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Upon the decisions of the peace treaty concluding the Thirteen Years’ War between the German Order and the Kingdom of Poland supported by the Prussian estates, the monastic rule in Prussia was divided into two separate, if connected with each other, parts: Royal Prussia and Monastic Prussia. The article discusses economic relations – long distance trade, retail, the flow of people and capital between the biggest cities – Gdańsk and Königsberg in the years 1466-1525. In the older historiography there appeared information indicating that economic relations between Royal Prussia and Monastic Prussia were breached after the division of the Monastic State. Such information resulted from the insufficient database – the authors concentrated on the sources which addressed the problem in quantitative terms. On the basis of the analysis of the correspondence and scattered entries in the city books it is possible to establish that intensive trade and financial contacts between the biggest ports of Prussia were maintained. Trade relations concentrated on the exchange between Western Europe and Lithuania, where both cities played a major role. What prevailed was the export of salt, and at the beginning of the 16th century also the export of grain from Żuławy [Werder] to Königsberg. Wood, ash and hop played a major role in the import to the West. The exchange of goods invariably entailed the exchange of money and people. Inhabitants of Gdańsk and Königsberg lent money to each other and purchased property. The exchange of people was also visible; it referred mainly to journeymen and peddlers. The text shows that apart from customs books it is necessary to examine the correspondence while analyzing trade contacts of Gdańsk.
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The article poses the question about the possibility to define the moment when the Reformation appeared in Prussia. In the literature of the subject matter it is hard to find one answer to this question. The scholars most frequently give the year 1518 – the year when Jacob Knade of Gdańsk left the Order and got married. The author reminds the critical analysis by Paul Simson, who showed that the year 1518 resulted from the erroneous interpretation of the subsequent sources. The author poses the question to the narrative sources written in Gdańsk and Königsberg which resemble personal accounts – none of them recognizes the above-mentioned event connected with Knade. Moreover, the accounts mention the Reformation for the first time in the years 1522-1523. Simon Grunau was the first to write about the Reformation in the spring of 1522. In the article the chronicle by Bernt Stegmann of 1528, the chronicle by Simon Grunau (1517-1530) and chronicles by the city’s notaries of the Old City of Königsberg Johann Beler (1519-1523) and Casper Freiberg (ca. 1548) were used. The chroniclers reveal the chaos of the first years of the Reformation. They associate the beginnings of the Reformation in the cities with the speeches of Lutheran preachers. The accounts provided by Simon Grunau – travelling between Gdańsk and Königsberg – are the most comprehensive. Some Lutheran preachers are presented by him as people without a past, of unknown background. Others, such as Amandus and Speratus, are accused of Jewish origin and plotting against Christians. All of them – Stegmann, Grunau, Freiberg and Platner underline the threat brought about by the activity of the Lutheran preachers for the life and order in the city. Stegmann blames Jacob Hegge and Johann Franck for instigating to violence. Grunau, who analyzed the origin of the movement and ideas of Luther, considers Prussian uneducated supporters of Luther – Jacob Hegge and Johann Amandus - to be the most pernicious. Moderate preachers such as Alexander Sveniche, Johann Poliander and Michael Meurer – educated people respecting peace and rejecting blasphemy – were presented in the positive light. Such opinions are the evidence that the chroniclers (Grunau, Stegmann, Platner) saw the need to introduce certain reforms and do away with abuses in the Church.
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The article underlines the fact that Prussia became Protestant prior to Saxony (considered to be the “mother country of the Reformation”) and other German states. After the end of the Thirteen Years’ War one of the problems constituted the relations between the Grand Master and the Polish King as they went beyond the area of politics affecting also religion and law. Having been elected Grand Master Albrecht Hohenzollern introduced significant changes in the political system of the state. He was related to King Sigismund the Old thanks to his mother, who was Sigismund’s sister. It was unusual for the Teutonic Order to have elected twenty-one-year-old Albrecht to be Grand Master as normally the tendency was to appoint the most respectable member of the Order. Albrecht Hohenzollern launched many reforms the aim of which was to centralize the Teutonic administration. Gradually, the corporate style of management was being transformed into a one-person leadership. Albrecht Hohenzollern also planned to carry out religious reforms. That is why he tried to contact Martin Luther. He attempted to establish the first contact with Luther in the years 1521-1522. The next attempt was made by Martin Luther. In 1523 Luther wrote a letter to the Teutonic Order, where he suggested the rejection of the principle of purity and taking over the lands in hereditary ownership by Teutonic brothers as it was done by noble families. In practice, it would have meant the liquidation of the Order. Albrecht refused to accept the ideas, which did not mean that he disliked Luther. Albrecht met Luther at the end of 1523 in Wittenberg. Luther repeated his guidelines to make the Teutonic state a secular duchy. In May 1524 there was another meeting. Taking into account the political situation at that time, the political isolation of the Teutonic Order and the threat to become subjected to Poland, Albrecht decided to convert into Lutheranism. In this way, he made himself independent of the Pope and in the long run he could set up the foundations to make himself less and less dependent on Catholic Poland. Owing to secularization, Albrecht saved his personal rule and transformed the monastic state into the first Protestant European country.
