The Last King of Poland: Nicholas I's Warsaw Coronation and Russian-Polish Historical Memory

Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 2021. Vol. 22. No. 2. P. 229–254.

Boltunova E.

On May 12, 1829, Emperor Nicholas I, by invoking Article 45 of the Constitution which had been granted to the Kingdom of Poland by Alexander I, was crowned King of Poland in Warsaw. This happened some three years after his coronation in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (August 22, 1826). The unique event in Warsaw, which marked the only coronation of a Russian emperor as King of Poland, has been obscured by the  later tensions in Russo-Polish relations and almost erased from the official historical memory of the empire. At the same time, the coronation was Nicholas I' s fascinating attempt to find a compromise with Poland. It directly indicated that Poland is a political entity of its own and, thus, triggered the Polish uprising that happened half a year after.

 

Keywords: Александр I, Alexander I, Варшава, Николай I, Царство Польское, Warsaw, Василий Жуковский, Nicholas I, Congress Poland, Tsardom of Poland, Vassily Zhukovsky, Alexander Benkendorff, John Sobiesky, Wladyslaw III, Pawel Woronicz, Polish coronation, польская коронация, Александр Бенкендорф, Ян Собеский, Польская конституция 1815 г., Владислав III, Павел Воронич

Publication based on the results of: «Спор славян между собою»: память о Смутном времени и коронация Николая I в Варшаве в 1829 г. (2018)