Bulla Eugeniusza IV dla królowej Zofii (1434). Wokół obecności schizmatyków na dworze pierwszych Jagiellonów
Bulla of Eugenius IV for Queen Sophia (1434). On the Presence of Schismatics at the Court of the First Jagiellonians

Summary/Abstract: The author focuses on the issue of the presence/ participation of schismatics at the court of the first Jagiellonians. Their participation was due to many factors. One of them was their direct neighborhood with the followers of the Eastern Orthodox rite, or vivid trade relations. Raised in the Russian environment Sophia of Halshany had to accept Christianity before she married the Polish sovereign. She disavowed the Eastern Orthodox Christianity for the Roman church. The last wife of Władysław Jagiełło surely did not arrive in Kraków alone. One may presume that she did so in company of people from her closest circle among whom there were the followers of the Orthodox Church. They were not allowed to recite liturgy at the Wawel Castle. Therefore pope Eugenius issued a document in which he asserted that they were allowed to participate in the catholic rites, which till that time was impossible due to the unfavorable stand of the clergy in the West. The bulla undoubtedly was the supplication of the queen to whom the fate of her Orthodox courtiers and guests was not indifferent. Unfortunately, the supplication was not preserved; however, the first lines of the bulla may be suggestive of the hope expressed by the queen that the Rusyns will gradually be seek unity with the Roman church.

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