This paper is an attempt to review preserved at the Central Archives of Historical Records sources to the history of Livonia in the period from the 13th to the 19th century. The author presents in this respect individual archival fonds, starting from the Middle Ages and the modern era, describing records of official character (Collection of Parchment Records, The Warsaw Crown Archives, The Polish Crown Chancery - Metrica Regni Poloniae, The Crown Treasury Archive), very few records of 19th c., ending with private archives, stored mainly in the Radziwiłłs Archives, and in the Archives of Warklany Estate. This review confirms the importance of sources that survived at the holdings of the Central Archives of Historical Records for research on the history of Latvian territory.
A very interesting report about the election of the Polish king John Sobieski in 1674 is kept in The Polish Library in Paris. Its author was François de Callières (1645–1717), a French nobleman from Normandy. Son of James de Callières, soldier and writer, like his father was connected with the aristocratic families lords of Matignon and princes de Longueville. In 1674 he visited Poland for the second time. When defeated in election in 1669, the old court-party, with Primate Mikołaj Prażmowskim and Marshal and Grand Crown Hetman Jan Sobieski at the head, searched for a suitable candidate to replace Michał Kontrybut on the Polish throne, they made a proposal to Charles, comte de Saint-Paul, duc de Longueville. De Callières as an envoy of the prince appeared in Warsaw in winter 1669/1670, and stayed there for several months. Results of this visit were: friendship with Crown Treasurer, Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, good knowledge of Polish realities and probably basic ability in Polish language. For this reason, when Prince Charles Emmanuel II of Piedmont looked for a suitable envoy, who could describe the Poles candidacy of his cousin, Louis of Thomas, duke of Carignan, Count de Soissons for the Polish king, the choice fell on Mr. de Callières. Relation on the election of 1674 by François de Callières is unusual. The author does not confine himself to presenting the events. Almost half the text deals with the performance "of the Polish Kingdom". It is a short treatise; the author describes a political and social system of Poland in the late 17th century. De Callières shows a surprisingly high level of knowledge of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, doubtless due to conversations with Morsztyn, but also by his own sense of observation. Promoted by François candidacy of Count de Soissons had no chance to be chosen, though de Callières skillfully depicted count as an alternative to competing factions: French and Austrian. For de Callières it was the beginning of diplomatic career, crowned with the signing (on behalf of the France) the peace treaty of Ryswick with the League of Augsburg (1697) and publication of a book dedicated to the art of negotiations which is still famous among historians of diplomacy. It appeared in Poland under the title "The art of diplomacy" in 1929.