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Gliwa A. Niewola brańców tatarskich z ziem południowo-wschodnich Rzeczypospolitej w XVII wieku: doświadczenie przemocy i jego konsekwencje w postaci zespołu stresu pourazowego.

Gliwa A. Niewola brańców tatarskich z ziem południowo-wschodnich Rzeczypospolitej w XVII wieku: doświadczenie przemocy i jego konsekwencje w postaci zespołu stresu pourazowego. – «W niewoli. Doświadczenie jenieckie i jego konteksty na przestrzeni dziejów», Kraków, 2019, s. 125 – 160.

Language of edition: polish

Tatar incursions into the south-eastern territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in early modern period had an extremely degrading effect on the functioning of the economy and demographic development of the areas affected by those slave hunting operations. However, as the military operations pursued by Tatar hordes were asymmetric, their impact was much broader, extending to multi-aspect socio-cultural processes which still await in-depth recognition by historical sciences. Some of these processes can be termed anomic, a social condition characterized by instability, desintegration and sense of anxiety.

In the historical perspective, Tatar slave raids were the most traumatic experience, of existential significance, to the populations inhabiting the south-eastern provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, one of their consequences having been the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This disease entity must have affected a considerable portion of the several hundred thousand captives abducted from the Poland-Lithuania’s territory by Tatar warriors in the seventeenth century. Among the main stressors that triggered traumatic experiences in the attacked communities was the practice of inciting large-scale fires of the built-up areas and economic infrastructures of villages and smaller urban centres. The particularly devastating practice of taking captives was frequently combined with demonstrative killing of the dwellers of the settlements under attack.

Based on seventeenth-century source material of varied origin, the author traces the manifestations of traumatic experiences, highlighting the testimonies of psychic disorders among the people who were subjected to traumatising and limit experiences. The latter typically included brutally violent attacks of Tatar troops and the immediately consequent captivity — and, in most of the cases, exhaustive transfer of the captives towards the Black Sea steppes and conclusive separation from their closest relatives.

Categories

Author: Gliwa Andrzej

Subjects (2): Political history of 1553 – 1647, Yasyr