The research on the maps made by StanisÅaw PachoÅowiecki has a relatively long history.1 As early as in the 19th century this cycle was considered a very rare and valuable cartographic artefact. Feliks Bentkowski, a literary historian (1781â1852), who was the first to discuss this source in the second volume of his Historia literatury polskiej (The History of Polish Literature) (1814), described it as âa rare [â¦] collection of useful and beautiful work of our fellow countrymanâ.2 The copy he had at his disposal belonged in those days to Count Jan Suchodolski, head of the II Department of War in the Duchy of Warsaw.
However it was a Russian historian Mikhail Andreevich Korkunov (1806â1858) who was the first to draw attention to the importance of these cartographic works. In 1837 in St Petersburg, he published reprints of all eight engravings from 1580 and provided them with an introduction.3 Tracings of the maps for this edition were prepared by Jan Mitkiewicz.
This edition itself is important for several reasons. Firstly, for the next 150 years, it was the only source of knowledge on what PachoÅowieckiâs maps looked like. Secondly, Korkunov was the first to recognize the propagandistic character of these maps. Thirdly, he referred to them as âthe old atlas of the Principality of Polatskâ. This name appears in the running head in his publication.
Three years after Korkunovâs publication, its Polish translation was released together with the engravings. It was published in WrocÅaw (then Breslau) by Zygmunt Schletter in M. Frydlenderâs printing house.4
The originals were lost before the mid-19th century and were therefore unknown to scholars. Edward Rastawiecki, the author of the first Polish history of cartography in the 1840s, only mentioned the reprints.5 Thus, Korkunovâs edition was the only one available to historians in the 19th and most of the 20th century.6 Despite its obvious advantages, this work caused significant research problems. For more than 150 years, the 19th-century engravings became the basis for all the studies. One cannot deny the good intentions of their lithographer Jean François Davignon and publisher Jan Mitkiewicz, but in many places they were simplified and details were modified. This led to incorrect opinions and interpretations.
In 1909, the publishers of PachoÅowieckiâs diploma of nobility admitted that in all likelihood the maps had been irretrievably lost, so they decided to reprint them from Korkunovâs 1837 edition.7 The same reprints were republished by Aleksei Parfenovich Sapunov three years later and by Polish authors, namely Jan Giergielewicz, MieczysÅaw GÄbarowicz, and Karol Buczek.8 They were used by historians of cartography who investigated the works of PachoÅowiecki before World War II, that is by BolesÅaw Olszewicz and Karol Buczek, and after the war by Karol Buczek and StanisÅaw Alexandrowicz,9 as well as other historians of the reign of King Stephen Báthory.10 Until the 1980s, none of them knew any of the originals. Only in 1984 did Tadeusz Chrzanowski announce that he had found a description of PachoÅowieckiâs maps in the catalogue of the National Library in Paris, but he did not see them at that time.11 However, this information escaped the attention of cartography historians. A few years later, in 1987, at the XII Polish Conference of Cartography Historians, Tomasz NiewodniczaÅski (1933â2010) announced that he was in possession of the entire set of drawings from 1580. Later, NiewodniczaÅski also acquired a coloured copy of the map of the Principality of Polatsk.12
It was not until 2016â2017 that more surviving maps by StanisÅaw PachoÅowiecki were discovered. They are kept in libraries in London, Paris, and Perugia, as well as in private collections.13 Grzegorz Franczak and Jakub Niedźwiedź also established that there were two editions of the map of the 1579 siege of Polatsk. One of the results of this research was a new facsimile edition of the maps and plans in their original size and scale released in 2017.14
Basic information about the authorship of these maps was given by BolesÅaw Olszewicz in 1931.15 The first historical and cartographic studies were presented by Karol Buczek as early as in 1933. He took a very critical stance in assessing the level of execution of these cartographic artefacts; we refer to his opinions many times later in this book.16 Some of his reproofs were to the point, but many were incorrect due to the flawed sources he used, as he examined the 19th-century reprints.17 This was pointed out by MieczysÅaw GÄbarowicz when he characterized the artistic standard of StanisÅaw PachoÅowieckiâs works. GÄbarowicz noted that the source base is dubious, and the maps are known âonly from tracings from the first half of the 19th century, which raise certain doubtsâ.18
