Polish Throne Research Articles

Polityka rosyjska w Rzeczypospolitej w 1733 roku a kandydatura „Piasta”

Russian Policy in the Polish Commowealth in 1733 and a „Piast” Candidate (Summary)An agreement between families of Potoccy and Czartoryscy was an unexpected situation for Russia, nevertheless a new policy on the election of Polish king was arranged in the end of March, 1733. Russia decided to act together with its allies and to support candidate indicated by emperor – Portuguese heir don Emanuel. According to a treaty signed in 1732, if Austria and Prussia would not support Emanuel, there was considered to put some “Piast” on a Polish throne. In the article can be find precise information about acts and strategy made by Russian diplomats (among others: Jurij Liwen and Karl Gustaw i Friedrich Casimir von Löwenwolde) and Polish nobles’ reactions on those efforts, as well as Polish sympathies and alliances (including confederation against Stanilaw Leszczynski’s election).

Anna I Jagiellonka kontra Jan Zamoyski. Kilka uwag w sprawie dążeń królowej do zapewnienia ciągłości dynastii Jagiellonów

Anna I Jagiellonka versus Jan Zamoyski. Some Remarks about Queen’s Pursuance of a Keeping the Jagiellonian Dynasty Continuity The article depicts a problem which was not properly analysed by Polish historians. It is a role played by Anna I Jagiellonka during election of her nephew, Zygmunt, to the Polish throne. The issue was neglected mostly because Anna I Jagiellonka was trying to keep continuity of Jagiellonian dynasty through her nephew’s election, but historians do not include Zygmunt III neither his sons to this dynasty, finishing it on the 1572 year, without noticing the obvious fact that Anna I was also a king from Jagiellonian dynasty. What is more, after her husband, Stefan Batory’s, death, she still was a king. Because of that, her will could not have been disregarded. Queen-widow and in the same time the king in one person agreed to resign from her rights under a condition that her nephew would be elected to the throne. In Anna’s justifiable opinion, Zygmunt was able to continue a reign of Jagiellonian dynasty in the Commonwealth of Poland. The most imminent opponent of this idea was the Chancellor and Great Hetman of the Crown, Jan Zamoyski, counter to what hitherto historiography was to suggest. He was an expert of a propaganda and political intrigues, who endeavoured to be elected to the Polish throne and whom Anna I with great diplomatic adroitness imposed her nephew as a proper candidate.

„Bardzo szczęśliwy obrót spraw”. Pokój w Ryswick a elekcja 1697 roku w Polsce

„A Very Lucky Turn”. Peace-making at Ryswickand King-making in Poland(Summary)The death of John Sobieski in June 1696, and the process of choosing his successor twelve months later, were reported at length in newsletters in England, and were discussed in detail by English diplomats and politicians. There were numerous elective thrones in seventeenth-century Europe, and vacancies resulted in contests in which the major powers of the continent frequently became involved. The election of a new King of Poland in the summer of 1697 coincided with the peace negotiations at Ryswick which eventually brought to an end the current European war between Louis XIV of France and his opponents. French expectations of victory in the contest at Warsaw diminished their commitment to these negotiations, but a treaty at Ryswick became possible in September once it was clear that the French candidate had failed to establish himself on the Polish throne.

Stosunki Augusta II z Rosją w latach 1730 – początek 1733 w świetle relacji saskiego posła w Moskwie i Petersburgu Jeana Le Forta

