Abstract
This paper is about the figure of the Polish Queen Maria Casimira Sobieska, widow of King Jan Sobieski, the winner of the battle of Vienna, 1683. After her husband’s death, in 1696, she moved to Rome, where she cleverly integrated into the political and cultural context. The focus is Maria Casimira Sobieska’s cultural and political activity in a gender perspective, as she was one of the first two women admitted to the Academy of Arcadia. The intellectual activity of the Arcadia is presented trying to evaluate women’s involvement. The political character of Maria Casimira’s travel is closely related to her cultural activity in Rome, and her “pilgrimage-exile” is investigated in order to highlight its significant political implications. It is essential to examine the figures of female travellers especially if, as in the present case, they have significantly affected the political and cultural life of their time. Their travels, that were often undertaken because of or after their marriage, are fundamental to raise awareness and understanding of the role played by these travellers once they settled down in the places where they were headed. Travel itself has a pivotal role in historical and political transformations, more specifically in the development of the identity and inclusion–exclusion processes concerning different social groups and gender dynamics. The practice of voyage has radically evolved over time. Travel experience changed in space and in time, from the epic of Gilgamesh or Odysseus to the modern idea of tourism. Ancients valued travel as an explication of human fate and necessity; for modern people it is an expression of freedom and an escape from necessity and duty. The history of travel is the study of a force—mobility—that has shaped human history and that is clearly still influencing our present. However travel appears to be, with its historical, economic, cultural and political implications, and in its evolution, a male prerogative. This is the reason why the present work examines women’s weight in culture and politics proposing an alternative point of view.
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Notes
- 1.
«Il desiderio di scoprire cosa si nasconde oltre i confini della propria quotidianità, la pratica necessità di aprire a nuovi rapporti economici, sociali, politici e culturali, oltre al desiderio di andare verso i luoghi della fede, sono le ragioni (ma ne potremmo menzionare altre) che hanno spinto da sempre “l’uomo” a mettersi in cammino per impervie strade pur di raggiungere mete lontane e incontrare “l’altro”» (Platania 2003, 15) on the matter of journey cf.: Leed, E. J. (1991),The mind of the traveler: From Gilgamesh to global tourism. New York: Basic Books.
- 2.
«Su tali polarità maschile/femminile; movimento/stasi; azione/passività; esterno/interno ha trovato fondamento la visione antropologica del mondo classico, così come dell’elaborazione cristiana, che ha codificato nature e ruoli nella nostra cultura occidentale» (Silvestre and Valerio 1999, VIII).
- 3.
See in this respect Lévinas, E. (1979), La traccia dell’altro, trad. it. Fabio Ciaramelli, Pironti, Napoli.
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- 6.
As Gaetano Platania (1999) properly highlights these women were not used to personally write down feelings and turmoil that characterised their experiences, except for the case of Lady Ann Fanshawe (1625–1680) and of the Countess Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy (1650c–1705).
- 7.
The liberation of Vienna from the Ottoman siege in 1683 had been a landmark event in European history, universally acknowledged as a success of the glorious John III Sobieski. This event represented one of the highest moments of the political and military path of the Polish king. On the history of the kingdom and its Sovereign after the liberation of Vienna refer to: De Caprio, F. (2014), Il tramonto di un regno: Il declino di Jan Sobieski dopo il trionfo di Vienna, Sette Città, Viterbo. About the episodes related to the succession refer to Platania, G. (1992), Venimus, vidimus et Deus vicit: dai Sobieski ai Wettin: la diplomazia pontificia nella Polonia di fine Seicento, Periferia, Cosenza.
- 8.
Maria Casimira de la Grange d’Arquien, daughter of Henri (1613–1707) and Françoise de la Chàrtre de Brillebant, was born in Nevers on 28th June 1641and died in Blois on 30th January 1716. For more biographical information see: M. Komaszynsky (1984).
- 9.
