Polish 16th-century War-Time Propaganda in Action: The Case of Atlas Księstwa Połockiego (1580)

The paper’s objective is to demonstrate: a) Stanisław Pachołowiecki’s Atlas Księstwa Połockiego (Rome 1580) as the first part of a major propaganda action conducted by the royal chancellery; b) the course of its publication; c) who was engaged in its production. At fi rst, the author reminds that Atlas was made during the Livonian War. The main commissioners were King Stephen Báthory and Chancellor Jan Zamoyski. The next part presents the chief propagandistic text created by the Polish chancellery, Edictum regium de supplicationibus, printed in Polatsk in early September 1579. It is an account of the circumstances of the capture of the city by Stephen Báthory’s army. The author reviews the text’s distribution and translation into English among other languages. It turns out that Edictum, issued several times in 1579, provides the most signifi cant context for the Atlas. The author argues e.g. that the Atlas was to be a commentary for the edict. Next, the process of the publication of maps is explained. The author discusses the circumstances in which the decision to publish them was made, as well as the criteria for selecting cartographic material and the fi nal redaction. He then indicates who was responsible for delivering the text to Rome, when it happened, who was engaged in its publication, and when it was published. The comparison of the dates of the Atlas’s shipment to Rome and publication of other texts enables the author to hypothesise about a coherent propaganda action. He shows that its aim was, above all, to win foreign public opinion. In result, several diff erent types of texts were created: a historical narrative (Edictum – two diff erent Polish editions), a collection of maps (Atlas), a Latin panegyric speech by A. Patrycy Nidecki and a Latin and a Polish odes by J. Kochanowski. The last part of the paper presents the connections between various persons forming the human network directly or indirectly related to the publication of the Atlas and the Polish propaganda action.

The Use of Maps in Strategic Actions Until 1586 in the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The paper presents the oldest instances of applying cartography during strategic actions in the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The promoters and – possibly – also the proponents of using maps in the army were Stanisław Łaski and Jan Tarnowski. Tarnowski not only wrote about the need for the application of cartographic knowledge by the high command, but also modified permanent defence according to the spatial reconnaissance of Tartar routs. They were to be supervised by a specifically appointed Field Crown Guardian. The oldest map used during the defence was Bernard Wapowski’s map of Sarmatia from 1526. It contained a black trail that was the chief route of the Tartar army march. In 1576, a precise rout consisting of three trails used by the Crimean Khanate was made by a committee appointed to lustrate the royal demesne of the Podolian and Ruthenian voivodeships. They were marked on a map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Stanisław Sarnicki in the early 1580s. At the beginning of Stephen Báthory’s ruling, the European publishing market suffered from a shortage of printed maps that could significantly aid strategic actions conducted during the war with the Tsardom of Muscovy (Livonia was an exception). The creation of a suitable map that could facilitate strategic planning was entrusted to Marcin Strubicz. The first and second edition was made in 1579–1580. The first version of Strubicz’s map (1579) contained a description of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania entitled Descriptio Lituanie. Strubicz applied in it a solution unknown elsewhere in Europe  consisting in providing military regulations next to the description of Lithuanian lands. Latin versions of Grzegorz Chodkiewicz’s military articles published by Strubicz indicated that the map had a purely military purpose.

The Use of Maps in the Planning of Operational Activities of Polish and Lithuanian Armies until the Beginning of the Rule of Stephen Báthory

As per the 16th and 17th centuries, operational activities should be understood as military activities conducted by independent groups (usually regiments). They may also be termed the art of manoeuvre. One may place them between strategic decisions and specific tactic actions related to fi ghting a battle or conducting a siege. The first mid-16th-century theoreticians to have observed the importance of this art were Albrecht Hohenzollern and Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski. Some 16th-cenutry authors (e.g. Jan Tarnowski, Albrecht Hohenzollern, Marcin Bielski) concordantly postulated the introduction of a preceding manoeuvre action that would last one day. This assumption survived until  the early 18th century.

