XVIII amžiaus studijos / The Eighteenth Century Studies

The article presents a discussion of the state of the city of Vilnius, its buildings, people, disasters and memorable events following the disasters that swept through in the beginning of the 18th century. The start of the Great Northern War in 1700 (1700–1721), the campaigns of the Lithuanian, Russian and Swedish armies and the plague epidemic that followed the war (1710) severely affected the city of Vilnius and its inhabitants. Despite the devastation and disasters, Vilnius was still the most important city in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where the most important political affairs in the land were decided. The article is mainly based on the letters of Maciej Józef Ancuta, the suffragan of the Bishop of Vilnius, to the Chancellor of Lithuania, Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł.