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In the year 211 BCE, Romans suffered one of the most devastating defeats during the Second Punic War. Their unsuccessful offensive undertaken by Publius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio resulted in loss of the territories previously conquered in Hispania and deaths of the two Scipiones. Gaius Claudius Nero was then appointed to Hispania, having been chosen the new commander by the Centuriate Assembly. He was affiliated with the Fabii faction that by his nomination seized the control over that theatre of war. However, a decisive action by the Cornelii, aimed at regaining the lost influence, prompted his recall. Publius Cornelius Scipio the Elder applied for the vacancy and became the army commander in Hispania. Having reached the Iberian Peninsula, Scipio undertook vigorous actions in order to capture New Carthage. He utilised his fleet to increase the mobility of his troops, to subsequently set about marching towards to Carthaginians’ city. Seizure of the city proved to be the turning point, after which the Carthaginian rule in Iberia waned. It also brought about the eventual Roman victory.

The article aims at pinpointing variegated circumstances which yielded astrological ideas during the end of Republic and the early Principate. By assuming as a starting point the enigmatic sentence from Marcus Manilius’ Astronomica, which refers to Rome’s “birth” horoscope and simultaneously to the zodiac sign (Libra) of the princeps, the author attempts to show various contexts that facilitated the appearance of astral symbolism in texts of the epoch in question. The debate regarding the Rome’s horoscope, already quite enliven during the Antiquity, which evoked the mythical times of the Eternal City’s beginnings but, at the same time, reflected the then current affairs, clearly shows that the astrological discourse was not solely a matter of specialised “knowledge” displayed by the authors who grappled with the subject, but it usually entailed traces of complex ideological, political, and worldview‑related entanglements that to a great extent shaped the nature of cultural Roman “revolution” carried out over two thousand years ago.

Ancient Romans struggled with manifold diseases affecting their animals, including the ones caused by external parasites. Among numerous parasitic diseases scabies was the most commonly diagnosed one — on the one hand, it caused serious economic losses to breeders, on the other hand, it was threatening to humans. Due to high contangeousness of scabies and big losses it caused, the breeders and veterinarians designed numerous treatments that were to prevent the occurrence of or eradicate the disease. Majority of extant ancient texts contained recipes for medicines administered to horses, cattle, and sheep. What captures our attention are considerable varieties of medicines applicable to particular species, which points to significant level of specialization and attempts to adjust treatments to specific needs of particular species of animals. A proportion of ancient recommendations and methods of fighting scabies remains valid until the present day.

The article provides an account of the Potocki brothers’: Jan, Jakub, and — to a lesser extent — Stefan’s participation in military actions lead by the Commonwealth of Poland against Russia, especially during the Siege of Smolensk. As regalists, the Potockis were amongst the closest advisors of King Sigismund III and could impact his decisions. The brothers’ actions, however, opposed the activities undertaken by Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski (also a regalist). Based on the extensive correspondence between Jakub Zadzik and Wawrzyniec Gembicki, exchanged at a royal military camp, some misconceptions have been dispelled and new, previously unknown facts established that show the influence of the said relationships on the war in question.

Diplomacy is one of the ways of carrying out foreign policy. It is implemented during negotiations of a given country’s envoys with representatives of other countries. The manner of receiving envoys (foreign diplomats) and proceeding with negotiations is specified by diplomatic etiquette. The article describes how those relationships were effectuated in the second half of the 17th century between Poland and Russia. Diplomatic missions are described from the moment of receiving indispensable documents and plenipotentiary powers, through traveling to Moscow under supervision of the pristavs (Russian pristavy), to the conclusion of mission. The description of envoys’ stay in Moscow includes details of accommodation, organizing audiences, feasts, entering into treaties, adherence to rules of appropriate behaviour in the tsar’s presence and keeping proper forms of address. Also, a peculiar way of carrying out lengthy negotiations by king and country’s envoys and commissaries is presented.

Noblemen’s assemblies that took place during the expeditions of the noble mass levy (Polish pospolite ruszenie) should in fact fall under the category of dietine (sejmik), and not congress or rally. Included in that group ought to be only those dietines that proceeded during the mass levy excursions. As opposed to other dietines, whose participants traditionally gathered in churches, castles, or town halls, the expeditionary dietines took place “in the field,” that is, under the open sky. The expeditionary dietines were carried out at each stage of mass levy expeditions and the noblemen gathered in a camp to partake in them. Especially important for this kind of dietines was the year 1672, when the Crown’s final mass levy expedition of the 17th century was undertaken. From the moment of popisy (a show of levies’ military force), which mostly took place in August, up until the return from the main military camp near Lublin during the first half of November 1672, the noblemen many a time assembled in expeditionary dietines. Subsequent expeditionary dietines were called over the period of interregnum of the years 1696—1697, when electoral mass levy gathered.

