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'Mikołaj Potocki'
Mikolaj Potocki
'Noble Family'	Potocki
'Coat of Arms'	Clan Pilawa
'Parents'	Jakub Potocki Jadwiga Prusinowska
'Consorts'	Zofia Firlej Elżbieta Kazanowska
'Children'	with Zofia Firlej Piotr Potocki Stefan Potocki Mikołaj Potocki Marianna Potocka Wiktoria Potocka Henryk Potocki with Elżbieta Kazanowska Jakub Potocki Joanna Potocka Dominik Potocki
'Date of Birth'	1595
'Place of Birth'	?
'Date of Death'	November 20, 1651
'Place of Death'	?

'Mikołaj "Niedźwiedzia Łapa" ("Bearpaw") Potocki', (1595-20th November 1651) was a Polish nobleman, magnate and Field Crown Hetman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1637 to 1646, Grand Hetman of the Crown from 1646 to 1651, voivode of Braclaw Voivodship from 1636, from 1646 Castellan of Kraków.
Captured during the battle of Cecora by Turks. In 1633 during the battle of Paniowce, along with Prince Jeremi Wisniowiecki and Stanisław Koniecpolski defeated the Turk forces under Abaza pasza.
In 1637 defeated rebellious Cossacks under Paweł Pawluk at the battle of Kumejki and in 1638 forced Dymitr Hunia to surrender. After those victories over the Cossacks he received large estates on Ukraine (Kresy).
The 1637-38 Cossack rebellion stifled by M. Potocki was minutely described by a Polish historian, a Dominican bishop of Russian province, Szymon Okolski who witnessed and directly participated in the developments of those days. His field diaries became valuable information source for historians.
During the Sejm of 1646 M.Potocki opposed plan of the king Władysław IV Waza to wage war against the Turks.
He was known to be very oppressive to peasantry and Cossacks. His behaviour was one of the causes of the Bohdan Khmelnytsky rebellion. In 1648 he disregarded monarch's orders and attacked rebellious Cossacks on Ukraine. He was defeated during battle of Zhovti Vody and battle of Korsuń and captured by Tatars years. In April 1650 released from jasyr, during 28-30 June he was victorious over Tatar and Cossack forces at the battle of Beresteczko.
On 18 September of 1651, after the indecisive battle of Biała Cerkwia he negotiated a treaty with the Cossacks.
Died on 20th November 1651.

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References

References

★ ''Hetmani Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów''; Bellona, Warsaw, 1994 ISBN 8311082758