Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas and 17th - century publications

The selection consists of a heraldic epigram, a prose eulogy, a verse praise of Bellona and Calliope and 11 epigrams. The selection is called “Monument of a grateful soul to the Most Illustrious Lord Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas, Voivode of Vilnius, Supreme Commander of the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Elder of Merkinė, Usviatai, Veliuona, Kvėdarna, etc., ruler of the Royal Economy of Mogilev, special patron of the Society of Jesus college and academy in Vilnius, dedicated by students of Humanities in the year of the Lord 1673”.

On November 11 1673, the armies of Poland and Lithuania defeated a large corps of the Ottoman army near Khotyn. On 14 January, 1674, the heroic poem “The Power of the Lord’s Right Hand”, which immortalized this victory, appeared in Vilnius. The poem contains a dedication to the commanders of the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania signed by a student of the Vilnius Academy, Jokūbas Benetas. The heroic poem celebrates Battle of Khotyn and commemorates the finest military leaders and officers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth such as Grand Hetman of Poland Jonas Sobieskis, Field Hetman Dmitrijus Jurgis Višnioveckis, Grand Hetman of Lithuania Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas, and Field Hetman Mykolas Kazimieras Radvila. The poem, whose plot covers the events of 1672–1673, is considered an original creation of a talented poet, possibly Andriejus Grinkevičius. Its full title is as follows: “The Power of the Lord’s Right Hand, shown by the Polish and Lithuanian power to Lord Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas, Voivode of Vilnius, the Grand Commander of the armies of Lithuania, Elder of Merkinė, Usviatai, Veliuona, Lipniškės, Tryškiai, etc., administrator of the Royal Economy of Mogilev, and to the most enlightened and noble Lord, the Duke of Olyka and Nesvizh, Count of Shidlovets, Mir and Kražiai, Vice-Chancellor, the Field Commander of the Lithuanian armies, Elder of Peremysl, Lyda, Chlukhov, Kamenets, Ostra, Nizhin and etc., also to the whole army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, dedicated by a Lithuanian nobleman, student of the Vilnius Academy, Jokūbas Benetas [and Andriejus Grinkevičius],  in the printing house of the Vilnius Academy, January 14 in the year of our Lord 1674”.
See more: Narbutas, Sigitas. 350 metų herojinei poemai „Viešpaties dešinės galybė“. From: LMA Vrublevskių bibliotekos darbai, 2023, t. 12, p. 11–56.

Valentinas Bialavičius (1637–1678.6.13) was a Jesuit, professor of rhetoric, poet and dramatist who taught poetics and rhetoric in various schools in the Lithuanian province of the Society of Jesus. “The Pride of Heaven and Earth” is a collection of mourning literature, eulogic prose and poetry in Latin and Polish which extols the virtues of the deceased.

In an engraving created by Tomas Schnops, Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas, to whom this publication is dedicated, is depicted riding on a horse. He is compared to the heraldic figure of the Lithuanian state.