Mikołaj Zebrzydowski

Crown Marshal Mikołaj Zebrzydowski
Coat of arms	Radwan coat of arms
Born	1553 Kraków, Kingdom of Poland
Died	17 June 1620 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Noble family	House of Zebrzydowski

Mikołaj Zebrzydowski (1553–1620) of Radwan coat of arms, voivode of Lublin from 1589, Grand Crown Marshal 1596–1600, voivode of Kraków from 1601. He is famous for an armed rebellion against King Sigismund III Vasa, the Zebrzydowski Rebellion, a rokosz named after himself. It took place in 1606, and was defeated by 1607. After the failed rebellion, he sponsored the creation of the Roman Catholic monastery of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, which is regarded as one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Poland.

Mikołaj Zebrzydowski is one of the personas on the famous painting by Jan Matejko: Skarga's Sermon.

Zebrzydowski was born in 1553 in Kraków, into a family which became powerful and influential in the second half of the 16th century. His grandfather Jan Zebrzydowski (died probably 1538) was a royal rotmistrz. His father Florian, who died in 1566, was a castellan of Oświęcim and Lublin, and a court hetman. Florian Zebrzydowski authored a book on military discipline, titled Poruczenie wojenne. Mikołaj's mother, Zofia (née Dzik), came from a petty szlachta family. Mikołaj was their only known child. From 1565 to 1569 he attended a jesuit collegium at Braniewo. He took part in wars of Stefan Batory against Gdańsk (1577), and against the Tsardom of Russia. In the Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski was the rittmeister of a 150-strong hussar regiment. He fought in several battles in that conflict, after which in 1582 returned to Poland. Probably due to protection of Jan Zamoyski, he was nominated the starosta of Stężyca, and in 1585, was named the starosta of Kraków. In 1583 he married Zofia (née Herburt), with whom he had two kids, son Jan Zebrzydowski (husband of Barbara Lubomirska), and daughter Zofia. His wife died in 1610.

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