Jan Karol Chodkiewicz - Assessment and Remembrance

Assessment and Remembrance

Polish historian Wanda Dobrowolska, in her Polish Biographical Dictionary entry on Chodkiewicz in 1937, wrote that Chodkiewicz was one of the chief members of the "Great Hetman era", renowned for his talent as a strategist and organizer. She notes that Chodkiewicz possessed an iron will, which he was able to impose on the troops under his command, and that he was an efficient commander, although more respected and feared than beloved by his troops. Dobrowolska notes that he was an energetic and explosive antithesis of the composed Żółkiewski, another great hetman of this era, whom Chodkiewicz disliked and competed with throughout his life.

Chodkiewicz was not particularly involved in the politics of the Commonwealth, although his high office and wealth gave him significant influence; for the most part he used his political influence, and base of support in Lithuania, to gather support for his military plans, increased the size of the army, and personal gratifications. His life was dominated by warfare, if not on the front lines, then on the political scene against other Lithuanian magnates, particularly the Radziwiłł family and the Sejm politicians whom he held responsible for not passing enough taxes to support the army he wanted.

Over his career he acquired significant wealth, and funded a number of churches and other prestigious buildings. He often worked with the Jesuits. He strongly believed his service for the state should be rewarded with land grants, but at the same time he would often use his own money to pay for the army's military expenses. In his private life he is remembered as a very proud individual, and for stressing his identity as a member of the Lithuanian nobility. He was a family man, devoted to his family, but his only son, from his marriage in 1593 to Zofia Mielecka, died aged 16 in 1613, and she died in 1618. He remarried in 1620, wedding Anna Alojza Ostrogska in November 1620, shortly before departing on his final campaign. Also that year his daughter Anna married a Lithuanian magnate, Jan Stanisław Sapieha.

Some poems and other works praising him were written during his lifetime, and a religious work was dedicated to him by the Jesuit Piotr Skarga. More works on Chodkiewicz were written in the years after his death. He was one of Wacław Potocki's characters in his epic novel on the Chocim war (Transakcja wojny chocimskiej), and he also appeared in the works of Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, usually portrayed as a patriot and military genius.