Editorial pages

Table of contents

Index

Olaf Haraldsson (Saint Olaf) made history as a king and missionary but also as one of the forefathers and patron saints of Christian Norway. His achievements have perpetuated in the folk memory of the Scandinavian peoples, making him the Eternal King of Norway (Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae) and the most distinguished figure among those Norwegian rulers whose reigns are recorded in sagas. Nevertheless, Olaf, though a saint, is depicted as a bellicose, harsh, and severely punishing ruler – a picture that seems to diverge significantly from the model of a gentle, merciful, and saintly king, widespread in the European hagiographic tradition. That twofold nature of Olaf is described in Snorri Sturluson’s narrative, as indicated earlier by Carl Phelpstead. The present study refers to the findings of that scholar and emphasizes two interrelated facets of Olaf’s picture in Snorri’s narrative: his childhood and his appearance. In the former case, Olaf is shown as a naughty child, disrespecting his stepfather, which corresponds to the posterior episode of Olaf’s return to Norway, depicted as a paraphrase of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Snorri provides a picture of a young man who, unlike the prodigal son, fails to change his faulty nature, and that in turn influences the way he rules. In the latter case, while depicting Olaf’s appearance, Snorri seems to present his looks only partially. Although Olaf is handsome, well-built, and his face and hair have a fair shade, he is short, has a flushed face and brown hair. In this way, Snorri departs from the model of a tall ruler with a fair complexion and blond hair. However, if we take into account the older Legendary Saga, it seems that Snorri in both cases follows solutions that are deeply rooted in the oral and written tradition, and which are supposed to reflect the ambiguity characterizing the memories of Olaf kept by the peoples of Scandinavia in the generations living after his death.

In common opinion, Harald Hardrada’s death in the battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 is perceived as a symbolic end of the Viking Age. However, that moment could be moved to 24 August 1103, when, after ten years of his reign in Norway, Harald’s grandson, Magnus dies in an ambush in Ulster. Some of Old Norse records that describe Magnus’s reign compare both rulers and depict Magnus as the true and determined follower of his grandfather. For that reason it is not surprising that the circumstances of Magnus’s death are often shown as the fullest manifestation of that picture, including both its positive and negative facets. The king of Norway appears to be deeply interested in making his reign perceived as a direct continuation of Harald Hadrada’s times. That tendency concerns not only his political actions in general, but also the area of propaganda. The latter was in turn dominated by skalds composing for the king.

Old Norse sagas" literary depictions of magic swords highlight the active role of objects in shaping and renegotiating cultural constructions of personhood and identities. By focusing on narrative portrayals of these artifacts and the psychosomatic dynamics of saga characters' interactions with said artifacts, this study illuminates the ecological entanglements between cognitive and material spaces across the medieval North, stressing cross-cultural variability and diversity inherent in medieval worldviews.

The article has as its subject the coat of arms seal of Wieruszów that was used to authenticate a document from 28th January 1426. The seal is a point of departure for analysing the coat of arms of the town and of its owners. From the turn of the fourteenth century till 1467 the owners were representatives of the Wierusz family, who used Wieruszowa coat of arms. In historiography the seal had not been known before this discovery. The oldest coat of arms of Wieruszów was thought so far to be the following image: argent, a goat sable standing on the grass vert, bearing church gules with two towers of the same on the back. The representations of the goat originate from the seal as late as the end of the eighteenth century. The older seal recently discovered is dated for 1368—1426 and displays a coat of arms shield, party per pale, the dexter side checky of three and six gules and argent, on the sinister argent a demi-goat passant sable. In the rim there is the inscription “+ · S(igillum) · C(ivitatis) · WERVSC[HOW]IENSIS”. The iconography of the seal visibly relates to the coat of arms of the town’s owners. They used the Wieruszowa coat of arms: argent, a goat half sable half checky gules and of the field. The artefact from 1426 and the coat of arms seals of the Wieruszów owners that they used between 1395 and 1448 have been analysed. The article demonstrates that the opinion that the owners laid a stag in their coat of arms instead of a goat is unfounded. This opinion has recently been put forward a lot in the research. The seal, unknown until recently, probably kept being used till the end of the fifteenth century. After the fire of the town, which broke out in 1497 or 1498, the seal was replaced with a new one. The iconography of the new seal was an updated one, since it combined the symbols associated with the town’s founders and with feudal allegiance (a goat) and with manifesting the town’s independence (a church façade with two towers). This is the current shape of the town’s coat of arms.

