Preface

Summary

Due to the drought in the summer of 2012 water in the Vistula River fell to an extraordinarily low level and parts of the riverbed were exposed. Among a variety of rubbish a group of fine baroque sculptures made of marble emerged; the architectural ornaments, parts of a chiselled fountain, a cartouche with the coat of arms of the Royal House of Vasa. These were remnants of the booty that the Swedes seized in Warsaw in 1656. One of the many, overloaded transport boats sank right after the departure. All subsequent attempts to pick up the heavy sculptures failed. Only after 350 years, a group of scientists from the University of Warsaw managed to unearth this treasure.

The age of the Second Northern War 1655–1660, also called “The Swedish Deluge,” still arouses an avid interest in Poland, nor is it forgotten in the neighbouring countries. The North was understood differently, in a broader sense than it is today. Not only did it refer to Scandinavia, but also to Poland, Lithuania and Russia.

The present borders of Sweden, the origins of Prussian militarism, the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian state and the strengthening of Russia – all these issues can be associated with the said few years, or more specifically, with the time of the war. Thanks to the outstanding novelists, first of all, Henryk Sienkiewicz, the recollection of a heroic struggle became an integral part of the Polish collective memory. Similar memories and legends also exist in other countries: Danes recall the lost province of Skane and Swedes the famous crossing over the frozen Belts.

The conflict began in the summer of 1655 with the Swedish attack on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Already at that point the contemporaries did not believe that the newly crowned King of Sweden, Charles X Gustav, from the House of Zweibrücken, was so sensitive about the titles and seals – the King of Poland, John Casimir from the House of Vasa, used the title of the King of Sweden after his father King Sigismund. The problem did not concern old dynastic disputes. For Sweden, defined by historians today as a fiscal-military state, the new conflict was the best solution to all the troubles.