Lithuanian Civil War (1697–1702)
The struggle for power was won by one of the families, which seized the most important offices and exercised a leading role within the Grand Duchy.
[2] During the reign of King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki from late 1669 to 1673, the Pac family won the dominant role after ousting the Radziwiłłs.
The royal court sought to equalize rights between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's both parts, which practically meant introducing Poland's legal customs into Lithuania and challenging the magnates' position.
King John III Sobieski, wanting to weaken the position of the Pacs, elevated the Sapieha family to the highest dignities, but made the mistake of endowing the brothers Kazimierz Jan and Benedykt Paweł Sapieha with the most important positions of Grand Hetman and Podskarbi, respectively.
[10] Sobieski made another attempt to build his own party in Lithuania, this time relying on the smaller magnate families, the Słuszko, Ogiński and Kryszpin-Kirszensztein.
[12] Yet no one dared to openly challenge the Sapieha family, except for the Bishop of Vilnius Konstanty Kazimierz Brzostowski, who was close to the policies of the royal court and in particular to queen consort Marie Casimire.
[11][13] Unable to resolve his case with the Grand Hetman either in the Sejm or in the Lithuanian Tribunal and after receiving a letter of protection against Sapieha, the bishop of Vilnius resorted to extreme measures.
[11] Since almost all the monasteries in Vilnius lived off of Sapieha's donations, they did not adhere to the bishop's excommunication as they did not want to upset their main donor.
[11] On 6 October 1694, at Uścieczko [pl] Sapieha together with Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski led the Polish-Lithuanian forces to victory against the Ottoman army.
[14] The bishop Brzostowski was an ardent supporter of the king and his pro-France policy, as well as of a separate peace with the Ottoman Empire, so that Poland-Lithuania would no longer be involved in the Great Turkish War.
[14] After the death of king Sobieski in 1696, the Pope began to mediate the conflict between the Bishop of Vilnius and the Grand Hetman.
[16] On June 30, immediately after the election of Augustus II the Strong as king of Poland, an agreement entrusting Kazimierz Sapieha with the Neuburg holdings was signed in Warsaw with the mediation of the Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador.
[15] On 3 November 1699, the contract which regulated Sapieha's rights as guardians of Radziwiłł's only daughter Elisabeth August and the Neuburg estates, was signed, and was later approved by the new king Augustus II.
[15] Finally, on 18 July 1701, the Duke Charles III Philip published his manifesto stating that the Sapiehas had not paid him the agreed 650,000 guilders by the date stipulated in the contract, therefore their previous agreement on the sale of the Neuburg holdings lost its validity.
[15] With Sobieski's death, political strife turned into military conflict, as the anti-Sapieha coalition in Samogitia and eastern Lithuania began to openly challenge Sapieha.
[11] Eventually, the Confederation army, led by Grzegorz Ogiński, was besieged in Brest by Kazimierz Jan Sapieha and forced to capitulate on November 26, 1696.
[18] Once Augustus II won the election, Sapieha went over to the king's side, who issued a universal, that ordained Ogiński and his supporters to cease their activities, regardless, the cruel civil war went on in 1698.
[11] The Grand Chancellor of Lithuania, Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, allowed the equalization to go through, even at the cost of his own position.
[21] Nevertheless, the Lithuanian Army loyal to the Sapiehas avoided using brute force against the local nobility that had organized banner of pospolite ruszenie.
[23] The Castellan of Vitebsk, Michał Kociełł [pl], was elected as Regimentarz and thus became the formal political leader of the Republicans.
[1][24] The anti-Sapiehan nobles were not satisfied and immediately created a resolution that was even more anti-Sapieha, against which Kazimierz Jan Sapieha lodged protests.
[1] On 3 July 1700, without the permission of the Commonwealth's Sejm, the King allowed Kazimierz Sapieha to hire an army of 3,660 soldiers to fight the Swedes.
[1] The szlachta's dissatisfaction increased even more when they heard of the decision to quarter the Saxon Army and Sapieha's auxiliary corps raised for winter in the Grand Duchy's territory, even if the Republicans and the Sapiehas had agreed to disperse the Sapiehan auxiliary corps on 21 Augustus 1700.
[1] Wanting to halt the continued formation, dislocation of Sapieha's corps and the resulting reinstatement of Sapiehan hegemony, a pospolite ruszenie of the Lithuanian nobility was declared by the Republican leaders.
[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.
[11] 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 of Livonia, as the Great Northern War had already started in 1700.
[25] Augustus II appointed a commission to investigate the quarrel and, now with Sapieha's consent, stationed the Saxon army in Lithuania.
