SAMUEL TWARDOWSKI'S ACCOUNT OF PRINCE WLADYSLAW WAZA'S TOUR: A TEXTUAL GLOSS

The article analyzes the role of historical sources in Samuel Zborowski's account of Prince Wladyslaw Waza's Grand Tour in Book III of his biographical epic 'Wladyslaw IV, King of Poland and Sweden' (1649). Zborowski's detailed narrative creates the impression that it must be a first-hand report; yet more recent studies have established that he used notes written by someone else, most probably Stefan Pac's diary. This assumption must be corrected in the light of evidence examined in the article. The collated passages indicate that Zborowski's basic source was either the Latin report written by Jan Hagenaw, a royal official in charge of the tour, or a section of Wladyslaw IV's biography by Eberhard Wassenberg, who closely followed Hagenaw. Stefan Pac's diary was merely a secondary source, used by Zborowski on a much smaller scale.