The paper deals with the development of Czech medieval studies on ecclesiastical and religious history, with a focus on the study of the history of medieval Benedictine monasticism. The author sketches the historiography of his subject since the emergence of critical Czech historiography during the 19th century and points out the problems that such a profiled study had to face between 1948 and 1989 under the dominance of Marxist-orchestrated historiography. The bulk of the paper then presents an outline of the development in the field of study after the fall of the communist regime, i.e. in the years 1990—2018.

In her article, Jagna Rita Sobel deals with the problem of exchanges of seal matrices [Pl. typariusze pieczętne] made by parish priests of Silesian parish churches until 1419. Sobel enquires about reasons why parish priests needed to order the preparation of a new stamp for themselves. To this end, Sobel analyzes the cases of five priests (Stefan, parson in Nysa, Konrad, parson in Turów near Wrocław, Jakub Engilgeri, parson in Świdnica, Rychwin, parson in the church of St. Elizabeth in Wrocław, and Tomasz, parson in Strzelin). Her research has revealed that during their pastoral ministry in a given parish they used two types of seals. The
research was based on a comparison of the two sigils of each parish priest in terms of differences in the content communicated by the sacred legends and images, taking into account — if necessary — the personal careers of priests and the iconosphere in which they functioned. The research shows that the reasons underlying the decision to change the piston could have been practical considerations (such as wear or loss of the matrix), the desire to make the message clearer expressed by the certain image of the message so that it is even more closely connected with the person of its administrator, or the assumption by the clergyman of a new office, resulting in the need to adapt the content of the legend of the sigillum to its current title. Such a small number of cases confirmed by sources, however, shows that this was not a common practice among the parish clergy of that time, which could undoubtedly have been influenced by the high costs associated with making the stamp by the craftsman.

In his article, Tomasz Kałuski presents the development of research on seals used by Cistercians in Poland. He has identified three periods, the first two of which lasted from the nineteenth century to the 1980s. At that time, Cistercian seals were first of all subjected to editing, and then the first interpretations appeared, most often concerning the seals of abbots. However, they were carried out as part of larger projects. The proper development of research on Cistercian seals began in the late 1990s and continues to this day. Currently, scholars study not only the iconography or, less frequently, the legal functions of seals, but also the transfer of seal images and the authorship of seal matrices (Pl. typariusz).

Maciej Woźny discusses the registers (Pl. regesty) of 19 missing documents of Prince Albert of Strzelce. Some of them were kept in the castle in Strzelce, in the former Archive of the Renards. They were known to Johann Joseph Reichel, who found them and also wrote a chronicle of the city in which he summarized these diplomas. The chronicle itself shared the fate of the documents and is now considered lost. However, information about the documents, mainly from the aforementioned chronicle, was noted down by Baron Friedrich von Schirnding, and several registers were also prepared by Wrocław archivists. Other documents are known from copiers and the knowledge shared by nineteenth- and twentieth-century researchers. The edition of the sources was prepared according to the documents adopted by editors of Registers of the Documents Stored in Upper Silesia, and the author attempted to discuss in more detail where a given diploma is known from and where it was stored. Woźny shows how much information about lost medieval documents can be found in the materials of ancient researchers and in modern sources.

The paper deals with arguable terminology of tournaments in England and France between the 11th and the 14th centuries. Following the analysis of English and French sources, the basic conceptual apparatus for the study of medieval battles was established. It was proved that the word “tournament” is a general and collective term. The work proves that the “tournament” consists of several types of fights: jousts, melée, behourd, hastiludе, etc. In the study of the phenomenon of tournament fights, the interpretation of the significance of knightly competitions is quite controversial. Some scholars appeal to the fact that it is only a sport and ritual, or a type of exercises to improve military skills. Others believe that a tournament is more than just military training or entertainment. The concept of tournament was used mostly for all kinds of knightly martial games. Tournois, behourds, joustes, pas d’armes, or some other purely French words of that time were used by French historians: As for English-speaking scholars, they usually used the following names in their works and studios: tournament, tourney, joust borrowed from French-language concepts. There also existed other kinds of fights, for example, fortunium—this tournament occurred probably only once—in Hertford in 1241. This concept is literally interpreted as a “chance” or a “draw.” Common term in English and French chronicles in the period 1100—1400, was hastiludium or hastilude, literally a game fought with spears. Jousts were specifically single combats, one against one, though the jouster could belong to a team. This paper analyzes the latest discussions regarding the adopted terminological constructions and highights the latest innovations concerning the tournaments

