PhD thesis defence by Klaudia Kuchno
This dissertation explores how the Medici court gathered and processed information about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the reigns of Francesco I (1574–1587) and Ferdinando I (1587–1609). Situated within the field of the history of information, it traces the rise of the Medici information state. Drawing on manuscript materials from the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, alongside other archival collections from Bologna, Vienna, Kraków, and Rome, it investigates the channels through which information about the Commonwealth reached Florence, identifies key actors involved, and places the findings within the broader context of European networks.
The first case study examines how political information related to Poland-Lithuania was accessed and used at the Medici court. It focuses on information flows regarding the royal elections of 1573, 1575, and 1587, highlighting the crucial roles played by Tuscan entrepreneurs active within the Commonwealth and resident ambassadors stationed at the Imperial court. It shows how this information was leveraged in managing relations between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Holy Roman Empire. The second case study explores courtly information and its use in diplomacy, by investigating the activities and reports of an extraordinary Medici ambassador attending the wedding of Sigismund III Vasa and Constance of Austria. The third case examines the circulation of scientific information, focusing on the dissemination of descriptions of rare animals native to the Commonwealth. This case highlights a broader interest in the region at the Medici court and brings to light another set of actors who shaped information flows between Poland-Lithuania and Tuscany.
In doing so, this dissertation expands the geographic scope of early modern information studies, which have primarily centred on Western polities or adopted global perspectives that often overlook Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, it sheds new light on the relations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and addresses a gap in Polish historiography concerning the place of Poland-Lithuania in the early modern information landscape. It also offers a historical lens through which to reflect on contemporary challenges of information gathering, credibility, and overload in our hyper-connected society.