#The witchfire sword series#

Prince Jeremi returns and entertainments are laid on. The lieutenant finally arrives at Lubni and tells his comrades about his mission to the Crimea. Skrzetuski realizes the girl is being mistreated and denied her rights so gets the princess to promise Helena to him instead of Bohun or he will have Prince Jeremi help her recover home. Bohun wants to pick a quarrel but is sent away and Jan is able to declare his love for Helena. Jan's party are invited back to Rozlogi where Jan meets Bohun, a Cossack, adopted as a sixth son by the old princess (Helena's aunt). On their way to Lubni, the party comes to the assistance of two women, one of whom is Helena Kurcewicz (Kurtsevich), returning to her aunt's home that really belongs to her. It is here that he also becomes acquainted with Zagłoba and the Lithuanian Podbipięta (Podbipienta), who wishes to join the service of Prince Jeremi in order to fulfil his family vow of cutting off the heads of three infidels, all at the same time with one blow. In a tavern he throws Czapliński (Chaplinski), a voluble under– starosta (and Chmielnicki's deadly enemy), out through the door. Czehryń) the next day, Skrzetuski learns that Chmielnicki was escaping to the Sich.

Jan Skrzetuski (Yan Skshetuski), lieutenant of the armoured regiment of Prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki (Yeremi Vishnyevetski), gives assistance to Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki (first posing as Abdank) as his party are returning from a mission to the Khan through the Wilderness. By the time of his writing, these antelope were extinct in the lands of modern Poland. Henryk Sienkiewicz opens 'With Fire and Sword' with a description of saigas as a way to highlight the otherworldly setting of the Pontic Steppe. Nonetheless, Sienkiewicz's vivid language made it one of the most popular books about that particular place and era. Thus it often favors epic plots and heroic scenes over historical accuracy. The book was written, according to the author, 'to lift up the heart' of the Polish nation in the unhappy period following the failed January Uprising during the era of the partitions of Poland. Sienkiewicz researched memoirs and chronicles of the Polish nobility, or szlachta, for details on life in 17th-century Poland. Many characters are historical figures, including Jeremi Wiśniowiecki and Bohdan Khmelnytsky (Polish: Bohdan Chmielnicki).

#The witchfire sword series#

The series was a vehicle for expressing Polish patriotism in a Poland partitioned and deprived of independence.ĭespite some deviations, the book's historical framework is genuine and the fictional story is woven into real events. It became obligatory reading in Polish schools, and has been translated into English and most European languages.

It gained enormous popularity in Poland, and by the turn of the 20th century had become one of the most popular Polish books ever. It was initially serialized in several Polish newspapers, chapters appearing in weekly installments. With Fire and Sword is a historical fiction novel, set in the 17th century in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The novel has been adapted as a film several times, most recently in 1999. It is the first volume of a series known to Poles as The Trilogy, followed by The Deluge ( Potop, 1886) and Fire in the Steppe (originally published under the Polish title Pan Wołodyjowski, which translates to Lord Wolodyjowski). With Fire and Sword (Polish: Ogniem i mieczem) is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1884.