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The article presents the Lithuanian expedition carried out in Livonia in the winter of 1579. On the basis of the itinerary [itinerarium] and iconographic and written sources it has been established that three regiments were to act in a coordinated manner to conduct the military action against the Russian Empire. All the three regiments were to set off from Kieś [Wenden] and through different ways reach Dorpat [Tartu] occupied by the Russians. The whole expedition included about 200 cavalry soldiers and about 400 common infantry soldiers [Polish: drab] along with several light artillery and a numerous lager. Owing to the activities undertaken by the three regiments, destructions were much more extensive, more loot was acquired and military successes were more significant – the castle of Kierepeć was conquered. The activity of three separate regiments confused the enemy and prevented them from undertaking the effective defence. The expedition was carried out from 16 February to 6 March, which also affected its outcome. The late winter provided the best conditions for the land communication, while the upcoming thaw made it impossible for the enemy to launch the counter-defence. It resulted in the safe return to Kieś and a lack of Moscovite units sent from Dorpat. To my way of thinking, the winter expedition of 1579 to Livonia was the best example of the manoeuvre art of the Polish-Lithuanian army in the 16th century.The routes of two regiments (the left one and the central one) ran close to each other, while the third one (the right one) had a totally different route entering the Russian lands from the back. The right regiment was commanded by the Oberst [Colonel] of Courland Jürgen Buttler, who conquered the castle of Kierepeć [Kirempe]. The main unit was commanded by Krzysztof Radziwiłł nicknamed “Perkūnas”, who plundered the vicinities of Dorpat. The analysis of the itinerary of 1579 prepared by Krzysztof Radziwiłł indicates that the mile recorded there corresponded to 8 kilometres. The average daily velocity of the expedition Kieś–Dorpat–Kieć amounted to 21.55 km, which corresponded to 2.7 miles. During the expedition the regiments covered from 250 to 310 km, which along with the return journey amounted to 500 km.
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The author makes an attempt to interpret the Reformation events in Słupsk. The scholars reconstructed the religious changes from the end of 1524 to the end of the 1530s in Słupsk in a similar way, but they differed in the interpretation of those events. The author of the article found the source which hitherto had not been exploited. It comes from the resources stored in the Archive of Szczecin’s Dukes in Szczecin. The author maintains that it was in 1521 that the Reformation ideas appeared in Słupsk. Their initiator was the monk from Białobok – Christian Ketelhut. Next, the article addresses the activity of the first advocates and opponents of the Reformation in Słupsk. In the years 1524–1525 social unrest took place. The organizer of the religious tumult was Johannes Amandus, who had arrived from Konigsberg. The significance of his activity arises a great deal of debate. The author underlines the fact that Amandus talked with the old city council about the introduction of the new religion – not with the new Civil Committee. There is no evidence that the Civil Committee was active in this field. Participants of the tumult of the end of December 1524 committed iconoclasm in Our Lady’s Church and burnt down the Dominican church. It was not until the Pomeranian duke’s intervention and his regulations introduced in mid-1525 that the situation in the city stabilized. The Civil Committee was dissolved; the authority returned to the old city council, and the duke ordered that one preacher be chosen. The act of 25 November 1525 allowed to establish the Lutheran commune formally. Its parson became a Jacob Hogense. The article presents the process of the gradual taking over of various church institutions by the Evangelicals. It was a quite prolonged process. Catholic religious life functioned in Słupsk without major disturbances until 1537, and it is hard to talk about the extinction of the Catholicism in Słupsk after 1525. In the city there dominated two denominations. In 1539 the canon Natzmer was made to leave the parsonage of Słupsk. From 1535 it was the convent of the Norbertines in Słupsk that constituted the spiritual and material support for Catholic clergymen in Słupsk.