The Relations of Augustus II and Russia in 1730–early 1733 in the Light of an Account by Jean Le Fort, the Saxon Legate in Moscow and St. Petersburg The author presents how in the wake of the reign of the underage Peter II, barren from the viewpoint of Polish-Russian relations, Augustus II started to seek allies at the Russian court the moment Anna Ivanovna ascended the throne of the tsars was mounted. Upon the basis of the diplomatic correspondence of the Saxon legate in St. Petersburg – Jean Le Fort – U. Kosinska demonstrates that originally Dresden placed its hopes in the so-called Old Russian faction. After the latter’s fall it sought possibilities for gaining influence upon the tsarina via the intermediary of her favourite, Ernst Johann Biron. The danger of closer Russian-Prussian and Russian-Austrian relations was rapidly noticed. Saxon proposals aimed, on the one hand, at splitting the emergent alliance of the three black eagles, and, on the other hand, at obtaining for the Wettin dynasty a Russian promise to support succession to the Polish throne. The price, which Augustus II was already then willing to pay was Courland, offered to Biron. Quite possibly, the talks held in 1732, despite their ultimate fiasco, exerted a certain impact upon the fact that after the death of Augustus II Russia relatively easily resigned from the candidature of Prince Emmanuel of Portugal to the Polish throne, mentioned in the Lowenwolde treaty, and rather swiftly supported Saxon endeavours focused on winning the Polish crown.

Macocha idealna: aktywność Anny Luizy z Mycielskich Radziwiłłowej w świetle francuskiej korespondencji dyplomatycznej (1764–1765)

The paper offers an insight into the diplomatic activities of princess Anna Luiza Radziwiłłowa nee Mycielska, second wife and widow of the great general of Lithuania, Michał Kazimierz “Rybeńko” Radziwiłł, in the aftermath of the election of Stanisław August to the Polish throne. The main sources comprise diplomatic correspondence between France and Gdańsk, where the princess lived during the exile of her stepson, following his opposition to the new king. The paper aims at showing how Anna Luiza tried to gain political support from France as well as how her efforts were perceived by the French diplomacy.

The Case of Rosaura's Honor, and the Problem of Modernity ( La vida es sueño )

The Case of Rosaura's Honor, and the Problem of Modernity (La vida es sueño) Joachim Küpper Calderón's La vida es sueño (c. 1635) begins with a female character, Rosaura, stepping onstage. She is the daughter of Violante, a lady at the imperial court of Moscow. When Violante was young, she entertained pre-marital relations with a courtier named Clotaldo, who left her, although he knew she was pregnant. We are not informed of Clotaldo's motives, but he is likely to have acted out of career opportunism. He was offered and accepted a position at the court of the Polish King Basilio. When Rosaura comes to Poland some twenty years later, Clotaldo is what one might call the "privado," the first courtier of the Polish King. As an illegitimate child, Rosaura is without honor ("honor") in the sense of reputation and social acceptability. But she has yet another problem: at court in Moscow, she met a young nobleman named Astolfo, who succeeded in winning her favor. Afterwards, he did to her what her father had already done to her mother, Violante: he left her for selfish reasons. He went to Poland as a suitor to princess Estrella, because he hoped by marrying her to inherit the Polish throne from their common uncle, Basilio. Born without honor and forsaken by her lover: this is Rosaura's situation at the beginning of the play, a situation largely brought about by contingency, by adversa fortuna, as it was called in the seventeenth century. She is not responsible for her illegitimate birth, and her surrender to Astolfo's carnal desires, although considered sinful from the standpoint of moral theology, was not a serious mistake measured by the standards of courtly society. Thus, one may regard Rosaura's being without a husband as the consequence of another interference of adversa fortuna: namely the fact that, by contingency, in a neighboring kingdom the dynastic situation is such that it offers Astolfo the prospects to achieve the rank of king. [End Page 509] What Rosaura does in this situation is perfectly understandable by modern standards. She does not accept what contingency has inflicted upon her; she decides instead to claim agency by searching for her father and her lover to make them restore her reputation. She cross-dresses as a man and travels on horseback to Poland. My reading may well seem an over-interpretation, but I will try to substantiate it in the following argument: the function of Rosaura in this play is to represent an attitude towards life that we may call the basis of modernity, a radically different position from earlier periods. According to this attitude one should not simply accept the world and reality as they are; nor should one assign meaning to facts by interpreting contingency as a form of higher necessity (e.g. mythical necessity) or as a consequence of the will of God or Providence. Rather, one should try to set things right or to mend, as it were, the defects of the factual world. To cite a formula that was to become prominent roughly 150 years later, one should pursue one's happiness. One may call this basically modern attitude the project of self-assertion. Of course, a Christian understanding of life's misfortunes also differs from the way these problems were treated in mythical ages—Christianity does not require that humans passively accept their fate. The crucial difference between traditional Christian and modern attitudes towards contingency, however, is that Catholic belief allows for agency only within certain limits, namely the limits of moral theology, that is, tradition and dogma. This excludes the freedom to transgress the boundaries of the "role," to put it in Golden Age terms, which God as the creator of all human beings has allocated to each individual at birth. In the case of Calderón's drama, this would refer to Rosaura taking on a masculine identity and thus denying being born female.1 This assessment of Rosaura's choice may well prompt a contemporary reader to ask what else she could have done to restore her honor: should she have submissively accepted her misfortune? The answer is...