The Duchy of Karniów [Krnov] and Rybnik was established in 1437 as a result of dividing the inheritance that was left by Jan II Żelazny [the Iron-born], the Duke of Racibórz. The duchy was inherited by his son Mikołaj and it retained its territorial integrity till 1465/1466. This is when Jan Starszy [the Elder] and Vaclaus III, who were Mikołaj’s sons, carried out a division that resulted in the establishment of two duchies. The first duchy was the Duchy of Karniów (including Karniów, Bruntal, and Wodzisław) and the other was the Duchy of Rybnik (including Rybnik, Żory, and Pszczyna). What had a pervasive influence on the history of those two small duchies was the war over the Czech crown, which took place in the 1470s between the Jagiellonians and Maciej Korwin. The two brothers were forced to monoeuvre between the two sides of the conflict, which led to rejection of them and treason accusations by both sides of the conflict. Vaclaus ruled unreasonably and then died without an heir in 1478, which brought an end to the Duchy of Rybnik. The Pszczyna part was confiscated by King Maciej Korwin and it was put in pledge with Hynek of Podiebrady. Rybnik and Żory (and half of Baborów) were put in pledge as well. In the case of the Duchy of Karniów King Maciej Korwin was equally intransigent, since he confiscated the Karniów part from Jan Starszy [The Elder] (1474) and took over the Wodzisław part after the duke’s death without an heir (1483). The sisters of the late dukes, Duchess Margaret of Oświęcim and Zator and Barbara of Oświęcim, made efforts to regain the inheritance, but the success was only partial. After a few years’ battle Margaret gave up her rights to Rybnik and Żory (with compensation) and handed them over to Jan IV Młodszy [the Younger] of Racibórz. She lost the competition over the Pszczyna district that she had entered with Duke Casimir of Cieszyn. In turn, Barbara used the death of King Maciej Korwin (1490) to try to regain Karniów, but she only managed to co-rule (till her death) in the Duchy of Karniów with her son-in-law Jiři of Šelmberk, who became the new heir in accordance with the decision made by King Ladislaus the Jagiellonian.

The aim of the present study is to draw attention to the common stereotypes and literary topoi, which were used by medieval chroniclers to describe the so-called Hussite movement. I focus on the person of Bolko V (ca. 1400—1460), the Duke of Opole, who became infamous as an ally of the Hussite troops. For that reason, numerous authors, not only from Silesia, described him as a Hussite and heretic. Also the actions taken by Bolko V after the Hussite wars attracted the attention of his contemporary writers (e.g. Jan Długosz, Peter Eschenloer, Eneas Silvio Piccolomini, Kaspar Borgeni) in a negative way. As I try to show in my study, to a number of the authors mentioned above, the most important thing was Bolko V’s support for King George of Podĕbrady (Peter Eschenloer, Kaspar Borgeni), his attacks on the Polish Kingdom in the 1440s and 1450s (Jan Długosz), and his ally with the Hussites at the beginning of the 1430s. Those very actions taken by the Duke of Opole on the political map of his age decided about the fact that his contemporary chroniclers depicted him as a heretic. In the descriptions of his person we can find numerous stereotypes and rhetorical figures that were commonly used in the Middle Ages to refer to heretics. First of all, Bolko V is accused of pride, a deadly sin that a true Christian should avoid. Some authors mention Bolko V’s non-Christian sexual misconduct, and E. S. Piccolomini in this context additionally doubts his accountability. A common stereotype is the accusation of contacts with the Devil or dark powers. A peculiar stereotype is the Duke of Opole’s learnedness. Kaspar Borgeni mentions Bolko V’s studies at the University of Prague. As I try to show, the information concerning Bolko’s studies in Prague cannot be proven with any other source. Kaspar Borgeni uses that claim as one of his narrative figures in order to convince his readers that the Duke of Opole really was a censurable heretic. The picture of Bolko V created in such a way was very lively and the claims concerning the Duke of Opole’s heresy are formulated even today.