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The subject of the article are issues related to the composition of the deputies’ chamber during the Piotrków General Sejm operating from 20 January to 12 February 1533. Delegates from the Poznań and Kalisz regional councils were not elected to this Sejm, which resulted in the refusal of some deputies to take part in the Sejm and their departure from Piotrków. The legitimacy and agency of the deputies’ chamber (and hence the parliament) was questioned in a situation in which the law obtained binding force only upon the consent of all voivodships or lands. The article discusses the method of overcoming the crisis (sessions of the deputy chamber of parliament in a limited composition, and then sending the law passed by the parliament to specially convened parliamentary assemblies for lands that did not adopt parliamentary resolutions). On the basis of previously unknown bills for the payment of flat-rate remuneration for the participation in the work of parliament from the resources of the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, a list of deputies who participated in the work of the truncated Chamber of Deputies was compiled. Two fragments of bills were also issued in the form of an annex, providing information on payments from the Crown Treasury to senators from the Masovian voivodship taking part in the sessions of the Sejm and delegates of the post-Sejm assemblies who brought to Cracow resolutions adopting the constitutions of the Piotrków Sejm.
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For a long time, historiography was dominated by a dualistic view on what had happened at the Sejm of Lublin in 1569. Thus, when describing the conclusion of the Union of Lublin, scholars focused on the Polish-Lithuanian dispute and the decisive role of King Sigismund Augustus in signing the agreement in Lublin. Recently, however, there have appeared publications highlighting the important role in the conclusion of the Lublin Union played by the Ruthenian nobility and noble representatives of the lands incorporated into the Polish Crown in 1569, that is Volhynia, eastern Podolia (Bracław Land) and the region of Kiev. The article sums up the existing knowledge on this subject, stressing the fact of the separate interests of the Ruthenian magnates, especially from Volhynia – where many well-known princely families had their family nests – in comparison to the Lithuanian magnates on the eve of the conclusion of the Union of Lublin. It facilitated the decision of the Ruthenian nobles to support not only the union itself, but also the incorporation of the above-mentioned provinces into the Polish Crown. Also thanks to this attitude of the princes and noblemen of Volhynia, Bracław Land and the region of Kiev, these areas gained relatively broad autonomy allowing them to preserve their cultural identity. There is no doubt, however, that the Union of Lublin accelerated the process of Polonization of these lands to some extent, although the process had begun well before 1569. Another important event from the point of view of maintaining the cultural identity of these provinces was the conclusion of the Union of Brest (1595–1596), as a result of which – upon the decision of most Orthodox bishops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – the Kiev metropolitanate became subordinated to the Holy See. On the one hand, the majority of Ruthenian nobility from the aforementioned provinces reacted in defense of the Orthodox faith, and to some extent also of the Ruthenian region, which stimulated them to strengthen their identity. In this context, noble tribunes of Ruthenian origin, such as Adam Kisiel, and Orthodox polemic writers, such as Melecjusz Smotrycki (who later became a member of the Uniate Church), began to indicate the existence of a separate Ruthenian nation, also pointing to its different features and de facto forming the foundations of its historical tradition. Zaporizhian Cossacks, who consistently defended the Orthodox faith, also joined the process to some extent. On the other hand, in the long run, the Union of Brest led to the Catholicization of local noblemen. Most of Ruthenian nobles eventually converted to the Roman Catholic denomination. However, the fact that the Uniate Church existed might have led to the situation that at least some of the Ruthenian nobles remained in the Ruthenian cultural circle even in the 18th and 19th centuries. Meanwhile, in the 17th century the role of the Ruthenian language tended to decrease in the above-mentioned territories, as it was the case in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the second half of the 17th century the Ruthenian language ceased to be the official language for the benefit of the Polish language.