In 1367, the general starost of Greater Poland, Wierzbięta from Palowice, was certified at the court of the prince of Świdnica-Jawor, Bolko II the Small. The purpose of his visit is not known, although it can be suspected that it was political. Wierzbięta was also connected with the Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor by other contacts. Within the borders of the duchy, in the vicinity of Jawor, he owned property and married his daughter Elżbieta there. Her husband was the knight Nicholas Bolz, the chef of Bolko II the Small, and subsequently the steward of the widow, Princess Agnes of Austria. Nicholas belonged to the political and financial elite in the Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor. Presumably, he could have made acquaintance with his father-in-law during his stay at the Court of Świdnica. However, both dignitaries could also get to know each other thanks to their circle of mutual friends, the families of Falkenhain and Samborowic. 

Kalina Słaboszowska discusses the image of cry and tears in books 10th to 12th of the Annales (Annals or Chronicles of the Famous Kingdom of Poland) of Jan Długosz (1415—1480). Długosz represented crying as an important element of political and social life, in such matters as mourning, relationships between kings and their subjects or other monarchs, and religion. This article also provides an analysis of Długosz’s emotional language and a table with Latin expressions for crying and tears. Słaboszowska argues that public display of emotions in the form of crying was generally represented in a positive light or at least as something neutral;
rarely was the representation negative.

The beginnings of the collegiate church of Racibórz are associated with the effects of events that took place at the end of the thirteenth century in Silesia, i.e., the violent conflict between the Duke of Wrocław Henry IV Probus and the bishop of Wrocław Thomas II, who was supported by the Dukes of Opole. In 1288, the bishop of Wrocław, repaying his allies for the help they provided, but also as an expiation for the settled dispute, founded a collegiate church of St. Thomas Cantapurian at the chapel in Racibórz. He also provided it with a material for its functioning, endowing it with tithes from the bishop’s treasury. In the years around 1288—1292, an impressive gothic chapel was erected in the castle, where the collegiate chapter was located. In the following years, the collegiate church of Racibórz remained under the care of subsequent princes who ruled in Racibórz, the son of Przemysław, Leszek, and later representatives of the Czech Přemyslids from the Opava line, who in 1337 took over the Duchy of Racibórz. Nicholas II, and then his son John I and grandson John II Żelazny (the Iron). These princes made further foundations for the chapter and its castle seat, increasing the salary and establishing new prebends. In 1416, John II the Iron, with the consent of the bishop of Wrocław, Wacław, Duke of Legnica, moved the collegiate church located at the Racibórz Castle at the
chapel of St. Thomas Cantapurai to the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Racibórz and established and endowed there prebends for the provost, dean, 12 canons and as many vicars. The reason for the relocation was the problematic location of the collegiate church at a small chapel, which at that time was already insufficient for the growing needs, especially the erection of new prebends. In addition, canons and vicars living in the city, due to the daily closure of the city and castle gates, had difficulties with punctual celebration of services. The new salary of the Racibórz collegiate church consisted of a part from the time of its establishment (the end of the thirteenth century) and a part established anew. In 1416, the prince erected and planted a new chapel, while in 1422 he re-endowed the custody. The transfer
of the collegiate church from the chapel in the castle to the town, to the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Prince John II the Iron undoubtedly contributed to its significant development in the following years. The collegiate church gained great support from the authorities and the bourgeoisie of rich Racibórz.

