On an Unknown Dedication Letter by Marcin Paszkowski Preceding the Seventh Book of The Chronicle of European Sarmatia by Alexander Guagnini – A Gloss on the Biography and Works of the Poet and Translator

Abstract

The article reports the discovery of a variant title page and an unknown dedicatory letter by Marcin Paszkowski, preceding Book VII of The European Sarmatian Chronicle by Alexander Guagnini. The unknown letter, addressed to Stanisław and Zygmunt Mniszech, is found in a copy of the chronicle held in the collection of the Library of the Warsaw School of Economics (ref. 12 440). This letter replaced the official dedication to Lew Sapieha. The aim of the study is to verify the hypothesis of whether the poet personally participated in the Dymitriads or was merely a propagandist supporting the conquest of the Grand Duchy of Moscow while in the service of the Mniszech family or the royal court. The analysis established that the inventive material of the letter is largely based on the preface to Kolęda Moskiewska (Muscovite Carol) by Paweł Palczowski, and that Paszkowski was not a participant in the events, whose course he knew also from the accounts of Adam Władysławiusz and Sebastian Lifftel. He used their works while translating Book VII of Guagnini’s chronicle as well as in writing Posiłek Bellony słowieńskiej (The Reinforcement of Slavic Bellona). Paszkowski sought patrons by attributing Book VII of the chronicle to the Mniszech family and treating it as a separate work. The poet argues for the possibility of conquering the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which would result in a personal union.