Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski (; ; ; 2 February 1526 – 13 or 23 February 1608) was a

Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...

n Orthodox magnate of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

, a prince, starost of Volodymyr, marshal of

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

and

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

of the Kiev Voivodeship. Ostrogski refused to help False Dmitriy I and supported

Jan Zamoyski Jan Sariusz Zamoyski (; 19 March 1542 – 3 June 1605) was a Polish nobleman, magnate, statesman and the 1st '' ordynat'' of Zamość. He served as the Royal Secretary from 1565, Deputy Chancellor from 1576, Grand Chancellor of the Crown f ...

Biography

The date of birth of Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski is disputed. According to some historians he was born around 1524/1525. He was born probably in Turów. He married in January 1553 in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

. In the 1570s he waged a war against another

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

, Stanisław Tarnowski, about disputed possession of estates in the area of

, in

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

. Prince Ostrogski was of

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

faith and he was active in supporting the Orthodox Church (see Union of Brest). He was also a promoter of

Eastern Christian Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

culture in the

. Around 1576 he established the Ostroh Academy, a wellregarded

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

educational and scholarship institution, with the instruction in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

languages. In 1581, the academy produced and published the Ostroh Bible, the first complete printed edition of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. While Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski was the proponent of the Eastern Orthodox religion, his son

Janusz Ostrogski Prince Janusz Ostrogski () (1554 – 17 September 1620 in Tarnów) was a Polish-Lithuanian noble and statesman. He served as a voivode of Volhyn (1584-1593), as a castellan of Kraków (from 1593 on), and as a starosta of Bohuslav (from 1591), ...

converted to

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

ism. Ostrogski's huge latifundium, or landed estate in the eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, consisted of 100 towns and 1300 villages. Józef Andrzej Gierowski - ''Historia Polski 1505-1764'' (History of Poland 1505-1764), p. 193, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (Polish Scientific Publishers PWN), Warszawa 1986, It was Ostrogski who built Starokostiantyniv Castle. Ostroh boasted an Orthodox academy, a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

, a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, and a Unitarian Church. He was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a Right-Believing prince.

Ancestors

References

External links

Ostrozky, Kostiantyn Vasyl / Ostrozky in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993)

by Mykola Kostomarov devoted to "Knyaz Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhskiy" {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrogski, Konstanty Wasyl 1526 births 1608 deaths People from Ostroh Ruthenian nobility of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Eastern Orthodox Christians from Poland Konstanty Wasyl Secular senators of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Military personnel of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Voivodes of Kiev

Biography

Ancestors

See also

References

External links