Bernhard von Prittwitz (also Bernardus Pretwitz , Pret (t) ficz ; * around 1500 in Silesia; † 1561 in Trembowla ) was a Silesian officer in the service of the Polish Crown from the noble family those of Prittwitz. He was the squire and Starost of Ulanów (today ), Bar (1540-1552) and Trembowla (1552-1561, today Terebovlia).
Prittwitz was at that time Polish national hero and received after his military successes two honor names, which held themselves over generations: Bartłomiej Paprocki (1540-1614), the founder of the Polish heraldry, designated him in 1575 as "Terror Tartarorum", the "Terror of the Tartars" and "Krzysztof Warszewicki" (Varsevitius, 1543–1603) called him 'Murus Podoliae' in 1598, the Wall of Podolia in order to successfully fight against the many raids of the Islamic Crimean Tatars and Nogai Tatars, those who settled in Budjak, Yedisan and Dobruja.
Family
Prittwitz was the son of the landowner Peter von Prittwitz , gentleman on the estates Gaffron, Rippin, Mangschütz and Kraschen (region Groß Wartenberg), Stronn (region Oels), as well as Haideberg and Myslniów (region Schildberg), and the Ludmila of Stwolinsky.
The Russian General of the Cavalry, Carl Baron von Prittwitz later said that he had repeatedly heard the rumor during his long stay in Poland, and especially in Warsaw, Bernhard's father Peter was already voivode of Podolia and had a love affair with Queen Bona Sforza, the wife of King Sigismund I of Poland. This should probably justify the personal benefits of Bernhard by Queen Bona (see below). But there were countless rumors about the foreign queen.
Details about his first wife are unknown. From this marriage he had a son Albert. In his second marriage in 1551 he was married to Barbara Zawadzka, also known as Branczlikowna, with whom he had son Jakob and a daughter. 'Jakob' 'later became Voivode. This 'Prittwitz' family living in Poland died out very soon.
Life
Polish Captain (until 1540)
Prittwitz probably came from Silesia to Poland at a young age and entered the service of the Polish King Sigismund I, who before his accession Duke of Glogau and Opole, as well as royally- Bohemian governor of his elder brother, the King Vladislav of Bohemia and Hungary had been in Silesia. Both may have known each other from that time. Perhaps also because his father Peter had already been in Polish military service, since he owned two goods in Poland. In any case, son Bernhard is already mentioned in 1526 as a man at the Polish royal court. Later he also served as his successor Sigismund II of Poland.
In 1537, Prittwitz is called a royal Captain and commander a flock of 120 horsemen. But probably since 1530 he provided his service in the border area to the "Tatar Empire". At that time, all the enemies of Christianity s and all non-Christian peoples of the Orient were called Tartars, predominantly the Turks. The city of Bar as well as the neighboring towns of Trembowla and Ulanów had been invaded by Tartars in earlier times.
By 1538 Prittwitz must have already achieved first great merit in the fight against the Tartars and thus also the favor of Queen Bona Sforza, an Italian, because the Queen finally obtained the king, that contrary to the prevailing opinion of the "foreigner" Prittwitz im In 1538, the large estates around Koniacyn, in present-day Vinnytsia Oblast, were donated. But after all, Prittwitz's successes meant that he had to report in 1538/1539 even before the Polish Reichstag report. Also in 1539 Queen Bona provided for further benefits: It was left to Prittwitz city and Scharawka Castle (55 km northwest of Bar) with all its goods for lifelong use, from 1550 as property.
Starost of Ulanów, Bar and Trembowla (from 1540) Finally, in 1540, Queen Bona entrusted him with the office of Starost of Bar, whose district belonged to her own. As a starost in the confines of Poland, Bernard Pretwicz's main mission was to protect Podolia from Tatar expeditions that devastated the region every year. With the income of the starosty, he managed to maintain a regular troupe to defend the province against the Tatar attacks. The resources of the starosty being insufficient, it engaged many Cossacks who often paid themselves by plundering the lands of the sultan, sometimes supplying them weapons and clothes. The pay of a Cossack was in any case half as high as that of a horse archer. The other starosts of the confines Fyodor Sanguszko, starost of Bratslav and Vinnytsia on the Southern Bug, and Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, staroste of Kaniv and Cherkasy on the Dnieper did the same.