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Strategies of Early Modern Royal Representation

Author(s): Oleksii Rudenko / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The representation of Sigismund II Augustus is an interesting example of royal image-making in the context of Eastern European Renaissance. His childhood was decisive for the formation of his future representation. In my article, I argue that the image of Sigismund Augustus as an erudite ruler corresponded to the artistic and humanist requirements of the sixteenth century and was constructed during his childhood and youth under the influence of his parents and his mother’s milieu. Sigismund’s representation highlighted his descent from two noble families, Jagiellon and Sforza, his classical education, and the hopes for his future successful reign. The royal heir’s image was disseminated through visual (arrases, coins, medals, and portraits) and textual (literature, poetry) means by a range of diverse actors that included his closest family, poets, writers, and artists of early modern Poland and Lithuania. Sigismund Augustus’ self-fashioning persisted throughout his reign and outlived him, but its crucial foundations were constructed in his childhood and youth.

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Poetyckie funeralia żegnające królową Elżbietę Habsburżankę – uwagi bibliograficzne i historycznoliterackie

Author(s): Bartłomiej Czarski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The text discusses the publications in verse issued in connection with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth of Austria, the first wife of Sigismund II Augustus. These works are presented both from the bibliographic and historical-literary point of view. The article takes into account not only the preserved materials, but also those unknown today and considered lost, knowledge about which can currently only be derived from archival sources. The article offers a comparison of individual texts with each other on the one hand, and the assessment of the entirety of the works bidding farewell to Queen Elizabeth, published in the Jagiellonian and Habsburg states, on the other. They represent different genres and forms: from the epitaph, through the mourning elegy, to the epicedium. The collected funerary poems are a good illustration of the changes taking place in Polish culture and literature in the mid-16th century. They show the existence of various Renaissance traditions, as well as new elements heralding the growing popularity of mannerism.

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Egzemplum z pieśni Mikołaja Reja "Podobieństwo żywota człowieka krześcijańskiego" alias "Ku temuż to krześcijańskiemu rycerzowi napominanie"

Author(s): Radosław Grześkowiak / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The full text of the song by Mikołaj Rej with the incipit: “What do you want to do, my dear man” [“Cóż chcesz czynić, mój miły człowiecze”] had as many as nine editions in the years 1556–1600, all of which are briefly discussed here. The article contains a critical edition of the song (the three existing contemporary editions do not meet the criteria for a critical edition) and a discussion, but it focuses primarily on the exemplum presented in the initial part of the poem. This exemplum tells the story of a young man who was chased by a lion to the edge of a precipice and saved himself from the fall by grabbing a branch of a tree growing out of the rock wall. Ignoring the lion above him, the dragon at the bottom of the precipice, and the mice that were gnawing on the branch, the young man focused his attention on apples growing on the branch. The parable is meant to illustrate the stupidity of people who are hunted by death (the lion), lurked by the devil (the dragon), whose time passes quickly (the white and black mice symbolising day and night represent the passage of time), and who, oblivious to the dangers, focus on worldly goods. The article points to the Old Indian source of this parable, discusses the way it reached Europe, and mentions the editors Rej may have used. It also shows the reception of the parable from Rej’s song in the sixteenth century, both textual (Benedykt Herbest, 1566) and visual (Stanisław Kołakowski, 1584).

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Polemiczne „tragedie” protestanckie w Polsce w latach 1558–1560

Author(s): Wojciech Kordyzon / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article discusses three examples of Protestant parenetic drama printed in Poland in the period of 1558–60, namely Bernardino Ochino’s "Tragedy on the Papal Primacy" (1558) and "Tragedy on Mass" (1560) as well as Francesco Negri’s "Free Will: The Tragedy" (1559). The author aims at showing how all the works – pertaining to certain aspects of the composition of early modern didactic tragedy – were planned to promote pro-Reformation parenetic patterns among the general public and win the favour of the local authorities, particularly the ruling monarch. Ochino’s works were translated into the vernacular language, while Negri’s work was kept in Latin. The process of their editing and publishing, as deduced from the relevant sources, was supervised by the Reformed leader in Lesser Poland (Małopolska), Francesco Lismanino, who is hereby recognised as the main actor responsible for creating and implementing the persuasive strategy of the local Reformed community towards internal and external audience.