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The aim of the article is to examine the most important forms of social activity of the petty and middle nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 16th century on the example of the unique life stories of two Vitebsk noblemen. The article discusses biographies of Piotr Kisiel and Tymofiej Hurka, who represented the Vitebsk district at the Sejm in 1569 and directly participated in the conclusion of the Union of Lublin. For a long time, the historiography discussed only the most influential participants of the sessions of this Sejm. However, ‘ordinary’ representatives of the wide group of nobles from the districts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also played their part in negotiations regarding the conclusion of the union. The aims, ideas, worldview, and values along with the personal experiences of those people directly affected their social and political position, and thus, to some extent, shaped the entire state. The author shows the influence of military and political events of the 1560s on the political activities of Piotr Kisiel and Tymofiej Hurka. The experience gained from the Livonian War influenced their attitude towards the union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown in 1569. The investigations presented by the author show that significant transformations of the 1560s (reforms of the political system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) gave the Kisiel and Hurka families the opportunity to actively participate in public life and allowed them to occupy a permanent place among the political elites of the Vitebsk district. The research results are based on various types of documentary sources, both published ones and manuscripts. The methodological basis of the analysis is the biographical method. The article emphasizes that detailed investigations of the biographies of ‘ordinary’ nobles opened new research perspectives in regard to the history of the noblemen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
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The article tests the established view that Gennadios Scholarios, the first patriarch of Constantinople after the 1453 Conquest, used the church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople as the seat of the Patriarchate for a few months in 1454 before moving to the building complex of the Pammakaristos monastery. After pointing out that all the sources that narrate the story of the installation of the Patriarchate in the famous Byzantine church date from the 16th century or later, the author examines sources contemporary with the events, including texts written by Scholarios himself. The aim of the article is to show that Scholarios officiated occasionally in the Holy Apostles and managed to salvage some of the relics it once held, but this does not mean that the church functioned as the official seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
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The paper discusses the visual representations of St. Mark of Ephesus, under-researched in previous scholarship, which have survived in several monuments of post-Byzantine wall painting in the Balkans. These depictions are analyzed as visual testimonies of the veneration of Mark of Ephesus in the period under consideration, i.e. as important indicators of the presence, continuity and dissemination of his cult a long time before his official canonization in the 18th century. The paper also offers an overview of the different iconographic versions of the images of St. Mark of Ephesus. Finally, it examines the possible reasons for the emergence of images representing this famed anti-Unionist metropolitan in the discussed monuments. In this context, the images of Mark of Ephesus are considered through the prism of their placement in a given iconographic program; wherever possible, the role of the ktetor and artist in their creation is examined.
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History of Muscovite estate shaping in «German towns» in 1550s–1580s is closely connected with Novgorod, Pskov, Rzheva Pustaya as servicemen communities. These servicemen were the source for new landowners in the lands taken by Muscovites to the West from Narova river. Only Rzheva Pustaya was more or less studied already. The paper is an attempt to generalize the data on number and personal content of «German towns» landowners (mostly on sources of 1582) and to study the issue of the significance of the experience of making estates in Livonian lands for the day-to-day culture of Muscovite servicemen. Geography of Russian landownership in Livonia is under consideration. Also the historiographical discussions of the reasons of Russian Livonia project fail is studied in the article. Special attention is paid to the issue of Muscovite landowners evacuation from Livonia after military defeats of 1580–1582. Record books of Rzheva Pustaya and Novgorod Vodskaya pyatina included notes of the towns and districts in Livonia that have been left by the landowners. Other record books of North-Western Muscovy only mention the new strata of servicemen «new landowners of German towns». Special groups of «Rugodiv and Juryev newly baptized [tartars]» and «Cossacks from Govye» were also separately mentioned in the record books. In the last period of Livonian War not only Livonia itself but also some border districts of former Novgorod land were left by Muscovites. In 1582–1583 the Moscow Government also took responsibility for the landowners from that lost districts. V. A. Arakcheev noted the order on the land security of those servicemen issued between January 23 and March 4, 1583. In early 1580s the landowners of «German towns» received estates in «abandoned lands». Later Court lands were spread between them.
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The study deals with the issue of the first diplomatic contacts of Safavid Persia, Jagiellonian Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy in the early 16th century. The introduction will present primary source materials edited in the collections as well as the respective scholarship. Based on these materials, I will reconstruct the beginnings of the aforementioned diplomatic relations. At first, key emphasis will be placed on the international circumstances of the relations’ constitution at the beginning of the 16th century. The conceptual framework of this historical issue will examine the question of the creation of an anti-Ottoman alliance which should have included Safavid Persia. Because of this, the Safavid dynasty (1501 – 1736) had established contacts with several European states (such as the Papal Curia, Venice and Portugal) from the beginning of their reign. It was they who conveyed the information about Persia to other political leaders of the then Europe, including the Hungarian king and the Holy Roman emperor. Furthermore, I will pursue an analysis of the first surviving correspondence between the first Safavid Shah Ismāʿīl (1501 – 1524), the Hungarian King Louis II. Jagiellonian (1516 – 1526) and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1519 – 1556). Afterwards, I will indicate the further development of these nascent diplomatic contacts. The study intends to contribute to the knowledge on the international relations and diplomacy between the “West” and the “East” at the beginning of the 16th century, to which the Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg Monarchy and Safavid Persia belonged.
