Introduction

The author’s object of interest is the C. Scribonius Curio’s actions during the Senate’s session on March 1,50 B.C. at which it was made impossible to deprive C. Julius Caesar of his position of the governor of the Gallic provinces. As a result, the said session, in spite of long and careful preparations, and even though it was called only for the sake of solving this particular problem, ended in fiasco. Curio’s actions led to the failure of all efforts made by Pompey and his allies, from the ranks of the optimates, who stood behind the session, already in the previous year. That tribune of the people contributed also to the inflammation of the conflict between Caesar on the one hand and Pompey and his allies, on the other, and also to the prolongation of the political squabbling, connected with this issue, until the beginning of January, 49. This is why C. Scribonius Curio had a hand in bringing about the outbreak of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey and his allies. In this context, we should see Curio’s, the tribune of the people’s, intervention, during that session of the Senate, as a very important event. It was also a kind of political masterpiece, for Curio, by preventing the act of taking away from Caesar the governorship of the Gallic provinces, enabled him to continue the defence of his position in the state. Curio organised his action in such a way as to avoid giving Caesar’s enemies a pretext for the immediate application of the sanctions previously prepared against him. Instead, he brought about the unmasking of Pompey and his optimates allies’ true intentions. The author’s purpose is then to elucidate all the important and accessible aspects of the actions undertaken by C. Scribonius Curio, the tribune of the people, at the Senate session on March 1,50 BC, and, in particular, to find out whether, to torpedo the plans of Caesar’s enemies, he made use of the right of veto, which then was a privilege of the tribune of the people. The problem is that Curio’s attitude and actions during that particular session have not been as yet successfully and unequivocally explained in the literature on the subject. Many scholars do not attach sufficient importance to this problem, while others, without basing their conclusions on an in-depth analysis of the source material, suggest that on that day Curio prevented Caesar’s loss of the Gallic provinces exactly by means of an intercession, which does not, however, correspond to what happened later in connection with the conflict between Pompey, with his optimates allies, and Caesar. Having analysed the policy of the parties involved in this quarrel, the source material, and the comments of the researchers interested in the subject in question, the author has come to the conclusion that the way Curio’s actions undertaken during that fateful session of the Senate are described in the literature on the subject leaves much to be desired. He has also shown that Curio could not, by any means, have achieved his purpose if he had resorted to an intercession. This was because the use of the right of veto would have immediately resulted in the application of the sanctions prepared against Caesar, whose situation would have become very complicated, which would have led, in the following months, to a course of events completely different from the one we know from the sources.

In the imperial propaganda in the period from the 1st to 3rd cc. the most extensively used, among the tales about the legendary origins of the Romans and about Rome’s early history, were two thematic threads: one connected with Aeneas’s adventures; and the other concerning the tales about Romulus and Remus, nourished by a she-wolf, and about the deeds of the adult Romulus. The transmission of the historical Roman legend, in the imperial propaganda, took place mainly owing to the iconographic possibilities offered by the space on the reverse of coins. Initially, in the 1 st c. we find mainly a representation of the goddess Roma with a shield on which the she-wolf with the twins were depicted. Of equal importance was, at that time, also an autonomous representation of the she-wolf with the children. In the 2nd c. we come across a greater variety of representations. On the reverse of the imperial coins, we can see also Romulus with a trophy, Mars, Rhea Silvia, Aeneas, and other figures connected with the beginnings of the Roman history. It was particularly in the epoch of the Antonines that such representations connected the Roman past with its contemporary greatness, and showed Rome as an ideal body politic. In spite of the authentic enrichment of the iconographic practice, those issues showed, just as in the 1st c. little variety as regards the inscriptions of the reverse. We would look there in vain for any clear allusions the political events of the time, or to the political situation of the Roman state. In the 3rd c. scenes connected with Aeneas disappeared from the monetary iconography. The most frequent symbolical image is that of the she-wolf nourishing children; sporadically we may find also Romulus with his trophy, or Mars and Rhea Silvia. The ideological message of these coins reflects the political orientation of the authorities responsible for the issues, and also the principal political worries of the epoch. The allusions to the eternity of Rome and to the illustrious ancestors of the Romans could serve the purpose of confirming the legitimacy of the imperial power, and could contribute to its strengthening. In this context, we can see them as connected with the ideas of salus Augusti, aeternitas Augusti, and virtus Augusti.

In the Silesian history writing, a lot of attention is paid to the last will of Mieszko II the Obese. The reason is the controversy around the date of its composition. Taking into account the date of that prince’s death, which took place between 18 and 22 October, and also the day and the month, that is the 29 October, it should be assumed that Mieszko’s last will was prepared on 29 October 1245 at the latest.