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Sum Fricii

Author(s): Jakub Łukaszewski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

During works on the reconstruction of the book collection from the Jesuit College in Poznań in the Poznań University Library, the author came across four volumes. Following an analysis of their provenance and marginal notes included in the works, it was possible to establish that the first owner of the volumes had been Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski. The discovered volumes include a total of eight works by: Martin Bucer, Jean Calvin, Joachimus Camerarius, Johann Cochlaeus, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Otton Körber, and Erasmus Sarcerius. Particular attention should be given to the edition of J. Calvin’s Institutio Christianae religionis (Strasbourg: W. Rihel 1539) with numerous hand-written marginal notes added by Modrzewski. This article contributes to the knowledge of the previously unknown books from Modrzewski’s private collection. It also serves as an opportunity to present the fate of the private book collection of this Polish reformer and supporter of Protestantism and its further fate in a Catholic environment. The text is complemented with an Annex containing a catalogue of the discovered works, including their bibliographic description and copy-specific information (provenance, binding).

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Marcus Ambrosius jako wysłannik króla Zygmunta Augusta do Antwerpii około roku 1560

Author(s): Ryszard Szmydki / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Around 1560, Marcus Ambrosius of Nysa was sent to the Southern Netherlands on a mission to purchase five cannons from Peter Cuyper, bell-founder from Mechelen, to support the Polish army in the face of the Livonian War. At the same time in Antwerp, the envoy of Sigismund II Augustus prepared a sketch of the first map of Livonia to be published by a prominent Flemish cartographer, Abraham Ortelius (in 1570, the print was included in the famous atlas titled Theatrum orbis terrarum). In 1562 in Antwerp, Marcus Ambrosius published "Arma Regni Poloniae", a heraldic book which was highly regarded in the Polish heraldry, issued by the publishing house of Gillis Coppens van Diest. In 1563, Marcus Ambrosius finalised the publication of two texts by the leading poet of Polish Renaissance, Klemens Janicki, sometimes called the Polish Ovid, with Willem Silvius. The first one was a posthumous volume of elegies, known in their Polonised form under the title of "The Lives of Polish Kings", and in the Netherlands published as "Vitae regum Polonorum elegiaco carmino descriptae". The second text, a satire by Klemens Janicki titled "Polonici vestitus varietatem et inconstantiam dialogus" ("Dialogue against the Diversity and Changeability of Polish Costumes") was added to the Vitae regum Polonorum, published by Willem Silvius in 1563. During his stay in Antwerp, Marcus Ambrosius also prepared the publication of the treatise "Ex libro de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris" ("On Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, Salamanders", etc.) by Swiss physician and philosopher Paracelsus.

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Ze studiów nad zakupami tekstyliów dla króla Zygmunta Augusta po roku 1560

Author(s): Ryszard Szmydki,Piotr Józef Janowski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Between 1559–1560, Roderigo Dermoyen, a tapestry weaver from Brussels, delivered a series of heraldic-monogramic themed tapestries, richly embroidered with gold and silk, to Poland for King Sigismund Augustus. They remain today under the custody of the Wawel Royal Castle National Art Collection. After 1560, Roderigo Dermoyen lived with his family in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck at 42 Dr. Julius Leber Straße. There is a great likelihood that the tapestries had been stored at the same location before being sent to Poland and Sweden. One cannot rule out the possibility that a weaving workshop operated under the address. Circa 1564, Dermoyen was commissioned by the King of Poland to weave a collection of black-and-white heraldic tapestries. The textiles reached the destination only two years later and were deposited at the Fortress of Tykocin. Another intriguing case of textile purchase made by Sigismund Augustus was a series of black-and-white velvet fabrics woven between 1560–1572 by the court embroiderer, Sebald Linck (died after 1579). Similarly to tapestries, the fabrics were used during funeral ceremonies following the death of the Commonwealth’s monarchs as well as members of the Polish Vasa dynasty. Sigismund Augustus’ affection for tapestries should be read as a well-considered token of approval for the mannerist aesthetic, also influenced by the monarch’s passion for collecting art. The article also sheds a light on the king’s confidant, Jan Kostka of Sztemberk, Castellan of Gdańsk (circa 1529–1581). Not only was he responsible for implementing the monarch’s policies but he also participated in the purchase of textiles. It has only been possible to assess his role in commissioning tapestries thanks to a letter never published before, written by Sigismund Augustus to Jan Kostka in Kojdanów, dated 23 December 1567, wherein the king ordered the addressee to purchase fabric for his Tatar soldiers. Additionally, the letter provides an insight into the complex political situation of the time.

