Louis XIV in the Opinions of the Polish Nobility – from Fascination to Fear of Absolutum dominium

Abstract

Louis XIV, King of France (1643–1715), was variously perceived and assessed by the Polish nobility. The reception of his person and his concept of ruling the state by Polish noblemen was to change during the 17th and 18th centuries. In this period the nobles who visited France during their Grand Tours were generally fascinated by the glamour surrounding the monarch and the splendour of the palace of Versailles. They sought an opportunity to contact personally the Sun King and talk to him. Later Polish travellers sent to their homeland detailed relations from audiences by or meetings with Louis XIV. On the other hand, for a considerable part of the Polish nobility Louis XIV was the incarnation of absolutum dominium and a symbol of potential threat to the freedom beloved by the Polish “political nation.” These fears were fuelled by the activity of the king of France in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, especially his political and financial support for the followers of the French candidatures to the Polish throne and for the concept of election vivente rege promoted by Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, the queen of Poland of French descent. The reception of the person of the Sun King and the vision of his rule in the eyes of the Polish nobility changed in the second half of the 18th century. Most significantly, the motif of his person began to be used in the pro-royal propaganda at the time of Stanislaw August Poniatowski (1764–1796), when the fear of absolutum dominium gradually lost meaning in the face of the necessity to reform the state.