Пропаганда в універсалах королів Міхала I та Яна III, її типи та адресати (за матеріалами реляційних книг ґродських урядів Руського воєводства)

Abstract

Introduction. The early-modern society needed information, especially about politics. There were many sources of information at that time. It was not missed by the royal соurt, which began to orient their documents on the general society of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The royal universales were among them. These documents were used to announce an already existent decision (such as a diet resolution (constitution), a privilege or a decree), various types of sejmiks (dietines), “pospolite ruszenie”, the monarch’s decisions. The purpose. The information from the royal universales was promulgated by the local grod governments. Often these documents had an ideological component. It helped propagate values and ideas, an appeal which was used to facilitate the implementation of those decisions or orders that were reported in universal. The propaganda was not present in all royal universales and the ideological components were different, depending on several factors. Results. The most part of the ideological component was in universales addressed to the nobles. The propaganda was also included in documents published during the war. These documents popularized the idea that the Commonwealth as a defendant of Christianity. Consequently, it had to fight for the preservation of faith against Turkish and Tatar attackers, who were often called “enemies of Christ” in universales. At the same time, the war against them was represented as a struggle to preserve the “golden liberties” of the nobles. Universales also appealed to the knight virtues of the gentry, although the latter was no longer so important and relevant to this social state. Of course, these documents never went without emphasizing the loyalty of the monarch to his country and subjects, his activities in favor of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Conclusion. The royal court could not miss informational needs of the early-modern society. That is why they issued documents from which information should have reached a great part of the society. The royal universal was among these documents. The universal had many political information and ideological components. All of these were promulgated by the local grod governments.