Jakub Bajer

The author takes up the topic of the annexation of the starosty of Spisz (Zips) and three starosties of the foothills (Czorsztyn, Sącz and Nowy Targ) by the Habsburg monarchy in the years 1769–1772 in the light of Stanislaus Augustus correspondence with Luigi Canale, minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia‑Piedmont in Vienna. At the request of the Polish king, the Sardinian diplomat repeatedly entered into discussions on the subject with Austrian Chancellor Kaunitz and Empress Maria Theresa, and also delivered them official letters of protest from the Warsaw court. In the light of sources from the Turin archives and the findings of recent historiography, the author places the events surrounding Spisz and three starosties of the foothills in the broader context of the negotiations between Russia, Prussia and Austria on the eve of the First Partition. A re‑examination of Austrian usurpations reveals, as if through a lens, the enduring annexation tendency in the actions of the Viennese Burg towards the Polish Commonwealth.

The article aims to present the content of three rulebooks drawn up in French for students and teachers of the Polish Oriental School in Istanbul in 1766, 1772 and 1778. These materials come from the Princes Czartoryski Library in Kraków and the Popiel Collection in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. The first instruction was drawn up in the year of the establishment of the Polish Oriental School [Jeunes de langues] on the Bosphorus, namely in 1766. It was written by Tomasz Aleksandrowicz and Karol Boscamp-Lasopolski in accordance with the recommendations received earlier by these two diplomats from King Stanisław II August. Another regulation was created in His Majesty's Cabinet six years later, in 1772. Its author was Jacek Bartłomiej Ogrodzki, a close associate of the monarch. The last regulation known from literature was created on the occasion of Karol Boscamp-Lasopolski's legation to Turkey in 1778. The changes in the recommendations for students and teachers over the course of 12 years show the obstacles and difficulties faced by the creators of the first Polish school for dragomans.

The main intention of the author is to demonstrate the negative role played by the children of the deceased king of Poland Augustus III of Saxony in the matter of recognizing the new king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski on the international arena by the courts of Versailles, Vienna and Madrid in 1764–1766. The personal correspondence of the Polish crown prince Xavier with his brothers Albert, Clemens and above all with his sister Mary Josephine of Saxony, Dauphine at the French court in Versailles, which has survived until today in the archives of the Polish Library in Paris, allowed to reconstruct the diplomatic endeavours of the royal family of Saxony against the last king of Poland with the purpose of receiving some financial profits of their own.

The main intention of the author was to show the course of the Grand Tour of the
last king of Poland in times of his youth, when, as a young noblemen, he had the opportunity
to visit many countries of Western Europe. A visit that later turned out to be
of particular significance was the one at his father’s friend in Paris — Marie-Thérèse
Geoffrin, who had already been greatly successful in holding the famous literary salon
in the rue Saint-Honoré. To a large extent, that was where in fact the tastes of the
future king were formed. The meetings and the conversations he had allowed him to
formulate his first judgements (not always flattering ones) about the French of the high
society. What is more, his stay in the French capital enabled Poniatowski to make his
observations as to what mechanisms governed the literary republic of the Enlightenment
period.