Ivan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz

Knyaz Ivan Hieronimovich Chodkiewicz (1537 - 1579) Great Master of the Pantry of Lithuania 1559, general starost of Samogitia 1563, Elder of Samogitia 1564, starost of Telszew and Ploeltsk 1566, Livonia Hetman and governor, Grand Marshal of Lithuania 1566, Kaunas starost 1569, Count on Szkłów 1568, Vilnius castellan 1574.

Biography

He was one of the most famous Lithuanian magnates of the 16th century. He studied at the universities of Königsberg, Leipzig and Wittenberg, and entered in the service of Emperor Charles V from 1552 to 1555. After that he entered the service of the Grand Duke of Lithuania. In 1558 Ivan Chodkiewicz was made Livonia Hetman and sent to defend Livonia against Tsar Ivan IV 'the Terrible' who was trying to enforce a passage to the Baltic Sea. With the help of Michael Radziwill, Great Chancellor of Lithuania, he succeeded in attaching Livonia to Lithuania. But this territory remained for long the main target of Russian attacks. In 1564 he became Elder of Samogitia, in 1566 Grand Marshal of Lithuania and governor of Livonia (1566-78, with headquarter at Sigulda near Riga), and in 1574 Castellan of Vilnius. As his uncle he was a strong opponent to the Union of Lithuania with Poland. King Zygmunt August was transferring many Lithuanian territories to Poland (Podlesie, Volhynia, Kiev Voivodeship, and in Lublin in 1569 he succeeded formally to found one integrated nation out of the Polish-Lithuanian federation. The Lithuanian delegation to the meetings preparing the Act of Union was led by Ivan, who insisted in a long impassioned speech on the equality and independence of the two nations. Finally "bowing to the king's power, he pointed out those parts of the Act of Union which were unacceptable to Lithuania and he stated that he yielded to the King's will only with the deepest sorrow" [Encyclopedia Lithuanica] .
In practice Lithuania retained its own government and laws until the end of the joint state in 1795 the Act of Union was never rigorously enforced.

Married Krystyna Zborowska before 1559 in Crakow, daughter of Marcin Zborowski, Cracow castellan, and Anna Konarska.
With the first wife they had issue: in 1559 Hieronim was borned at Vilnius, Aleksander in Trakai 1560 year,
Jan Karol Vilnius 1560-61, Anna in Vilnius 1562 year, Zofia in Vilnius 1564, Elzbieta Vilnius 1568 and Aleksandra borned 1576 at Vilnius.

He died at 4 aug 1579, and was buried in Vilnius Cathedral.

Ancestry

familytree/startfamilytree/end

ee also

* House of Chodkiewicz
* Lithuanian nobility
* Grand Duchy of Lithuania

External links

[http://www.e-familytree.net/F10/F10257.htm#1 Genealogy of Chodkiewicz family.]
[http://fabpedigree.com/s026/f374909.htm Family tree of Chodkiewicz.]
[http://www.polskiedzieje.pl/drzewa-genealogiczne/drzewo-chodkiewiczowie Full interactive family tree] (in Polish).

References