SYMBOLS OF POWER OF HETMANS OF THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA

Summary

GITANA ZUJIENĖ

       In the 16^th –18^th centuries chief army commanders were called hetmans in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Kingdom. The Lithuanian name of the position was taken over from the Poles, whereas the Polish name hetman came from the translation of the German word Hauptman, the Latin name capitaneus, which meant a chief. In Latin sources the hetman was called dux execituum or campiductor generalis.
       The position of hetman in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania formed at the end of the 15^th century. Like the power of all officials of that time, that of hetmans was symbolised by various insignia and symbols of power. The bulava-mace was the main insignia of the hetmans. Apart from it these officials used other symbols such as buzdygan-mace, Tartar horse-tail standard or buntchuk and regiment.
       The bulava-mace. The bulava-mace was the symbol of the highest military power. It consisted of several parts – the head, the neck and the hilt. The bulava-mace is derived from the club, one of the most ancient arms of the mankind. It became a symbol already in the Ancient East, Mesopotamia, in the 4^th century BC. It became known as a military symbol in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13^th century, during the time of attacks of the Turks and Tartars. Polish hetmans used them as far back as the middle of the 16^th century. The name of the Polish symbol comes from the Turkic world bulau, bulawu, which meant a mace or a club.
       Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius (Jan Karol Chodkiewicz) was the first hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to have had the bulava-mace (the field hetman in 1600–1605, the grand hetman in 1605–1621). Data about the earlier hetmans are not reliable. Portraits represent hetmans with bulava-maces of the beginning of the 16^th century. However, these portraits were painted in the first half of the 17^th century, therefore the artists could convey realities of that period. The bulava-mace became the main symbol of hetmen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania around the first half of the 17^th century only. Almost at the same time the name was started to be used to signify the position itself in the Polish sources. The position of the grand hetman was called buława wielka (the grand mace), and that of the field hetman – buława polna (the field mace). However, bulava-maces of the grand and field hetman differed neither in their appearance nor in their size.
       In present-day historiography bulava-maces are classified by the manner of their manufacture and adornment. Four types are distinguished – Hungarian, Turkish, Persian and Armenian. Bulava-maces of the Hungarian type were modest, refined. Their onion-shaped heads were decorated with a symmetrical ornament of the diamond, with a cast bulb on the top. Turquoises were fastened in the centre of the diamonds. Hilts of these maces were long and thin.
Bulava-maces of the Turkish type distinguished themselves by their splendour. They were amply gilded, decorated with turquoise, nephrite and rubies. Precious stones were fitted into high ferrules and reminded of protruded horns. Not only the head but also the hilt was decorated in such a manner. The head was usually pear-shaped, the end of the hilt was rounded.
       Bulava-maces of the Persian type were also gilded, with leaf and flower motives carved on them and decorated with gold plates and enamel.
       Heads of the Armenian-type bulava-maces were round. Hexagonal rosettes were represented on the top and at the bottom. A large precious stone was fixed in the centre of the top rosette. The whole surface of the head was divided into six fields ornamented with the motives of plants. The maces were decorated with turquoises and garnets.
       Currently three bulava-maces of the hetmans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are known. The first one of the Persian type belonged to J. K. Chodkevičius. It is kept at the National Muzeum in Warsawa, Wilanów collections. The second bulava-mace of the Turkish type is attributed to the Radvilas (Radziwiłł) family and is kept at the National Museum in Warsaw. The third Armenian-type bulava-mace belonged to Mykolas Servacijus Višnioveckis (Michał Serwaci Wiśniowiecki, the field hetman in 1702–1703, the grand hetman in 1703–1707 and in 1735–1744) and the Nacional Muzeum in Cracow, Czartoryski Collections.
       It was only the Ruler who had the right to grant the position of hetman. However, it is not quite clear whether the Ruler himself presented the bulava-mace. The saying ‘gave the bulava-mace (oddał buławu)’ seems to mean granting a position rather than its symbol to a person. The symbol could be sent later or the hetman had to see to it himself. The bulava-mace could also be inherited, especially when the son took over the duties from his father. It is also known that the hetman could have several bulava-maces. They were used in military skills, sittings of the Senate, at different events where they symbolised power of the hetman, bulava-maces were represented in hetmans’ coats of arms behind the shield, in the seals of hetmans, army flags. Bulava-maces were also used in the funeral ceremonies when rulers or hetmans were buried. During funerals they were broken and thrown under the hearse.
       Bulava-maces could be used not only by hetmans but also by the rulers or army regimentors who acted as hetmans. In the second half of the 17^th century bulava-maces gradually lost the function of the symbol of the Commander-in-Chief. It was quite often that magnates or even noblemen who had never been hetmans possessed bulava-maces.
       Buzdygan-mace. Buzdygan-mace differed from the bulava-mace in the shape of the head. The head of a bulava-mace used to be more or less round, whereas the head of buzdygan-mace consisted of several separate plates fixed to a wooden or metal hilt. This was also the symbol of the oriental origin. Its name was derived from the Turkish word bozdogan – a stick. Both the grand and field hetmans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania used this symbol in the 16^th century. Konstantinas Ostrogiškis (Konstanty Ostrogski 1497–1500 and 1507–1530), Romanas Sanguška (Roman Sanguszko 1569–1571), Kristupas Radvila Perkūnas (Kszysztof Radziwiłł the Thunder 1572–1589 and 1589–1603) had it. The buzdygan-mace was replaced by the bulava-mace by the middle of the 17^th century. When the bulava-mace became the basic symbol of the hetman, the buzdygan-mace became the symbol of power of army commanders and captains of cavalry of the lower rank.
       Not a single buzdygan-mace of the hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has survived up till the present day.
       Buntchuk. This is another symbol of the hetman of the Turkish origin. Its name has been derived from the Turkish word bunczuk, which means a flag. It consisted of one or several horsetails hung on a long pole and it was carried in front of the commander as a flag. The number of tails showed the rank of the commander. Two tails were carried in front of the grand hetman, whereas the buntchuk consisting of one tail was carried in front of the field hetman. The buntchuk helped to locate the place of the hetman on the battlefield. In the 18^th century it became the element of luxury. Harnesses were decorated with the buntchuk made of the hair of a horsetail.
       Upon the death of the hetman, the buntchuk was placed next to his coffin and during the funeral it was broken and thrown under the hearse.
       There was one more symbol of the hetman, which resembled the buntchuk by its construction. A beak of an eagle or a crane was hung on a 3–5 metre long pole ending in a ball. The hetman’s cap with a feather was placed on the ball.
       Regiment. It was a wooden stick bound with metal on both ends. Its name consists of two Latin words meaning power and a regiment. In Western Europe the regiment was the symbol of the highest military power. However, as we know, the bulava-mace fulfilled that function in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Therefore the regiment was rarely used by the highest army commanders – the rulers and hetmans in particular, at least when imitating the commanders of Western Europe. Regimentors who were appointed to the position of the hetman and commanders of foreign regiments used that symbol. The regiment of the Radvilas (Radziwiłł) family is preserved at the Nacional Muzeum in Cracow, Czartoryski Collections.