a map of the moon, drawn by van Langren in 1644, harmoniously combined its scientific contents with the panegyric form. Dedicated to the king of Spain, the map features a conspicuous terra dignitatis, with lunar craters named after the kings, the queens and nobles of European states. A conspicuous crater named in honour of Wladyslaw (Ladislaus) IV Vasa, king of Poland, grand duke of Lithuania, was surrounded by smaller ones, bearing names of higher dignitaries of Poland and Lithuania, the ‘Commonwealth of Two Nations’. The topography of these objects, if somewhat peripheral, nevertheless signified a powerful state influencing the course of events on a vast political subcontinent of north-eastern and eastern Europe.

The Commonwealth was involved in struggle with the budding violent expansion of Sweden (striving for supremacy over the Baltic region), directly in conflict with Muscovy over the territorial claims to vast spaces of the eastern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; in the south/south-east confronting the Ottoman empire. Political and military conflicts had of course the double-sided effect of inducing some amount of cultural exchange, including in matters scientific. It seems that none of the directions of active political interest enriched, and none could enrich, the scientific milieu of Poland in the early part of the Scientific Revolution. The extensive development of the economy could not enhance the scope of cultural communications; this factor was limited largely to the seaport towns, especially Gdańsk (Danzig).