In this article Maurycy Mochnacki’s martyrological and messianic declarations in the Preface to the Uprising of the Polish Nation in 1830–1831 are examined in the context of the martyrological discourse in the literature of the Great Emigration. Such an affirmation may appear puzzling given Mochnacki’s rejection of martyrological interpretations of Poland’s history or messianic readings of his political philosophy, let alone his reputation of being radically opposed to Adam Mickiewicz’s idea of the sacrifi cial victimhood of the Polish nation. In this study the ideological and rhetorical aspects of their statements are compared and analysed. There can be little doubt that in the Preface Mochnacki’s phrasing is steeped in patriotic pathos which seems to be at odds with the tone of his other writings. This article claims that it was a tactical move on his part: he chose the familiar martyrological loci merely as a means to enlist the readers’ support for his own pragmatic programme of restoring Poland’s independence. A general conclusion to be drawn from this apparent inconsistency is that already at that stage (The Uprising was published in Paris in 1834) the logosphere of the Great Emigration had become so dominated by the martyrological discourse that Mochnacki could not afford to ignore it.

This article marks the 400th anniversary of a series of bloody battles which were fought from 2 September until 9 October 1621 between the Polish-Lithuanian army and the invading Ottoman armies led by Sultan Osman II. Intent on defeating Poland and conquering all of Europe, the 17-year-old sultan gathered well over 100,000 troops, probably the largest fighting force ever assembled on one battlefield. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Chocim (Khotyn), in which the Turks lost approximately 40 thousand men (one third of the invasion force). As a result Osman II was compelled to back off and sign a peace treaty which brought to an end his plans of expansion. What turned the fortunes of war in favour of Poland was a conjunction of two factors, the indomitable fighting spirit of the soldiers in the field and, no less important, the use of modern defence tactics under the agile command of Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. While the victory at Chocim aroused great interest not just in Poland, nowhere was its significance given so much weight as in Rome. Pope Gregory XV issued a breve Victoriarum gloria and instituted a special thanksgiving service (officium gratiarum) to be celebrated in Catholic churches worldwide. The article looks again at these, better known reactions to the Polish-Ottoman war of 1620–1621 before exploring a raft of diaries and memoirs, in manuscript and printed, and various types of publications, including leaflets describing the battles, published in various languages in Poland and all over Europe. However, at the centre of this study is the poetic legacy of the war. The poems in which the war is remembered and celebrated focus their praise either on Hetman Chodkiewicz or Prince Władysław Waza (the future king of Poland), who was also present at Chocim. The article examines this duality primarily in the poems of Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Samuel Twardowski, Wacław Potocki, Ignacy Krasicki and the Croatian Baroque poet Ivan Gundulić.