This article includes research and an edition of the source that has not been known so far; the source concerns the conflicts in Silesia between 1509 and 1513. A detailed analysis of the text allowed researchers to discover the identity of the source’s author. The author turned out to be Bartłomiej of Ziębice, the grandson of King Jiři of Podiebrad and one of the most important politicians in the times when the Jagiellonians ruled Czech. The source in question is a record of the public defense of Duke Bartłomiej, hence the text is one-sided in its opinions, but it still considerably enriches our knowledge about the years 1509—1513 in Silesia and the historical events at the time. This was the time of two conflicts in Silesia: the first one was the 1509 dispute of Duke Frederic II of Legnica with Wrocław and the other was the argument between the dukes of Legnica and Duke Bartłomiej. Both of the conflicts illustrated the animosities between the dukes and the inhabitants of Wrocław. Neither of the conflicts has been analyzed in depth in the historiography, even though they soon ceased being merely regional and there was an interest in them even in the Czech-Hungarian court. In order to solve the conflicts a general assembly was held for all the lands of the Czech crown in Kłodzko in 1512. It had been the first assembly of the type held since the Olomunec reconciliation between Ladislaus the Jagiellonian and Maciej Kowin.

The article discusses the history of the Pomorzany grounds, which were situated in the Lvov area, till the end of the fifteenth century. The set of grounds was situated in the basin of the Złota Lipa River around the town and castle of Pomorzany. The extant sources allow us to trace and analyze the process of creation of this set of grounds. It appears that in the earliest preserved documents it is recorded that the grounds, situated in the valley of one river and its tributaries, formed a common settler ecumen. Its creation was determined by the ground formation of this part of the Podole plateau. The marshy and wide river valleys and their mild slopes were a more propitious place for the development of settlements than the steep ridges that were thickly covered with woods. The upper parts of the plateau remained outside the settlement sphere. The Pomorzany grounds were owned by the wealthy boyar family of Kyerdeys, who originated from Volyn and Podole. Its four lines (the Świnkas, the Kyerdey from Pomorzany who were descendants of Jan Hryćko, the Szpikłoskis, and the Urmańskis) related themselves to this possession for good till the extinction of the first two lines in dramatic circumstances at the turn of the sixteenth century. Efficiently administering the grounds, the Kyerdeys transformed them in the fifteenth century into a modern and well-developed set of possessions. Owing to internal colonization they densified the settlement and started to fully use the land economically within these grounds; the land had so far been inaccessible. They started to administer the woods that were growing on the upper parts of the ridges, dried a part of the bog, and banked up the rivers and the brooks, thus creating chains of ponds. They increased the area of the Pomorzany grounds by taking over and settling the settlements that so far had been situated on the outside. This example illustrates the process of linearizing borders of properties by taking over deserted settlements and gradual narrowing down and then abolishment of borders between properties. All of the above was characteristic of the Red Rus in the historical period in question. The settlement structure, which was started at the time and developed in the centuries to come, influenced the organization of geographic space and landscape till the industrial times. The traces of this structure have been preserved up till now.

