368 SOBIESKI
Kazimierz Jan Sapieha deliberately delayed the march of the Lithuanian army,
and arrived in Austria after Vienna was relieved. He sent his troops on a merci-
less devastation of Slovakia, which obstructed Sobieski's efforts to reach an
understanding with the Hungarians. The Lithuanian troubles spilled over into
the Republic as a whole. The Sejm was repeatedly broken by the Liberum Veto.
The provincial dietines usurped the rights of taxation and recruitment, and
under the rod of local magnates raised regiments and taxes of their own. The
Hetmen used royal troops for their private purposes. In the 1690s, hordes of
unpaid soldiery took the law into their own hands. The spread of anarchy was
unmistakable, providing a foretaste of things to come.
Deprived of any firm control of the state, the King, too, immersed himself in
his private business. The 'gentleman monarch' became an avid dynast. His
participation in the later campaigns against Turkey, and in particular in the
Moldavian expeditions of 1687 and 1691, was mainly motivated by a desire to
ensure a royal future for his son, Jakub. Inevitably, perhaps, he stirred up
ancient factions at the court, and precipitated fierce rows with Marysienka.
Jakub's marriage caused endless difficulties. In 1681, a major uproar was caused
when Jakub's fiancee, Charlotte Radziwill, suddenly opted to marry Ludwig
von Hohenzollern, Prince of Prussia. In 1683-4, negotiations were well
advanced for a betrothal with a Transylvanian princess, when the Habsburgs
took offence and threatened an open breach. So, by a process of elimination, it
seemed that a Habsburg bride would be the best solution. But this so offended
Marysienka, that she opposed all plans for her son's accession to the Polish
throne. The King's physical deterioration mirrored the state of public affairs.
His muscular body turned to fat, assuming gross proportions. A series of severe
heart attacks from 1691 onwards pointed to a constant convalescence and the
likelihood of sudden disaster. Life at Wilanow was well suited to Sobieski's cir-
cumstances. Built in 1681-6 by Locci as a summer residence on the southern out-
skirts of Warsaw, the palace was elegant and practical. Significantly, it was
much smaller in Sobieski's time than in the eighteenth century when remodelled
to magnatial taste by the Sieniawski and Potocki families. It served as a base for
the King's hunting parties, and as a refuge from court and politics. It was sur-
rounded by an Italian baroque garden, and adorned with sculptures and paint-
ings by Schliiter, Siemiginowski, Callot, and Palloni. Its library was stocked
with books, especially the King's favourite subjects of law, astronomy, mili-
taria, and mathematics, and was used as a writing room for his correspondence
with scientists such as Hevelius and Leibniz. One glimpse at Wilanow reveals a
great deal about Sobieski and his kingdom.^11 He lived to the end of his days in
the style of a wealthy nobleman, of a private citizen rather than a monarch. He
had none of the ambition of a Louis XIV, none of the vision which inspired
other contemporaries and neighbours like Peter the Great or Frederick William
the Great Elector. He was a warrior, with all the instincts and limitations of his
trade. He did his duty with a touch of bravado, and left it at that. He died a
disillusioned old man. When Bishop Zaluski urged him to draw up his will, he