Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JOHANN REINHOLD PATKUL (1660-1707)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 928 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

JOHANN See also:

REINHOLD See also:PATKUL (1660-1707)  , Livonian politician and agitator, was See also:born in See also:prison at See also:Stockholm, where his See also:father See also:lay under suspicion of See also:treason . He entered the See also:Swedish See also:army at an See also:early See also:age and was already a See also:captain when, in 1689, at the See also:head of a deputation of Livonian gentry, he went to Stockholm to protest against the rigour with which the See also:land-recovery project of See also:Charles XI. was being carried out in his native See also:province . His eloquence favourably impressed Charles XI., but his representations were disregarded, and the offensive See also:language with which, in another See also:petition addressed to the See also:king three years later, he renewed his complaints, involved him in a See also:government See also:prosecution . To See also:save himself from the penalties of high treason, See also:Patkul fled from Stockholm to Switzer-land, and was condemned in contumaciam to lose his right See also:hand and his head . His estates were at the same See also:time confiscated . For the next four years he led a vagabond See also:life, but in 1698, after vainly petitioning the new king, Charles XII., for See also:pardon, he entered the service of See also:Augustus the Strong of See also:Saxony and See also:Poland, with the deliberate intention of wresting from See also:Sweden See also:Livonia, to which he had now no See also:hope of returning so See also:long as that province belonged to the Swedish See also:Crown . The aristocratic See also:republic of Poland was obviously the most convenient suzerain for a Livonian nobleman; so, in 1698, Patkul proceeded to the See also:court of the king-elector at See also:Dresden and bombarded Augustus with proposals for the See also:partition of Sweden . His first See also:plan was a See also:combination against her of Saxony, See also:Denmark and See also:Brandenburg; but, Brandenburg failing him, he was obliged very unwillingly to admit See also:Russia into the See also:partnership . The See also:tsar was to be content with Ingria and See also:Esthonia, while Augustus was to take Livonia, nominally as a See also:fief of Poland, but really as an hereditary See also:possession of the Saxon See also:house . Military operations against Sweden's Baltic provinces were to be begun simultaneously by the See also:Saxons and Russians . After thus See also:forging the first See also:link of the partition treaty, Patkul proceeded to See also:Moscow, and, at a See also:secret See also:conference held at Preobrazhenskoye, easily persuaded See also:Peter the See also:Great to accede to the nefarious See also:league (Nov . 11, 1699) .

Thoughout the earlier, unluckier days of the Great See also:

Northern See also:War, Patkul was the mainstay of the confederates . At See also:Vienna, in 1702, he picked up the Scottish See also:general See also:George See also:Benedict See also:Ogilvie, and enlisted him in Peter's service . The same See also:year, recognizing the -unprofitableness of serving such a See also:master as Augustus, he exchanged the Saxon for the See also:Russian service . Peter was glad enough to get a See also:man so famous for his talents and See also:energy, but Patkul speedily belied his reputation . His knowledge was too See also:local and limited . On the 19th of See also:August 1704 he succeeded, at last, in bringing about a treaty of See also:alliance between Russia and the See also:Polish republic to strengthen the hands of Augustus, but he failed to bring See also:Prussia also into the See also:anti-Swedish league because of See also:Frederick I.'s fear of Charles and See also:jealousy of Peter . From See also:Berlin Patkul went on to Dresden to conclude an agreement -with the imperial commissioners for the See also:transfer of the Russian contingent from the Saxon to the See also:Austrian service . The Saxon ministers, after protesting against the new arrangement, arrested Patkul and shut him up in the fortress of Sonnenstein (Dec . 19, 1705), altogether disregarding the remonstrances of Peter against such a See also:gross violation of See also:international See also:law . After the See also:peace of See also:Altranstadt (See also:Sept . 24, 1707) he was delivered up to Charles, and at Kazimierz in Poland (Oct. lo, 1707) was broken alive on the See also:wheel, Charles rejecting an See also:appeal for See also:mercy from his See also:sister, the princess Ulrica, on the ground that Patkul, as a traitor, could not be pardoned for example's See also:sake . See 0 .

Sjogren, Johan See also:

Reinhold Patkul (Swed.) (Stockholm, 1882) ; Anton Buchholtz, Beitrage zur Lebensgeschichte J . R . Patkuls (See also:Leipzig, 1893) . (R . N .

End of Article: JOHANN REINHOLD PATKUL (1660-1707)
[back]
PATIO
[next]
COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE (1823-1896)

Additional information and Comments

Did Johann Reinhold (von) Patkul leave any children when he was executed in Poland? Thanks beforehand Juan Pablo Chile
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.