Kazimierz Siemienowicz

Kazimierz Siemienowicz. Modern artist impression from a Belarusian stamp.

Kazimierz Siemienowicz (, ; was a Polish–Lithuanian general of artillery, gunsmith, military engineer, and one of pioneers of rocketry. Born in the Raseiniai region of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he served in the armies of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, the ruler of the Dutch Republic. No portrait or detailed biography of him has survived and much of his life is a subject of dispute.

After contributing his expertise to several battles, Siemienowicz published Artis Magnae Artilleriae in 1650. This treatise, which discusses rocketry and pyrotechnics, remained a standard work in those fields for two centuries.

Early life

Polish school The Polish school describes his identity simply as member of the szlachta (i.e., nobility in the Commonwealth) from Grand Duchy. Some sources use the term "Polish," others describe him as "Lithuanian". Those terms should be understood in proper context: "Polish" means "of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth"; "Lithuanian" from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a federal part of the Commonwealth. Polish historian professor Tadeusz Marian Nowak described Siemienowicz as a Polonized Lithuanian nobleman. The family, who was relatively poor, bore the Ostoja Coat of Arms with military service traditions in the Grand Duchy. Siemenowicz was educated in the Academy of Vilnius.

Belarusian school The Belarusian school asserts that he was born in the vicinity of Dubrowna in the Viciebsk land, to a family of minor Ruthenian princes (knyaz) of Siemienowicz, who possessed the small tracts of land in that part of the Belarusian Dnieper-land (Падняпроўе) in the 14th–17th centuries. Some examples of lexicography used by K. Siemienowicz support this interpretation.

There are no records of families with the surname Siemienowicz having the right to bear the Ostoja coat of arms and it is possible that Siemienowicz acquired the right to use the image of Ostoja in his book to facilitate its circulation.

Military career As Siemienowicz wrote, he was fascinated by artillery since childhood, and he studied many sciences to increase his knowledge (mathematics, mechanics, hydraulics, architecture, optics, tactics). In 1632–1634 he took part in the Smolensk War, in the Siege of Belaya under Mikołaj Abramowicz (who in 1640 became the first Lithuanian General of Artillery).

He spent some time in the Netherlands, where he was sent by the King Władysław IV Vasa to serve in the army of Duke Frederick Henry of Orange during the war with Spain; he participated in the Siege of Hulst in 1645. From 1648 he served as Second in Command of the Polish Royal Artillery.

In late 1648 the newly elected king John II Casimir Vasa, who had no plans for the war with Ottomans, advised him to return to the Netherlands and publish his studies there.

Use of biowarfare In a historically early instance of biowarfare, Siemienowicz sponsored the firing of artillery containing the saliva of rabid dogs during a 1650 battle. While the success of this experiment is unknown, it demonstrated an educated guess about the disease's communicability that was not confirmed until the 18th century. It is also rumored that he was killed by members of the metallurgy/gunsmith/pyrotechnics guilds, who were opposed to him publishing a book about their secrets, and that they hid or destroyed the manuscript of the second part.

Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima was first printed in Amsterdam in 1650, was translated to French in 1651, German in 1676, English and Dutch in 1729, and Polish in 1963.

In the first part of his work he wrote that the second one would contain the "universal pyrotechnic invention, containing all of our current knowledge." According to his short description, this invention was supposed to greatly ease all measurements and calculations. Its pyrotechnic formulations were used for over a century. The book provided the standard designs for creating rockets, fireballs, and other pyrotechnic devices. It discussed for the first time the idea of applying a reactive technique to artillery (rocket artillery). It contains a large chapter on caliber, construction, production and properties of rockets for both military and civil purposes, including multistage rockets, batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta wing stabilisers (instead of the common guiding rods). It was the first book in the world to systematically present knowledge about the development of multistage rockets and rocket artillery.