
The following article analyses a letter, hitherto unknown to historiography, from Constance of Austria (d. 1631), second wife of Sigismund III Vasa
(d. 1632), addressed on July 17, 1607 to the Gniezno metropolitan chapter. The epistle contains a request to give the queen a particle of the relics of St. Adalbert (d. 997).
The text discusses the content of the letter, its implications and the broader context of the Vasa dynasty’s relationship with the Gniezno cathedral community and the figure of St. Adalbert. The results of the analysis indicate that an attempt to obtain the relics in 1607 was probably unsuccessful. In contrast, the external forms of the royal family’s
attachment to the first patron saint of the Commonwealth were intensified especially
when Wawrzyniec Gembicki was the archbishop of Gniezno.
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