The Tatar Roots of Henryk Sienkiewicz

The origin of the prominent Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz, or how he is connected to Crimea.

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Vadym Perehuda. "Krymska Svitlytsia" newspaper, 2016, issue No. 45

Everyone is well aware of the Tatar roots of the prominent Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. It is known that on his father's side he belonged to the so-called Belarusian Tatars and came from a very noble family. Legends have been preserved that one of his ancestors was a "temnik" (commander of ten thousand) in the Tatar army of Tokhtamysh, who entered the service of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas. It is no coincidence that Henryk Sienkiewicz chose "Litwos" as his literary pseudonym, under which he published his works.

No one has investigated the Polish writer's Tatar roots specifically and deeply, but today there is not only a forum for numerous bearers of this surname, but also the ancient village of Synkevichy in modern Belarus, which was perhaps founded by the descendants of the Tatar temnik Senke. Much is also known about Senke's brother, Bohdan, who became the founder of the noble Poltorzycki family.

In the Acts of the Vilna Archaeographic Commission, acts on Lithuanian Tatars, volume XXXI, we find the names of Princess Aisha Aziulevichivna Sienkiewicz, as well as Prince Khodets Sienkiewicz (document No. 242, dated June 18, 1667), Prince Roman Sienkiewicz, rotmistrz of His Royal Majesty, Prince Jozef Sienkiewicz and his wife, Martyn Sienkiewicz, etc. There is no doubt that these individuals, who practiced Islam, are directly related to the writer's distant ancestors; their descendants lived, and still live, on lands along the line: Troki (Trakai) – Vilnius – Oshmyany – Astravyets – Grodno.

These historical towns are located within two voivodeships—Vilna and Troki—which originated back during the Union of Horodło in 1413. The Troki Voivodeship arose from the unification of the Troki and Grodno principalities, where Sienkiewicz's ancestors received lands for good service. Documents concerning the princely and noble Sienkiewicz family are recorded from 1665 to 1720. The descendants of the Tatar Khan Ali-Berdi indeed claimed the princely title, and it is known for certain that much later, two noble Polish families originated from them: the Sienkiewiczs and the Poltorzyckis. Many descendants of "Senke" (which translates from Tatar as "falcon") still live in Oshmyany, not far from Paneriai, which they once owned.

Quite nearby, in the Astravyets District, in the village of Dubniki, in 1887–1888 Henryk Sienkiewicz stayed with his relatives and acquaintances. It was here that the historical novel "Fire in the Steppe" ("Pan Wołodyjowski") was written, and the historical epic about the struggle against the Swedes, "The Deluge" ("Potop"), was conceived. Sienkiewicz's relatives and acquaintances, whom the writer met and talked with while staying at the Mineyko estate in Dubniki, became prototypes for many historical characters.

Today, thousands of relatives, both distant and close, of Henryk Sienkiewicz must be living in Belarus, Lithuania, and other countries. Assuming 1397 is conventionally taken as the date of the Tatar family's relocation to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, at least 5,000 families connected in one way or another to the Sienkiewicz lineage should be living around the world. Combining genealogy with genetic testing, which is so popular in the world today, could put a final end to this question, but all in good time. On the internet, we managed to find more than one group uniting the bearers of this famous surname.

On one of the forums dedicated to the genealogy of the Sienkiewicz family, Anton Smirnov of the Sienkiewicz family notes: "I am also from the Sienkiewicz line. I know the origin of the surname is Tatar, from those Tatars who entered the service of the Grand Duke of Lithuania together with Khan Tokhtamysh. There is a settlement called Synkevichy, where they once lived and converted in mass from Islam to Catholicism. They are the descendants of Murza or commander of ten thousand Senke (Shenke). Henryk Sienkiewicz is of this lineage. He has many relatives, but a genetic test is needed for credibility. The descendants of the Tatar nobility and aristocracy always had very many children-descendants.

So it is not surprising that the family grew and spread all over the world. Many Sienkiewiczs (Sinkiewiczs) lived in Oshmyany near Vilno; their graves can still be seen in the old cemetery. They were good warriors who had served the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth honestly since ancient times. Once it was a very noble and wealthy family, but that was a very long time ago, back in the times of the Golden Horde. The Polish orientalist J. Szynkiewicz believes that in some Turkic languages the word 'szahun' or 'szahin' meant 'falcon'. Well, it is quite realistic in the Old Tatar, or rather Old Turkic tradition, to name sons after birds of prey. However, in Arabic there is also the word 'sahane', which means 'beautiful'.

Every year on November 15, the anniversary of the great Polish writer's death, his entire family gathers in Warsaw, where a holy mass is held in memory of Henryk. The descendants of Henryk Sienkiewicz gather at the grave of their ancestor, whose remains lie in the crypt of the cathedral.

In the upcoming year 2017, we will celebrate 620 years of the history of the "Belarusian Tatars," whose descendant is the great Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. 620 years ago, Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, having gathered a large Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian army, managed to defeat Timur's forces and return Crimea to his loyal ally, Khan Tokhtamysh. From those times begins the history of the "Belarusian Tatars," who later accepted Catholicism and became the founders of many noble families of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Has history really come full circle today?

Historical Facts

"...From 1384 to 1395, an uncompromising struggle between Tokhtamysh and Tamerlane for the Golden Horde took place. The 'Grand Lame' won it. After a devastating defeat on the Terek River, the remnants of Tokhtamysh's army fled to Moldavia, Muscovy, and Lithuania. The rebellious khan himself headed to Crimea...

However, there was no peace for him there either. In 1397, during an attempt to seize wealthy Kaffa, he was defeated by Temür Qutlugh and fled to Kyiv to seek help from the powerful Vytautas...

The Grand Duke responded to Tokhtamysh's request. In the late summer of 1397, Vytautas gathered a large army in the lower reaches of the Don and marched it into Crimea.

On September 8, near Kaffa, he defeated the detachments of local beys and murzas and returned Crimea to Tokhtamysh.

It was at this time that the Grand Duke led a captive force of thousands of Tatars out of the Crimean steppes. He settled some of the captured Tatars on the southern borders of his vast state, gave many as gifts to Jogaila, who had already become the Polish king by then, and settled the majority in Lithuania and Belarus... Thus, the 600-year history of the Belarusian Tatars begins in 1397..."

From the article "Descendants of Khan Tokhtamysh" / Scientific-Documentary Journal "Echo of the Centuries"