Jan Sobieski, the future Jan III Sobieski, was born on August 17, 1629, and died on June 17, 1696. He was one of the most outstanding Polish leaders of the modern era, whose talents can be compared with Jan Karol Chodkiewicz or Stanis³aw ¯ó³kiewski. He is also sometimes recognized as the last outstanding king of the First Polish Republic. The future monarch received a very careful education, based on Latin, learning modern languages, but also history and geography. In the years 1643-1646, the future king studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Krakow Academy. After graduation, he took the so-called Grand Tour of Western Europe, especially France. It is worth adding that the king deepened his knowledge until the end of his life and at the age of around 50 he started learning Spanish. He was also a well-known bibliophile and read almost "compulsively". Intellectual talents went hand in hand with military and political talents. Jan Sobieski in 1666 becomes the field hetman of the Crown, and in 1668 the great hetman of the Crown! Shortly thereafter (in 1673), he achieved one of his greatest victories - he defeated the Turkish army near Khotyn. Rumor had it that when Sultan Mehmed IV saw the Polish hussars rolling over his infantry, he was to cry. On the wave of great popularity among the noble masses, in 1674 he was elected king of Poland. In this role, he led a very brave and unconventional so-called Baltic policy, which, however, ended in failure as a result of the political immaturity of the Polish nobility. In 1683, as Jan III Sobieski, he led the Polish, Imperial and Austrian troops to the victory at Vienna, which brought him great fame and recognition in Europe. In the following years, until his death in 1696, he waged a war with Turkey. Jan Sobieski's great love was Kazimiera d'Arquein, with whom he had as many as thirteen children! He was called the Lion of Lechistan by the Turks.