L’Etat actuel de la Pologne by abbot Jean-Baptiste de Chèvremont (1702): a surprising depiction of Poland after the election of August II

Abstract

This article is a short analysis of the depiction Poland-Lithuania made by de Chèvremont at the dawn of the 18th century. In his L’Etat actuel de la Pologne (the actual state of Poland), he voluntarily set aside history of Poland-Lithuania and presents himself as a “Political traveller”. He proposes first to show hidden forces acting behind the political scene as he considers earlier French authors failed to do so, a weakness which made their work incomplete. He then proposes a pessimistic analysis of the Polish décadence, de Chèvremont being one of the first to use this term, showing all major causes slowly leading Poland to a fateful end and why, according to him, Poland is already a lost cause.