Topics of coins
Hodów
At the meeting point of cultures
– at the meeting point of history
Hodów, a village near Pomoryany, about 80 km
from Lviv (in the borderland between Halych Land
and Podolia; at the present a village in Ternopil
Oblast (province) in Ukraine). It is here that on
11 June 1694 a historical battle took place between
a cavalry group of the Polish Crown army and the
Tatar troops intending to launch a sabotage raid
on the Ruthenian Voivodship.
Thermopylae of the Zahorowski’s “elears”
(irregular light cavalry)
Polish forces consisted of cavalry banners from
the garrison: Okopy Świętej Trójcy (Holy Trinity
Trenches) (at the mouth of the Zbruch River
near Kamianets-Podilskyi), among which there
were almost 100 hussars and maybe 300 mediumcavalrymen
(pancerni). They were commanded
by Konstanty Zahorowski. The Okopy forces were
supported by 200 Mikołaj Tyszkowski’s cavalrymen
from other border fort – Szaniec Panny Marii
(Virgin Mary Rampart). Zahorowski’s subordinates
distinguished by excellent defensive skills and
fortitude. Enemies called them “undefeated men”.
“Undefeated men” against thousands
of Tatars
The group of cavalry from Okopy, called by their
contemporaries “elears from Okopy”, cut across the
path of the Tatar invasion near Hodów. Due to the
number of the enemy’s troops, estimated by some
witnesses at 40 thousand soldiers, the “elears from
Okopy” garrisoned rural buildings from where
they defended themselves against the Tatars, on
foot and using long firearms. Interestingly, when
they had run out of bullets, they loaded their arms
with heads of Tatar arrows, which hailed down in
a huge amount during several-hour-long exchange
of fire. According to contemporary reports, all Polish
soldiers were wounded during the defence. Despite
this, the soldiers from Okopy did not surrender, and
the Tatars withdrew, discouraged by the conduct of
Zahorowski’s subordinates. Thus their sabotage raid
had proved futile.
Polish Termopylae, yet victorious ones
The valiant defenders of Hodów were compared, even
in their own times, to the 300 Spartans defending
Thermopylae. John III Sobieski, the King of Poland,
commissioned a monument commemorating their
victory. “They fulfilled their need to demonstrate a steadfast attitude as Spartans did against
Persians”, as a hussar, Kazimierz Dłużewski,
commented on the soldiers’ attitude.
Zbigniew Hundert, Ph.D.