Lucyan (Lucjan) Rydel The Adventurer of the Eighteenth Century The Prince of "Denasses" historical and moral sketch

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Rydel Lucyan (Lucjan)
Avanturnik XVIII wieku Książę "Denassów" sketch of history and customs

Cracow 1903
Polish Publishing Company
140s.
o. prewar, half cloth - gilt spine - titlepage and monogram, marbled block,
Beautiful condition, stamp of Franciszek Próchnicki
For. ca: 21x14 cm

"It should be emphasized, however, that Rydel-poet gave proof in this work of his knowledge of the historian's workshop. He took as his starting point the French biography of d'Aragon Un paladin au XVIII siècle. Le prince Charles de Nassau-Siegen (Paris 1893), complementing it with Julian Bartoszewicz's work Znakomici mężowie XVIII wieku, Walerian Kalinka's classic monograph Ostatnie lata panowania Stanisława Augusta (The Last Years of the Reign of Stanislaus Augustus) and Kraszewski's anecdotal memoir from the times of Stanislaus Augustus by Ludwik Cieszkowski (from here he rewrote with minor changes the chapter
about Karolina née Gozdzka and her relationship with de Nassau). In addition, he made use of letters and poems unknown to scholars, which he found in Puslovsky's archive and in Popiel's family archive, copying them faithfully along with noting spelling mistakes, included several unknown quotations from the daily press of Warsaw and Paris, and added verse quotations from Voltaire, Stanisław Trembecki and Zygmunt Węgierski to color the narrative and create a background of the era. Comparing available materials, he also challenged some claims (on p. 57, footnote 2, he doubts the veracity of Nassau's version, contrasting it with Polish sources, pp. 128-129 - casting doubt on the version of the Anecdotal Memoir... as anecdotal). He based his conclusions on arguments identical to Piekosinski's (the greater concreteness and detail of the source prejudges its veracity). In the narrative he followed in the footsteps of Szajnocha, embellishing it with dialogues and expressive theatrical scenes, in rare historical assessments he took the perspective of the political consequences of certain actions, like the school of Krakow, but at the same time he gave vent to feelings of sadness and regret for the mistakes made by his ancestors (p. 52, assessment of the Bar Confederation). Askenazy - an expert in diplomatic games and activities - was more accurate in guessing Nassau's real intentions, but nevertheless Rydel's work brought new material to the fate of the famous foreigner, and in terms of technique did not differ in a negative way from historiographical publications of the time."

Tadeusz Budrewicz, Historiographical Trials of Lucjan Rydel, Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis
Studia Historicolitteraria 19 (2019)