Jan Szczęsny Herburt

Sketch by Jan Matejko, 1867.

Jan Szczęsny Herburt (12 January 1567 – 31 December 1616) was a Polish political writer, diplomat and a member of the Polish Sejm parliament. An early supporter of Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, he took part in many diplomatic missions, most notably to Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Vatican and the Ottoman Empire. He supported the election of King Sigismund III of Poland to the throne, but then became his adversary and joined the leaders of the infamous Zebrzydowski Rebellion in 1607. As a rebel, he was imprisoned by royalists from 1607 to 1609. Herburt was the author of many rebellion-related and anti-magnate treaties. He was also a founder of the Kudryntsi Castle.

Jan Szczęsny Herburt hailed from a Polonized German-Ruthenian family. Himself a Roman Catholic, he opposed the Union of Brest and attempted to protect the Eastern Orthodox minority in the east from Polonization. His initiative of printing the Stanisław Orzechowski annals and Jan Dlugosz chronicles was criticized by Sigismund III who suspended the publication and confiscated his Dobromyl estates.

Bibliography

• Bibliografia Literatury Polskiej – Nowy Korbut, t. 2 Piśmiennictwo Staropolskie, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1964, pages 259-263 (in Polish)