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Russian Endeavors for the Polish Crown in the Seventeenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Zbigniew Wójcik
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Extract

Polish-Russian relations have from their very beginning been characterized by intense political rivalry and military confrontation. This is no surprise, since after the Polish-Lithuanian union (1386, 1569), Poland was drawn into the conflict between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the great Muscovite principality over hegemony in Eastern Europe. Struggles between Lithuania and Muscovy were thus transformed into wars between the Russian state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the reigns of Polish kings Stefan Batory (1576–86), Zygmunt III (1587–1632), and Wladyslaw IV (1632–48), the commonwealth gained a military advantage over its eastern neighbor. This was especially evident during the Time of Troubles (smutnoe vremia), when the Polish army occupied Moscow (1610–12) and when Wladyslaw IV defeated the Russians in the War of Smolensk (1632–34).

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , Spring 1982 , pp. 59 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1982

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References

1. According to Soviet historian G. M. Lyzlov, the tsar's ambitions had a decisive influence on Russian policy toward Khmel'nyts'kyi's uprising. Only the failure of plans for a Russian-Polish dynastic union in the years 1648-49 brought about a complete change in Moscow's policy toward Poland (see G. M. Lyzlov, “Pol'sko-russkie otnosheniia v nachal'nyi period osvoboditel'noi voiny ukrainskogo naroda 1648-1654 gg. [do Zborovskogo mira],” Akademiia nauk SSSR, Institut slavianovedeniia, Kratkie soobshcheniia 24 [1958]: 73 and idem, “Pol'sko-russkie otnosheniia v period ot Zborovskogo mira do zemskogo sobora 1651 g.,” 27 [1959]: 67).

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3. Wójcik, , Polska i Rosja, pp. 29–30 Google Scholar.

4. Ibid., pp. 31-32 and Kubala, , Wojna brandenburska, pp. 45–46Google Scholar.

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9. Fantoni to Orsini, December 10, 1667, Elementa ad Fontium Editiones, vol. 14: Collectanea e rebus polonicis Archivi Orsini in Archivo Capitolino Romae, I pars., ed. Wanda Wyhowska de Andreis (Rome, 1965), document 158, pp. 194-95.

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11. A curious detail of the history of this mission is that Potemkin had his credentials addressed to King Philip IV of Spain, who had died some years before. About particulars, see Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 130-32; idem, “Poselstwo rosyjskie do Hiszpanii w roku 1667/68 a sprawa elekcji polskiej,” in Z dziejów wojny ipolityki: Ksiega Pamiqtkowa ku uczczeniu siedemdziesiqtej rocznicy urodzinprof. Janusza Wolińskiego (Warsaw, 1964); K. Massal'skii, “Russkoe posol'stvo v Ispaniiu i Frantsiiu v 1667 i 1668 godakh,” Biblioteka dlia chteniia, 31, no. 2 (St. Petersburg, 1838); and Const. Dejavin, “La primera embajada russa en Espafla,” Academia de la Historia (Madrid), Boletin, 96, pt. 2 (April-June 1930): 877-96.

12. “Propositions que les Ambassadeurs Moscovites ont fait à Madrid 6 et 7 Mars 1668,” Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangeres Paris (hereafter cited as AAÉ), Correspondance Politique, Espagne 57, p. 44. Cf. Wójcik, “Poselstwo rosyjskie,” p. 168.

13. Shmurlo, , Russkaia kandidatura, pp. 272ffGoogle Scholar. and Wójcik, MiÉdzy traktatem, pp. 132ff.

14. Shmurlo, , Russkaia kandidatura, pp. 304–305Google Scholar and Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 135-36.

15. Wójcik, Między traktatem, p. 137.

16. Tsentral'nyi Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Drevnikh Aktov (TsGADA), Posol'skii prikaz, Snosheniia Rossii s Pol'shei, kniga 116, listy 64-66.

17. The report from Warsaw is dated January 20, 1668 (AAli, Pologne 29, p. 47).

18. TsGADA, Posol'skii prikaz, Snosheniia Rossii s Pol'shei, k. 116, 1. 68.

19. AAÉ, Pologne 28, pp. 17ff.; ibid., Pologne 29, pp. 47ff., pp. 122ff., pp. 146ff.

20. Zbigniew Wójcik, “Pacowie wobec kandydatury rosyjskiej na tron połski w latach 1668-1669. Misja Polkowa na Litwie 1668,” Przegląd Historyczny, 60, no. 1 (1969): 144-50.

