Jan Sobieski: The Polish King Who Saved Europe

King Jan Sobieski, the Saviour of Europe! In 1683, the jihadist hordes of the Ottoman Empire were still on the march. They had finally been driven out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. They had been defeated in the Mediterranean by Our Blessed Mother and Don Juan of Austria at the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571 (now the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in thanksgiving). But, in the east of Europe, they had conquered the Balkans and Hungary and were expecting to take Austria on their way to Rome, where they had threatened to stable their horses in St Peter's.

However, the Imperial City of Vienna stood in their way. And coming to the defence of Vienna was Jan Sobieski, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. With the small garrison inside the city, and King Jan's forces, the Christian army was outnumbered almost two to one.

Vienna had been under siege by the jihadists since 14 July when Kara Mustafa, the Ottoman Grand Vizier commanding the Muslim hordes, had issued the standard, offer of conversion and life or resistance and death. Of course, Ernst Rüdiger Graf von Starhemberg, the commander of the city's garrison, had already heard of the massacre at Perchtoldsdorf a few weeks before, when the Christians had made the fatal mistake of trusting the infidel and, after surrendering, were slaughtered anyway. Therefore, Graf von Starhemberg decided to resist.

When the relief force arrived and began to prepare for battle, they signalled the besieged city by lighting bonfires on the Kahlenberg, visible to the defenders, and the leaders heard Holy Mass celebrated by (now) Blessed Marco d'Aviano. The Lipka Tatars probably did not attend. Muslims, who had been living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for over two centuries, they stood alongside their Christian countrymen against the jihadists. They wore a sprig of straw on their helmets to distinguish themselves from the Tatars fighting in the infidel hordes.

The battle lines were drawn on 11 September 1683, a date the jihadists have never forgotten. The fighting began early on the morning of the 12th. The battle surged back and forth until about 16.00 when the Christian forces began to gain the upper hand. At 18.00 King Jan personally led the largest cavalry charge in history. Eighteen thousand horse thundered down on the infidel hordes. The Ottomans broke and their retreat turned into a route.

When the battle ended in a Christian victory, Sobieski paraphrased Caesar, and said, 'Veni, vidi, Deus vincit', 'I came, I saw, God conquered'!

Legend would have it that the 'continental breakfast' was born from the battle, at least the coffee and croissants. The Ottoman baggage train was captured, and amongst the booty were bags of coffee beans, giving rise to the drinking of coffee in Vienna and the birth of the coffee house. And the croissant was supposedly baked by Viennese bakers in celebration of the victory, the shape being the crescent on the infidel flag.


Here are two videos regarding the battle. The first deals specifically with King Jan Sobieski. The second deals with the battle in general and mentions his co-commander, Charles of Lorraine, which the first doesn't.

From Real Crusades History