Nemyrych, Stefan

Nemyrych, Stefan [Немирич, Стефан; Nemyryč] (Polish: Niemirycz), b ca 1626–30, d 22 February 1684. Ukrainian magnate and religious and military leader; brother of Yurii Nemyrych. He studied at the Socinian academy in Kyselyn, Volhynia (see Socinian schools), and abroad (1646–8), in Amsterdam, Orléans, and Geneva. During the Cossack-Polish War he was appointed standard-bearer of Kyiv and, in 1656, a Polish cavalry commander. Under his brother's influence he switched to the Cossack side and was a delegate at the Sejm of 1659 that ratified the Treaty of Hadiach. Under Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky he was general of the artillery of the Grand Duchy of Ruthenia from 11 June 1659. In 1661 he was elected Polish chamberlain of Kyiv. In 1663 he emigrated to Silesia because of Polish persecution of the Socinians and became a general of the artillery in the army of Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia. He returned to Poland in 1680, converted to Catholicism, and served as castellan (1680–2) and voivode (1682–4) of Kyiv (see Kyiv voivodeship).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]