The Other Prussia
Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772

A study of national identity in Royal Prussia - the 'other Prussia', part of the Polish state from 1454 to 1793.

Karin Friedrich (Author)

9780521027755, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

308 pages, 1 map
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

'This sensitive and intelligent recuperation of one of history's lost causes offers a poignant variation on the standard narrative of European nationalism.' German History

This book considers the phenomenon of nation-building before the age of modern nationalism. It focuses on royal (Polish) Prussia - the 'other' Prussia - a province of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1466 to 1772/3, and its major cities Danzig, Thorn and Elbing. As an integral part of the Polish state the Prussian estates took pride in their separate institutions and privileges. Although its urban elites became predominantly Protestant and German-speaking, they formulated a republican identity deliberately hostile to the competing monarchical-dynastic myth in neighbouring ducal Prussia, ruled by the Brandenburg-Hohenzollerns from 1618. After 1700, the Polish crown increasingly antagonized the Prussian burghers by its centralizing policies and its failure to protect the integrity of the Commonwealth's borders. The decline of Poland and the partitions of 1772–93 guaranteed that it was not the tradition of liberty but the Hohenzollern version of Prussian identity that survived into the modern era. Joint winner of the Orbis book prize, The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.

Preface
Gazetteer
Glossary
List of abbreviations
Maps
1. Introduction
2. The origins of royal Prussia
3. Royal Prussia and urban life in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
4. History, myth and historical identity
5. Political identity in the cities of royal Prussia and the meaning of liberty (1650–1720)
6. Loyalty in times of war
7. Divergence: the construction of rival Prussian identities
8. Centre versus province: the royal Prussian cities during the Great Northern War
9. Myths old and new: the royal Prussian enlightenment
10. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]