Material for studying the garden myths of King John III from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century

The image of King John III as a great lover of gardens is permanently enshrined in Polish tradition and is still alive in the consciousness of many Poles. The sources of this phenomenon are stories, legends and anecdotes published throughout the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, crediting him with planting a countless number of trees, bringing poplars from the Ottoman Empire or employing Turkish captives to build the gardens of the Wilanów palace. The belief in their veracity was so strong that even eminent historians, ethnographers, horticulturists and botanists included them in scientific publications and encyclopaedias published at the time. This is how a kind of garden mythology of King John III was created, which to this day has not been analysed or verified in a more detailed way. The aim of the present study was to collect and systematise the most important motifs in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature related to King John IIIs gardening activities. In addition, the sources of the myth of John III as the gardener king were identified and verified, and existing monumental solitaires, groups of trees and avenues in contemporary Poland commemorating the victory at the Battle of Vienna or the royal couple were identified.