Every royal court had its astrologer (in Old Polish: gwiazdarz, “stargazer”). Catherine de’ Medici had the reliable Nostradamus, author of the mysterious-sounding Centuries, Elizabeth I depended on the advice of John Dee and Edward Kelley, and Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, kept countless numbers of soothsayers, whose names are difficult to recall today, at his court in Prague. Astrologers and Kabbalists were also present at the Polish court of Bona Sforza, Sigismund II Augustus and later on Stephan Báthory and the kings of the Vasa dynasty. None of the Polish monarchs or their wives cast horoscopes by themselves, nor did they use palmistry, Kabbalah or numerology. However Marie Casimire Sobieska was an exception to that rule, and the source that documents her astrological interests is the Book of Kabbalah of Queen Marie Casimire found among the manuscripts at the Jagiellonian University Library in Krakow. This manuscript, exceptional for the Polish conditions, contains the divinations made by the Polish queen in 1702-1713 along with counsels and teachings of an anonymous Kabbalist. At that time, the Queen resided in Rome, officially at the invitation of the Popes Innocent XII and Clement XI, and unofficially in connection with the events that took place in the Republic after the death of Jan III. The widow queen was interested in the artistic life in the Eternal City, the development of science and philosophy, and often willingly supported artists, especially in operatic theatre.
Willing to discover the fate of her country, those close to her, the rulers, and even the future of people associated with her court, Marie Casimire Sobieska studied her textbook of the Kabbalistic art and asked all sorts of questions. The Commonwealth, mired in the chaos of the Great Northern War in the years 1700-1721 between Sweden and Turkey on one side, and Saxony, Russia, Denmark, Prussia and Hannover on the other, was the main theatre of hostilities. The queen, who received contradictory and laconic news, had to observe the fate of her former kingdom with fear; she also had to tremble in fear for her family and the state of the fortunes left behind. It is not a coincidence that she asked in her divinations: Quando erit pax in Polonia? (“When will there be peace in Poland?”). Thanks to the art of composing a Kabbalistic square, the queen received an answer: Armatis est pax quando terra corona refulget (“Armed peace will come when the crown lands are reclaimed”).
The events in the nation were connected to the life and health of the children of King Jan III and Marie Casimire: princes Jakub, Aleksander and Konstanty. Among them, the fate of the firstborn was the source of the biggest worry for the queen. Jakub Ludwik Sobieski was kidnapped in 1704, along with his brother Konstanty, on the orders of Polish king and elector of Saxony, Augustus II. The princes were incarcerated first at Castle Pleissenburg and later at the fortress Königstein. August II did so in fear of being dethroned, which he suspected the young Sobieskis of plotting. Not responding to international calls for the brothers’ release, August II did so only under provisions of the peace treaty of Altranstädt (24 IX 1706) and because of Swedish pressure he was forced to release the Sobieski princes. It is no wonder then that the queen, not having personal contact with her sons, asked: Qualis errat vita Jacobi Sobieski deinceps? (“What kind of life awaits Jakub Sobieski?”) Arranging the numbers into a Kabbalistic pyramid, the queen received an answer: Felix Princeps (“Happy Prince”), which meant that Jakub would never receive his father’s crown. This omen was confirmed in another question – about entrusting the Polish crown to Jakub by Swedish King Charles XI, probably ca. 1707. In response, Marie Casimire received information that her son would receive the crown – although not during his lifetime, but from the angels in Heaven. Another time, undoubtedly suffering due to the absence of her beloved son, the queen asked: Dicat, quando si partira da Venetia il Principe Giacomo Sobieski? (“Tell me, when will Prince Jakub Sobieski come to Venice?”) She received the answer that it would happen soon. In fact, the prince visited Venice in 1711, on the way to the shrine of Loreto.
