Introduction

The issue of secrecy of the conspiracy organised against C. Iulius Caesar by M. Iunius Brutus and G. Cassius Longinus, the consequence of which was murdering the dictator on March 15, 44 B.C., is dealt with by the author from two different perspectives. Firstly, he discusses the very actions of conspirators, the aim of which was to hide their moves, as well as favourable factors and circumstances. Thus, he accentuates the masking actions taken by them, a careful choice of participants of the involvement into a conspiracy, its organisation in two stages, a careful planning of the attempt on the dictator and a well-thought choice of place for its realisation. He also emphasizes the dullness of Caesar’s diligence as well as that of politicians loyal to him, the use of some of his actions, his self-confidence, lack of suspicion, gentleness, resignation from the services of qualified security, ignoring warnings or getting allies from his closest environment. Secondly, the author presents the factors and circumstances that did not allow for keeping the very involvement into a conspiracy secret. He shows both the ones that got out of control and those they did not influence. All of them could be the reason why the information on the conspiracy came out and unmasked it. In this context, he pays attention to the role of ominous signs sent to Caesar from gods, predictions and the results of offerings made that were not beneficial for him, a big number of conspirators, a wide circle of their loved ones, friends, acquaintances and servants, as well as a hasty, especially in the last weeks, development of the conspiracy and, which may be connected with the choice of its final scenario — delaying the moment of murdering the dictator. The result of the considerations conducted is the conclusion that it is difficult to speak of the secrecy of the conspiracy organised by M. Iunius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus against Caesar in an explicit way. The success of the attempt, in the light of leak of information on an intended murder of the dictator, was to a large extent the result of a happy coincidence rather than the effect of keeping the secret by the conspirators.

The key to discuss the subject-matter in Florian’s coinage and differentiate the topic in the coinage in the second half of the third century was to take three following steps: 1) determine the typological structure of the coinage of Florian in percentages, based on the analysis of the content of the monetary treasures, 2) attach the monetary types to broader thematic categories, 3) compare the hierarchy of the thematic categories and monetary types in the coinage of Florian and other emperors governing in the years 268–276 AD. The basis for the analysis constituted the material covering 778 silver Florian’s coins coming from 11 big monetary hoards. A collection of 28 gold Florian’s coins, as well as his single medallions, was the completion allowing for making conclusions precise. The material for retrospection and comparison constituted 46,186 silver coins minted in the times of Claudius II, Quintillus, Aurelian, and Tacitus. A comparative analysis of topics dealt with in Florian’s coinage and that of his predecessors proves that the coin-images made on behalf of Florian were reflected above all in conventional dreams on the ruler equipped with virtus and guaranteeing the prosperity in the empire. Moreover, the coins' messages present a strong dependence of the emperor on the army.

The very article presents the arguments questioning a currently accepted interpretation of the Silesian Chronicle that it was Mieszko Plątonogi who attacked Bolesław Wysoki, his older brother, in 1172. In my opinion, Mieszko possessed his own duchy with the capital in Racibórz between 1166 and 1170, and the person who removed Bolesław Wysoki from Wrocław was Mieszko Stary. Such a conviction is in accordance with contemporary German sources. The position of Mieszko Plątonogi against his older brother dates back to 1177. The insignificant source basis does not allow for defining the exact time of ascribing the Opole Duchy to Jarosław, the oldest son of Bolesław Wysoki. In this article I am trying to show weak points in the hypothesis by J. Bieniak, who dates the formation of this duchy to 1175. I assume that Jarosław acted against his father as late as in 1177. What can be established is the fact that before Jarosław became the bishop in Wrocław in 1198 he had already been the prince of Opole, which one can assume on the basis of the authentic document of Henryk Brodaty (widely discussed in the article). In contrast to J. Bieniak, who questions the existence of the state of war between Mieszko and Henryk, I think that Mieszko received from his brother Bolesław the record of the Opole territory after his death. In the first half of 1202 it was Henryk Brodaty who beat him to the inclusion of Opole, but Mieszko excluded him from Opole and threatened his ruling in Wrocław. The conflict ended in 1202 thanks to the intervention of Pope Innocent III. The Pope confirmed Mieszko’s legal possession of ‘Grody i ziemie’ (Castles and lands) in the bull from 1202, under the general statement of which stands undoubtedly the Polish land. Instead, Prince Mieszko had to promise that he would not exclude Henryk from his homeland, that is, the Wrocław Duchy.