Cf.: Platania, G. (1999), op. cit. pp. 135. For more informations about Maria Casimira’s voyage to Rome see also Platania, G. (1995). Maria Casimira Sobieska a Roma. Alcuni episodi del soggiorno romano di una regina polacca. In Il Viaggio. Roma: Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani; Platania, G. (2009). Donne al potere donne di potere. Viterbo: Sette Città; Platania, G. (2016). Polonia e Curia Romana. Corrispondenza di Maria Casimira Sobieska regina di Polonia con Carlo Barberini protettore del regno (1681–1699) e il soggiorno romano di una famiglia polacca in esilio. In Collana Acta Barberiniana 3 (pp. 10–279). Viterbo: Sette Città.
- 10.
The Holy Year, announced in 1700 by Pope Innocenzo II in the papal bull «Regi saeculorum» , turned out to be very peculiar. The Pope, due to his illness, did not manage to personally open the Holy Door in San Pietro and he also did not see the end of the Jubilee: the Holy Door, for the first time, was opened by a Pope and closed by another. Pope Pignatelli, in fact, died on 27th September 1700 during the jubilar period.
- 11.
A special area was reserved to the Sovereign in order for her to peacefully and comfortably attend the religious service. Moreover it was published a perfect itinerary, Relazione fatta dall’Illustrissimo Signor Canonico Pisani alla Sacra Maestà Reale della Regina di Polonia di tutte l’antichità di Roma, with the aim of guiding the widow queen in the visit of the most famous and interesting monuments in Rome. This report is not a vademecum of jubilar itineraries, it rather has the features of an academic text with historical and artistic information about the monuments and references to literary debates and quotations of scholars regarding the ancient times.
- 12.
Pasquinades were brief satirical rhymes used to criticize important figures of the time. «Nacqui da un gallo semplice gallina vissi tra li pollastri e fui regina venni a Roma cristiana e non Christina»: I was a simple chick born from a rooster, I lived among chickens and I was queen, I came to Rome as a Christian not as Christina.
- 13.
Christina of Sweden in 1654, after having renounced Protestantism and abdicated in favor of her cousin Charles Gustav, departed for Rome. The former sovereign had been a pivotal figure for the papal political strategy: Roman diplomatic representatives were hoping to re-establish contacts, through her, with those European countries that after the Lutheran Reform had drifted away from the Catholic Church. On Christina of Sweden and the events that took place during her stay in Rome see: Platania, G. (2002). Viaggio a Roma e sede d’esilio. Sovrane alla conquista di Roma (secoli XVII-XVIII). Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani, Roma, pp. 21–60; De Caprio, F. (2004). Il viaggio d’esilio di Cristina di Svezia nell’opera del Festini. In Esilio, pellegrinaggio e altri viaggi, Mancini, M. (edited by), Sette Città, Viterbo, pp. 249–266; d’Onofrio, C. (1976). Roma val bene un’abiura: storie romane tra Cristina di Svezia, Piazza del Popolo e l’Accademia d’Arcadia. Roma: Fratelli Palombi.
- 14.
«La Sobieska non volle però mai rinunciare al ruolo di personaggio pubblico che aveva rivestito durante gli anni di regno, certa di poter giocare anche a Roma un peso determinante sulla scena politica e incidere concretamente nei maneggi diplomatici e politici legati, questa volta, alla Sede Apostolica» (Platania 1999, 140).
- 15.
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However, it has to be pointed out that virgins of marriageable age were excluded, they had to remain firmly secluded in educational institutions inside religious houses until they married or took vows.
- 17.
The branches of the Arcadia, that throughout time were established in other parts of Italy, assumed the name of “colonie”.
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Vincenti, G. (2019). The Exiled Queen Maria Casimira Sobieska in Rome: Gender, Culture and Politics. In: Paoloni, P., Lombardi, R. (eds) Advances in Gender and Cultural Research in Business and Economics. IPAZIA 2018. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00335-7_1
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