There have been few wars in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth so short and so full of sensational twists and turns. by Michał Wasiucionek The story of the short but bloody Khotyn War (1620–1621) was full of dramatic twists and turns: from the unexpected and overwhelming defeat of the Crown army at Țuțora…
While writing rhetoric textbooks, he illustrated a critique of macaronic, heavily latinized language with excerpts from his own youthful works. Acting as if he was a political scientist avant la lettre, he created the first systematic critique of the liberum veto system, advocating the introduction of the principle of majority voting in parliament of the…
The Battle of Kircholm turned out to be one of the most impressive victories of the Polish-Lithuanian army from the Commonwealth. The hussars literally obliterated the three times more numerous enemy with very small losses on their side. by Piotr Abryszeński The 17th century turned out to be a century of wars for the…
In the early morning of 12 September 1683, in the ruins of the church of St Joseph on Kahlenberg Hill near Vienna burnt by the Turks, Mark of Aviano, an Italian Capuchin sometimes referred to as the ‘spiritual father of Europe’, celebrated Mass for the success of the battle against the Ottoman Empire. The King…
Politics and culture go their own ways. Fragmented Italy, plunged into feuds, gave the world the Renaissance. Spain suffered defeat after defeat in the 17th century, but was in its golden age in the field of literature and art. At the end of the reign of Jan III Sobieski, the Polish-Lithuanian state fell into utter…
The course of the boundary between Moldavia and the Polish Crown was, on the surface at least, quite clear, especially in comparison with a fuzzier Polish-Ottoman demarcation further to the east. For most of its course, it ran along the rivers of White Cheremush, Kolachin and the Dniester, extending from the hilly and forested landscape…
