Zwischen edlem Wettkampf und blutigem Schlachten: zur Jagdkultur in der polnisch-litauischen Adelsrepublik der sächsischen Ära 1697-1763

ENWith Augustus II’s ascension to the throne of the Kingdom of Poland, customs spread around the new monarch that were previously unknown to the Polish nobility. The splendour and wealth of the royal court were expressed through large-scale hunts, in which several thousand animals were killed, as was the case with the great hunt at Annaberg in 1699. This was a shocking experience for most of the Polish observers who practised hunting as a noble art of competition. As the number of animals in the forests of Saxony gradually decreased, Augustus II and Augustus III increasingly pursued their preferences in Polish territories and in the animal-rich forests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, the monarchs introduced a sensible hunting policy, which involved the breeding of big game in the so-called royal animal gardens, e. g. in Warsaw. For this purpose, they employed the best experts, who knew about reproduction and breeding of deer, wild boar, elk, and bison. The predatory policy of the beginning of the eighteenth century was replaced by a far-sighted species protection policy. However, large-scale hunts were not abandoned until 1763, when the Polish-Saxon union came to its end. Keywords: hunting; cultural exchange; big game; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; Saxon period (1697–1763). [From the publication]