Marszalek funduje kamedułów

Artykuł prezentuje postać Mikołaja Wolskiego, fundatora klasztoru kamedulskiego na Bielanach w Krakowie.

Registre-Journal du règne de Henri III by Pierre de L’Estoile (review)

1048 Reviews Histoire et litteratureau siecle de Montaigne: melanges offerts a Claude-Gilbert Dubois. Ed. by Francoise Argo-Dutard. (Cahiers d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 60) Geneva: Droz. 2001. 409 pp. ?43.91; SwF 61.45. ISBN 2-600-00643-5. It is fittingthat this collection of articles to mark Claude-Gilbert Dubois's retirement should appear under the dual banner of literature and history, for much of Dubois's own work concentrated on this field, well before interdisciplinary studies acquired their current prominence. His eminent career is traced in the preface by Anne-Marie Cocula, and the bibliography of his published works is positively awesome?well over 200 items! Ofthe twenty-seven contributions to the present volume, most are by lead? ing French seiziemistes, with six pieces by American, British, Canadian, and Italian scholars. The firstthematic section, headed 'Ecritures de l'histoire', focuses primarily on the recording of history, whether by 'professional' historians (Rene de Lucinge), memorialistes (Charlotte de Mornay), polemicists (Henri Estienne, D'Aubigne), or the grands rhetoriqueurs. The firsttwo papers offerfine analyses of the authors' his? toriographical methods. Lestringant shows Lucinge's account balanced between his respect for historical truth and the duty he owed o the providentialist vision of the house of Savoy. Boudou compares the gorier recits in the Apologie pour Herodote with parallel accounts in canards, concluding that Estienne's treatment is far more sober, in conformity with his avowed aim of objectivity. Several other contributions in the section allow us to (re)discover fascinating minor works. In the only treatment of theatre, de Buzon argues convincingly that Jean de Beaubrueil's Regulus tragedie of 1582 (notable for the extensive use of a chorus) is a celebration of the virtues of fortitude and patriotism. Legrand underlines another Stoic theme, constancy, which underpins Scevole de Sainte-Marthe'seulogy of Michel de l'Hopital, while also draw? ing our attention to Sainte-Marthe's praise ofthe humanist's achievements as a poet. The second section, appropriately for a volume dedicated to the first'Directeur du Centre Montaigne' at Bordeaux III, contains six 'Lectures de Montaigne'. Some rework familiar territory,sharing new insights: Montaigne's philosophy on death, his health, his journeys in Italy, the relationship between language and customs, and his perception of the Turks. One paper is potentially ground-breaking: with laudable caution, Catherine Magnien examines evidence indicating that Montaigne may have begun?but then abandoned?a history of Henri III's election to the Polish throne. Finally, we have an attractive pot-pourri of eleven chapters on ' Human isme et creation artistique', which ranges from discussions of chivalry, medicine, and feminism to architecture and music, with a generous place forpoetry. Two pieces will strike immediate chords with Dubois: Jourde's discussion ofthe relationship between visual and aural perceptions of French sonnets in the 1550s, entitled 'L'imaginaire et l'histoire: sur la situation du sonnet en France vers 1550', and Dauphine's lucid presentation of Du Bartas's La Magnificence. Oxford Brookes University Valerie Worth-Stylianou Registre-Journal du regne de Henri III. By Pierre de L'Estoile. Vol. vi: {15881589 ). Ed. by Madeleine Lazard and Gilbert Schrenck. Geneva: Droz. 2003. 349 pp. SWF65. ISBN 2-600-00850-0. This is the sixth and last volume of an edition of the Parisian chronicle of Pierre de L'Estoile which can rightfullyclaim to be definitive. It is the firstto be based on the original manuscript at the Bibliotheque nationale de France (MS fr.6678) and on the author's own revision in MS fr.nouv. acq. 6888. In addition to the excellent explanatory notes, the volume contains indexes of personal and place names, of themes, and of the occasional pieces or ramas in all six volumes. The chronicle, a major source for MLRy 99.4, 2004 1049 the history of the Wars of Religion as they affected the French capital, is never dull. This volume is particularly engrossing, as it covers the two most eventful years of the reign of Henri III, culminating in the King's assassination in 1589. L'Estoile was not an impartial observer. Critical as he was of Henri and his court, he nevertheless heartily disliked the extremists of the Catholic League...

