PUFENDORF Samuel - THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE CHARLES OF KAROL GUSTAW KING OF SWEDEN (With CD)

Description from the cover: Here is the first translation into Polish of Samuel Pufendorf's classic work on the brief but dramatic reign of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden, from 1654 to 1660. A comprehensive book with the long title De rebus a Carolo Gustavo Sveciae Rege, gestis commentariorum libri septem, elegantissimis tabulis aeneis exornati cum triplici indice. (ie: On the deeds of Charles Gustav, King of Sweden explanatory books seven, decorated with most exquisite copperplates, with triple index) was published in Nuremberg in 1696. It is therefore more than three hundred years old. For a historiographical study, this is quite a lot, especially since the era is well known to us, and the bibliography of works devoted to it is sizable. But it is not the case that we already know everything about the time of the Swedish Deluge. Samuel Pufendorf portrays the war in all its vast dimensions. It was fought not only in Poland or Lithuania but also in Finland, Inflants, it hit Norway and Denmark, and even Africa or the colony of New Sweden in North America. This is a different war from the one we know from the pages of the Deluge. Pufendorf describes not only the military actions, he also does not shy away from explaining the economic problems, and presents general judgments about both the Swedish neighboring nations and those more distant. Yes we have very good modern monographs, but no one dares to write such a great synthesis today. It is also worth remembering that Pufendorf was an eyewitness to some of the events he described, spoke with participants in the clashes, used documents, some of which were later lost. An encounter with such an Author does not often happen