Katarzyna Niemczyk

The war between Poland and Moldova in 1509 was the continuation of a long-standing conflict between these two states. The origins of this problem lies in the time of reign of the Polish King Vladislaus Jagiellon, who needed money for his struggle with the Teutonic Order. He borrowed a sum of rubles (probably 4,000) from the ruler of Moldova, Peter I, and as a deposit, gave him, among other things, Pokutia. However, the Polish king did not return the money to the ruler of Moldova, and he did not give him Pokutia either. This is why, from that time on, Moldova tried to win this lost territory back. Despite many attempts to solve this problem, either by war or negotiations, it remained unresolved at the beginning of the sixteenth century. According to some historians, the reason for Bogdan’s expedition in 1509 was the hope to marry Alexander’s sister, Elisabeth Jagiellon. In this paper, I analyze reasons for this expedition, which affected the south-eastern borderlands of Poland. Consequently, I hope to be able to decide if there were any other reasons apart from the marriage arrangement that lay behind Bogdan’s expedition. 

Antemurale Christianitatis? Anti-Turkish propaganda and Johannes Olbracht’s crusade in the sources

This paper refers to the problem of Johannes Olbracht’s crusade of the year 1497, and above all the anti-Turkish propaganda present in many sources concerning this issue. The aim of this paper is to consider the concept of “Antemurale Christianitatis” which became popular at the end of the 15th century and to analyze some of the sources in order to answer the question to what extent this anti-Turkish ideology voiced in these sources was indeed the true reason of Johannes Olbracht’s crusade, or whether it was but a propagandist pretext for executing his political goals.