Histoire et littérature au siècle de Montaigne: mélanges offerts à Claude-Gilbert Dubois ed. by Françoise Argo-Dutard (review)

1048 Reviews Histoire et litteratureau siecle de Montaigne: melanges offerts a Claude-Gilbert Dubois. Ed. by Francoise Argo-Dutard. (Cahiers d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 60) Geneva: Droz. 2001. 409 pp. ?43.91; SwF 61.45. ISBN 2-600-00643-5. It is fittingthat this collection of articles to mark Claude-Gilbert Dubois's retirement should appear under the dual banner of literature and history, for much of Dubois's own work concentrated on this field, well before interdisciplinary studies acquired their current prominence. His eminent career is traced in the preface by Anne-Marie Cocula, and the bibliography of his published works is positively awesome?well over 200 items! Ofthe twenty-seven contributions to the present volume, most are by lead? ing French seiziemistes, with six pieces by American, British, Canadian, and Italian scholars. The firstthematic section, headed 'Ecritures de l'histoire', focuses primarily on the recording of history, whether by 'professional' historians (Rene de Lucinge), memorialistes (Charlotte de Mornay), polemicists (Henri Estienne, D'Aubigne), or the grands rhetoriqueurs. The firsttwo papers offerfine analyses of the authors' his? toriographical methods. Lestringant shows Lucinge's account balanced between his respect for historical truth and the duty he owed o the providentialist vision of the house of Savoy. Boudou compares the gorier recits in the Apologie pour Herodote with parallel accounts in canards, concluding that Estienne's treatment is far more sober, in conformity with his avowed aim of objectivity. Several other contributions in the section allow us to (re)discover fascinating minor works. In the only treatment of theatre, de Buzon argues convincingly that Jean de Beaubrueil's Regulus tragedie of 1582 (notable for the extensive use of a chorus) is a celebration of the virtues of fortitude and patriotism. Legrand underlines another Stoic theme, constancy, which underpins Scevole de Sainte-Marthe'seulogy of Michel de l'Hopital, while also draw? ing our attention to Sainte-Marthe's praise ofthe humanist's achievements as a poet. The second section, appropriately for a volume dedicated to the first'Directeur du Centre Montaigne' at Bordeaux III, contains six 'Lectures de Montaigne'. Some rework familiar territory,sharing new insights: Montaigne's philosophy on death, his health, his journeys in Italy, the relationship between language and customs, and his perception of the Turks. One paper is potentially ground-breaking: with laudable caution, Catherine Magnien examines evidence indicating that Montaigne may have begun?but then abandoned?a history of Henri III's election to the Polish throne. Finally, we have an attractive pot-pourri of eleven chapters on ' Human isme et creation artistique', which ranges from discussions of chivalry, medicine, and feminism to architecture and music, with a generous place forpoetry. Two pieces will strike immediate chords with Dubois: Jourde's discussion ofthe relationship between visual and aural perceptions of French sonnets in the 1550s, entitled 'L'imaginaire et l'histoire: sur la situation du sonnet en France vers 1550', and Dauphine's lucid presentation of Du Bartas's La Magnificence. Oxford Brookes University Valerie Worth-Stylianou Registre-Journal du regne de Henri III. By Pierre de L'Estoile. Vol. vi: {15881589 ). Ed. by Madeleine Lazard and Gilbert Schrenck. Geneva: Droz. 2003. 349 pp. SWF65. ISBN 2-600-00850-0. This is the sixth and last volume of an edition of the Parisian chronicle of Pierre de L'Estoile which can rightfullyclaim to be definitive. It is the firstto be based on the original manuscript at the Bibliotheque nationale de France (MS fr.6678) and on the author's own revision in MS fr.nouv. acq. 6888. In addition to the excellent explanatory notes, the volume contains indexes of personal and place names, of themes, and of the occasional pieces or ramas in all six volumes. The chronicle, a major source for ...

