„POSŁAŁ MI KSIĄŻĘ DE RIEUX KARTELUSZ, ABYM SIĘ Z NIM BIŁ…”: ПОЄДИНКИ КНЯЗЯ БОГУСЛАВА РАДЗИВІЛЛА (1620-1669) ТА ДУЕЛЬНА ТРАДИЦІЯ В РАННЬОМОДЕРНІЙ ЄВРОПІ

Abstract

Стаття присвячена поєдинкам литовського магната, князя Богуслава Радзивілла, в яких він брав участь під час своїх закордонних поїздок. Робота базується на «Автобіографії» написаній самим князем Богуславом, а також на мемуарах його противників та секундантів. Особливу увагу приділено номенклатурі застосованої у поєдинках зброї та технікам її використання.

Prince Boguslaw Radziwill was a Lithuanian magnate, ardent Calvinist, the governor of Prussia and, according to Professor Karin Fredreich, a truly transnational personality. Moreover, he was a respected warrior, skillful swordsman and experienced horse-rider, who obtained such high military skills mainly during his European tours, in France and the Netherlands, in his early years. As Prince Boguslaw confessed in his autobiography, his duels with prominent western noblemen, such as Prince Talmont and Count de Rieux, were integral and important components not only of his wartime adventures but of his courtly life in Paris as well. These collisions were described in details by their participants and witnesses in their memoirs, and by Gazette de France. The main tasks of this research are: (1) to examine the Lithuanian Calvinist magnate’s motivations and ambitions to participate in dueling practices, which differed from those which were widespread domestically; (2) to trace how the western nobility culture patterns, based on armed violence, penetrated the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; (3) to point out methods and customs of perceptions and training in fighting practices and martial arts appropriate to western dueling tradition. The paper is based upon a wide complex of primary sources, which include not only text accounts belonging to fighters and seconds, but authentic fencing manuals from first part of 17th century as well. Special attention is paid to arms, equipment and combat techniques used in combats. Boguslaw Radziwill’s duelling career gives an opportunity to study connections and diffusions between practices of armed violence, which differ geographically, culturally and technically, and shows how interpersonal combats played a communicational role in nobility’s culture.