The dispute over the appointment to the position of the commendatory abbot on Łysa Góra (Bald Mountain) during the interregnum after the death of John III Sobieski in the light of Nuncio Giovanni Antonio Davia’s correspondence

Abstract

One of the issues which for many years, beginning from the end of the 16th century, caused a lot of tension between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Poland, was the matter of the appointment for the position of commendatory abbots, where kings were eager to keep their privileges of nomination. Another factor exerting influence on the course of the conflict was the opinion of the nobility which, however, largely depended on the decision of the king. This dependence disappeared in periods of interregnum and hence it was interesting to study, on the example of disputes over the appointment to the dignity of abbot in the Benedictine Abbey of the Holy Cross, what form that dispute took at a time when decisions were solely in the hands of the nobility. The course of the conflict over the appointment to the positions of abbots during the interregnum after the death of John III Sobieski indicates that the nobility retained their independence in the dispute, and the privileged positon of the king was taken over by ambitious magnates favouring their relatives and supporters while appointing to the dignity of the abbot. The key here was to convince regional diets to their arguments, as well as to win the favour of the senate, and later the convocation parliament (sejm), which, in order to fulfil their ambitions, did not hesitate to even call into question the relationship with Rome.