Researchers now examining the Polish court's attitude to the idea of the Crusade in the 15th and 16th centuries emphasize the pragmatism of the Jagiellonian rulers and their tendency to exploit papal appeals to fight the Ottoman Turks. Adhering outwardly to the idea of the unity of Christendom, and therefore to that of the Crusade, the kings of Poland skilfully promoted the image of their kingdom as a bulwark of Christendom, without any real intention of risking their position in adventurous expeditions.
Such a policy was influenced by two factors. On the one hand, Polish students studying in Italy in the 15th-16th centuries, and above all Italian immigrants such as Filippo Buonaccorsi(Callimachus by his pen name), tutor to the sons of the King of Poland, and Bona Sforza, wife of King Sigismund I, imported the spirit of the Renaissance and the ideas of "Machiavellianism" before their time to Krakow; on the other hand, prior to their accession to the throne in Krakow, the Lithuanian rulers of the Jagiellonian family had been exposed to a rich tradition of "interculturality" typical of the vast steppe stretching from Eastern Europe to China.
For example, Muscovite princes confirmed treaties with their Turkish neighbors with a religious oath in which each swore according to his or her own faith(každyj po svoej vere). While the Tsar sealed his commitment by kissing a crucifix, the Tatar envoys, who took their oaths in Moscow, swore on the Koran, a copy of which was kept in the Kremlin especially for this purpose.
The Grand Dukes of Lithuania, whose domains extended as far as the Black Sea and the Upper Donetz in the 14th and 15th centuries, shared this colorful political and diplomatic culture. It seemed natural to them that their immediate entourage should be pagan (then Catholic after 1386), while the mass of their subjects were Orthodox Ruthenians, some Muslim Tatars - including nobles and princes.
Sigismund I, who scandalized Europe with his treaty with Prussia - Europe's first Lutheran state - in 1525, and then with his alliance with Sultan Suleiman (1533), didn't wait for Bona to come from Italy and persuade him to enter into an alliance with the infidels to follow the interests of his state. He had only to look back to the annals of his own dynasty.
