Lumen 2018

the war and entered into peace negotiations with the Poles. They were led by a French envoy Anthony de Lambres. The negotiations were facilitated by the fact that the bellicose Charles X Gustavus died suddenly and Charles XI became his successor. The negotiations with the Swedes became a lot easier. They ended on May 3, 1660, with the Peace Treaty of Oliwa, for they took place in Oliwa near Gdansk. The table, at which this treaty was signed, can be seen to this day at the local Cistercian monastery, which now belongs to the bishop of the Diocese of Gdansk. At the time of the treaty, Poland gave up a large part of Livonia, which had been occupied by the Swedes for a long time anyway, preserving only its southeastern part beyond the Dvina River and including Dyneburg. From then on, this territory was to be called “Polish Livonia.” The Polish King, albeit “with tears in his eyes,” relinquished his claims to the Swedish crown, preserving only till his death the title of the King of the Swedes, Goths, and Vandals. 111 Thus, the hard-won victory, was not put to the best pos- sible use, but it was necessary to accept the terms of the treaty be- cause a new threat from the Cossacks and Muscovy had to be handled the very same year. But let us go back in time a little. In 1657, Hetman Bohdan Chmielnicki died, and in 1658, Poland reached an agreement with his successor, John Wyhowski. According to its terms, from that time on, both the Polish and the Ruthenian nations were to be “on equal terms, equally free, equally worthy.” According to this union nego- tiated in Hadziacz, a Ruthenian principality was to be created, equal in rights with Lithuania and the Polish Kingdom, with its own offi- cials and tribunal, but with the joint parliament. But this reasonable legal act was long overdue. By that time, the animosity of the Cos- sacks towards Poland was so great that Wyhowski resigned and was replaced by Chmielnicki’s son, Juraszko, who sided with Muscovy. 112 At the time when the peace negotiations at Oliwa were in progress, [Tsar] Alexis Michaylovich, having received homage from Juraszko Chmielnicki, prepared two campaigns into the territory of Poland. He sent Ivan Khovanski, Yuriy Dolgorukov, and Vasil Zolotarenko to conquer Lithuania and ordered Vasiliy Sheremetiev and Juraszko 117 At the Piarist Fathers