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A limited archaeological research was occasioned by an ongoing restoration project of the “Scaune” church. For a better management of the intrusive intervention, a non-invasive investigation of the nave and the narthex was first carried out. Data resulted from the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) was subsequently verified. The results of the archaeological research consisted in identifying three crypts and a cemetery in use before the present-day church, and in new data on the foundations of the church built in 1705.
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This article is the first work on the archeology of the Muezersky Trinity Monastery in the western White Sea region. The monastery was founded by monk Cassian from the Solovetsky Monastery in the second half of the XVI century on an island in Lake Mui. This is the only place in the White Sea Karelia that preserved a fine jewel of church architecture of the XVII century – the Church of Saint Nicholas. In 2019, the first archaeological works were carried out on the territory of the monastery. The main task was to identify elements of the ancient cultural and economic landscape of the monastery. The archaeological studies were expected to clarify the boundaries of the monument, locate the main monastery’s buildings and facilities, evaluate their condition, and outline a strategy for future work. Most of the monastery’s objects described in historical documents were identified, including the burned-down Holy Trinity Church of the XVI century, a stone wall, an ice storage, the remnants of monastery cells, a stone cross and a cemetery. The obtained new information expands our knowledge of the late medieval monasteries in Karelia.
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The interactive correspondence of art, science, and preservation supports the composition of a four-volume anonymous herbarium originally belonging first to the Venetian library of Ambassador Hurtado de Mendoza, and later endowed to the Royal Library of the Monastery-Palace of El Escorial. This planted knowledge consist¬ed of artistic and scientific practices (composition, writing, calligraphy, naming, dry¬ing, pressing, cataloguing, relating to health properties, and so on) to preserve not only the plants dried and glued to recycled paper, but the association of those plants, with names, stories, and contexts in ways that attest to the development of natural history and philosophy in sixteenth-century Italy and Spain. This article describes and analyzes the composition of the Hurtado herbarium, its provenance, and its place in the context of early modern European naturalism and botany. Finally, it considers problems of reading this collection, and possible solutions to better understand the herbarium in El Escorial as another piece of this network of dissemination of ethnobotanical knowledge in early modern Europe.
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This paper aims to discuss the motives behind the dismissal and resettlement of Wolfgang Buzlai as archdeacon of Hunedoara, starting from a document issued in 1519 by the bishop of Transylvania, Franciscus Várdai. The initial dismissal of Buzlai was immediately followed by the appointment of the famous humanist Stephanus Taurinus. Thus, the question arises, whether the appointment of Stephanus Taurinus should be seen as part of a conscious effort to establish a humanist circle in Alba Iulia.
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The aim of this paper is to present how the Polish renaissance authors creatively transformed and adapted to the native context one of Erasmus’ dialogues, Senatulus sive Gynaikosynedrion. Erasmus exploited a popular motif of a meeting of women who debate on different issues. The work is based on one of Aristophanes’ comedies, as well as an episode from a biography of the Roman emperor, Elagabalus. Senatulus was very popular and was translated into a number of vernacular languages all over Europe. Erasmus, with his characteristic sense of humour and criticism, pointed to some of the vices of women, but did not stop there. He used the seemingly paradoxical formula of a women’s council to draw attention to the social and political problems of the time. Early modern Polish texts that used the theme in question can be understood in the context of Polish parliamentarism. But their literary inspiration has to be taken into consideration as well. The first part of this paper focuses on problematic aspects of Senatulus, and its somewhat provocative and ambiguous character, which probably attracted authors to this particular text. Then two Polish dialogues that are linked to Erasmus’s work are examined. These are the anonymous Senatulus to jest sjem niewieści (Senatulus, or the council of women) from 1543 and Sjem niewieści (The council of women) written by Marcin Bielski in 1566/1567. Even a preliminary comparison of these two works with Erasmus’ colloquium indicates that the vernacular texts are a kind of sequel to the original and further develop its basic idea. References to the Latin version are present here on different levels. Similarity lays not only in the title and topics discussed by the characters, but also in the linguistic structure. In both cases, the concept of the female parliament was used by the writers as a pretext to draw attention to the political, social and economic problems Poland faced at that time and to suggest their own solutions.
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This paper presents (in the form of transcription and translation of the text) a letter written by a humanist and classical scholar, Iustus Lipsius (1547–1606), and entitled by its editor in Cracow Epistola erudita (1602). The rhetorical analysis of this text is based on Lipsius’ treatise Epistolica institutio (The Principles of Letter-Writing). The main problem concerns the role of traditional rhetoric in epistolography, especially if the letter is not reduced to a formal document built of template formulas. Early modern epistolography (Petrarca, Erasmus, Lipsius, Vives) recovers the ancient tradition of writing letters, according to which a letter is a kind of written conversation. It gives the sender and the addressee a unique opportunity to meet each other in the symbolic universe of the text.
