Między konwencją epistolarną a intymną relacją – obraz więzi rodzinnych w listach Konstancji z Gnińskich Czapskiej

The article depicts the letters of the Pomeranian Voivode’s wife Konstancja Czapska written in the 1740s to her daughter Magdalena and Magdalena’s husband Duke Hieronim Florian Radziwiłł, the analysis being focussed on the manner in which the correspondent addressed her relatives. On the one hand, the letters were intended to express feelings, maintain the emotional closeness and family ties. On the other, they were highly conventional through following epistolary tradition which, back then, was very much oriented towards the panegyric form. Konstancja Czapska used panegyric devices especially towards her son-in-law Duke Radziwiłł, who outranked her in the social hierarchy. By skilfully flattering her addressee, she wanted to win favour with him and gain his support in resolving her oldest son Tomasz’s legal problems. As a result, it is difficult to estimate with certainty her true attitude to her son-in-law – a man of a difficult and overbearing personality. The fragments full of elaborate, laudatory forms, which Czapska also used towards her daughter, are in contrast to those parts of her letters where she addressed Magdalena in a simple, honest and open way – offering advice on intimate marital issues and confiding her own problems and thoughts to her daughter.