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In Slovakia, book printing showed a significant development only in the 16th century. Printing facilities were established mainly in the eastern part of Hungary. They were founded with the support of the aristocratic court where the printer should operate. Many of them focused on the Protestant church, were persecuted, and therefore did not last long. In the Lyceum Library, there are two slovacical preserved works from two printers in Bardejov. These are mostly theological printed works that predominate in the 16th-century fund. The works' content focuses on the worship of paintings in churches, which many priests wanted to remove. Some of the works mentioned in the article affect our history only marginally, but they are still an important source. Works stored in the Lyceum Library are interesting for their content but also for their owners. The books were donated to the library by professors and students of the library and by many important families, whether it was the Podkonický or Pongrátz family.
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The article analyzes the Finnish aspect of the Twenty-Five Years’ War between Sweden and Russia (1570–1595), as well as the content and the significance of its image in the collective memory of the Finns. The relevance of the article is determined by the absence of a complete concept of the Twenty-Five Years’ War in the Russian historiography. The Livonian War (1558–1583) has become a more important part of the constructed narrative. For this reason, many events of the confrontation between Sweden and Russia during the second half of the XVI century were seen as less significant ones, and the Finnish aspect of that war was almost excluded from the Russian historiography. The author makes an attempt to propose a new approach to the study of the Russian foreign policy events during the second half of the XVI century. It was concluded that the Finnish aspect of the Twenty-Five Years’ War between Sweden and Russia is important for understanding the development not only of Finland in the second half of the XVI century, but also of the entire Baltic region. In addition, the historical experience of Finland during numerous wars between Sweden and Russia, including the period of “Pitka viha”, was used in forming the Finnish national identity.
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Рец. на кн.: Третьякова М. В. Дипломатическая деятельность Венецианского нобиля XVI века Джакомо Соранцо. Н. Новгород: Нижегород. гос. ун-т, 2018. 402 с. / Review to: M. V. Tretyakova. Diplomatic activities of the 16th century Venetian noble Giakomo Soranzo. N. Novgorod: Nizhny Novgorod State University, 2018, 402 p.
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The plot of Jacopo Tintoretto’s triptych “Fourteen Members of the Soranzo Family” was studied. The paintings are stored in the Pinacoteca of Milan (Italy). The Soranzo clan was the patron of Jacopo Tintoretto. The biography of Giacomo Soranzo, one of the grandsons of Jacopo Soranzo – the central person of the triptych, was discussed. The interest in the problem under consideration was fueled by the final report (Relazione) of Giacomo Soranzo, where he summarizes the results of his diplomatic mission in England during 1551–1554, especially the passage where the Venetian nobleman appeals to the Venetian Doge and the government with a request to leave at his disposal the gold chains that he received as a gift and as a reward from Edward VI and Mary I, the English monarchs. The sensitivity of the situation is that the Venetian law obliged ambassadors to hand over all gifts received during the execution of the embassy to the state when they finish their missions. However, Giacomo Soranzo believed that he was entitled to the award due to his special merits. Traditionally, it was thought that Giacomo Soranzo’s request was not granted. At the same time, Jacopo Tintoretto’s triptych depicting Giacomo Soranzo with a chain having a Tudor rose testifies to the contrary. It was concluded that Giacomo Soranzo might have kept the rewards received from the English monarchs, but there is no full confidence in this, because Jacopo Tintoretto could have depicted the symbolic possession of the award in the desire to meet the wishes of the customer/customers.
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The problem of reception of the antiquity through tapestries in the Russian historiography was considered. Using as an example the Flemish tapestries of the 15th–16th centuries from the Collection of the State Hermitage Museum, the transformation and popularity of ancient motifs in this art form were demonstrated, as well as their special role in the propaganda of power, high social status, and wealth. The following main elements of tapestries were analyzed: subjects, characters, costumes, and Latin banderoles. The methodology of tapestry analysis is similar to the one used by structuralists: an additional link (customer) is introduced in the author – text – reader research field. The subjects of the tapestries were compared with the plots of the corresponding ancient literary sources. As a result, it was concluded about different perception of the antiquity in the literature and fine arts. Tapestries reflect the attitude of customers to the political reality of that time. The Northern Renaissance and how it was influenced by the ideas of humanists embodied in the tapestries was discussed.
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