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This article presents the pedigree of the Łoknicki noble family of the Nieczuja coat of arms in the 16th–17th centuries. Attention was paid to marriages in the circles of middle nobility living in the border areas of Podlasie neighbouring with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
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The article presents a description and edition of a foundation charter issued by Jerzy Iwanowicz Ilinicz for a church in Biała Podlaska. The information contained makes it possible to determine, among other things, a new date of the establishment of the parish or lists of patron saints. The charter also includes the oldest mention of Biała Podlaska as a town.
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In the article the author discusses anti-Lutheran polemics published in the Kingdom of Poland during the rule of Sigismund I and asks about the shape of Reformation movement, which developed in spite of numerous bans imposed by the king. The author proves that although these polemics were explicitly against “Lutherans,” they were often created as a result of clashes with other theologies of the emerging Protestantism. Works created by the lower-status Church employees were not novel, and their range of influence must have been limited.
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The subject of analysis is situation of the Church in Gdańsk in 1517–1522, on the eve of first manifestations of Reformation in this town, urban centre important for Royal Prussia and Poland. Basing on the literature on the subject, but mostly with the use of original self-existent documents preserved until our times: writings, letters and records on activities of the Bishop of Włocławek, the local ordinary, the author reconstructs in the article the course of events preceding actions of the first reformer of Gdańsk, Jacob Hegge. Th e essential goal of research is an answer to the question whether Reformation ferment initiated by Martin Luther had any influence on the situation of the Church in Gdańsk. Th e case of this town is compared with the situation in several others, in Poland and the Reich, such as Cracow, Lübeck, Hamburg
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The goal of the article is an attempt to follow the reaction of mendicant communities to the events connected with Luther’s theses. This problem is presented based on the example of monasteries in Royal and Teutonic Prussia. As the final date of the study the author chose the year 1526. Besides the perspective of the institutional history of particular orders the problem is also presented from the point of view of ordinary monks and their individual decisions and motivations.
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The article presents a so far unknown personal dedication of Martin Luther for Prussian Prince Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach (Hohenzollern), on the title page of a copy of an anti-papal print titled Wider das Bapstum zu Rom vom Teuff el gestiff t (Wittenberg, 1545), kept in the old-print collection of the University Library in Toruń (no. Ob.6.II.2382). This is probably a reminder of their last meeting at Wittenberg Castle in December 1545. The author discusses the content of the publication and the circumstances of Albrecht’s visit in that town.
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The article discusses the case of Latin-language philosophical poem entitled Zodiacus vitae, which was first published in Venice in 1536. Although the work was condemned and forgotten in Italy and its author, Palingenius, posthumously burned at the stake, Zodiacus quickly won significant popularity in European Protestant circles that lasted several centuries − surprisingly so, given that Palingenius was not a Protestant and his poem did not advocate any Protestant causes. The article analyses passages from the poem that are in stark contrast to Reformation and those anticlerical passages, that – however they seem to tie in with it – were inspired by the anticlerical literature of Italian humanism.
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The article presents works on the edition of the Crown Metrica in the form of abstracts in Polish, in accordance with the editorial rules and requirements established in 1999. The books of this source series contain entries of documents issued on behalf of the king regarding all matters in which the decision belonged to the king. Thirty five documents issued by the predecessors of King Sigismund III Vasa have been entered here, inserted, summarized or only mentioned. Book no. 139 is the fourth of six books of the lesser chancellery of Jan Tarnowski, covering 430 entries, almost exclusively in Latin. Their largest number falls to March, which is the period of the Sejm session. The edition has been supplemented with footnotes and an index.
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Reformation at school. Curriculum from 1539 by Andreas Aurifaber In 1539 Andreas Aurifaber, who was to become the rector of the local St. Mary's School, published its curriculum. Its content was innovative for the Gdańsk community and introduced a reformed approach to education. In this text, the authors verify and discuss some of the theses functioning in previous studies on this topic.
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In 1584 a seemingly unimportant action for libel was brought in front of the court in Cluj/Kolozsvár. The story that unfolds in front of our eyes is a quarrel among three women of the high elite in the public bath of the town. The story in itself catches one’s eye, but the aim of this short survey was not to make a bald statement of facts, but to search for small details that tell something about the everyday life of an early modern town, or reveals some facts about the town dwellers. Besides the court case, the development of public baths, their equipment, character, and running are discussed, and further on the family ties of the actors and their marriages are expounded. Whenever possible, analogies were brought to support the aspects under discussion. Compared with other urban centers, the bathing habits or social phenomena of Cluj/Kolozsvár might have not differed much; the only perceived differences might be caused by the lack of sources.
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The article presents the story of the death of Carlo and Giovanni Carafa, leading figures at the papal court, condemned to death by Pius IV, in 1561. Article analyses three unpublished texts (from the 16th and 17th century) that reconstruct the facts, focusing on their different perspectives and functions.
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