Siege of Jasna Góra
The Siege of Jasna Góra (also known less accurately as the "Battle of Częstochowa", ) took place in the winter of 1655 during the Second Northern War, or 'The Deluge' — as the Swedish invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is known. The Swedes were attempting to capture the Jasna Góra monastery in Częstochowa. Their month-long siege, however, was unsuccessful, as a small force consisting of monks from the Jasna Góra monastery led by their Prior and supported by local volunteers, mostly from the "szlachta" (Polish nobility), fought off the numerically superior Germans (who were hired by Sweden), saved their sacred icon, the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, and, according to some accounts, turned the course of the war.