Who moved the capital to Warsaw? The most frequent answer is: Sigismund III Vasa. It is reported that as a result of the fire that broke out in Wawel, he decided to move his court to the present capital of our country. However, the issue of moving the capital to Warsaw from Krakow may raise some controversy. The date itself is problematic here, as it is difficult to establish when this transfer actually took place. Why is this question questionable? The answer is at least to some extent contained in the article below.
In the context of the growing importance of Warsaw as a political center, it should be remembered that the beginnings of this process took place before the reign of Sigismund III Vasa. Let us recall that even at the time of concluding in 1569 the Union of Lublin between the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it was decided that the parliaments would take place in Warsaw, although the possibility of convening them elsewhere was not ruled out. Four years later, when a free election was to take place in Poland for the first time, it was decided that Warsaw (or its vicinity) would become the place where all future elections would take place. However, a more significant increase in the importance of Warsaw took place at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, when Sigismund III Vasa decided to move to this city with the entire manor. A certain catalyst was a tragic event in 1595: a fire in Wawel.
How did the fire at Wawel even happen? In this context, there is a surprising theory or, according to some researchers, rather a legend, as there is no unequivocal confirmation of it. One of the passions of Zygmunt III Vasa was supposed to be alchemy, which was quite popular at the time, which was most often discussed in the context of countless attempts to turn ordinary metals into gold. One of the collaborators of the king of Poland in this unusual activity was to be the starost of Klepice, Mikołaj Wolski. And it was in one part of Wawel that the gentlemen decided to organize their laboratory. It was located near the tower known colloquially as "Kurza's Foot", and a furnace for melting metals was to be located in its corner.
It had enough of the aforementioned fire as a result of some uncontrolled reaction that occurred during the experiments. It happened in 1595, and according to some sources, there was a fire twice this year. Before it was extinguished, it was burnt, among others the part of Wawel where the royal family apartments were located. During the rescue of the property of the royal couple, some of the jewels belonging to the wife of Sigismund III, Anna Habsburżanka, were destroyed, while others and some of her family mementoes were stolen. Why has this happened? The reason was that they were just thrown out the window. It became necessary to evacuate the inhabitants, and therefore the son of Zygmunt III, Władysław, was born in a palace in Łobzów near Kraków. A little later, this palace was converted into a summer residence for the royal court.
Some sources say that the fire at Wawel was actually just a pretext for a later move to Warsaw. Its location seemed then to be more advantageous due to the distances separating the city from individual parts of the country. It was about - as Marcin Kula deftly put it - about shifting the "center of gravity" of the state (Kula, p. 7). This was related to several issues. First of all, the remaining lands of Mazovia were annexed to Poland. Moreover, numerous issues related to the functioning of Lithuania and the Baltic policy had to be taken into account, and the course of trade routes was also gradually changing. Of course, there was also the matter of the claims of the king of Poland to the Swedish throne. It was simply closer to and from Warsaw. The fact that the court was moved undoubtedly influenced not only the importance of Warsaw but also caused the city to develop more dynamically.
In connection with the large-scale operation of moving the manor to Warsaw, it was necessary to build a new castle, which could accommodate not only the manor house, but also central offices. The new castle would also become the seat of the Seym. Probably the decision in this matter was made by the king in 1597. The design of the castle was entrusted to John Baptist Trevano, who also supervised the reconstruction of Wawel after the fire.
However, before the work could even begin, only the gothic castle existing in Warsaw was expanded. Its expansion began in 1598, and with varying intensity, they lasted until 1611. Zygmunt III Waza had limited funds at his disposal, because he had to spend them on renovating Wawel at the same time. It was not until 1611 that proper work on the construction of a new castle in Warsaw began. Apart from Trevano, the works were also carried out by Jakub Rotondo di Scala, Mateusz Castello, Gerard Kleinpold and Andrzej Hegner Abrahamowicz. A key part of them was completed in 1624, although some improvements were made until 1629.
The very full transfer of the seat of the court was possible probably within a few years of the start of the main construction of the new castle, although the king himself and his family moved earlier, although setting a specific date presents some difficulties here. Anyway, at the turn of the century, Sigismund III Vasa quite often moved between Krakow and Warsaw. The last such journey took place in 1609, when Sigismund III Vasa on barges sailed with the royal property along the Vistula to Warsaw. A similar journey is mentioned in the context of 1596, however, there are many indications that recognizing this year as the year of the transfer of the capital to Warsaw is of a contractual nature.
However, the question arises whether, in fact, at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the capital of the state was transferred from Kraków to Warsaw? Why? Marcin Kula questions this, mentioning only that the king's seat was moved to the capital of Mazovia. From the formal point of view, according to this author, Kraków remained the capital of Poland until the end of the 18th century (Kula, p. 7), in which, for example, the coronation insignia remained. Moreover, Warsaw itself was not referred to as the capital for a long time. For example, in the constitution of the Four-Year Sejm of 1789, Krakow was described as "the capital of the Kingdom of Poland". For the first time, Warsaw was named this way only in the constitution of the Sejm, which was held in Grodno in 1793, and therefore only over a century and a half after the move of Sigismund III Vasa.
Anyway, at the time when Sigismund III moved to Warsaw, no legal action was adopted that would prove that the capital of Poland was changed. In this context, however, for example, Zdzisław Noga mentions that until the end of the 18th century, there was no regulation in Poland on the basis of which it could be clearly stated that Krakow or Warsaw is the capital of the state. The same researcher also emphasizes that the very word "capital" did not have the meaning we are used to today.
Bibliography:
- J. Choińska-Mika, M. Kulesza, K. Mika, W. Morawski, H. Wajs, Mazowsze, Daunpol Publishing House, Warsaw 2011.
- J. Kalęba, Moving the capital, or history not as we know it from school, https://plus.gazetakrakowska.pl/przenosiny-stolicy-czyli-historia-nie-taka-jaka-znamy-ze-szkoly/ar/c15 -15509539, accessed June 28, 2021.
- M. Kula, Moving capitals, "Regional and local studies", No. 1/2011.
- S. Ochmann-Staniszewska, The Vasa Dynasty in Poland, Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, Warsaw 2006.
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