L’influence politique de Versailles sur la noblesse lituanienne à la fin du xviie siècle

• Main Author: Mariusz Sawicki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles 2021-04-01
• Series: Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
• Subjects: Versailles; Louis XIV; Polignac; political influence; diplomacy; Lithuania
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/crcv/19402

In the second half of the seventeenth century, French diplomacy dominated Europe, including the Polish-Lithuanian state and its most important aristocratic families. The reports of French diplomats described their encounters with the most eminent families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the Sapiehas and Radziwiłłs (the most powerful), the Pacs, Wiśniowieckis and Ogińskis. Through them, Versailles sought to implement its policy in the Polish-Lithuanian state, and win these allies through (usually honoured) promises of money. The goal was to support a French candidate to the Polish throne and to prevail against Vienna and Berlin on the European political chessboard. While efforts to cooperate with these powerful figures were often hindered by inconstant political loyalty on the latter’s part, Lithuania remained an important area of political expansion for Versailles, even into the eighteenth century.