Die Päpstliche Politik im zweiten Interregnum in Polen 1574/75

This article examines papal policy during the second Polish interregnum (1574/1575), based primarily on the correspondence between the Curia and the nuncios in Vienna, Paris and Poland. The extant reports and directives permit a reconstruction of the particular stages of development of papal policy in this extremely important matter. Not only did Pope Gregory XIII follow the Polish royal election of 1575 with the greatest interest, but he also sought to exercise, through his nuncio, Vincenzo Laureo, an influence upon the election of the king in Poland. The appointment to the Polish throne was of great importance to the Curia for two reasons: on the one hand, it played an essential role in the restoration of the Church in Poland, and on the other, Poland was considered a fortress against the Turks. The article exposes the hidden reasons and motives behind Curial involvement in the second Polish interregnum, which, in the final analysis, bring Gregory XIII to recognize, after the death of the Emperor Maximilian II, the opposing candidate Stephen Báthory.

Court Culture in Early Modern Dresden by Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly (review)

MLRy 99.1, 2004 241 Court Culture in Early Modern Dresden. By Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly. Bas? ingstoke: Palgrave. 2002. xiv + 3iopp. ?30. ISBN 0-333-98448-x(hbk). The Dresden that the visitor encounters today is largely the creation of Friedrich August I (1670-1733) and Friedrich August II (1696-1763). Their reigns as Electors of Saxony in some ways marked the glorious apotheosis of their dynasty.Yet they also represented a sharp break with Saxon tradition. Both were elected kings of Poland, and in order to achieve this dignity Friedrich August I had embraced Catholicism in 1694. F?r one and a half centuries before then his predecessors had been Lutherans, and Dresden had been the most important bastion ofthe Protestant cause in the Holy Roman Empire. Indeed, in some senses the Electors of Saxony were as important politically as the Emperors themselves: their unswerving loyalty to the crown ensured that the Protestant princes repeatedly responded to appeals forthe unity of the Reich. Helen Watanabe-O' Kelly's study makes ample use of the sources that have become fully accessible for the first time since 1989 to explore the cultural ramifications of the Saxon Electors' key political role. Fundamental was the advertisement of their religious identity through the patronage of church music and Lutheran biblical drama and the way that they presented themselves in funerary monuments, paintings, and bas-reliefs. From the second half of the sixteenth century the official culture of Lutheranism was complemented and enriched by the discovery of ltalian art and science. This major development in North German taste influenced virtually every aspect of Dresden's court culture by the 1580s, while Johann Georg I's year-long ltalian tour in 1601 resulted in the physical transformation of the capital into an Italianate city during his reign after 1611. Watanabe-O'Kelly's account of successive building projects and court activities (including 'sectarian' jousting tournaments in the later sixteenth century and ambi? tious cultural propaganda in the middle decades of the seventeenth century) makes fascinating reading. Even more interesting and important, however, is her account of the intellectual and scientific activities that also unfolded at the Saxon court. Vast cabinets of curiosities contained collections aimed at representing, understanding, and controlling the natural world. Patronage of magicians and of adepts of the occult was a logical extension of the business of acquiring, ordering, and managing know? ledge. Similarly, the Saxon dynasty's traditional interest in mining, the mainstay of its revenues since the fifteenthcentury, led naturally to a preoccupation with alchemy and the dream of turning base metals into gold. The reign of Friedrich August I broke with this complex and multifaceted tradition in a number of ways. Conversion to Catholicism for the sake of being elected to the Polish throne undermined the Saxon leadership of the Protestant princes in the Reich. The dynastic alliances that were forged with the Catholic ruling houses of Europe during the Polish period brought but temporary glory; Saxony's pre-eminent position in the Reich was progressively taken by Brandenburg-Prussia. In cultural terms, too, there was a shift as France replaced Italy as a source of inspiration. Gradually the preoccupation with occult science turned into a fascination with more obviously useful applications of knowledge in manufacture, particularly of metals. Not least, though largely accidental, the search for gold yielded the discovery of the secret of porcelain, the manufacture ofwhich rapidly became an obsession throughout Europe, with European products soon rivalling the Chinese wares that had long fascinated the West. Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly has written a fascinating book which illuminates the culture ofa major German court. It will be of interest to all students of early modern Germany and its culture. Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge Joachim Whaley ...