Even though the municipal bookkeeping records of Lvov are among the oldest and the best preserved sources of the time in the Polish or one-time Polish areas, they have not been more widely used in research on accountancy and finance so far. The article intends to fill in this gap and verify the historiographic data by analyzing the outer and inner shape of these manuscripts and their content. Comparison of the structure of bookkeeping registers in Lvov along with their content shows that all of the three books were created as a result of binding a specific number of contributions. The volumes once prepared in this way were gradually completed every year. Records from specific years were put down in stages: at first the writer inserted the headers to the registers and then prepared space for the notes, which were gradually completed later. In Lvov the books were kept according to a specific pattern. The records for each year showed registers of new clerks and people admitted to the municipal regulations. Appropriate records were subdivided into a few specific categories, such as remuneration of municipal services, rent from property, companies, and surrounding villages, general expenditure (construction expenditure and wages for temporary workers), travel and gift expenditure in the municipal affairs, accountancy with burghers, and special registers. The system was used till the beginning of the sixteenth century. The books’ contents document only a fraction of the town’s tax activities. It is reflected in the annually observable phenomenon of expenditure that dominates over revenue and in considerable wavering of the two every year. It is rare that the bills list the categories of revenue and expenditure that are not registered in them, such as tax revenue, rent that came from outside of the town, and administrative charges. Dispersed records show that the office also introduced assisting registers, a part of which was used to fill in the right books. The practice of keeping only specific groups of records in the books was probably related to the habit of presenting the books by the council that was finishing their term of office, The practice was also noticeable in other Polish towns. The analysis of Lvov bookkeeping demonstrates that the revenue and the expenditure were probably more balanced than is shown by the bills. At the same time they allow us to inspect the rules of bookkeeping in a late medieval Polish town.

The article presents reflection on the presence of the nineteenth-century convictions and visions of the past in the Polish post-war medieval studies practiced on the historical ground. The nineteenth century was the time when modern critical historiography started to be created. For practical reasons the article discusses only the field of history, without referring to other fields that also practice medieval studies. The author emphasizes numerous historiographic references to the nineteenth-century paradigms of perceiving the past. One of them was the paradigm of describing the “national” past. What is also signaled in this study are rather archaic manners of describing the past in the post-war period and the utilitarian character of some historical studies.

The aim of the article is to present the history of Transylvania after the Battle of Mohàcs in 1526. The defeat of Hungary and the death of King Louis II the Jagiellonian in the battle changed the power structure in Central Europe. An agreement was made between the Jagiellonians and the Habsburgs in 1515; it was strengthened by marrying Louis the Jagiellonian to Maria Habsburg and by marrying Anna the Jagiellonian to Ferdinand Habsburg. After the death of Louis, who left no heir, the political power in Czech and Hungary was to go to the Habsburgs. However, there was no unanimous agreement on the candidate; as a result, a double election happened after the death of Louis the Jagiellonian. The gentry assembly in Székesfehérvár in November elected Jan Zápolya king, while the supporters of the Habsburgs elected Ferdinand at a competing assembly. The war became inevitable. Zápolya sought help in Turkey, hence Hungary became an area where two forces competed, the Habsburgs and Turkey. Transylvania, which was a part of the state of Hungary at the time, stood in the centre of the conflict. Transylvania remained in the focus of attention for Jan Zápolya and for Ferdinand Habsburg, but also for Petru Rareș, a Moldavian hospodar, and for the Sultan himself as well. The article aims to delineate this situation, with particular insight into the relations between Jan Zápolya, Petru Rareș, and Turkey.

The article aims to present personal piety and the religious practices of the daughter of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, Helen of Moscow (1476—1513). Her mother was also the Byzantine duchess Zoe. In 1495 Helen married the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander the Jagiellonian, who later became king of Poland. The sources inspected in order to present the topic were documents and letters from the period, the chronicles of some more important historiographers who published after Jan Długosz (Bernard Wapowski, Maciej of Miechów, Marcin Bielski, Marcin Kromer, Maciej Stryjkowski, and Jan of Komorów) and the records from selected chronicles (Sophia Chronicle I, Chronicle of Bychowiec, Chronicle of Huštýn). At first the role of Orthodox Christianity in the doctrine of the Great Duchy of Moscow is discussed. What follows is a discussion of how Helen was brought up in the Moscow court and what the European and Polish customs were in terms of dynastic marriages with Orthodox Christians. Then the question of Helen’s liberty in practicing Orthodox Christianity in Lithuania and Poland is analyzed. Examples are also provided of her donations to Orthodox churches and monasteries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the study, Helen’s relations with Catholic church are discussed, for example the debate over the possibility of the queen converting to Roman Christianity and of her second baptism within this religious denomination.

