The moon and Polish affairs

Abstract

In the years 1644-1645 Michel Florent van Langren, the Brusselian scholar and cartographer, updated the Moon cartography and proposed update of naming. More than 300 Moon craters created a great "parade of names" coming from the names of the European monarchs, court of political life figures. Polish names were also listed as names of craters, among others - Jan Kazimierz, Stanisław Koniecpolski, Jerzy Ossoliński, or Mikołaj Kopernik. The article discusses the picture of Poland in the mid-17th century, from the perspective of the Netherlands' intellectual elite - not in the very centre, but significantly present in the political and intellectual life of Europe.