With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  • FIRST PUBLISHED: Ogniem I mieczem, 1884 (English translation, 1890)
  • TYPE OF WORK: Novel
  • TYPE OF PLOT: Historical romance
  • TIME OF WORK: Seventeenth century
  • LOCALE: Poland and Ukraine

The Story:

It was December 1647, in the wilderness of steppeland and marsh, when Lieutenant Yan Skshetuski found a Cossack traveler who had been attacked by unknown enemies. Grateful to Skshetuski for assisting him, the Cossack rode off after pledging friendship with the young officer.

Prince Yeremi Vishnyevetski had sent Pan Yan Skshetuski to the Khan to obtain that ruler’s aid in punishing certain Tartars who had raided the prince’s estates beyond the Dnieper. Pan Yan broke his return journey at Chigirin. At the inn of Dopula, he learned that the man whose life he had saved was a rebel Cossack who had escaped to the Saitch, the Cossack territory, where he, too, could threaten Prince Yeremi’s domain.

When Pan Yan left Chigirin, he was anxious to get to Lubni, where a pleased prince awaited him. Along the way, Pan Yan had occasion to aid the widow of Prince Constantine Kurtsevich and her orphaned niece, Princess Helena, with whom the lieutenant fell in love. The five sons of Princess Kurtsevich and a young man named Bogun joined them. Bogun’s animosity toward Pan Yan convinced the lieutenant that the man was jealous because of Helena. Bogun was an adopted sixth son of Princess Kurtsevich.

The party stopped at the family estate, Rozlogi, which rightfully belonged to Helena but was in the hands of the aunt and her sons. Pan Yan offered not to interfere with Rozlogi's ownership if the princess gave him Helena as a wife. The princess promised to send Bogun away and to bring Helena to Lubni.

Confiding in Prince Yeremi, Pan Yan confessed his love for Helena. Much to Pan Yan’s joy, the indulgent commander offered to care for Helena as a daughter. Later, wishing to learn about Hmelnitski’s activities in the Saitch, Prince Yeremi sent Pan Yan there. This mission allowed the lieutenant to stop at Rozlogi on the way.

After Pan Yan had passed through Kudak, the critical city commanding the Saitch, his party was attacked by a group of Tartars, Cossacks, and Zaporojians, and Pan Yan was taken prisoner.

Hmelnitski had become the hetman of the Saitch. Tugai Bey, hetman of the Tartars, was his ally. Pan Yan had carried three letters in which Prince Yeremi requested safe conduct for his envoy. The men to whom these letters were addressed were massacred by the savage Cossack Brotherhood of the Saitch. Hmelnitski, recognizing Pan Yan as his rescuer on the steppes, persuaded Tugai Bey not to order the lieutenant’s death.

From the Saitch rode Hmelnitski and the Zaporojians and Tartars. From Chigirin, under young Pototski, marched the armies of the king. In the enemy camp, Pan Yan mourned his inability to help his ruler. After days of battle, the Commonwealth army fell under the onslaught of the attackers. Next Prince Yeremi himself came to quell the rebellion. Deciding to retreat to the Dnieper, Hmelnitski released Pan Yan, who hurried immediately to Rozlogi. He found the house in ruins.

During the battle, Bogun learned about Princess Kurtzevich’s plan to marry Helena to Pan Yan. He went to Rozlogi, killed the princess and two of her sons, and was himself wounded. One of his allies, Zagloba, turned against him and rescued Helena. In disguise, the pair of fugitives escaped in the darkness to seek refuge and safety. After Bogun had burned Rozlogi, Prince Yeremi, learning of the raid, sent soldiers to find Helena. When the search proved unsuccessful, the prince tried vainly to console Pan Yan, whose grief nearly drove him mad.

The prince and his followers, forced to retreat from Lubni toward the Dnieper, left their rich estates and towns behind them. Harried by Tartars and Cossacks, they marched through forests set afire by the rebels. When they arrived at the Dnieper, the prince sent the women to Vilna. He and his troops headed toward Ukraine. There, he strengthened his forces and rested.

Hmelnitski followed a waiting course in hopes of averting a military campaign; he planned to effect negotiations that might reward him with a high position. The king offered independence to the Zaporojian Cossacks in return for loyalty to the Commonwealth. If Prince Yeremi attacked and Hmelnitski resisted, it would appear that the hetman did not want peace. Therefore, he urged some followers to oppose Prince Yeremi while Hmelnitski seemed to hold the truce. Pan Kisel was the leader of a government faction that wished to negotiate with Hmelnitski. Prince Yeremi decided to act independently and attack.

While on an errand for Prince Yeremi, Pan Yan met Zagloba, who told the young lieutenant that Helena had found safety in a convent.

A battle between the Commonwealth troops and Hmelnitski’s Cossacks began. Prince Yeremi gained popularity, and soon, his army significantly increased. Before long he was the greatest power in the Commonwealth.

At last Pan Yan petitioned his commander for two months’ leave so that he could marry Helena. Prince Yeremi was undergoing severe inner conflict, for he realized that the future of the Commonwealth lay in his hands. After long deliberation, he announced that he would place himself under the other commanders of the Polish forces. The night before Pan Yan was to take his leave, a messenger brought word that the Cossacks had sacked the convent where Helena was staying.

Bogun, her jealous lover, had led the attack. When he went to get Helena, however, she had stabbed herself and lay unconscious. When she revived, Bogun pleaded for her affections, but she refused him. He angrily threatened to murder Pan Yan.

Meanwhile, Prince Yeremi had appointed Pan Yan as a colonel of a regiment. Prince Dominik Zaslavski Ostrogski was appointed commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth armies.