The term “Bulwark of Christendom” was coined already in ancient times to describe defensive walls that were supposed to guarantee the safety of cities. It quickly acquired a metaphorical meaning and was used to designate strategic points in defense against “infidels,” and in this sense it was predominantly used in the Middle Ages. With the growing power of Turkey and its expansion into the territory of Europe, this country became, in the minds of the people of the Middle Ages, the main threat to Christian Europe. The term Antemurale Christianitatis thus began to define countries directly threatened by a Turkish attack. A special role in the popularization of this term was played by humanists. As they themselves were convinced of the need to fight Turkey, by writing chronicles they somehow created reality. In particular, at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these texts and this rhetoric also served as a pretext to justify their own dynastic policy of the rulers hidden under the slogan of the fight “against infidels”. In this article, Katarzyna Niemczyk-Wiśniewska examines three late medieval examples of the use of the ideology of the bulwark and the need to fight Turkey by three successive rulers of Poland, Jan Olbracht, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, and Zygmunt Stary.

In the Corpus Christi church in Krakow remains of blue silk textile adorned with embroideries are preserved. They are framed and described as a velum from the 18th century. These fragments of embroidery in couched metal threads complemented with silk threads in flat stitches depict a medallion with a winged eagle holding a scroll with the inscription “Joh[a]nns” and below a titulus of the cross with the inscription INRI. Two other parts of the textile show remains of medallions with a winged ox and a figure with a scroll and on two small fragments remained an edging embroidered on the parchment padding. Very similar iconography and technique can be found in an orphrey in Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Münnich thought to be made in Austria about 1440 and above all the group of orphreys created in the Krakow workshop in the third quarter of the 15th century. The thus enabled reconstruction from the fragments in the Corpus Christi Church an orphrey and to date it to second quarter of the 15th century (probably late forties).

This authors of this article discuss the figure of the Teutonic informant with the pseudonym “N.S. Arman”, based on reports addressed by him to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Ludwig von Erlichschausen in 1451 and 1453. They have attempted to establish an indicative date for those of the reports that did not have annual dates. After analyze the scope of the messages included in these sources, the spy was identified with Niclos Scharar, a Rypin burgher from Toruń, a client and handyman of the Brest voivode Jan Kretkowski, and then his son Andrzej. In Scharar’s letters we find a wide panorama of state life in Poland, a description of relations between Poland and Lithuania, related in particular to territorial disputes over Volhynia and Podolia, the actions of King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, Tatar invasions, as well as wars on the Polish-Silesian borderland. However, the data from these reports contain almost no references to the intensive contacts of the Prussian opposition with various political centers in Poland, which were already ongoing at that time. This allows the scholars to conclude that their value for the Teutonic principals of Niclos was small. Scharar’s reports, however, are of great importance for contemporary researchers in the context of the information they contain regarding the internal political life of the Kingdom of Poland in the early 1450s.

In the article, based on the source base, an attempt is made to reconstruct the genealogy of the Danish Scyldihg dynasty. The Scylding first ruled in the kingdom of Lehr from the sixth century, and later extended their power to the entire territory of Denmark. It seems that Skjold Skewing was the first real king to start his own dynasty, which later received his name. As a result of the dynastic marriage of Ivar Widfamme’s daughter Aud to Rerik the Slyngebond they managed to become related to the Swedish Inglings. With the help of established dynastic ties, Ivar Widfamme ruled Denmark and Sweden at the same time for some time, which gave rise to a popular myth about his origin from the Scylding dynasty. The descendants of Ivar Vidfamme are Harald Gildetan and Sigurd Ring, who converged on the Scylding and Inglingian lines, and which briefly formed a kind of Confederation of two independent kings. The article considers the formation and Reign of Harald Gildetan`s descendants in Jutland, until the second half of the IX century. Internecine struggle did not stop with the death of Harald Gildetan, because his sons, and later grandchildren, believed that they had every right to the Danish throne. The struggle between the descendants of Gottfried and Halvdan continued with varying success almost until the end of the IX century, when Denmark was conquered by the Swedes, as a result of which the Direct Line of Scyldings ceased to exist.