The Testament of Casimir III the Great. A Diplomatic Analysis Cover Image

Testament Kazimierza Wielkiego. Próba analizy dyplomatycznej
The Testament of Casimir III the Great. A Diplomatic Analysis

Author(s): Aleksandra Rajchel
Subject(s): History, Studies of Literature, Political history, Middle Ages, Polish Literature, 13th to 14th Centuries
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: testament; Casimir III the Great; Casimir the Great’s testament; royal testament; the Chronicle of Jan of Czarnków; medieval document; royal chancellery

Summary/Abstract: During his stay in Przedbórz in September 1370, Casimir the Great went for a hunt, during which he fell off his horse and injured his left shin. He died a little more than a month later. Following his death, a question arose regarding the testament left by the monarch. Until now, the vast majority of the literature on the topic discussed its execution only in the political sense (i.e. beginning of the rule of the House of Anjou in the Kingdom of Poland), while disregarding its diplomatic aspect. Thanks to the contemporary account of „The Chronicle” by Jan of Czarnków we know that on the 8th and 9th of November, 1370, so immediately after Casimir’s funeral, which took place on the 7th of November, Mszczuj of Sandomierz and Jan of Kraków unofficially opened the royal documents intended for Casimir’s natural sons and Prince Kaźko of Słupsk, thus rendering them invalid. Those documents did not survive. Due to the fact that the problem has not been thus far sufficiently discussed in scholarly literature on the subject, it would be prudent to reexamine the issue of Casimir the Great’s last will and testament — both in the diplomatic context, as well as by comparing it with (almost) contemporary testaments written by Elizabeth of Poland and Florian Mokrski, the Bishop of Cracow. The article constitutes an attempt at a diplomatic analysis of Casimir the Great’s testament and an estimation of the possible form and number of the documents comprising the last will of the Polish king.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 14
  • Page Range: 76-90
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish