The Forgery of Polish Traditions of Yore. On Two Legendary Medieval Customs Mentioned in Satyr albo Dziki mąż by Jan Kochanowski
The Forgery of Polish Traditions of Yore. On Two Legendary Medieval Customs Mentioned in Satyr albo Dziki mąż by Jan Kochanowski
Author(s): Radosław GrześkowiakContributor(s): Natalia Kłopotek (Translator)
Subject(s): Cultural history, Oral history, Polish Literature, 16th Century, 17th Century
Published by: Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Jan Kochanowski’s poetry;old custom;knightly culture;historical novels;
Summary/Abstract: In his Satyr, or The Wild Man Jan Kochanowski refers to two old-time customs: first that, during the mass, at the reading of the Gospel, old Poles were to half draw their swords in token of their readiness to defend the Christian faith (vv. 185–200), and the second that infamists were punished upon their honour in such a way that when they sat at table with other people, the host cut the tablecloth to indicate that he did not want to share a meal with them (vv. 231–236). The article analyses numerous references to those customs in the old-Polish literature (unanimously attesting to the lack of these rituals in the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries), to indicate that both were literary legends.
Journal: Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce
- Issue Year: 61/2017
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 215-244
- Page Count: 30
- Language: English, Polish