Sarmatian culture
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Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów

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Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów
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Sarmatism

Sarmatism

The term "Sarmatism" signifies a political doctrine and ideology, lifestyle, customs, philosophy of life and cultural trends and formation of the Commonwealth nobility in the 16th century and in particular in the 17th century until the Bar Confederation and the …
Sarmatism and European culture

Sarmatism and European culture

The concepts ”Sarmatians” or ”Sarmatian” appear in Polish historiography at least from the mid-fifteenth century. According to assorted chroniclers’ accounts, during the first centuries of our era the Sarmatians − inhabitants of the Black Sea steppes - settled down on …
The foundations of Sarmatism: aurea libertas and mores maiorum

The foundations of Sarmatism: aurea libertas and mores maiorum

The conviction, prevailing in the Commonwealth, that liberty is a supreme value is an ancient Roman idea transferred to Polish conditions. A major contribution to its dissemination was made by the popularity of Ab urbe condita by the Roman historian …
The Sarmatian host and an ideal banquet

The Sarmatian host and an ideal banquet

Much has been written about the feasts of the gentry: descriptions of exorbitant and magnificent banquets convey images of ventures that often financially ruined the host. The imagination of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century lords was boundless, and the impetus with …
Aeneas, a Sarmatian Role Model

Aeneas, a Sarmatian Role Model

Nobles in the first Commonwealth eagerly invoked the ancient Rome when considering the state’s political system as well as social and everyday life. Eminent Greeks were also appealed to, though somewhat less frequently, especially to demonstrate the gentry of outstanding …
Enlightened Sarmatism in the times of Jan III

Enlightened Sarmatism in the times of Jan III

Sarmatism is a broad and controversial concept. In addition to the external characteristics (specific manner, joviality, ignorance and old nobility conservatism), Sarmatism included a variety of phenomena that occurred in literature, art, social and political consciousness and the morality of …
The world of the Orient in Sarmatian imagination

The world of the Orient in Sarmatian imagination

Since the great geographic discoveries of the 15th and 16th century, the people of Western Europe, and, in the end of the 16th century, also in Poland have had to take into consideration that, apart from the known parts of …
From Sarmatia to Arcadia – mythologisation of space in noble culture

From Sarmatia to Arcadia – mythologisation of space in noble culture

A space that is important for a given society is associated with positive features only. This was the case of Sarmatia, which was described as Arcadia in the literature of 16th to 18th centuries. Arcadia could have a double origin: …
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Votive plaques - an expression of Sarmatian religiousness

Silver votive plates or plaques were very popular across Europe, from Greece through the Balkans, France and Germany. However, they were the most widespread in Poland, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, becoming a characteristic feature of Sarmatian religiousness, …
Chivalric death in Sarmatian culture

Chivalric death in Sarmatian culture

The nobility in the Commonwealth, although it transformed into landowners in the 16th century, always claimed to belong to the knighthood. Chivalric ideals and the customs associated with them occupied an important place in Sarmatian culture. Probably, their most emphatic …
What could a Sarmatian quench his thirst with?

What could a Sarmatian quench his thirst with?

Although today water seems to be the most natural drink, it had very few fans in old Poland. The Frenchman Hubert Vautrin claimed that "if Poles still lived in the wild state, water from swamps would be enough to quench …
Sarmatians in negligee – why did Kochanowski write indecent trifles?

Sarmatians in negligee – why did Kochanowski write indecent trifles?

In Old Polish literature, the statements referring to the erotic sphere, that can be called with the name direct, unplayful, serious, and devoid of shame, are rare. The paper blushed more than the people, who according to historians, usually preferred …
Orientalisation of artistic taste in Poland during the reign of king John III Sobieski

Orientalisation of artistic taste in Poland during the reign of king John III Sobieski

Studia Wilanowskie, 1989 r. T. XI In the second half of 17th century the strongest influence of Musilm art on artistic workmanship and decorative art in Poland as well as on other branches of cultural activity could be observed. The years …
The Paradoxes of the Nobility’s Orientalism

The Paradoxes of the Nobility’s Orientalism

The influence of the Orient in the Old Polish era on various elements of contemporary material culture is very obvious. Despite the Polish hostility, conditioned by political and religious factors, to the Ottoman Empire – because it was the Empire …
Christmas in old Polish tradition

Christmas in old Polish tradition

Preparations for the important holiday started already in summer. In summer, mushrooms were picked in forests and fruit in orchards, and carefully dried to preserve until December. Then, it was time to take care of poppy seeds, flour, honey, nuts …
Easter in old Poland

Easter in old Poland

In old Polish culture, the Holy Week preceding Easter was full of exceptionally rich rituals that built the traditions and developed the identity of the citizens of the 1st Commonwealth. The oldest and still surviving tradition is the visiting of …
On old Polish diaries

On old Polish diaries

XVII century was the time of strong development of diary writing, which in the previous century only began to form as a way of creating memory space. This change, in my opinion, was facilitated by a rapid growth of literacy …
Old Polish cookbooks

Old Polish cookbooks

Cookbooks, known in Europe as handwritten collections of recipes already in the Middle Ages, became popular and were printed in large numbers in the Early Modern Period. Naturally, they were addressed to a limited group of readers. They were used …

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