Sobieski, the surname of JOHN III., king of Poland, one of the greatest soldiers of the 17th century, was born at Olesko in Galicia on 2d June 1624, his father being castellan of Cracow. He early distinguished himself in the wars in which Poland was at that period almost constantly engaged, against the Russians, the Tartars, and the Turks. Upon the last he inflicted crushing defeats at Buczacz (in Galicia) in 1669, and at Choczim (Khotin) on 11th November 1673, capturing the green standard of Hussein Pasha, commander of the Turks, and slaying more than 20,000 of his soldiers. In the next year he was chosen king of Poland. A high-minded, brave, and disinterested man, and a shrewd statesman, he conceived it to be his special mission to contend with all his energy and power against the enemy of Christendom that threatened from the shores of the Bosphorus. He again routed the Turks at Lemberg in August 1675, and in 1676 successfully defied their utmost efforts to storm his entrenched camp near the Dniester. After a truce of five years—a breathing-time employed by the sultan to gather fresh armies and war material—the Turks once more overran Hungary, and even laid siege to Vienna. Sobieski, always swift in his marches, and vigorous and determined in his attacks, hastened to its relief at the head of 18,000 Poles. With these, and 50,000 German troops, who joined him on the way, he smote the 100,000 men of the Turkish commander so terribly, on 12th September 1683, that the siege was at once raised and the Turks hastened to retire. Sobieski died at his castle of Willamow on 17th June 1696. This prince was a lover of books and of knowledge, and himself a clever linguist.
See his Letters to his wife (French trans. 1826); Salvandy, Histoire du Roi Jean Sobieski (Paris, 1876); and an article by Lady Verney in the Contemporary (1876).