The Sobieski Family: History, Culture and Society. Insights between Rome, Warsaw and Europe.
Author(s)
Date Issued
2020
Type
review
Volume
3
Start Page
1
End Page
226
Journal
Abstract
The new issue of Eastern European History Review (n.3/2020) brings together the scientific research products presented at the international conference held in Warsaw in October (18-19) 2019, focusing on The
Sobieski Family: history, culture and society. Insights between Rome, Warsaw and Europe.
The books deals with themes related to the history and characters of a family, the Sobieski, which was
able to catalyze the attention and interest of the whole European continent between the end of the
Seventeenth-century and the beginning of the following century. With great scientific freedom and
rigor – and aware of a grounded and broad historiographical tradition, already rich in monographs
and contributions – the articles highlighted the intense relationships connecting Poland with
Italy and, more generally, with Europe, and revolving around the stories of the members of this Polish
family. An articulated universe of new perspectives emerged from the retrieved information about the
Royal Family’s deeds and personal, public and private, possibly “heroic” events, that confirmed how
much the memory of the Sobieski is still alive in the collective imagination of Poland and in Italy, in
particular. A country held so dearly by the Sobieski family, both for the celebration and glorification
by the Holy See of the figure Jan III as the Defensor Fidei par excellence – after the liberation of
Vienna from infidels – and for the political asylum granted by the city of Rome to the widow Maria
Kazimiera from 1699 to 1714.