Krzyż i karabela : polityka zagraniczna Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów w ocenie dyplomacji papieskiej w latach 1623-1635

Abstract

This work presents issues relating to a dramatic fragment of European history and a tumultuous period in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the light of the accounts and assessments of papal nuncios residing at European courts. The author’s primary aim was to answer the question: how did the Holy See dur-ing the first phase of the pontificate of Urban VIII assess the foreign policy of the Commonwealth and to what extent did it try to influence it? In his work, main direc-tions of Polish policy during this period and the papacy’s attitude toward them were analyzed. The Roman Curia’s stance on the Commonwealth’s relations with neigh-bors, including Turkey, Moscow, and Sweden, was discussed. The papacy’s stand on the issues relating to Poland’s potential participation in the Thirty Years’ War and on Vasa-Habsburg military plans was examined. Moreover, Rome’s attitude toward issues which pertained to domestic policy, albeit they determined the position of the Polish-Lithuanian state in Europe of that time – the 1632 election and Władysław IV Vasa’s marital plans – was presented. The above-mentioned issues were the subject of mutual diplomatic relations, which usually took the form of correspondence of nuncios to Poland and other European courts with the Holy See’s Secretariat of State. This work is part of an important trend in Polish historical research in which for-eign source materials have been used to explore the history of the Commonwealth. The main source material for this study is the correspondence of apostolic nuncios gathered in Archivio Segreto Vaticano and Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana. The cor-respondence of papal nuncios to Poland between 1623 and 1635 – Giovanni Battista Lancellotti, Antonio Santacroce, Honoratio Visconti, and partially Mario Filonardi, as well as letters from Secretary of State Francesco Barberini to these nuncios are of particular importance to the topic of research. Moreover, telegrams from papal dip-lomats residing at the most important courts of modern Europe: in Vienna, Paris, and Madrid, concerning the international situation of the Commonwealth, are valuable supplementary material. Offering an insight into analyses and actions undertaken by papal diplomacy toward the Commonwealth, the book simultaneously shows the Polish-Lithuanian state as a significant part of European political reality.