Marie Casimire’s active participation in the artistic and social life of Rome ended in 1712. After the death of her son, Aleksander Sobieski, and her father, Cardinal Henri de la Grange, the queen’s relations with Pope Clement XI and other cardinals deteriorated. Increasingly, ceremonial disputes occurred with the lack of respect shown to Marie Casimire, the widow of Jan III, who was, after all, called the defender of Christianity. After a series of social incidents at the papal court and a fight between municipal guards and the servants of the queen, Marie Casimire renewed her contacts with France. She also planned to return to the land of her parents in the near future. Perhaps it is this period that the next divination from The Book of Kabbalah is connected with. The queen asked: Dic, quis fiat Pontifex Maximus post obitum Papae Clementis XI (“Tell me, who will become the Highest Priest after the death of Pope Clement XI?”). The answer to this question was A Lilybeo Porthu civis magnus erit electus (“An honourable citizen of the port city of Lilybaeum will be chosen”) [that is Marsala near Trapani in Sicily – J.P.]. This veiled response concerned Pope Innocent XIII (Michelangelo dei Conti), whose family came from Rome, not the Sicilian nobility.
The international situation, changing like in a kaleidoscope and the War of the Spanish Succession, provoked the queen into asking several questions about the fate of European monarchs. The first question was: Dicat qui erit Imperator post Iosephum Ium? (“Tell me, who will be the Emperor after the death of Joseph I?”). The answer was Bavarius natus, Bavaricum germen aliis modos (“Bavarian by birth, from a Bavarian family, will take the throne another way.”). It may be supposed that the prophecy connected with the takeover of power by the Bavarian Wittelsbach family, the descendants of Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska, became more and more timely to the Habsburg Dynasty. Perhaps Marie Casimire put specific hopes in her grandchildren. Assuming this point of view, the divinations should be treated as a manifestation of the queen’s ambitions for the rebuilding of the position of the family and the name of its most famous representative, King Jan III. These calculations, however, were not unfounded. After the death of Emperor Leopold I in 1705, his only legal successor was his son, Joseph. The second son of the Emperor, Charles, was to take over the Spanish crown after the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700. These hopes were dashed with the unexpected death of Joseph I in 1711. The Archduke Charles was forced to withdraw from Spain in order to protect the imperial crown from French encroachment. Marie Casimire’s prophecy about the succession came true many years later. During the First Silesian War (1740-1743), the imperial crown came to rest on the temples of Bavarian Elector Charles Albert Wittelsbach, the son of Maximilian II Emmanuel and Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska. In this unique way – as the words of the prophecy stated – after years of Habsburg rule, the imperial rule belonged to a grandson of King Jan III, although he enjoyed it for only three years.
Another question the queen asked was: Dicat quanto tempore vivet Franciscus Ludovicus natus die decimus Iunii 1664? (“Tell me how long will Francois Louis, born on the 10th of June 1664 live?”). The answer was: Numina praestant viventi septem annos (“By God’s will, he will live seven years”). The queen’s question referred to Francois Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, who in 1697 tried unsuccessfully to take over the Polish crown and organised a maritime expedition to Gdańsk for this purpose. From 1702, his army conducted military operations in Italy against the Empire. He died in 1709, shortly before his promotion to a commander.
The queen also took interest in the lives and successes of people staying with her in Rome. The Book of Kabbalah lists many names of those who accompanied Marie Casimire in her Roman Palazzo Zuccari, among them: Ezechiel Beneami, Antonio Villa, Alexander Brunatino, Anna Chiamate and Balsamo Locatelli. Besides the Italians, the queen was also accompanied by a constantly changing number of the members of Polish court. The queen’s question in the Book of Kabbalah: “Will Kazimierz Chlebowski ask Teresa Załuska to marry him?” and the answer that fortune favours the pair and that they will soon marry, shows us in more detail the image of the queen and the relationships between the members of her household.
The Book of Kabbalah of Queen Marie Casimire Sobieska is not only an interesting source showing the development of European esoteric thought, but also a picture of the every day cares and concerns of Jan III’s widow, living far away from Poland, her children and her former court. Regardless of the verifiability of the divinations, the Book of Kabbalah shows the full extent of what troubled Queen Marysieńka. The clearly positive character of the answers to her questions is perhaps – in a psychological way – a way to compensate for the worries and loneliness of the queen, as well as satisfying her need for knowledge. The aforementioned questions show how Marie Casimire attempted to embrace as wide a spectrum of matters as possible concerning the future of her family and country, where not so long ago she was the queen, the wife of a great monarch.
Translation: Lingua Lab