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Biskup i Muzy

Author(s): Elwira Buszewicz / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The main aim of the article is to analyse poetic representations of Filip Padniewski (1510–1572), who was the Bishop of Krakow during the reign of Sigismund Augustus. The author briefly discusses the biography of the hierarch, and then presents and analyses the Neo-Latin poems devoted to him during his lifetime or mourning his death. First, in the section „Musa epigrammatica”, she mentions the epigrams authored by: Petrus Royzius, Gregory of Sambor, Andreas Recepta-Gostyński, Ioannes Kochanowski, and Christophorus Kącki. The functions of these works vary: apart from some panegyrics, including stemmatic verses and funeral works, we also find among them a poem stylised as a friendly dialogue with the patron. Next, in the section „Musa elegiaca”, the author seeks to decypher the poetic image of the bishop contained in the elegiac poems of Ioannes Kochanowski and Gregory of Sambor. She analyses the conventions and style used by both poets and finds that Kochanowski’s approach is rather grandiloquent and elegant, whereas Samboritanus is more practical and less subtle.

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Wizerunek Zygmunta Augusta w listach dedykacyjnych (na wybranych przykładach)

Author(s): Marta Wojtkowska-Maksymik / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The author of the article attempts to create a literary portrait of Sigismund Augustus on the basis of dedicatory letters addressed to the ruler. They were written from the 1530s until the last years of his life. The authors include leading humanists from the lands of the Polish Crown, Catholics and Protestants, laymen and clergymen, royal courtiers, secretaries and librarians.

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„Sarmacki Tibullus”

Author(s): Wojciech Ryczek / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

Latin poetry composed by Andrzej Trzecieski the Younger (Andreas Tricesius, ca. 1525 – post 1584) requires more attention in the studies on Neo-Latin literature in the Polish Commonwealth. The goal of this paper is to discuss his silva dedicated to Jan Kochanowski, undoubtedly the most important poet in Renaissance Poland, in the context of motifs, topoi, arguments, tropes, and figures associated with this poetical form. Using a variety of rhetorical strategies (narrative, comparison, symmetrical reversions of words, apostrophe), Trzecieski created an interesting figure of Kochanowski as “Sarmatian Tibullus” who rejected wealth and honours at the royal court, opting instead for a quiet and “much more free” life in the country. Furthermore, the silva offers considerations on the imitation of ancient authors, the choices made by poets, their aspirations and, particularly, on poetical inspirations.

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Warneńczyk uwielbiony, czyli o miejscu "Fragmentum XXI" względem "Satyra" i innych politycznych utworów Jana Kochanowskiego

Author(s): Radosław Rusnak / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

This article deals with four poetic fragments by Jan Kochanowski, published posthumously by his publisher Jan Januszowski and known under the collective title "Bitwa z Amuratem u Warny" (sometimes also "Włodzisław Warneńczyk"). Some scholars treat them as part of a never-completed poem about the Jagiellonian dynasty; they contain two eulogies for King Ladislaus III, killed at Varna, linking him to Sigismund II Augustus, who ruled in the times of Kochanowski. The author considers the possibility that the poet might have planned to produce a work in which the apologia for his contemporary, generally regarded as shying away from military matters, would be accompanied by an affirmation of the heroic death of his medieval predecessor, taking into account both the problematic fame of Ladislaus III as responsible for breaking the truce concluded earlier with the Turks, and the generally friendly relations maintained by the Kraków court with Istanbul. The most likely time for Kochanowski to consider a similar epic was towards the end of Sigismund Augustus’ reign (1570–1572), a period when papal diplomacy was seeking Poland’s participation in the Holy League against the Ottoman state, a project that was unlikely to win the king’s approval but which nevertheless enjoyed some interest among the nobility.

