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SHORT NOTES

Marek Ferenc, Mikołaj Radziwiłł ‘Rudy’ (ok. 1515-1584). Działalność polityczna i wojskowa (Nicholas Radziwiłł, the Red (ca 1515-1584): His Połitical and Military Activity], Kraków 2008, Towarzystwo Wydawnicze ‘Historia Iagellonica’, 670 pp., bibl., index of persons, appendix

Marek Fercnc’s monumental study is devoted to one of the most important politicians of the Polish-Lithuanian State in the 16th century, a representative of a powerful Lithuanian family closcly linked to the royal throne. Nicholas the Red, who for some time was overshadowed by his elder brother Nicholas the Black, was active during a period which abounded in dynamie połitical changes. This extcnsive biography is therefore something morę than a mere analysis of the career of a magnate; it reveals the mechanisms of power in an early modern State.

Ferenc — basing mainly on RadziwilFs correspondence and on documents kept in many archives and libraries in Poland, Russia, Belarus, Austria, Ukrainę and Lithuania — focuses on Nicholas’s połitical and military activity. In sevcn chapters he presents the foundations of his hero’s career, the beginnings of his independent activity, his work during the wars against Moscow and during the process which led to the conclusion of the Union of Lublin, during the interregnum and the reign of Stephen Bathory. The most important moments in Nicholas the Red’s career were the negotiations and conclusion of the Union of Lublin which united Lithuania morę strongly with Poland. Like other Lithuanian magnates, Nicholas the Red was against the Union. The author discloses his hero’s behind-the-scencs policy, regarding the him mainly as a continuator of Nicholas the Black. What is praiseworthy is that Ferenc has not let himself be fascinatcd by his protagonist and has retained objectivity; in his view, Radziwiłł was neither an outstanding politician nor a talented military man.

The study is a valuable complement to Raimonda Ragauskiene’s biography which appeared in 2006, itexpands the information provided by the Lithuanian writer. Given the international significance of the Radziwiłł family and the importance of this new study, it is surprising that the book has no summary in a foreign language. (MP)

Bonawentura Czarliński and Stefan Giżycki, Książę Janusz Wiśniowiecki (1598-1636) w lubelskich kazaniach pogrzebowych [Prince Janusz Wiśniowiecki (1598-1636) in the Funeral Sermons Delivered in Lublin], ed. Michał Kuran, Lublin 2007, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, 118 pp., index, glossary

The publication contains two funeral sermons which were delivcred and published after the dcath of the Borderland magnate Prince Janusz Wiśniowiecki, who died in the prime of his life. The prince, who was very well educated, is remembered in history as the patron of the poet Samuel Twardowski. The sermons were delivered by two Bernardine monks Bonawentura Czarliński and Stefan Giżycki.