The Sorbian Enlightener Michael Frencel the Elder and His Letter of Dedication to Peter the Great

In the course of the Great Embassy Peter the Great also travelled through Saxony and the area where Sorbs lived. The Upper Sorbian Pastor and foremost intellectual in Upper Lusatia, Michael Frencel, wanted to present the Tsar with the books he had written and translated but missed him. Instead, the books together with a letter of dedication in Latin and Upper Sorbian were given to the Tsar in Dresden. The article compares the Latin and the Upper Sorbian letter. Both letters contain passages that betray an early slavophile tendency. The analysis also shows that the two letters were intended for different audiences, regardless of the fact that on the surface Peter was the addressee in both cases. Frencel varied the contents considerably according to the assumed background of the different audiences. The Latin letter was obviously written so as to appeal to the Tsar, members of the Great Embassy, perhaps also the ruling circles in Saxony. The Upper Sorbian letter, on the other hand, addressed in reality a Sorbian audience, perhaps Frencel’s congregation or his colleagues. Obviously Frencel did not expect the Tsar to read and understand the Upper Sorbian letter.