As early as in 1551, Modrzewski proposed to follow the Turkish example and make special maps for the purposes of the moving army. Apart from the Turks, caesarean experiences were also mentioned. Bartosz Paprocki and Andrzej Gostyński quoted mainly the example of Charles V (1500–1558). Bartosz Paprocki and Stanisław Sarnicki, in turn, writers active at the beginning of the rule of Stephen Báthory, opted for the necessity of having a cartographer in the army who would make march route maps au courant. The cartographic turn in manoeuvre activities took place in 1567–1577, during the war fought against the rebellious Gdańsk. According to our knowledge, five different maps and plans were made in this period. The production of march route maps required measuring distances with steps, which greatly facilitated reconnoitring. Uniform march step enabled even the determination of the distance covered on the basis of the time lapsed. Engineers could have used an aid in the form of pedometers that counted the number of steps of a man or a horse. T ese assumptions were disseminated in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Marcin Bielski who quoted an ancient Roman concept of a double step (passus – 148 cm).  

The Role of Maps and Plans in the Tactics of Polish and Lithuanian Armies until the Beginning of the Rule of Stephen Báthory

In this paper, the author analyses cartographic activities that directly affected the course of an armed conflict. Classic instances of such activities include the production of documents for the purposes of a siege or the preparation of an army for a battle, as well as plans of setting a military camp or the upbuilding of defence fortifications in a city or a fortress. The author analyses them in the chronological order, beginning with the earliest mentions concerning the use of maps in tactic actions until 1576.

The first theoretician to have connected cartographic activity with military tactics was Szymon Marycjusz of Pilzno. He presented his theses in a work entitled De scholis seu academiis libri duo printed in 1551. The evidence collected indicates that in the first half of the 16th century people did not know how to use cartography for tactical military purposes. Military large scale cartography had different methodological rudiments than medium scale or small scale maps. The fundamental methodological assumption in the creation of plans consisted in leaving the pictorial manner (of landscape topographic accounts) for the sake of making a circuit around the area drawn. This had been previously postulated by Stanisław Grzepski who referred to Albrecht Dürer, while descriptions of such a solution date back as far as to the accounts of Maciej Stryjkowski from the 1570s. The precision of large scale military maps required the use of mathematical knowledge (namely, geometry). A need emerged for a special professional group of people measuring the height, width and depth of objects. The application of mathematics in the army was postulated as early as in 1555 by Albrecht Hohenzollern, while a group of professional military engineers was first described by Stanisław Sarnicki in Księgi hetmańskie (where he refers to them as metator castrorum).

The use of cartography in the conduct of a siege in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began in the 1560s. It was then that Albrecht Hohenzollern made an exemplary isometric projection of a besieged city. The year 1568 brought a plan of the attack on the Uła castle made probably by Maciej Stryjkowski.

A Lands’ Infantry Soldier in the Polish Political-Military Writings during the Rule of Sigismund III Vasa

The paper discusses the questions of seeking new ways of defending the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the close of the 16th century and the first three decades of the 17th century. The author’s objective was to demonstrate the plans of the socalled measuring expedition presented in political-military treatises, writings and journals published during the rule of Sigismund III Vasa (1587– 632). The expedition was supposed to engage infantry or cavalry soldiers appointed in a number proportionate to the acreage of arable land (in the Polish units of łany or włóki), the number of houses, inhabitants of a country, or even the income. The promoters of these concepts presented them as less burdensome for the gentry than the traditional mass mobilization (Pol. pospolite ruszenie), which forced noblemen to embark on a war in person. They were also supposed to be cheaper than the hitherto practiced enlistment funded from taxes paid mainly by the subjects, and more eff ective, that is ensuring a numerous army able face even the most powerful enemies. They appeared particularly oft en in the periods of the Turkish threat and rough wars fought with Sweden, but were never carried into eff ect. There was no such need, since the conflicts were reconciled and during the rule of Władysław IV Vasa long-awaited peace prevailed. In 1648, however, new long- asting and costly wars broke out. They were fought on the country’s lands, which made the gentry return to the concept of a lands’ soldier (Pol. żołnierz łanowy or żołnierz z łanów), sending him to fight several times in the years 1652–1658.    

Oomówienie rozprawy Justyny Kiliańczyk-Zięby Sygnety drukarskie w Rzeczypospolitej XVI wieku. Źródła ikonograficzne i treści ideowe, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Societas Vistulana, 2015, ss. 344)