A Question of Values: The Spiritual Education of Segismundo in Calderón's La vida es sueño

Calderón's La vida es sueño has been subjected over the years to a variety of scholarly interpretations. These range from the Platonic to the mythological, the epistemological, the psychoanalytical, the political, and the feminist, to name but a few. The present study proposes that Calderón's masterpiece might also be profitably interpreted as a coming-of-age story. The drama, in short, is about civilizing values and how they are instilled in each new generation. In the case of young Segismundo, heir to the Polish throne, Calderón shows how a wide range of moral values—some theological, some political, and others more social in design—are successfully instilled in the brutish young man through some rather extraordinary life experiences.

Rome * Amsterdam: Two Growing Cities in Seventeenth-Century Europe ed. by Peter van Kessel and Elisja Schulte

BOOK REVIEWS465 wishes for a public statement of his Catholic faith. He likewise declined Gregory XHTs offers of consecration either in Rome or Regensburg, thus implicitly repudiating papal authority in matters affecting Imperial dignity and power. The fact that relations were strained had obvious implications for the pope's religious policy in the Empire, which relied for its implementation on the Emperor 's firm commitment. Unsurprisingly, then, the accession of Maximilian's allegedly more tractable successor, Rudolf II, in 1576 was greeted with relief. The difficult preliminary negotiations between the Emperor and the German Electors for Rudolf's election as Roman king form a major theme of the correspondence . In the years 1575-76 the curia concentrated its efforts on the issues of Maximilian's candidature to the Polish throne, the Imperial succession, and the interrelated problems of heresy and clerical reform in the Empire and Bohemia. Military maters and the abortive Imperial peace initiative in the Netherlands, which was intended to liberate forces for the defense of the eastern border of the Empire, formed scarcely less important issues. Useful bits of information on Tuscan, Genuese, and Inner Austrian affairs can likewise be gleaned from the texts. Minor criticism of the present volume concerns a small number of headings which are too monosyllabic or imprecise to be of help to the reader (e.g., nos. 33, 73, 103, 104, 1 14, 1 16, 297, 358). There are also a few inconsistencies in the spelling of names and some instances in which biographical footnotes could have been more detailed, and might have been better placed on first mention of the name. However, this does not detract from Neri's very impressive achievement in producing an accomplished edition of valuable new material. Regina Pörtner German Historical Institute London Rome * Amsterdam: Two Growing Cities in Seventeenth-Century Europe. Edited by Peter van Kessel and Elisja Schulte. (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Distributed by the University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 1997. Pp. xxiv, 333. $54.50.) Rome * Amsterdam: Two Growing Cities in Seventeenth-Century Europe is a fascinating, wide-ranging, and ambitious collection of essays on two of the most important and complex locales of early modern Europe. Conceived as a series of thematic explorations of urban history, the editors have assembled an impressive list of international scholars to explore such disparate topics as: urban design, population, family, religion, and the treatment ofJews. As with any such collection, the contributions are of uneven quality and depth, but the book should provide a valuable resource for students and instructors of early modern Europe. One of the most impressive features of this volume are the rich images which adorn the book. Perhaps as much as the textual descriptions, these visual images provide intimate portraits of the particularities of life in seventeenth- 466BOOK REVIEWS century Rome and Amsterdam. The images vary from architectural plans to ink drawings, woodcuts, and stately portraits of seventeenth-century notables. Equally valuable are the many tables and graphs which offer useful data on such concerns as mortality and fertility rates, household size, and the numbers of criminal offenses over the course of the century. The first half of the volume concerns the broader institutional and structural aspects of urban life in seventeenth-century Rome and Amsterdam. Luigi Spezzaferro 's "Baroque Rome: A 'Modern City'" argues that it was the late sixteenthcentury pontificate of Sixtus V (1585-1590) which proved pivotal in the shift in Roman architecture and urban planning toward a modern orientation. Conceptualizing this revived Roman urban space as a kind of "theater of modern life," Spezzaferro notes the "novelty" of the city plans developed by the pope's designers (and those of his successors) as forward-looking, and integrated more realistically with the living city, rather than pointing backward toward the Eternal City's ancient past. Koen Ottenheym's "The Amsterdam Ring of Canals: City Planning and Architecture " provides a detailed and insightful discussion of the development of socially-differentiated residential and industrial neighborhoods through the construction of new canals in the seventeenth century. This building project, the historian notes, was geared toward meeting the demands of the rising merchant elites, rather than a public works project to beautify...