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„Porządek i ozdoba rzeczy”

Author(s): Agata Starownik / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The text discusses astronomical motifs in the first part of “Psalm 19” by Jan Kochanowski. They are considered against the background of the Bible and Neoplatonic tradition. The text begins with a brief presentation of the Old Testament original, its composition and the astronomical references it contains. Subsequently, Kochanowski’s text concerning heavenly bodies is juxtaposed with the biblical text, represented by the Vulgate in Robert Estienne’s edition. Neoplatonic thought, represented by the statements of Marsilio Ficino, whose echoes can be discerned in “Psalm 19,” is an important context for the comparison. The article then references a corresponding paragraph in “Pieśń VI” forming part of Fragmenty. Finally, the issue of the dependence of Kochanowski’s work on Buchanan’s paraphrase is briefly discussed. The article seeks to answer two questions relevant to the interpretation of Kochanowski’s psalm: (1) What do the astronomical themes of “Psalm 19” mean to the poet? (2) Can references to celestial bodies in the paraphrase be the basis for inferring the poet’s interest in the cosmos?

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Zygmunt August i jego kunstkamera

Author(s): Mateusz Grzęda / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article discusses the collecting practices of King Sigismund Augustus and attempts to interpret them against the background of the early modern phenomenon of "Kunstkammer" or cabinet of curiosities, as described by early modern theoreticians of collecting, such as Samuel Quiccheberg and Francis Bacon. Although most of the precious items that belonged to Sigismund Augustus are now lost, his artistic preferences can be reconstructed based on written testimonies and the few extant works of art that were produced for the king. In light of these sources there emerges an image of a large and sumptuous collection which was built by the monarch fastidiously and advisedly throughout his whole lifetime. From the written sources (especially the account left by the apostolic nuncio to Poland, Berardo Bongiovanni, who described a cabinet of curiosities in the palace of the grand dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius, presented to him by the king in 1560) and the analysis of extant artifacts we can deduce that Sigismund Augustus developed an aesthetic sensibility and, to some extent, even an expertise in artistic matters. He is well known as a passionate collector of precious objects made of silver and gold, jewels, plates, precious and semi-precious stones, and tapestries. The king may have considered collecting and presenting these ‘artificialia’ to various audiences to be his privilege or even obligation, justified by the theory of magnificence coined by Aristotle and further developed in the humanistic writings of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. However, Sigismund Augustus’ collection also had a scholarly dimension. Alongside an imposing library he acquired portraits of famous figures, maps, and scientific and musical instruments. In addition, many artworks produced for the king were decorated with naturalistic zoological and botanical motifs which introduced knowledge of the natural world to his cabinet. All these objects, together with a custom of turning, of which Sigismund Augustus was a known practitioner and which was one of the most favored amusements of Renaissance rulers, reveal a curious mind in the king, an asset that he shared with many other European rulers.

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Rozrywka z Niemiec

Author(s): Krystyna Wierzbicka-Trwoga / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The paper discusses the question of the origin of four Old Polish prose novels: "Historia wdzięczna o szlachetnej a pięknej Meluzynie", "Historia o Magielonie, królewnie neapolitańskiej", "Historia piękna i krotochwilna o Otonie, cesarzu rzymskim", and "Fortunat" that form a coherent group in the panorama of 16th century Polish prose. They were translated from German into Polish towards the end of the Jagiellonian period, and in literary history they are referred to as the first Polish chivalric romances; moreover, they have acquired the status of longsellers in Polish literature. The question I’m asking concerns the criterion for choosing these texts for translation. Whose idea was it: the translator’s, the printer’s, or perhaps the publisher’s? Why were these four chosen from among the many texts of popular literature published in Europe? The paper analyses earlier decisions of publishers and translators in this field, who introduced the tradition of ancient and medieval narratives to Polish readers, to conclude that the four texts discussed here were surprising in their novelty against the background of previous translations of popular literature. I put forward the thesis that the key to the riddle of the choice of the four must be sought in someone’s individual decision and that it must have been someone with contacts in Germany; the person I indicate is Mikołaj Szarfenberger, the printer-publisher of the Fortunatus and Octavianus stories and collaborator of Marcin Siennik, the translator of the Melusine story.

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Recepcja wiedzy o Indiach Zachodnich w Polsce za panowania ostatnich dwóch Jagiellonów

Author(s): Piotr Tafiłowski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

This paper deals with the issue of the knowledge of America in Poland in the 16th century. The current state of research in this field is summarised. The findings of researchers who have earlier dealt with this issue are presented. The article discusses texts from the 16th century which include information about America as well as historical collections in which such books were to be found. The last part of the paper is a presentation of the tenth book of Martin Bielski's Chronicle, dedicated to the issue of new geographical discoveries, including America. The article ends with a reflection on the level of knowledge about America in 16th-century Poland.

