser to King Vorisworz as he was growing up.

Kajetan was a strong child, always defeating his peers in wrestling matches from a young age due to his extreme aggressiveness. By the age of 10 he was also an able swordsman, able to hold his ground against two grown men. He was also seen as quite smart, especially when it came to battlefield tactics, reading many books about conquerors of the past such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.

## Rise to Power

When King Vorisworz was killed by his usurper cousin Milyduch, Kajetan's family was seen as an enemy because of their loyalty to the previous king. Thus, Boriwoj was stripped of all of his titles, and died shortly after. However, many men stayed on Kajetan's side because of his inspiration in battles, and because of how well-spoken he was to his compatriots. King Milyduch wasn't very charismatic and had little support in his country after murdering his cousin simply for power, and so many of his vassals, including Kajetan, rebelled against him. Sorbia was suddenly embroiled in a civil war, with Kajetan finding himself to be a major leader on the rebelling side, along with Kasper of Belzig, Drosuk of Lenzen, and Dokel of Zirwisti to name a few.

Milyduch, alarmed by this series of events, left his castle shortly before the opposing army approached and attempted to split his army and encircle his former vassals. This plan didn't work though, possibly because of miscommunicaiton on Milyduch's part, and the two armies attacked Kajetan's on two different days, with Kajetan easily able to deflect both flanks. Milyduch fled, but after being shot by an arrow in the ankle he was captured and exiled to the east, possibly as far away as Khazaria.

After Milyduch's departure, the generals and vassals of the winning army met in a council to decide who would be the new king. During the talks, it was becoming apparent that Dokel of Zirwisti was likely to be chosen as the new leader, but he suddenly died of an infection while the decision was being made. Votes were split, but Kajetan was determined to win. To solve this problem, he said that he would duel anyone else who wanted the throne. Kasper of Belzig, a prominent leader, almost beat Kajetan but lost quickly after being disarmed by a wounded Kajetan. And so Kajetan was the new King in a unanimous vote. After taking power, many men that he dueled ended up on his council.

## Early Reign (769-780)

After becoming King, Kajetan promptly sent many of his courtiers to places such as Rome and Francia to try and discover their technology and bring it back home. Despite this technological progressiveness, Kajetan still was a suspicious person, calling for a campaign against witchcraft in the first few years of his reign.This gave him a great deal of popularity among many peasants across the country, even if prosecuting so-called witches was rare in the Slavic religion. Historians say that this prosecution could be because of the influence of Christian priests who were working in the area- and could have been advising Kajetan to take action against them.

### Northern Campaigns

Fearing an attack from either the Bohemians to the south or the Saxons to the west, Kajetan decided that he needed to expand his realm to have any real protection. In 774, Kajetan began his campaigns by attacking Sobieslav's realm of Wolgast, a small chiefdom to the north. The ensuing battle was a victory with Kajetan, with the defending army routed nearly to the Baltic Sea. However, as Kajetan's army sieged the capital of Wolgast, Sobieslav, with the help of King Przmysl of Pomerania, sent his numerically superior army north to Brennaburg. As the two armies clashed again, it became apparent that the Sorbian army was outnumbered, and so the army fled east. After a third battle in 775, with Kajetan losing again, this time he went south to Bohemia and asked for King Nezamysl's help in the war. Surprisingly, Nezamysl accepted, and sent his army north to fight Kajetan's enemies. The four countries' armies fought at the Battle of Belzig in 775, this time with Kajetan winning thanks to the Bohemian reinforcements. After a fifth and final battle in Wolgast, it became clear that the tides had turned and Kajetan had won the war, and so Sobieslav submitted to the Sorbian rule in May of 776.

## Later Reign (781-791)

In 779, Kajetan invaded and annexed the island of Rügen, with its leader swearing fealty to Kajetan.

In 784, Kajetan killed a spy with his bare hands, striking fear into the hearts of his subjects. It's thought that the spy was Frankish, coming from Paris. It was never found out if there were any more spies in Kajetan's court.

In the summer of 785, Kajetan invaded the tribal nation of Obotritia. By the end of September, he'd taken the land of Rastoku (later given to the chief of Rügen), but due to Saxon pressure he left Obotritia independent, though smaller. Obotritia would later be taken over by the Saxons by 790.