Since the beginning of the 17th century the gens Potocki enjoyed their growing significance in the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth. It translated into ever more frequent taking and holding by them state offices and functions, including the ones of MPs. What could now be estimated is that during the reign of John III Sobieski as many as ten Potockis held a seat in Sejm. The most experienced among them was Stefan Potocki, who served four terms. The remainder of the mentioned representatives include persons who served a few terms. Overall, the Potockis held the office of MP 27 times. However, their activity as MPs was not too impressive, which is corroborated by few and far between mentions about them in parliamentary minutes. More active seem to have been the senators originating from the gens Potocki, namely brothers Jędrzej and Feliks, yet the said activity might have stemmed from the King’s expectations. They partook in pre‑Sejm dietines and relatively frequently were present during Sejm sessions. Their senate advisory speeches (Polish wota senatorskie) did not consist of hot‑air rhetoric, but included helpful comments on state of the commonwealth. It may seem, however, that both for MPs and for senators coming from the family Potocki the military service was paramount, and the political activity merely complemented it.

The Sapiehas and the Potockis were amongst the most influential families of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth. The latter family owned numerous estates in Ukraine, which were directly under threat from marching Lithuanian soldiers. Kazimierz Jan Sapieha, Grand Hetman of Lithuania was in charge of the said estates. Due to cooperation of the two magnate families, he attempted to shield the Potockis’ estates and possessions from Lithuanian troops marching to or returning from the war with Turkey. To that aim he utilised legal proclamations called Universals. The Potockis returned the favour by entering into political collaboration. Hetman Kazimierz Jan Sapieha, having been absent from the Siege of Vienna, had to incur accusations and attacks during Sejm proceedings. He was then (1684) defended in a propaganda letter by Andrzej Potocki, Castellan of Kraków. The research themes analysed in the article serve as both, an introductory outline and a voice in the discussion regarding cooperation of Lithuanian and Polish noble families in the second half of the 17th century.

Often enough in historical literature the following phenomena have been stressed: misinformation of public opinion, disseminating hearsay, and last but not least, stubborn dismissal of reports inconvenient to their recipients and deluding oneself that another news should bring a completely different state‑of‑affairs. Those characteristic phenomena are clearly visible when one looks into the process of receiving information regarding an unprecedented defeat suffered by the Swedish army of King Charles XII near Poltava in 1709. The supporters of Stanisław Leszczyński, who was allied with the Swedes, along with Swedish officers belonging to his entourage for the lengthy period denied the veracity of the reports and accepted any hearsay regarding Tsar Peter I’s alleged defeat at its face value.

As a result of Augustus II’s sudden death, the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth went through the country’s penultimate interregnum period, which instigated the fight for the Polish throne. What served as this competition’s primary arena were the Mazovian pre‑convocation dietines in the year 1733. Animosity and competition occurred therein between the national camp supporting the candidacy of Stanisław Leszczyński and the backers of Saxon succession. During the said crisis prompted by the interregnum period, the demands of state reform also appeared in dietines, for instance, regarding the enlargement of armed forces. Eventually, 5 of the dietines supported Leszczyński (“the Piast”), 3 did not expressed their stance, and in case of 2 of them it is hard to estimate what was their decision regarding the exclusion of the foreigner. All in all, the nobility supported the andidacy of the Pole during the provincial dietine of Mazovia.

The article presents the most popular authors of American military songs whose musical pieces were to a greater or lesser degree utilised during the American Civil War. Biographies of five among them, namely: Stephen Collins Foster, Daniel Decatur Emmett, George Frederick Root as well as Harry McCarthy and Patrick Gilmore are the main focus of this article. In addition, other creators are mentioned, the ones who were less known, and therefore contributed to the development of American war music slightly less. Foster and Emmett are rather associated with the so‑called Blackface minstrels’ music, Root — with typical soldiers’ songs, whereas McCarthy and Gilmore — with musical Irish influences. The article contains descriptions of such songs as: Dixie, Ring de banjo, Oh! Susanna, We are coming Father Abraham, 300 thousand more, The Battle cry of Freedom, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, Marching through Georgia, Bonnie Blue Flag, When Johnny Comes Marching Home.

The article was written based on parish registers kept in Zemský archiv v Opavě and sources published in the 19th century. Issues regarding demographics in the territory of the Catholic parish of Mosty koło Jabłonkowa, such as: crude marriage rate, ratio of first, second and subsequent marriages, the age of newly‑weds at the moment of entering into marriage, seasonality of marriages, and the number of children born inside a single marriage.
Overall coefficients related to entering into marriages in the Mosty parish were mostly higher than average values for Czech lands and Austrian Silesia lands. In Mosty the most numerous were first marriages whose number attained maximal value in the late 1860s and early 1870s and at the beginning of the 20th century. It reflects the general tendency of gradual decrease in percentage of remarrying observed across Czech lands in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Data from Mosty on the age of newly‑weds at the moment of entering into marriage are analogous to the results regarding the entirety of Czech lands, yet the lowering of the age of entering into first marriage in the 1870s and at the beginning of the 20th century was characteristic of the parish in question. The findings of investigation into seasonality of marriages in Mosty in the years 1791—1910 are in line with the results obtained for Czech lands and Austrian Silesia — the marriages were concluded most frequently in February and January, often also in autumn (November). The lowest number of marriages was recorded in April, March, and December. Over the entire studied period (1791—1910) in the Catholic parish of Mosty on avarage 4.8 children were born per marriage, which was roughly the same as the results for Czech lands in general.