The breakthrough came with the work of StanisÅaw Alexandrowicz, who was the first to use the original engravings, which were then in the collection of Tomasz NiewodniczaÅski.19 Investigating the originals, Alexandrowicz recalculated the scale of the maps (1:545,000, not 1:700,000), gave a more correct northeastern orientation (but only of the PachoÅowiecki, Ducatus), and pointed out the propaganda aspects of the work.20 Alexandrowicz also wrote StanisÅaw PachoÅowieckiâs biography for the Polish Biographical Dictionary (PSB).21
According to Alexandrowicz, the details of the map leave much to be desired, but the map itself played an important role in shaping the cartographic image of this part of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. StanisÅaw PachoÅowieckiâs works were used by, for example, eminent 16th-century cartographers, such as Maciej Strubicz, Gerardus Mercator, and a group of people who participated in the creation of the RadziwiÅÅ Map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1603/1613/1631). Recently, the Russian historian Alexandr Filyushkin drew attention to the propaganda aspect of the maps and plans, considering them to be a manifestation of wider actions of the royal court.22
The degree of interest in particular cartographic works presenting the events of 1579 varies. The Map of the Principality of Polatsk has been discussed relatively often, as compared to the print depicting the siege of Polatsk, while the plans of six smaller fortresses have been almost completely ignored in the research to date.23 However, the set of maps published in Rome in 1580 has not yet been fully analysed. No distortion grids have been made so far, there have been no studies which would comprehensively present the circumstances of the creation of the set.24
It was not until 2017 that a series of papers devoted to the Atlas of the Principality of Polatsk appeared in Polish. This monograph is an English version of those publications.25
Originally published as J. Niedźwiedź, âThe Atlas of the Principality of Polotskâan Introductionâ, Terminus 19 (2017), 1(42), pp. 19â36; DOI 10.4467/20843844TE.17.008.8266.
ârzadki (â¦) zbiór użytecznej i piÄknej pracy ziomka naszego.â F. Bentkowski, Historia literatury polskiej wystawiona w spisie dzieÅ drukiem ogÅoszonych, vol. 2, Vilnius 1814, pp. 625â626.
See
Karta operacyj wojennych w wyprawie Polaków przeciw Rossyjanom w roku 1579 i plany ówczesne miasta PoÅocka z przylegÅemi twierdzami: WyjÄ tek z Dziennika Ministerstwa OÅwiecenia Narodowego r. 1837, SierpieÅ, numer VIII, WrocÅaw 1840, https://polona.pl/item-view/bb875c40-95b2-4b7f-9f98-58fea634568d?page=1 (accessed 18.07.2024). Apart from fifteen pages of text, the volume contains reproductions of the Map of the Principality of Polatsk, a birdâs-eye view of Polatsk besieged in 1579, and six plans of nearby strongholds. They were pressed from lithographic plates prepared for Korkunovâs work mentioned above.
See E. Rastawiecki, Mappografia dawnej Polski, Warsaw 1846, pp. 123â125.
For example: B. Kalicki, âNobilitacje króla Stefana na wyprawie moskiewskiej 1579â1581â, in: Album lwowskie, ed. H. Nowakowski, Lviv 1862, pp. 91â93; M. Dubiecki, Historyja literatury polskiej na tle dziejów narodu skreÅlona, vol. 1, Warsaw 1889, p. 324.
Archiwum Jana Zamoyskiego â¦, vol. 2, p. 423.
See B. Olszewicz, âKartografia polska XV i XVI wiekuâ, Polski PrzeglÄ d Kartograficzny, 31(4) (1929/1930), pp. 163â164; idem, âKartografia polska XVII wiekuâ, Polski PrzeglÄ d Kartograficzny, 36(5) (1931/1932), p. 136; Buczek, Dorobek, pp. 3â15; Buczek, Kartografia, pp. 69â121; idem, Dzieje kartografii polskiej od XV do XVIII wieku: Zarys analityczno- syntetyczny, WrocÅaw 1963, pp. 45â46; S. Alexandrowicz, âNowe źródÅo ikonograficzne â¦â, p. 4; idem, âŹródÅa kartograficzne do wyprawy poÅockiej â¦â, pp. 17â43; Alexandrowicz, Kartografia, p. 59.
For example: K. Olejnik, Stefan Batory 1533â1586, Warsaw 1988, pp. 172â173, 312; H. Kotarski, âWojsko polsko-litewskie podczas wojny inflanckiej 1576â1582. Sprawy organizacyjneâ, part 2, pp. 81â82, 124; S. Åempicki, Mecenat wielkiego kanclerza: studia o Janie Zamoyskim, Warsaw 1980, p. 298; T. Jakimowicz, Temat historyczny w sztuce epoki ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warsaw 1985, p. 109.
