Marcus Ambrosius jako wysłannik króla Zygmunta Augusta do Antwerpii około roku 1560
Marcus Ambrosius as an Envoy of Sigismund II Augustus to Antwerp around 1560

Author(s): Ryszard Szmydki
Subject(s): Cultural history, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Marcus Ambrosius; Sigismund Augustus; Antwerp; tapestry; Klemens Janicki; Paracelsus
Summary/Abstract: Around 1560, Marcus Ambrosius of Nysa was sent to the Southern Netherlands on a mission to purchase five cannons from Peter Cuyper, bell-founder from Mechelen, to support the Polish army in the face of the Livonian War. At the same time in Antwerp, the envoy of Sigismund II Augustus prepared a sketch of the first map of Livonia to be published by a prominent Flemish cartographer, Abraham Ortelius (in 1570, the print was included in the famous atlas titled Theatrum orbis terrarum). In 1562 in Antwerp, Marcus Ambrosius published "Arma Regni Poloniae", a heraldic book which was highly regarded in the Polish heraldry, issued by the publishing house of Gillis Coppens van Diest. In 1563, Marcus Ambrosius finalised the publication of two texts by the leading poet of Polish Renaissance, Klemens Janicki, sometimes called the Polish Ovid, with Willem Silvius. The first one was a posthumous volume of elegies, known in their Polonised form under the title of "The Lives of Polish Kings", and in the Netherlands published as "Vitae regum Polonorum elegiaco carmino descriptae". The second text, a satire by Klemens Janicki titled "Polonici vestitus varietatem et inconstantiam dialogus" ("Dialogue against the Diversity and Changeability of Polish Costumes") was added to the Vitae regum Polonorum, published by Willem Silvius in 1563. During his stay in Antwerp, Marcus Ambrosius also prepared the publication of the treatise "Ex libro de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris" ("On Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, Salamanders", etc.) by Swiss physician and philosopher Paracelsus.

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