Kajetan was thought to be the man who first built the beginning of Brennaburg Castle, building a small earth fort there that would later develop into the fortress it is today. It would be used by his descendants for thousands of years.

Around 790, it's written that Kajetan had "rode west to claim riches beyond his greatest dreams", and it's believed that it was his tribal army who looted Leipzig in that year. Kajetan spent noticeably less conservatively in the last year or two of his reign, likely because of successful raiding.

## Assassination

On October 22, 791, at the age of 45, Kajetan was assassinated by an unknown assailant. He was in a carriage early in the morning, travelling between towns, when suddenly the driver of the carriage stopped, as they were surrounded by highwaymen. It's believed that the driver was in on the plan, as he allegedly joined them as they stabbed Katejan dozens of times before finally slitting his throat, killing him.

### Suspects

It's been a mystery for over a thousand years now of who killed him, many historians have different answers.

#### Swietoslaw

Swietoslaw, Kajetan's oldest son and heir, had very strained relations with his father in the last few years of Kajetan's life. They had always been seen bickering, and Swietoslaw had been in a fight with his father before over an insult by Kajetan to one of Swietoslaw's wives. The two had never gotten along in council meetings, and always had differing opinions on how to rule the realm.

#### Sobieslav

Sobieslav, the Chief of Wolgast, had previously been conquered by Kajetan. Though he was a member of Kajetan's council in later years and enjoyed close political ties with him, he may have held a secret grudge against Kajetan. The assassination also happened in Wolgast near the castle, before a planned dinner with Sobieslav.

### Aftermath

Immediately after news of the assassination reached Brennaburg, Swietoslaw rode to the capital to proclaim himself as king. However, three of his younger brothers, Tadeusz, Gawel, and Karel, had proclaimed themselves to be Kings in Luzycka, Zirwisti, and Lenzen, respectively. This would eventually escalate into the nation's first civil war.

## Legacy

Many historians consider Kajetan to be the first true King of Sorbia. He definitely has a stronger claim than his great great grandfather, Dervan, since he had only ruled under Frankish, and later Samo's, control. Kajetan was the first independent King of the Sorbs. He's considered to be the man who gave the Sorbs a national identity, and was able to save them from the hands of the Saxons, Bohemians, Pomeranians, and Franks, to name a few, and he was even able to attack them back, nearly doubling his realm's size.

He consolidated much more control in Sorbia then any of his predecessors had, with them only ruling barely-connected, decentralized states. Kajetan however, ruled his country with an iron fist, executing traitors while keeping chivalry at the same time. He's also seen to be the true founder of his house who ruled the Sorbs for hundreds of years after him, and became one of the most powerful countries Europe has ever seen under his descendants.

## Appearance and Character

Kajetan had the epithet "the Brute" given to him by Frankish nobles, who were likely misinformed and weren't aware of his endless intellect. Kajetan did however start using this nickname, possibly to belittle his enemies.

### Physical Appearance

According to contemporary sources, Kajetan was a man of short stature, and looked relatively frail. However, he was deceptively strong, as he was fond of fighting and exercising on a daily basis for his whole life, always staying in top physical shape. Many said that he was good looking. He had very dark wavy hair, going "far down past the neck", that was starting to gray by his death. He had serious, piercing blue eyes "as bright as a clear day" and a long nose that pointed. He was "stern of mouth and sharp of chin" and in later years had a long scar going diagonally across the middle of his face from a horse riding accident. He was often seen wearing a blue wool cap covering the top of his head. He was left-handed, helping his edge in combat.

### Personality

Kajetan was very ambitious from a young age. He knew that studying warfare would only do good for him, and along with experiencing it first-hand he became the best military leader of his time. Besides this he was fond of reading and writing poems, though none of these survive today. With his brilliant mind he was always trying to find new hobbies, and would talk with many people at his court as friends to try and pick up new things to do in his spare time.

Kajetan was very devout with his religion. He would often be found in the castle praying by himself, hoping for salvation. With this said, he was definitely more open-minded to other religions then most, letting Christian priests into his realm to try to spread their faith even if Kajetan wasn't a Christian himself. Perhaps his only two sins were wroth, he was extremely violent at times, and pride. He'd climbed far up on his ladder of achievements and he knew it.

## Family & Children

Kajetan had at least 15 wives and 9 named children who survived to adulthood, though there may have been at up to twenty surviving children. His favorite wife, Ewa, bore him Tadeusz.