See T. Chrzanowski, DziaÅalnoÅÄ artystyczna â¦, p. 37 (note 60), 72, 82â83 (note 90); A. Flandrin, Inventaire de la collection Lallemant de Betz â¦, p. 342, items 7456â7461.
Today, the complete atlas from Niewodniczanskiâs collection is kept in the deposit in the Royal Castle in Warsaw. These are most probably the same maps that belonged to Count Suchodolski at the beginning of the 19th century, as they are accompanied by a manuscript note made and signed by Feliks Bentkowski. The content of this note, which is a commentary to the maps, is almost identical to the information contained in Bentkowskiâs Historia literatury polskiej. The coloured copy is currently kept in a private collection, together with views of six fortresses independently purchased by the same collector. A small reproduction of this map was published in a catalogue Imago Poloniae â¦, vol. 1, nr H9/2.
The list of extant copies is given in K. Kozicaâs âCharakterystyka prac kartograficznych â¦â, pp. 42â46 and in this publication in the chapter The Description of the Atlas.
âAtlas of the Principality of Polotsk (1580) Iâ, Terminus 1(19) (2017). In 1998, the Uitgeverij Canaletto publishing house, which specializes in, among other things, map reprints, was planning to reprint a map of the Principality of Polatsk. It did not appear, but it is recorded in the online Open Library. See Descriptio Ducatus Polocensis: Reprint of the 1580, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1998 (Series Cartographica Rarissima).
The latest edition: B. Olszewicz, Kartografia polska XV i XVI wieku: PrzeglÄ d chronologiczno-bibliograficzny, ed. J. Ostrowski, Warsaw 2004, pp. 23â24.
Buczek argues that the map was badly orientated and meanly executed, so that it looks more like a field sketch whose maker only knew its southern part, and not the whole area, from his own experience. As for its scale, the map has a very modest content, with the Daugava River flowing southward until the mouth of the Krzywica River, while in this area it should flow to the southwest, and further to the southwest instead of northwest. Buczek, Kartografia, pp. 80â82; K. Buczek, Dzieje kartografii polskiej â¦, pp. 45â47; Buczek, The History, pp. 50â51.
As early as 1966, Buczek emphasized that he did not know the surviving originals of PachoÅowiecki/Cavalieriâs prints. Buczek, The History, p. 50, note 170.
M. GÄbarowicz, PoczÄ tki malarstwa â¦, p. 17.
The first mention of the discovery: S. Alexandrowicz, Rozwój kartografii Wielkiego KsiÄstwa Litewskiego od XV do poÅowy XVIII wieku, PoznaÅ 1989, pp. 195â196, note 45. See A.M. Kobos, âTomasz NiewodniczaÅski â¦â, pp. 149â197.
A summary of numerous references in the literature: Alexandrowicz, Kartografia, pp. 60â62, 171â178. The first study entirely devoted to the original engravings by PachoÅowiecki-Cavalieri: S. Alexandrowicz, âŹródÅa kartograficzne do wyprawy poÅockiej â¦â, pp. 18â28.
S. Alexandrowicz, âPachoÅowiecki StanisÅawâ, in: PSB, vol. 24, Cracow 1979, pp. 761â762.
They are discussed by, among others, Kupisz, PoÅock.
K. Buczek pointed out that the most correct model of research on the history of cartography is one in which at least five aspects are considered. These aspects are: purely historical studies (information about the authors and circumstances of the production of the artefact discussed and its publication), technical execution of the map (legend, system of symbols, scale, etc.), mathematical basis of the map and analysis of its accuracy, analysis of topography, physiographic elements, and settlements, attitude to the former maps of a given region, and evaluation of the map in question against the background of contemporary Polish and European cartography. K. Buczek, âStan i potrzeby badaÅ nad dziejami kartografii polskiejâ, in: Problemy nauk pomocniczych historii. MateriaÅy na III KonferencjÄ poÅwiÄconÄ naukom pomocniczym historii Katowice-WisÅa, 29â31 V 1974, Katowice 1974, p. 149.
This chapter is a partial result of a research project financed by the National Science Centre (Poland) Social and economic importance of military camps and garrisons in the Polish-Lithuanian state (16thâ18th cc.), nr NCN 2018/31/B/HS3/00846.