Overview

This volume is a comprehensive analysis of the Atlas of the Principality of Polatsk (1580), one of the oldest cartographic representations of the military conflict between Russia (Muscovy) and the Western world. Its author, the Polish royal cartographer Stanisław Pachołowiecki, drew the maps at the beginning of the Livonian War (1579–1582) when the Polish-Lithuanian army liberated the Lithuanian and Livonian lands from Muscovian occupation. The Mapping of a Russian War focuses on the military aspects of the maps, their political and propaganda use, and the Early Modern construction of the past through maps. The authors present an innovative approach to these maps, rarely examined by the international research community.

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9789004705586

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Reviews

""The maps in this atlas depict the ‘Principality of Polotsk,’ the Siege of Polotsk, and six fortresses recaptured from the Muscovites. For a long time, these works were not freely available; there were no high-quality reproductions and descriptions of these maps, let alone analytical research. Therefore, this book is a valuable tool for researchers."" – Tomas Čelkis, in: Imago Mundi 77:2 (2025), pp. 237-238.

Author Information

Jakub Niedźwiedź, Ph.D. (2001), Jagiellonian University (Poland), is Professor of Early Modern Literature at the Jagiellonian University. He published monographs and papers about history of literature and cartography, including Literacy in Medieval and Early Modern Vilnius (Brepols, 2023). Karol Łopatecki, Ph.D. (2011), Białystok University (Poland), is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Białystok. He is the author of numerous books and papers devoted to history of cartography and military history, including two monographs about the early modern disciplina militaris (in Polish; 2012 and 2013). Grzegorz Franczak, Ph.D. (2005), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), is Professor of Polish Literature at the University of Milan (Italy). His research focuses on early modern literature, cartography, and Holocaust studies. He published, a.o., an edition of a 16th-century account about Ivan IV the Terrible (2016).

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