Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł

Who was Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł?

Mikołaj Radziwiłł, nicknamed The Red also known as Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Sixth was a Lithuanian noble, Count Palatine of Vilnius, Grand Chancellor of Lithuania, and Grand Lithuanian Hetman in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Together with his cousin Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł and the Radziwill family were granted title and position as Reichsfürst Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

Mikołaj Radziwiłł spent many years as a military commander. While not the most famous of Commonwealth hetmans, under king Stefan Batory he was fairly successful in defending the eastern borders of the Commonwealth against the Muscovy.

His political career was marked by his alliance with his cousin Mikolaj 'Black' Radziwiłł, with whom he opposed the other notable Lithuanian families in the rivalry for the dominant status in the Great Duchy. This alliance marked the formation of a dynastic-like cooperation between Radziwiłłs and showed how family interests could affect magnates relations with the Commonwealth.

Mikołaj Radziwiłł became an advocate of Lithuanian sovereignty and thus a vocal opponent of political union with Poland,.