The article analyses the activity of Bolek V, a prince from Opole, during the Hussite wars. The very period of his life is most frequently discussed in the literature. However, particular authors, describing his activity, often come to contradictory conclusions. The author looked at the sources concerning the very issue again, trying to correct some of the controversial opinions. Bolko V remained under the influence of his father Bolek IV throughout the whole period of Hussite military actions in Silesia. The Piasts from Opole in the first years of the heretics’ invasion on Silesia belonged to the anti-Hussite camp, which, among other things, resulted in burning Głogówek, the headquarters of young Bolek, in 1428. He joined the Hussites two years later, probably on his father’s recommendation and with his uncle Bernard’s knowledge. The author proposed a different chronology of military actions during the campaign from 1430. Besides, he rejected, as some historians, the information on the alleged participation of Bolek V in the invasion of Częstochowa and Jemielnica.

The aim of the article is to describe the system of names in 18th-century Kobiór. The analysis of the records from the book of baptism allowed the author to come to the following conclusions. The catalogue of male names is definitely richer than that of female ones. In the case of boys, parents chose between 47 names, whereas in the case of girls, between 30. The numbers grew gradually over time. All names were Christian. The boys were most frequently given the names Jan, Jakub, Jerzy, Marcin, and Walenty, whereas the girls were called Zofia, Anna, Marianna, Jadwiga, and Katarzyna. The parents from Kobiór gave their children one name in most cases. When it comes to the factors determining the choice of names, the greatest influence was the calendar. The parents chose the name of the saint whose care and intercession they wanted for their child. It was important to celebrate the patron’s name day soon after the child’s birth. It can be noticed that this tradition was more frequent in the case of boys than girls. Before the patron day, 88.7% of boys and 52.4% of girls were baptized. Initially, the tradition of giving children multiple names was not popular in Kobiór. The intensity of the phenomenon of “multi-naming” is visible starting from the 1770s, when two names were given in Kobiór. Mainly boys were given several names, while girls did not undergo it to such an extent. Giving children two names was not just the privilege of rich families. A high percentage of multi-named children was also found among the poorest families of outworkers, debt collectors, and military men. In contrast to many other places, there were no cases of denouncing illegitimate children by giving them names typical of and not used in the village to differentiate them from the rest in Kobiór. Illegitimate children received the same names as the remaining ones. It also happened that they were given two names when baptized.

The authors attempted to discuss the activity of the Administrative Commissions of Bielsko and Cieszyn seen in the context of Polish-German relations in Cieszyn Silesia in the interwar period. A presentation of the main problem area is preceded by a synthetic analysis of the origins of self-government in the area in the context of the changes happening in the Habsburg dynasty in the second half of the 19th century. As a result of the events taking place between 1918–1920, the German ethnic element lost the possibility of creating an independent national centre in the territory of Cieszyn Silesia; however, it still created an economic lobby. Taking over political control in part of its area by the Polish side, on the other hand, forced the necessity to include its representatives in the self-government structures so far dominated by Germans. In such a case, it evoked natural pressures and the necessity of ethnic regulations, which also constitutes the subject of the authors’ deliberations.