During a battle, Bogun captured Zagloba, who then learned that Helena was still alive but kept in Bogun’s custody. Zagloba was rescued during a raid in which Bogun escaped alive. Pan Yan, Zagloba, and two other officers set out to hunt for Helena. When news that the Commonwealth armies had been defeated and completely routed reached the searchers, they hurried to Lvoff to join Prince Yeremi’s shattered forces. Many loyal citizens gathered at Lvoff, clamoring for Prince Yeremi’s leadership in the fight against the Cossacks and Tartars.

After accepting the command, the prince hurried to Warsaw to attend the election for king, which was disputed between Prince Karl and Prince Kazimir. The first prince advocated fighting Hmelnitski; the other favored negotiating with the Cossacks. At last, Prince Karl withdrew in favor of Prince Kazimir. Bogun was reported to have been killed in a duel. Because Hmelnitski was expected to withdraw his troops after the election of Kazimir, Prince Yeremi permitted Pan Yan to seek Helena once more.

A delegation was sent to Hmelnitski to petition for peace. Although King Kazimir had officially appointed him hetman of the Cossacks, the greedy leader smirked at the delegation and treated them poorly. Among the Cossacks was Pan Yan, disguised, hunting for Bogun should he still be alive. Hmelnitski still favored Pan Yan and offered to help him find Helena.

An armistice was signed, but along the borders, small bands of marauders kept the war afire. Hmelnitski had little control over his Cossack warriors.

From Pan Yan’s faithful servant Jendzian, who the Cossacks had captured, Zagloba learned that Helena was held captive by Horpyna, a witch, and a party of Pan Yan’s friends went to rescue the girl. Meanwhile, Pan Yan received a rumor that Helena was dead, and he became ill and grief-stricken. The rescue party, with Helena, began its perilous return journey through the enemy country. On the way, they learned that Bogun was still alive. As they rode toward safety, they fell into the thick of a battle. Helena was entrusted to Jendzian, who led her through the lines unharmed.

Prince Yeremi and Hmelnitski again engaged in battle. The Cossacks and Tartars laid siege to the city of Zbaraz, to which Prince Yeremi had withdrawn, but they could not break through the city walls. When supplies had run low, Pan Yan volunteered to slip past the Cossacks and summon help for the besieged city. After a perilous journey, Pan Yan reached the king with news of Prince Yeremi’s heroic stand against Hmelnitski and the Tartars. King Kazimir at once ordered an attack on the enemy. Exhausted and hungry, Pan Yan lay in the care of servants when Jendzian brought him news that Helena was alive and safe.

The Cossacks were routed in a decisive battle. When Bogun was found among the captured Cossacks, Prince Yeremi turned him over to Pan Yan for punishment. Pan Yan generously gave his old enemy his life. Prince Yeremi and his followers were called the lions of Zbaraz, even by the Cossacks. Pan Yan, who had traveled through the enemy lines to bring help to the beleaguered city, was called the bravest of them all.

Critical Evaluation:

Henryk Sienkiewicz, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905, is one of Poland’s best-known authors. His works include accounts of his travels in Africa and the United States as well as novels. A widely read work in America was the historical novel Quo Vadis (1896). This story undertook to bring to life the Rome of the years after the Crucifixion when the apostles planted Christianity in pagan lands. His best work is undoubtedly the trilogy that includes With Fire and Sword; Potop (1886); and The Deluge (1891), an account of a war in which Sweden invaded Poland; and Pan Wolodyjowski (1887-1888; Pan Michael, 1893, also translated as The Little Soldier), a novel based on the third successive attack on Poland, this time by Tartars and Turks. As Sienkiewicz makes clear, the three wars, all of which ended in Polish victories, established a strong and enduring pride in the Polish nation. Still, they drained Poland of her resources so entirely that she could not maintain her political independence.

In the trilogy, Sienkiewicz endows his heroes with courage and loyalty that are very close to absolute perfection, and his heroines are models of beauty and faithfulness. In the cold light of reason, they may be hard to believe, yet the extreme demands of bitter war and the inhuman cruelty of the enemy point to the moral that people sometimes have loyalties that they consider worth dying for in times when quarter is neither given nor expected. There are also different kinds of bravery. Skshetuski has courage born of love, nationalism, and daring. There is nothing he will not try and little that he cannot endure or do. Prince Yeremi is faced with the most difficult of decisions: whether to abide by the democratic principles that have made Poland great and, because he accepts the general will, see his country perish or seize power to save Poland. His decision is the climax of With Fire and Sword. The narrative moves quickly and smoothly and has great emotional power; Sienkiewicz combines the best narrative qualities of Sir Walter Scott and Alexandre Dumas, both of whom probably influenced him.

Principal Characters:

  • Pan Yan Skshetuskia young Polish officer
  • Princess Helena Kurtsevichovnahis beloved
  • Hmelnitskithe hetman of the Zaporojian Cossacks
  • Boguna Cossack officer
  • Prince Yeremi Vishnyevetskia general of the Polish forces

Bibliography

Goldfarb, Sheldon. "Henryk Sienkiewicz." Critical Survey of World Literature, Dec. 2017, pp. 2660–66. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=132190880&site=ehost-live. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

"Henryk Sienkiewicz - Biographical." The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1905/sienkiewicz/biographical/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

Hutchison, Paul E. "With Fire and Sword (Book)." Library Journal, vol. 116, no. 5, Mar. 1991, p. 118. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=9104220738&site=ehost-live. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

Maciuszko, Jerzy J. "World Literature in Review: Polish." World Literature Today, vol. 65, no. 3, summer 1991, p. 514. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=9610221013&site=ehost-live. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

"With Fire and Sword." Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Oct. 1996, p. 1122. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=25841154&site=ehost-live. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.