21. Wójcik, Między traktatem, p. 144.

22. Ibid., p. 145.

23. Olszewski], A[ndreas], Censura candidatorum sceptri polonici (Warsaw, 1669)Google Scholar. For more about political pamphlets and other sources connected with the election in 1669, see Z. Celichowski, De fontibus qui ad abdicationem Joannis Casimiri et electionem Michaelis ‘Wiśniowiecki pertninent 1668-1669 … (Dresden, 1871); T., Korzon, Dola i niedola Jana Sobieskiego, vol. 2 (Krakdw, 1898), pp. 148ffGoogle Scholar.; Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 148ff.

24. “Moscovia certus sum, neutiquam Regno Poloniae, adeo minus Ecclesiae Catholicae, | uniretur,” Olszowski, Censura candidatorum. 3

25. Cf. Wójcik, Między traktatem, p. 150.

26. Ibid., p. 151.

27. Georgius Ulicovius Lithuanus, Specimen demonstrationum politicarum pro eligendo Rege Polonorum. Novo scribendi genere ad claram certitudinem exactum (Vilna, 1669); a Polish translation exists (Wzorzec dowodów politycznych, trans. Tadeusz Bieńkowski [Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1969]). See also Leibnitii, Gothofredi Guillemi, S. Caesar. Majestatis Consiliarii, et S. Reg. Majestatis Britanniarum a Consiliis Justitiae intimis, nee non a scribenda historiia Opera omnia … studio Ludovici Dutens, 6 vols, in 4 (Geneva, 1768Google Scholar). About Leibniz's work, see also S., Kot, Rzeczpospolita Polska w literaturze politycznej Zachodu (Kraków, 1919), p. 181Google Scholar; Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 151ff.; and Zbigniew W6jcik, “Zmiana w układzie sił politycznych w Europie Ŕrodkowowschodniej w drugiej polowie XVII wieku,” Kwartalnik Historyczny, 1 (1960): 54.

28. “Eligendus Orbi Christiano gratus esto,” Leibnitii, 5. Caesar, p. 573.

29. Ibid., p. 613.

30. “Moschus utiliter non eligetur… . Est advertissimus Orbi Christiano,” ibid.

31. The pamphlet, which is dated July 10, 1688, can be found in the Ossoliński Library, Wrocław (Manuscript no. 3564, pp. 406ff.), the Central Archives of Early Records, Warsaw (Archiwum ksiąŻ Radziwiłłow, dept. 2, book 22, pp. 207-14), and the Czartoryski Library, Kraków (Manuscript no. 2577, no. 3, pp. 21ff.).

32. “Quis regum in Europa par erit Poloniae et Moscoviae regi? ” Johann, Frischmann, Comitia Warsowica pro eligendo rege MDCLXIX, Editio posterior (N.p., n.d.), p. 16Google Scholar. Cf. J. G. Droysen, “Zur Quellencritik [sic] der deutschen Geschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts,” Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, 4 (1864): 67 and Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 160-61.

33. Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 161ff.

34. B., Connor, The History of Poland, vol. 1 (London, 1698), p. 4 Google Scholar.

35. For particulars, see Wójcik, Między traktatem, pp. 163ff.

36. Some attention was given to it by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Popov, a Russian historian from the mid-nineteenth century ( Popov, A. N., Russkoe posol'stvo v Pol'she v 1673-1677 godakh [St. Petersburg, 1854], p. 27Google Scholar). S. M. Solov'ev repeated his arguments ( Solov'ev, S. M., Istoriia Rossii, vol. 6, book 12, pp. 506ffGoogle Scholar.). For particulars concerning the Russian candidacy in 1674, see also Motiwa zdrowemu rozsadkowi passyjom nie polegtemu podane … na elekcyjq nowegopana in Anno 1674 … infinitae rationes militant po moskiewskim carzyku, National Library, Warsaw (Manuscript no. 9816) and the Russian answer, a document without a title, Czartoryski Library, Krakdw (Manuscript no. 232, pp. 1107ff.).

37. Solov'ev, , Istoriia Rossii, vol. 6, book 12, p. 507Google Scholar.

38. “II primo a cedar sotto il politico squittinio e il principe di Moscovia d'eta non per anche valida, di genio forte, di sentimenti risoluti, nato à dominare, lattato nella religione de Greci, sustinatici nodritto con se massime di quel governo, alieno da ogni altro vito e costume,” Le squittinio de principi aspiranti alia corona di Polonia nell'elettione del Re 1674 (Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv Wien, Lothringisches Hausarchiv, no. 32, pp. 620-33).