The article touches upon a weighty theme of acquiring military materiel for the Polish Armed Forces during the initial phase of the Polish‑Soviet War, including military uniforms, weaponry, and ammunition. In the article, reasons for and circumstances accompanying the establishment of the Polish Military Purchases Mission in Paris are presented along with characteristics of the initial period of the institution’s activity in France in March and April of 1919. Over this period, first administrative structures of the mission were developed and a very intense search for genuine possibilities of obtaining military materiel took place with the aim of enlargement of Polish military forces. The author provides valid information regarding personal composition of the Mission, the manner in which first large purchases were carried out in France, USA, and Italy, as well as the organization of the materiel’s shipment from France to Poland.

Bronisław Knothe was born in a patriotic family. He graduated from a Radom gymnasium in 1902. Then, he studied at the Philosophical Faculty of the Jagiellonian University. He obtained his teacher’s qualifications in 1907, having passed his final exams at the University of Warsaw. As he settled in Skierniewice, he started to teach the Polish language at the local “real gymnasium” (Polish Gimnazjum Realne). In the year 1914 he transferred to Łódź, where he worked subsequently in two schools. During this time, he began his intense engagement in social work in local organizations. After four years he wound up in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (the Dąbrowa Coal Basin), where he participated in political life of the region, to eventually be elected as an MP in 1922. During his five‑year term, B. Knothe became a member of the PSL “Piast” party and at the same time published numerous press articles. In the year 1927 he settled in his family village of Ruszcza, where he administered a landed estate until 1944. Under the German occupation he was involved in underground activity. He died in 1950 in Kraków.

The article aims at showing the housing situation of Breslauers (Wrocław inhabitants) against the backdrop of incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in the period of Weimar Republic. Amongst the issues discussed are those related to reasons for contracting tuberculosis, the city authoriries’ attemps to fight the disease, protection of Wrocław inhabitants against tuberculosis, and the hoausing conditions of Breslauers.
In the period of Weimar Republic, Wrocław was an industrial city serving a vital function of administrative, commarcial, and trade centre. The proletariat, factory workers were often housed in cramped, crowded appartments with no access to light. Especially high incidence of tuberculosis appeared in overcrowded districts, where rooms were usually occupied by several people. One may conclude that the larger a given district’s population and overcroding of apartments, the higher the risk of contracting tubercles (tuberculosis nodules).
The city hall tried to handle the complex housing situation, and that is why in the period of Weimar Republic the city authorities’ policy was aimed at the city sprawl. Thanks to inclusing within the city borders some of the suburban villages, in the years 1928 new housing estates could have erected, where housing for many Breslauers was provided. Due to the foregoing, the overpopulation of Wrocław’s inner city was decreased and the expence of adjecent areas.

In the year 1925 the Kleipeda Region was incorporated into Lithuania. A year later, Pope Pius XI erected in this region the sovereign prelature of Klaipeda with the Telšiai bishop at its helm. In March 1939 Germany coerced Lithuania into signing a pact according to which the Klaipeda Region became a part of the Third Reich. Quite promptly, the bishop of Telšiai handed the administrative matters of the prelature to Fr. Dean Albert Dannelautzki of Kleipeda. However, on 10 June 1939 the Holy See entrusted the prelature to the Bishop of Warmia Maksymilian Kaller, who was nominated as an apostolic administrator. The lack of material resources was detrimental for the prelature’s activity. For instance, no renovations in churches and adjacent building were carried out in that time. Local pastoral facilities took advantage of financial aid offered by the diocese of Warmia and organizations supporting pastoral activity of diaspora, mainly Bonifatiuswerk (Das Bonifatiuswerk der deutschen Katholiken) in Paderborn.

Review: [John D. Grainger: Nerwa i problem sukcesji w Rzymie w latach 96—99. Tłum. W. Brillowski. Oświęcim 2017]

Review: [Przy boku króla Stanisława Leszczyńskiego (1706—1709). T. 1: Wyprawy do Saksonii i Litwy w latach 1706—1708. Wyd. J. Dygdała. Warszawa 2018]

Review: [Christopher J. Tozzi: Nationalizing France’s Army: Foreign, Black, and Jewish Troops in the French Military, 1715—1831. Charlottesville 2016]

Review: [Wujek 81. Relacje. Wybór i oprac. R. Ciupa, S. Reńca. Katowice 2018].

A collection of 46 memories of participants in the strike in KWK "Wujek", as well as people who witnessed the strike and its pacification (nurse, residents of a nearby housing estate), is an important source for martial law researchers. It presents an important pacification event of December 16, 1981 from the perspective of the individual, which makes the publication important in the context of Poland's social history and shaping historical memory.

Metryczka wydawnicza numeru.