Professor Alessandro Boccolini and the Fraknói Research Group have maintained a close and sustained scholarly collaboration for more than fifteen years. This cooperation has been centred primarily on the research activities of the University of Tuscia’s research centre devoted to Central European history and the history of the papacy. Boccolini has served as an organiser and/or editor of several international conferences and publications undertaken in cooperation with the Research Group, including the symposia held here and here, as well as the volume Protagonisti e collaboratori.
The collaboration remains active to this day. Edited by Boccolini, volume I/28 of the Collectanea Vaticana Hungariae, Letters from Vienna. Correspondence of Antonio Colletti with Cardinal Carlo Barberini (1681–1684), has recently been published on September 2, on the 340th anniversary of the recapture of Buda in 1686. Based on the largely unpublished correspondence of Antonio Colletti, the Polish resident at the Habsburg court, and Cardinal Carlo Barberini, Protector of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the volume sheds new light on a crucial period in the history of Central and Eastern Europe between 1681 and 1684.
Colletti’s reports portray Vienna as a major European centre of political and military intelligence. His dispatches cover a wide range of subjects, from court politics and diplomatic negotiations to military preparations, troop movements and rumours, as well as broader developments in the European balance of power. Particularly valuable are his reports on events in the Hungarian theatre of war, which provide detailed insight into relations between the Habsburg court and the Hungarian insurgents, the growing Ottoman threat, military mobilisation, and, ultimately, the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 and its relief.
The correspondence also preserves important information on developments following the relief of Vienna, the formation of the Holy League, Venice’s accession, and the beginning of the Habsburg campaigns in Hungary. The volume places these developments within a broader Central and Eastern European context, examining the role of John III Sobieski and the Polish–Lithuanian forces, as well as the cooperation between the Habsburg Monarchy, Poland, Venice, and other powers in the region.
Drawing on the Barberini Collection of the Vatican Apostolic Library, the volume combines historical analysis with an extensive critical edition of the sources. Published as volume I/28 of the Collectanea Vaticana Hungariae, Letters from Vienna contributes new sources to the study of early modern diplomacy, ecclesiastical history, military history, and the Habsburg reconquest of Hungary. At the same time, it represents another substantial contribution to the Fraknói Research Group’s sustained scholarly presence and international cooperation in Italy.