The very article makes an analysis of the collectiveness of political leaders of the NSDAP in Pszczyna county between 1939 and 1945. (Pszczyna county belonged to Polish territories included directly in the Reich in autumn 1939). This type of NSDAP members in the Katowice notary has not been the subject of academic considerations so far. The analysis of the group under examination took into account the birthplace (to what extent they were Reichsdeutschers from the Old Reich and to what extent they were local Volksdeutschers), age (whether they were young or middle-aged), the socio-professional structure, experience in the NSDAP, gender, the attitude to army service, family, and belief. The author has established that the majority of political leaders came from the territories of the Katowice notary which, before September 1939, belonged to Poland (the preponderance of local Nazis over NSDAP members from the Old Reich). He also noticed the dominance of middle-aged people in the collectiveness in question, the supremacy of men over women, and a slight predominance of proletariat representatives over the lower middle class.

The aim motivating the author of the text is to present the considerations on the possibilities of influencing a contemporary young receiver by Polish youth music from the theoretical point of view. Apart from discussing the tasks and roles of music works, the author, referring to the examples of particular works and performers, tried to pay attention to the role and ways the lyrics of the music works can be used in practice during history and civic education lessons. The text is above all devoted to the analysis of selected Polish bands contemporarily functioning in a widely understood so-called rock trend. It shows the examples of the references to impressions and feelings of the receivers, familiarization with the sources treated as historical products of the recent past (constituting the basis of the knowledge on those times and helpful in describing or recreating them) and using songs as the presentation of certain opinions on events and processes from the past and present.

The sources collected in the State Archive in Łódź, in Zespół Dyrekcji Szkolnej Łódzkiej, concern the initial period (1872–1881) of functioning in Będzin of the Jewish beginning school. The notes, protocols, requests, or applications made by teachers, the mayor, or the so-called Jewish community of the town present the attitudes and actions of one side only, the so-called applicants. These were addressed to the authorities of the Łódź School Directorate in Łódź and contain information on the problems the Jews from Będzin struggled with, the mutual relations between two teachers from these schools: I. Goldberg and H. Blicher, and the attitude of Russian authorities towards the issues bothering the Jewish community. They also confirm the diversification in the society existing among the Jews, their traumas, possibilities of making decisions important for the general public within the scope of school issues, as well as ways of solving many problems. They also point to the fact that some citizens of the Moses’ belief, through their smartness and abilities, could overcome many obstacles to reach an important goal of their lives. The authors of these requests, applications, and complaints also revealed data concerning, among other things, the number of town inhabitants, professions performed by them, and the level of affluence of particular religious-cultural groups in Będzin. The presentation of these sources is preceded by a short introduction showing the circumstances of the formation and first years of work of this Jewish institution. Before each document, there is information on the contents of sources, their dating, and way of writing. The information in the documents included here, on the other hand, is supported by the footnotes explaining the meaning of some names and phenomena as well as showing the relationship with the already-mentioned issues. The sources presented were handwritten in Russian. When translating them, the author of the article wanted to make their Polish translation as similar as possible to the recording presented in the original version, that is, specific vocabulary and the way the authors of the documents transmitted different problems to school authorities.

Bolesław Bierut, the first secretary of KC PZPR, died suddenly after a short illness in Moscow on March 12, 1956. The funeral ceremony took place with great pomp on March 16, 1956 in Warsaw. The communist propaganda skillfully built a picture and mood of a great national mourning around this ceremony. The society, however, was divided in their opinions and moods when it comes to the death of the leader of the country. Many people saw in Bierut the secretary of state and a good host. A significant majority of people, however, expressed negative feelings towards the dead, through leaflets, captions on the walls, singing offensive songs addressed at him, raising glasses in a toast to his health, telling jokes, or destroying the portraits of the dead. The reactions of the clergy to B. Bierut’s death were diversified. It is shown in publications below the report. On the one hand, priests sent condolence letters and individually paid condolence in the presidium of the city and county or national councils, and celebrated masses for B. Bierut’s soul. However, there were cases of refusal to ring the bell during the funeral of the first secretary, expressions of satisfaction, and conclusions that the persecutor of the church died, whereas the church alone still existed. The Faith Departments made a report on the attitude and clergy behaviours in particular voivodships. They constitute the basis of the following publication.