Acta Nuntiaturae Polonae, Tomus IX: Vincentius Lauro (1572-1578), Volumen I (25 VII 1572-30 IX 1574) ed. by Miroslaus Korolko and Henricus Damianus Wojtyska, C.P.

722book reviews Acta Nuntiaturae Polonae, Tomus G?: Vincentius Lauro (1572-1578), Volumen I (25VII 1572-30 LX 1574). Edited by Miroslaus Korolko and Henricus Damianus Wojtyska, CP. (Rome: Institutum Historicum Polonicum Romae. 1994.Pp.xlvUi,448.) I reviewed for this journal (LXXVII [July, 1991], 516, and LXXXL [April, 1995], 270-271) the first volume of this series, which presented an overview of the whole series, and the volume covering the years 1552-1557. The current volume covers the nunciature of Vincenzo Lauro to Poland during the pontificate of Gregory XIIL (L572- L585). This first volume devoted to Lauro's nunciature covers the period July 25, 1572 (when he was designated PoUsh nuncio), to September 30, 1574; Lauro did not actuaUy arrive in Krakow until January, 1574. The main part of the volume presents 163 documents; 123 of the documents are in ItaUan, and the other forty are in Latin. A series of appendices prints twenty-five more documents, eleven in Latin, thirteen in ItaUan, and one Ln French, which Ulustrate Lauro's nunciature. Both sets of documents are arranged chronoIogicaUy; aU are prefaced by a Latin summary, and there are copious explanatory footnotes in Latin. Indeed, in some cases we find the Latin summary without the actual document, usuaUy where the document is basicaUy a copy of a letter aheady printed here but sent to a different recipient. By far the largest group of documents in the main coUection are letters between Lauro and Tolomeo GaIUo, Cardinal Secretary of State for Gregory XIII: forty-six letters of GaLUo to Lauro and fifty-four of Lauro to Gallio. Twelve of the items in the appendices were written by or sent to GaUio. The introduction traces Lauro's career. Lauro (1523-1592) was born in Calabria and studied at Naples and Padua before serving in the households of several cardinals in Rome and France. Appointed bishop of Mondovi in Piedmont in 1566, he served as nuncio to Scotland and later to Savoy. He was named nuncio to Poland the same month QuIy, 1572) that King Sigismund II died without heir. The PoUsh nobUity elected Henry ofValois their king over a Hapsburg candidate . At Paris Henry took an oath to uphold the reUgious Uberties of both Catholic and Protestant nobles. Lauro labored hard but in vain, first in France, then in Poland, to get the king to retract that oath. Henry was in Poland only four months when his brother Charles LX died on May 30, L574; Henry sUpped out of Poland and hastened home to become King of France. When he refused to return to Poland, the nobility declared the throne vacant and began the protracted election which brought Stephan Bathory of Transylvania to the Polish throne in 1575. Lauro and the papacy favored first aValois and then a Hapsburg candidate. This volume ends shortly before Bathory took over the kingdom, but Lauro's role in the disputed election undermined his relations with the new king. Although his was not a happy or successful nunciature, he was rewarded with a cardinal's hat and worked in the Curia until his death. Wojtyska, who has pubUshed four previous volumes in this series, here takes on a younger co-editor. Like the other volumes in this series, this is a model of book reviews723 sturdy scholarship. Libraries which have coUections in PoUsh or church history should purchase this and the other volumes in this monumental series. John Patrick Donnelly, SJ. Marquette University Robert Persons:The Biography ofan ElizabethanJesuit, 1546-1610. By Francis Edwards, SJ. (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources. 1995. Pp. xvü, 411. $42.95.) For many years now there have been caUs for someone to complete a scholarly edition of the letters of Robert Persons (or Parsons). The first volume of his correspondence down to 1588 edited by Leo Hicks, SJ.,for the CathoUc Record Society (Volume 39) appeared in 1942. Now more than fifty years later we have this fuU-length biography based on his letters. One has the impression that it was written some time ago. Only a third of the "more often used printed sources" were pubUshed since World War II. But then since the retirement of Father...

