The book by Kondraty Birkin (P.P. Karataev), an almost forgotten Russian writer, offers readers a rare opportunity to feel the atmosphere of palace secrets, intrigues and scandals in Russia, England, Italy, France and other states in the period of the 16th–18th centuries.Son King Sigismund I and his wife Bona Sforza, Sigismund II was born on August 1, 1520. According to the custom of that time, at the moment of the birth of a baby, court astrologers were ordered to draw up his horoscope, and, according to their interpretations, the combination of stars and planets under which the prince was born was the most favorable. The ominous Saturn did not prevent the combination of Mars and Jupiter with Venus, which shone brightly in the constellation Virgo. “The child will be wise, mighty, glorious,” declared the astrologers, “he will be wise like Solomon, but also no less loving than Solomon!” The last prediction, as the life of Sigismund proved, was not entirely without foundation. On the advice of the same astrologers, the nickname Augustus was added to the name of the prince, not for his future exploits, but simply in memory of his birth in the month of August.