Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the republic that emerged from the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th Century. At first this was a personal union, similar to that of James I and VI in Britain, but this was formalised in 1569 into a vast republic, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Kings and princes from across Europe would compete for parliament to elect them King and Grand Duke, and the greatest power lay with the parliaments. When the system worked well, the Commonwealth was a powerhouse, and it was their leader Jan Sobieski who relieved the siege of Vienna in 1683, defeating the Ottomans. Its neighbours exploited its parliament's need for unanimity, though, and this contributed to its downfall. Austria, Russia and Prussia divided its territory between them from 1772, before the new, smaller states only emerged in the 20th Century. The image above is Jan III Sobieski (1629-1696), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, at the Battle of Vienna 1683, by Marcello Bacciarelli (1731-1818)With Robert Frost The Burnett Fletcher Chair of History at the University of AberdeenKatarzyna Kosior Lecturer in Early Modern History at Northumbria UniversityAndNorman Davies Professor Emeritus in History and Honorary Fellow of St Antony’s College, University of OxfordProducer: Simon Tillotson

Robert Frost defines modern poetry in an excerpt from his [Art of Poetry interview](https://urldefense.com/v3/ https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4678/the-art-of-poetry-no-2-robert-frost ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9hZ3SP6-g%24); the Italian poet Antonella Anedda discusses her poem “[Historiae 2](https://urldefense.com/v3/ https://theparisreview.org/poetry/7487/historiae-2-antonella-anedda ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9j2rn0NSQ%24)” with her translator Susan Stewart before the American vocal ensemble Tenores de Aterúe re-imagines the poem as a song in the folk tradition of Anedda’s native Sardinia; and Yohanca Delgado reads her story “[The Little Widow from the Capital](https://urldefense.com/v3/ https://theparisreview.org/fiction/7644/the-little-widow-from-the-capital-yohanca-delgado ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9iWagiT-A%24),” a tale of mystery, heartbreak, and embroidery set in a New York apartment building. Robert Frost’s December 16, 1959, interview with Richard Poirier appears courtesy of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University's Houghton Library. PS3511.R94 Z467 1959x. [HOLLIS Permalink: 990023780790203941](https://urldefense.com/v3/ http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990023780790203941/catalog ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9jnvzRIow%24). To learn more about Tenores de Aterúe, check out their documentary feature at [www.aterue.com\](https://urldefense.com/v3/ http://www.aterue.com ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9j0o67FmA%24). Visit [Bandcamp](https://urldefense.com/v3/ https://tenoresdeaterue.bandcamp.com/ ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9hoyiL-Pg%24) to hear more of their music. This episode was sound designed and mixed by John DeLore, and mastered by Justin Shturtz.