Lithomania versus Panpolonism: The Roots of the Polish-Lithuanian Conflict before 1914

Throughout much of their history Poland and Lithuania have shared a Special Relationship. The nature of this relationship has varied over time. In 1386, when Jagietto ascended the Polish throne after his marriage to Queen Jadwiga, the intention was a swift incorporation of Lithuania into Poland. By 1401, this intention had foundered on the opposition of the Lithuanians and from that date the two countries remained linked only through a personal union embodied in a common king. This personal union allowed for complete autonomy and lasted with some interruptions until 1569. At that time a federal arrangement was worked out in the Union of Lublin. This union lasted until 1791 when the two countries were split apart by the partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. Even though the two countries were separated, their special relationship continued into the nineteenth century in the form of a common opposition to the partitioning powers. It was not until the late nineteenth century that this special relationship broke down. This breakdown occurred because of the development of two opposing world views which triumphed among the Polish and Lithuanian-speakers in Lithuania making compromise between them impossible. To comprehend why these two opposing views developed and political mitosis occurred, it is necessary to understand the social and economic relations that evolved between Lithuanians and Poles in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the late eighteenth century partitions.1 Such an examination cannot be precise because the statistics on which such a study would

II. Peter the Great and the Polish Election of 1697

The royal election of 1697 is a topic of Polish history that has enjoyed greater popularity with foreign than with native historians: the quantity of German contributions to the subject is exceeded only by the output of French chroniclers and researchers That this should be so is understandable. The German writers have examined the elevation of an Elector of Saxony to the Polish throne, the French have studied the defeat of a Bourbon prince, but neither group has showed any interest in the part played by Russia in this double process. Polish scholars have paid only incidental attention to it and expressed widely divergent views of its significance. Jarochowski, writing a century ago, states categorically that ‘a hundred years before the last partition Poland had morally lost her independence. First the Austrian and French, next the Russian and Prussian ambassadors usurped that power which the nation denied to its own kings’. Szujski, in a work published ten years later, outbids Jarochowski and speaks of ade factorenunciation of political independence; Bobrzyński, the leading historian of the next generation, merely notes that the year 1697 marked the end of French influence in Poland. In more recent times K. Piwarski referred to the interregnum between the death of John Sobieski and the election of Augustus II as ‘the last in which the nation was still free to settle its own fate’, while W. Konopczyński discerned in it ‘a fact hitherto unprecedented in a Polish election and pregnant with consequences, the fact of Russian intimidation”.