CHARACTERS — 116/262 — Zavish the Black of Garbow
The invincible knight, exemplar of all knightly virtues, undefeated champion of tournaments, the most famous among the famous. With these and many other epithets, Zavish of Garbow was known, likely the most renowned knight of his time and certainly the most famous Pole of the early 15th century.
Sources indicate that around 1403 he served as a mercenary knight in the service of Margrave Prokop and led a guerilla war against the Bishop of Olomouc. Later, he served at the court of Sigismund of Luxembourg, with whom he campaigned in Bosnia. In 1410, he fought on the side of Poland in the famous Battle of Grunwald.
He died in 1428 in Serbia during a crusade against the Turks.
— With a knight as famous as Zawisza Czarny (the Black, likely due to his thick, raven-black hair), much of his life is based on assumptions and legends. In tournaments, he is praised to have defeated even the most skilled fighters of his time. He fought in the front row of the Kraków banner in the Battle of Grunwald, and is rumoured to have been the one to pick up the Polish banner when its standard bearer was slain, saving the morale and thus the outcome of the battle. In 1414, Zawisza was one of the five Polish delegates at the Council of Constance, where he made himself known mainly through his harsh criticism of dishonourable actions. Being a loyal soldier and friend to Sigismund and valuing his word, Zawisza spoke up against the imprisonment of Hus after his arrival, despite the safe conduct granted to him by the Hungarian King, and later he opposed Johannes Falkenberg when he demanded the extinction of the Polish people for their support of paganism. Some even claim Zawisza had broken into Pope Martin V's palace to threaten him personally into putting Falkenberg on trial for his libel, and Zawisza did in fact spend the days up until the hearing in papal custody.
Yet, most of the legends surrounding Zawisza were sparked by his death. After the battle over control of the Golubac fortress had proven unsuccessful, Sigismund was forced to negotiate for his troop's safe retreat across the Danube River, but the Turkish side broke their part of the agreement, and in the attack that followed, Zawisza disappeared. It is possible that he was simply killed, with his body vanishing in the chaos, but the historical works of Jan Długosz shape a more heroic image. According to him, King Sigismund himself had offered Zawisza a boat to flee with them, but he only declared that “There is no boat that could carry Zawisza's honour”, and stayed behind to fight on his own.
What is known, is that in a letter to the provost of Wrocław, Jan Strelen, Sigismund is reported to have tried negotiating for Zawisza's release to no avail, and a letter from Sigismund to Vytautas of Lithuania some time later confirms that he believed Zawisza to be dead, as he asked the Grand Duke to take care of Zawisza's family and allocated a pension of 300 florins per year for Zawisza's wife and children. In any case, Zawisza's death became a last symbol of his unwavering honour and loyalty. An ideal that was often used in Poland's history of partitions and struggles for independence. The quote “polegać jak na Zawiszy”, “to rely on Zawisza” even became a common phrase in Polish, when talking about someone (or something) that can without doubt be relied on.
