Black Krzysztof

The most common and reliable version reads as follows. Black Krzysztof was born in the second half of the 15th century in a family from a noble but impoverished knightly family von Reisewitz ( German: von Reisewitz ). Some historians believe that Krzysztof came from the von Zedlitz clan ( German von Zedlitz ) or was special, close to this clan and enjoyed his patronage. Krzysztof got his nickname thanks to his long black hair and beard. In the 1490s, he became governor of the Grif castle in the Lviv region, ruled by Ulrik Gotsche Schoff ( Polish: Ulryk Gotsche Schoff ), who was present at the coronation of Vladislav II Jagiellon as King of Hungary. During the absence of Schoff Krzysztof engaged in outright robbery. In the cities and villages that were on the grounds of the Grif castle, Krzysztof introduced additional taxes: for example, Grifuv-Slaski paid him 120 gold thalers, Mirsk - 80. Filling his wallet quickly, Krzysztof even created a detachment of armed bodyguards who engaged in robbery on the roads .

Krzysztof robbed merchant caravans in a sophisticated way: at first he forced the merchants to pay a duty for all goods transported by them, found out the contents of their caravan and sent their people in pursuit of the merchants who stole the caravan and attacked it, taking away everything of value and killing everyone who tucked under hand to the bandits. Once, the gang of Krzysztof von Reisewitz attacked the city of Lubomierz and plundered the Benedictine monastery: the robbers, having taken away everything of value, threw the priest into prison and raped all the nuns. Notoriety swept about Krzysztof, especially in the principality of Svidnitsko-Yavorsky. Fearing for his fate, Krzysztof escaped from the castle and hid in Upper Puddle (presumably in St. Wolfgangsberg near Nidau), but he did not stop his business there either. One of his associates was the knight Vavzynets von Stewitz ( Polish Wawrzyniec von Stewitz ), whom Krzysztof very trusted. The annals mention in July 1509 the interrogation of one of the people of the gangster, Henryk Kragen, who described the appearance of a man similar to Black Krzysztof, which does not exclude the possibility of collusion between the Krzysztof and Kragen gangs ^[1] .

The Krzysztof’s gang was declared in Luzhitsa, in Stlezhin, Zembitsa, Cieszyn and other Silesian cities (most often within the Legnitsa and Svidnitsko-Yavorsky principalities), and the scale of its raids was compared with the campaigns of the Hussites . Krzysztof sent threatening letters to many Polish feudal lords, attacking merchants and travelers from different cities: Nuremberg, Shljensk, Nisa, Namyslov, Lyuban, etc. Black Krzysztof chose a wooden house as his main caches in the village of Olshanitsa (Alzenau) on the territory of the Principality of Legnitsky, on the very border with the Principality of Svinditsko-Yavorsky. The village belonged to the von Ziedlitz family. The special scope of the atrocities of Black Krzysztof acquired from 1500 to 1512. According to the chronicle, a series of robberies in Chojnets: in 1506 on Monday during Great Lent, bandits attacked Lviv citizens traveling from the Wroclaw fair. According to the annals, 18 knights took 1,400 guilders, killing three townspeople - Georgen von Zedlitz from Brunov, the mayor of Lviv-Slovensky Chertner and the Lviv townsman Tomasz Homs (the latter was mortally wounded, but managed to get to Lviv). In the same year, upon returning from church services conducted by Bishop of Wroclaw Jan Turzo, a group of townspeople again fell victim to the Black Krzysztof gang: they took away 2,200 guilders, tying the wounded townspeople to horses, dragging them to Lvivka Slaski and leaving them to die there ^[2] :

This was not the only case of Krzysztof’s brutal reprisal against those who stood in his way: he killed many on the spot or chopped off his hands (mostly merchants became these unfortunates). In 1509, near Boleslawiec, he mutilated a young woman and killed a man walking with her in front of her. He saved his life only to those who agreed to help the cause of Krzysztof. He did not disdain kidnapping, demanding a large ransom for them. Chroniclers reported that Krzysztof even broke into large cities and attacked his own people, but mainly those who were seized by the townspeople and prepared to hang: the timely death of a bandit at the hands of his own leader was considered a salvation from humiliating hanging. The chronicler Bartlomei Stein expressed regret that the Lviv merchants and townspeople, who are constantly robbed, always go without protection ^[3] .

In Wroclaw, they announced a reward of 500 guilders for the captured Black Krzysztof alive and 250 guilders for his head. However, Krzysztof could not be caught: historians suggest that the bandit enjoyed the support of the noble families von Raeder, von Nimpch, von Chirn and von Raibnitz, and also acted with implicit consent from the Prince of Legnica Prince Frederick II and Prince Zembitsky Karol, who allegedly received his share of the loot. The chronicler Tebesius wrote that on November 10, 1506, Krzysztof abducted the chronicler Gregor Morenberger from Wroclaw and several noble people, demanding a ransom for their lives. Prince Karl von Münstenberg went to the rescue with arms and grabbed Krzysztof on December 19, but was forced to release him on January 7, 1507. This was one of the rare moments when Black Krzysztof was close to getting caught red-handed.

And only on September 25, 1512, luck from the bandit turned away: that day the Polish troops stormed his mansion. The reason for the campaign was the arson of the house of the headman Jerzy Kunt, who constantly kept talking about the elusive robber, the abduction of his daughter and the reprisal against her groom, who had been nailed to the gates of the house and left to die. The townspeople attacked the drunken robbers that day, killing almost the entire gang. Krzysztof and his squire were seriously injured and captured. The bandit himself was thrown into prison in the Tower of the Knights in Legnica , and on October 5 (according to other sources, April 13) the raubritter was hanged. Prince Fredrik II did not respond to requests for pardon, although he himself saved his life more than once by his inaction ^[4] .

• In Polish culture, the name of Black Krzysztof became a household name for a liar and a bandit: in the Polish language there was even the proverb “You lie like Black Krzysztof” ( Polish: Kłamiesz jak Czarny Krzysztof ).
• After Krzysztof’s death, a legend appeared that he allegedly hid the treasures he had stolen in his native village, which was confirmed by historians of the 18th and 19th centuries. Krzysztof allegedly divided the loot into three parts: one part went to the princes and nobles, whom he paid for silence, the other to his comrades, the third disappeared without a trace. Even German "diggers" were engaged in searches before the Second World War. During excavations in 2003, archaeologists discovered the ruins of the house of Black Krzysztof, household items, but did not find any treasure ^{[5] [6]} .
• Krzysztof became a hero of folk traditions, many of which were changed beyond recognition and even mixed with others. So, according to one version, Krzysztof was a black man, who was bought from captivity by Prince Louis II of during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem , and escaped into the woods due to a conflict with the court. The detachment he had assembled was engaged in robbery, attacking merchant caravans and taking away all goods and gold, but Krzysztof allegedly handed out all the loot to the poor, thus becoming a " noble robber ." It is possible that this story was based on a peasant rebellion against the city authorities of Legnica in the middle of the 15th century; this legend gained particular popularity during the Thirty Years War ^[7] .