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Ceremonie żałobne po śmierci ostatnich dwóch Jagiellonów zorganizowane poza granicami Polski

Author(s): Piotr Józef Janowski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

In 1548, a funerary exequiae service was held in the Augsburg Cathedral to commemorate Sigismund the Old’s death. The ceremony was attended by Emperor Charles V, his brother Ferdinand as well as princes of the Holy Roman Empire participating in the Imperial diet and members of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The organisers ensured that the event carried an adequate artistic and ideological message by adorning the church interior with funerary apparatuses, especially the so-called castrum doloris. King Sigismund Augustus was also commemorated outside of the Commonwealth, namely in Italy. By the end of August 1572, Pope Gregory XIII celebrated a holy mass for the soul of the late monarch in the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. On 6th of October 1572, Naples saw a funerary ceremony organised by a Polish diplomat, Stanisław Kłodziński, in the Church of Sant’ Anna dei Lombardi. The culmination of the ceremonies held in Italy was the November exequiae celebrated in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso in Rome, wherein an impressive castrum doloris was erected. The apparatus was depicted in a preserved engraving by Tomasz Treter. The celebration was organised by Alessandro Farnese, Cardinal Protector of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with support of Stanisław Hozjusz and other Poles staying in Rome at the time. The funerary services for the last two Jagiellonian kings held abroad were a means of manifesting the dynasty’s power and pursuing a proactive foreign policy. The desired ideological message was conveyed through fine arts, to mention only the occasional architecture described in the article.

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„Ku pospolitej potrzebie” – testament Zygmunta Augusta i pierwsza polska publiczna kolekcja sztuki

Author(s): Aleksandra Jakóbczyk-Gola / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

In his testament, Sigismund II Augustus handed over his accumulated collection of tapestries to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which he perceived as one political body composed of two nations. This article interprets this decision as a kind of a guarantee of the system’s immutability. It sees the attitude of the last Jagiellon as going beyond the framework of his era, unprecedented in the country and even among the rulers of Europe. It can only be compared with the choices of European collectors in that period, for example Ulysses Aldrovandi or Ferdinando Cospi. It is a testimony to the process of gradual handing over art collections to the public and the establishment of the first museums. As the article proves, Sigismund II Augustus as a collector was aware of the material and symbolic value of the works he collected. His actions can be compared with the behaviour of Anna Maria Luisa, the last of the Medici, who also donated the collections of her family to Florence for the benefit of the public. The decisions of both rulers were also influenced by changes in cultural formation. They show the experience of the end of the epoch: the trends of the decline of the Renaissance – mannerism.

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Drobná keramická plastika

Author(s): Markéta Tymonová,Martin Hložek,Zdenka Mechurová / Language(s): English,Czech Publication Year: 0

Small ceramic sculptures were made in pottery workshops and people used them in everyday life for various secular as well as religious purposes. They were widespread throughout Central Europe and their origin was localised to the pottery-making centres in Rhineland, Bavaria, Saxony or Lusatia. Ceramic products from these centres were then imitated in the neighbouring countries (Hoffmann 1996, 158–160). We often find them in towns around the main square and in the area of former markets, because in the Middle Ages they became a popular market article and were brought as devotional souvenirs from pilgrimage sites.

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Aquamanile a konvice se zoomorfními výlevkami

Author(s): Martin Hložek,Lenka Sedláčková / Language(s): English,Czech Publication Year: 0

Due to their exceptionality and different production technology, aquamaniles and ewers with zoomorphic spouts were mostly classified as imported goods. The increasing number of finds, not only from Brno, and the use of natural scientific analyses enabled to specify the place of their origin.

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Závěr

Author(s): Markéta Tymonová,Martin Hložek,Irena Loskotová / Language(s): English,Czech Publication Year: 0

The problem of distribution of ceramic artefacts with a higher proportion of decorative component was treated with the help of standard procedures of typological, stylistic and relief analyses, using natural scientific and documentation methods which have yielded new knowledge of production and distribution of high and late medieval stove tile goods and building and decorative ceramics. The research was focused on objects made from fired clay with the aim to determine the geographic origin of raw material used for their production. The crafts that worked with this raw material shared the same sources in the place of their activity, but the production procedures used with morphologically variable ceramic wares were different, which was reflected in a specific processing of the “clays” used.

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