The article discusses the question of the origin of the Bes family, which was one of the most important families in the late medieval Duchy of Opole. The author returns to the question that was noticed in the nineteenth century: there is a similarity between the Bes coat of arms (a leaved trunk) and that of some other families. The author researched the history of two settlements, Gostomia and Ścinawa that were owned by two knights at the end of the thirteenth century. On the seals of both of them there is an identical coat of arms, a leaved blysmus. The author notices that Otto, a master of the hunt, was related to these settlements. Otto was a cousin of Jan Sybocic, the owner of Gostomia, and the son-in-law of Zbrosław of Śmicz, the castellan of Opole and the owner of Ścinawa. Both Gostomia and Ścinawa were transferred to church institutions, but the law of proximity probably ultimately made them be transferred to the relatives of the donors. The other known owners of the two settlements to follow Jan and Zbrosław were Alex of Leckinstein and the castellan of Opole Simon of Ścinawa. Simon appeared in the two private documents of the gentry of Strzelin, relatives of Zbrosław, which allows us to associate both of the castellans of Opole with each other. In turn, Alex donated Gostomia to the monastery in Jemielnice and then the settlement probably returned to a relative of the donator, since about 50 years later Gostomia was owned by Alex of Gostomia, on whose seal there was also a leaved blysmus. At the act of donation two representatives of the Bes family were present, which should be interpreted as their sign of consent to the donation. Alex of Leckinstein, Alex of Gostomia, Simon, and the two Beses may be connected on the basis of not only of the coat of arms and possessions as criteria. Other genealogical criteria can be included, such as the names, social status, and territorial proximity.

This study is based on the analysis of the paper and the text of royal and princely accounts in which scribes registered the everyday incomes and expenditures of four Jagiellonian courts, located in different parts of East-Central Europe around the turn of the 15th and 16th-century. The period covers the establishment and the very first years of paper mills in Silesia and the Polish Kingdom. Regarding the lack of archival sources preserving the foundation and running of these mills, the cradles of paper-making in East-Central Europe, one should use many different and quite laconic written sources to shed light upon these revolutionary years. Although accounts could preserve mentions of purchasing, trading and using paper, in most cases the textual information is not adequate to reconstruct a detailed and clear image of paper producing; researchers should examine the medium of writing - the paper - itself. Instead of the investigation of single sheets, folded papers, small notebooks and bound books such as accounts proved to be more useful. One can compare the sheets of the volumes and find those traces which lead to the paper mills, the places of their origin. Through the detailed examination of one especially complex and interesting ledger from the courts of Prince Sigismund, the author attempts to demonstrate the opportunities lay in watermark studies. Furthermore, the article purposes to reflect on the huge hiatus clearly perceptible on the field of watermark research and paper history in East-Central Europe and the necessity of developing a database of watermarks reflecting on the history of paper-making in this region. 

O potrzebie zinwentaryzowania i skatalogowania ksiąg miejskich Na marginesie opracowania: Testamenty z ksiąg sądowych małych miast polskich do 1525 roku. Oprac. Agnieszka Bartoszewicz, Krzysztof Mrozowski, Maciej Radomski, Katarzyna Warda. Red. Agnieszka Bartoszewicz. Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Semper, 2017, ss. 184.

Marek L. Wójcik: Pieczęcie rycerstwa śląskiego w dobie przedhusyckiej. T. 1—2. Kraków—Wrocław, Księgarnia Akademicka (Kraków)—Uniwersytet Wrocławski, 2018, ss. 1019.

Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek: Małżonkowie przed sądem biskupiego oficjała poznańskiego w pierwszej ćwierci XV wieku. Poznań, Instytut Historii UAM,
2018, ss. 293

Pamięci Grażyny Rutkowskiej (1956—2019)

Colophon