Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski

Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski
Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski
	Zuzanna Korwin Gosiewska
Father	John Korwin Gosiewski

Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski (Lithuanian: Aleksandras Korvinas Gosievskis) de armis Ślepowron (b. – d. 1639), was a Polish nobleman, military commander and diplomat, Lithuanian Field-Quartermaster since 1630, Palatine-Governor of Smolensk from 1625, Lithuanian Great-Quartermaster since 1615, Speaker of the Parliament in 1613, Great-Secretary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1610 and District-Governor of Wieliż, Puńsk, Kupise, Biel, and Markowa.^{[citation needed]}

Biography

Youth

He came from the noble family Gosiewski of Zambrowski county in the land of Łomża, a family entitled to use the coat of arms Ślepowron. He was a son of Jan Gosiewski who was married to Ewa (née Pac, the Chamberlain of Brest’s daughter).

Already in his youth, as

False Dmitriy I

.

Military career

Dimitry Ivanovich the Pretender

He was an ardent supporter of Polish-Lithuanian military intervention in Russia during the

Mikhail Romanov instituted a holiday named Day of Moscow’s Liberation from Polish Invaders in 1613. In 2004 the public holiday became the Unity Day

, which was first celebrated in 2005.

In 1612, he was the commander at Smolensk which he defended against numerous Russian attacks. In 1615, as Lithuanian Field-Quartermaster, he led a small army to block the new Russian army. In 1617 and 1618, Polish-Lithuanian troops participated in a failed expedition to Moscow led by Prince Wladyslaw. In 1618, he commanded the garrison during the siege of Smolensk. After the arrival of the king's troops he camped together with the Commander Jan Karol Chodkiewicz’ troops besieging the city.

Politics

He was the

Dyneburg

. Due to his successes in fighting the Swedes that he was appointed Palatine-Governor of Smolensk region. Seeing the threat from Russia, Gosiewski immediately upon taking the governorate of Smolensk began to renovate the walls of the city. He personally oversaw the construction of Sigismund Fortress, which strengthened the eastern part of the stronghold. He intensively collected supplies of food and ammunition, and developed an intelligence network to gather valuable information about Moscow's war preparations. In the spring of 1632, he reviewed the fortifications in Dorogobuzh and other frontier forts.

During the war with Russia, in the year 1632 and 1634, after a particularly famous defense of Smolensk – for ten months he defended the city against besieging forces led by

Treaty of Polanów

.

For his services, he received numerous lands in the province of Smolensk. He founded the

Brest-Litovsk. As Palatine-Governor, he commemorated the death of his longtime client – Jan Kunowski

, who in 1640 wrote a series of poems dedicated to his late patron.