Connor, Bernard. The history of Poland London : Printed by J.D. for Dan Brown ... and Roper ..., 1698
The letters written by Bernard Conner are detailed and written with influences of the Polish Court. Connor is of some high position is society because of the people he is able to write to in England and the crowd he mingles with in Poland. Connor is s physician from England who was hired by the King in the 1690’s. Connor was born in Ireland and changed his name from O’Connor to Connor to be more English. Connor was educated in France in this new field of science and excelled in it initially, writing many books about the anatomy of the human and the inner workings of it, all before his early death in London in 1698. The book is written for entertainment purposes, which was able to draw an audience because of English interests in the Baltic and some trade treaty that was probably being observed at this time. Connor is writing at a time when the Polish Lithuanian Empire was powerful enough that it attracted the attention of Western European nations. Conner wrote imitations of letters, when he returned home from his travels to Poland, and compiled them together to give his historical account of Poland. It is written for the purpose of proving England’s greatness over all other European nations. Connor does this by claiming that the government is dysfunctional because of the power the Gentry holds over the King, Conner is an absolutist. From his first letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Conner shows that he is writing this historical view from the side of the Polish, calling Jagelio family great (3) and claiming that the kingdom of Poland and the Great Duchy of Lithuania are united in government. (10) He also points out the attempts of Poland to incorporate the Lithuanian nobility into their diet (29). It is clear that little will be said of the territories of Kurland and Livonia because Connor considers Sweden and the Turks to be the neighbors of the empire, (7) but attention will be paid to Lithuania.
The second letter of Connor is of little help other than its contains a detailed account of the offices of the church and military, mentioning the 5th ecclesiastical senator, the bishop of Vilna and the 16th of Smolensko, now under the control of the Muscovites. This letter also tells us the two basic religions practiced, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox, and that the tartars in Lithuania were allowed to practice Islam because they sent 1200 troops annually to fight the Turks. (49) The Lithuanian conversion is noted (55), and there is a military general in both Lithuania and Poland, but Lithuania must submit to Poland when the engage together. (74) The third letter continues in a very detailed manner, naming individuals and the structure of the diet, down to where individuals sit in the room, and explaining the judicial process, which continues into letter four detailing the coronation of the king and queen and the power that the King must submit to the Gentry in order to obtain his thrown. Letter five is on customs, the gentry and slavery, which a Polish version since Connor spent his twelve month trip in the court of the king of Poland. Connor states that the gentry of Lithuania and Prussia were allowed to make purchases of land inside Poland while they were Duchies in the empire. (167) As stated on page 74, the armies of Lithuania and Poland remained separate, so the accounts of military in letter six are all about Poland. Letters seven, eight and nine are of little help.
Connor, contrary to his self-image is not a historian; he knows little of Polish history and often spends one page discussing it before moving onto his contemporary topics of discussion. In letter ten, Connor finally discusses the Origins of the Livonian Order and the State of Kurland.
The letter is full of information that would be helpful to giving a Polish view of the region, and explains the autonomy that the Duchies were allowed to exist under as long as their loyalty was true to the Kingdom. Once again Connor spends little time in the historical description of the Duchy, but gives detailed information about the modern topics of the area.
Connor’s letters are considered a primary source, and would be of some use in giving a Polish view on Lithuania, and the surrounding Duchies. This book is helpful in giving an insight into the account of the miserable state of the peasantry and the power the Gentry wielded over their lands and the King. The secondary/primary (he acquired information from Baron Blomberg p. 98) information presented in letter ten is extremely helpful in getting the Polish view of the Duchy of Kurland. Although these letters are written just prior to the shift in power of the Baltic region, the focus is internal as opposed to external; Russia and Sweden are mentioned little to none.
(SS 2006)