The Hetman’s and King’s fame in Rome

Rome and the Vatican reacted like a seismograph to the events unfolding in the country on the Vistula. The interest in John III, his popularity on the Tiber and his relations with the court in Warsaw are documented in numerous materials preserved in the collections of the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana). The Vatican’s Sobieski-related materials are found, amongst other places, in the codex Barb.lat.6618, with the title on the spine: ‘Polonia / Giovanni III / 1674–1696’.

Just as fascinating as the extensive collection of surviving written sources and printed works is the record of the events that took place in Rome following Jan III’s two greatest military triumphs – the Battle of Chocim (1673) and the Battle of Vienna (1683).

Prologue – the Battle of Chocim

News of the victorious Battle of Chocim, fought on 11 November, resounded loudly across the Tiber thanks to a skilfully conducted information and propaganda campaign led by Hetman Sobieski.
Following the spectacular victory over the Turkish forces, and with an eye on the possibility of being elected to the throne, Sobieski sent Jan Chryzostom Gniński, the starost of Chełmno, to Rome. He presented the then Pope Clement X of the Altieri family (1670–1676) with a Turkish standard captured during the battle. The trophy was solemnly received by the Pope and subsequently hung at the main entrance to St Peter’s Basilica.

On 2 June 1674, news reached the Pope of Sobieski’s election to the throne. On Sunday 17 June, a solemn papal Mass was held on the Quirinal Hill to mark the occasion, during which the Te Deum was sung. Rome celebrated, and evidence of its inhabitants’ interest in the new King of Poland includes, amongst other things, a printed work preserved in the Vatican Library (one of many relating to John III) – ‘Ragguaglio Dell’Elettione del Serenissimo Re di Polonia Giovanni III…’

Act I – The Battle of Vienna, 1683 – news of the victory reaches the Tiber

Almost ten years after these events, during the pontificate of Pope Innocent XI of the Odescalchi family (1676–1689), similar scenes unfolded in the Vatican. The first reports of Vienna’s salvation reached Rome as early as 20 September, just over a week after the battle. According to one account, upon receiving news of the victory of the Christian armies united under the command of John III, Innocent XI fell to his knees and spent the whole night in prayer of thanksgiving. On 25 September, the royal secretary, Tommaso Talenti, arrived in Rome to officially convey to the Pope and the College of Cardinals the news that the Turkish threat had been averted. On 26 September, Talenti had an official audience with the Pope, during which he presented the famous letter written by King John III shortly after the battle, beginning with the words: ‘Beatissimo Padre, Venimus, Vidimus, Deus Vicit’. This letter is still preserved in the collections of the Vatican Library (ASV, Lettere di Principi, vol. 110, f. 80r). As with the victory at Chocim, a banner was sent on this occasion too as a tangible symbol of triumph over the enemy; according to contemporary accounts, the King himself had seized it from the Turks and ‘would not let it go under any circumstances’. In the aforementioned letter to the Pope, he wrote: ‘Heaven has permitted me, in a short space of time, to utterly destroy 180,000 Ottoman troops and to capture the Grand Vizier’s great banner…’

In a letter to Maria Kazimiera, he wrote: “I have all the insignia of his vizierate that were worn by him. The Muslim banner which his emperor gave him for the war and which I have sent today to the Holy Father in Rome via Talenti’s courier service.”

Act II – the banner as a symbol of triumph

Let us turn to an account describing the trophy, published in 1683: “The entire standard is made of brocade, partly red, partly green, woven with golden Arabic letters; red at the bottom, with a green band around it, a hand’s breadth wide and two ounces thick; between the red background and the aforementioned band runs another, smaller band, merely eight ounces wide, woven with arabesques and silver crescents. The height of the entire banner is eight palms (approx. 180 cm), and its length sixteen (approx. 270 cm); it remains the same width up to eleven and a half hand-widths, then tapers to a point at the top, forming a triangular shape”.

The 29th of September 1683 was set as the date for the ceremony to present the banner captured by John III to the Pope. At the time, it was regarded as Kara Mustafa’s banner, received from Sultan Mehmed IV. In reality, it was not the most important symbol of the Ottoman army, but a standard belonging to one of the Turkish dignitaries. The ceremony took place in the chapel of the Quirinal Palace, attended by the Pope, the cardinals – including Carlo Barberini, protector of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Talenti, and Cardinal Jan Kazimierz Denhoff. The latter delivered a passionate oration on the victory of the Christian armies, during which Talenti spread the banner on the ground before Innocent XI. The Pope then placed his foot on the trophy, symbolically marking who the victor was. On 17 November of that year, the banner was transferred to St Peter’s Basilica, where it was hung at the entrance to the church, alongside the Chocim trophy already on display there.

Epilogue – Ottoman banners and their mysterious fate

The last source documenting the presence of the banners in St Peter’s Basilica is the diary of Carlo Cartari, a witness to the Roman celebrations of the Victory of Vienna. Towards the end of November 1683, he noted that both banners had been hung higher up in the basilica to prevent theft and attempts by envoys of the Ottoman Empire to recover them.

Two hundred years later, on the occasion of the jubilee marking the victory at Vienna, the Italian scholar Filippo Lancelotti noted that the banners had gone missing in the 18th century, during the occupation of Rome by French troops. He also provides information on the process of restitution of looted artefacts by the canons of St Peter’s. However, on the list of objects drawn up at that time, the banners are listed as lost property.

One hypothesis suggests that, at some unspecified time, the banners (or the Vienna banner itself) were transferred to the Church of St John Lateran, and returned to the Vatican before the Second World War. Here the trail goes cold.

Traces of memory in the Vatican

Finally, it is worth emphasising that the aforementioned collection held at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana – a priceless collection of Polish materials – comprises numerous manuscripts and printed works chronicling the reign of John III and the relations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy See.

Another memento – though one that never materialised into an actual monument – is the concept of erecting an equestrian statue of the king as a triumphant figure. The initiative was launched to mark the tenth anniversary of the Victory of Vienna, and the monument itself was to stand in the forecourt of St Peter’s Basilica, opposite the monument to Emperor Constantine the Great.