5 - Political identity in the cities of Royal Prussia and the meaning of liberty (1650–1720)

Summary

Constat enim & Polonos & Lithuanos Prussosque Sarmatiam quondam Europeam, ut communem matrem coluisse.

(Christoph Hartknoch)

If the skilful formulation and adaptation of national and historical myths was so crucial for the sense of identity and international recognition of early modern nations and states, the question remains how the Royal Prussian estates refashioned the Sarmatian myth to suit Prussian political interests. Considering that before 1466 Prussia had been a political entity, it is not surprising that in the mid-seventeenth century historical Prussian identity still extended beyond the borders of the Commonwealth to include the eastern half of the territories of the former Teutonic Order. It is striking, however, that one of the most influential histories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth itself was written in Königsberg, in Ducal Prussia, where in the early 1670s Christoph Hartknoch, a history teacher, composed his Respublica Polonica. By including in his notion of Sarmatia not only Muscovy, Ruś, Livonia, Pomerania, Prussia, Lithuania, Wallachia and Moldavia, but also Silesia, Brandenburg and Lusatia, Hartknoch reached well beyond the geographical limits set by Kromer and Starowolski, who had placed the border on the River Oder. Thus Hartknoch's book is not merely a history of Poland, but represents the maximal definition of mythical Sarmatia. Together with Joachim Pastorius's Florus Polonicus, Hartknoch's Respublica Polonica was considered the most influential textbook for schools and universities within and outside the Commonwealth.