Sarmatians and the Popians. The heritage of the Medieval imaginative world as a constituent of the Old Polish writings’ cultural context Cover Image

Sarmaci i Popianie. Dziedzictwo średniowiecznego obrazu świata jako element kontekstu kulturowego piśmiennictwa staropolskiego
Sarmatians and the Popians. The heritage of the Medieval imaginative world as a constituent of the Old Polish writings’ cultural context

Author(s): Adam Krawiec
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: imaginative geography; medieval writings; old-Polish writings; history of the geographical imaginations

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with a question of the medieval influences on the old-Polish imagination world considered as geographical space. The paper is considered as preliminary remarks, showing the main areas of the elements’ presence which belong to the medieval intellectual heritage in the texts of old-Polish authors. The presence of these elements in particular works and/or genres should be subject of further investigations in the future. It was pointed out, that many imaginations of Greek/Roman ancient origin, present in the old-Polish period, were in fact common for the medieval and early modern imaginative geographies. To the most important post-medieval features of the old-Polish imaginative geography belonged: a general vision of the physical world’s structure, the idea of the tripartite habitable world, use of the ancient geonyms while describing the contemporary world (especially the name of Sarmatia), particular imaginations about exotic countries and people, including their marvels, so-called monstrous races, and the kingdom of Prester John.

  • Issue Year: 53/2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 13-46
  • Page Count: 34
  • Language: Polish