A great number of documents and seals, and particularly of various counter-seals, bear witness to the intense activity of the Duchess’s chancellery. Most of the documents produced on behalf of Agnes are associated with the 1370s and 1380s. It is also in this period, as is indicated by at least five various counter-seals, that the staff of the Duchess’s office was the most numerous. The extant seals reflect very faithfully the Duchess’s face and complete the information concerning her that we can get from the documents. They also provide us with important fact concerning the chancellery’s personnel, and they also are a reflection of the level of the goldsmithery and engraving of the period. The three bust seals of the Duchess, of a clearly inferior artistic quality, were probably made in the workshops of some of the local goldsmiths, just as the counter-seals that are signet rings of the Duchess’s secretaries. Agnes’s pedestrian seal, however, represents a very high artistic level, similar to the contemporary seals of the Czech kings, and it probably was made by some Prague goldsmith. Why the Duchess did not have her own counter-seal remains an open question. It is possible that, because of the haste with which the pedestrian seal was produced (the Duchess certainly had it in 1369, and probably even already in 1368), its author was not assigned the task of making a signet seal. At any rate, Agnes had certainly four seals at her disposal, which shows the complexity of her chancellery and emphasises the range of her power.

The author’s research into the clerical careers of particular representatives of the Rudzki family, and into their incomes and possessions leads to the following conclusions. The Rudzkis did not belong to the oldest native gentry of the Cieszyn Duchy, who date back to the second half of the 14th c. (like, for example, the Czelowie of Czechowice), or, in some cases, even to the turn of the 14th c. which was the period where this social class was coming into being in the newly created Cieszyn Duchy. The first representatives of the Rudzki family appeared in the social surroundings of the Dukes of Cieszyn already in the last quarter of the 15th c. but we can talk about their real presence in the said area only beginning with the 1520s, that is since there appeared, at the court of the Cieszyn branch of the Piast dynasty, Erasmus Rudzki. Having received, from the Duke Casimir II, the „Parchowo” manor, in the village Bobrek adjacent to the town of Cieszyn, the Rudzkis were granted the privilege to settle down, and from that time on they could see themselves as members of the Cieszyn gentry, and could enjoy all privileges proceeding from this fact. Bearing in mind that, in the 14th c. and early 15th c. the Cieszyn gentry were hardly numerous, and the majority of the noble families consisted of people who arrived from outside the Duchy, we may classify the Rudzkis as typical representatives of that class, whose members were looking for somewhere to live in various regions of the Upper Silesia. Erasmus’s earning the trust of Duke Casimir made it possible for him to gain the position of the president of the council of the Duchy of Cieszyn. Most probably, the duke entrusted him with the education of his grandson - Wenceslas III Adam. Thanks to that, Erasmus introduced into the ducal court his sons: Wenceslas and Nicholas, which we can surmise considering the exceptional positions that, in the not too distant future, both Rudzkis held at the ducal court. Wenceslas Ill Adam’s trust that Erasmus’s sons and grandsons’ won paved the way to such careers that no other noble family in the Duchy of Cieszyn have ever, either earlier or later, made. Erasmus’s two sons took proper care of the promotion of their brothers: Melchior and Caspar. The former became the overseer of the duke’s landed property in the Demesne of Cieszyn, while the latter was a manager of the Demesne of Skoczów. All the above-mentioned persons held their posts until they died, which shows that they did not betray the trust that they had won. The Rudzkis’ further career was stopped for a while because there was no experienced, adult, male representative of the family after the death of the two most important officials - the chancellor Wenceslas and the president Nicholas. Wenceslas, however, following his father’s, Erasmus’s, example, managed to place his sons, Caspar and Erasmus, in the milieu of the under-age Duke Adam Wenceslas, the son of Wenceslas III Adam, which enabled them later to hold, at the ducal court, the positions analogous to the ones held earlier by their father and paternal uncle. The former became the overseer of the Demesne of Cieszyn, and later the chancellor (until 1608), and president of the Cieszyn regional council, and, for some time, also a district judge. Erasmus took over from his brother the post of the chancellor, and, for a short period at the end of his life, also held that of the council president. The death of both dignitaries coincides with the political changes in the Duchy of Cieszyn, which were connected, first of all, with the extinction of the Piast dynasty, and also with the military actions during the Thirty Years War. At the same time, the male line of the Rudzki family in the Duchy of Cieszyn died out. The family’s importance, both in the political and material sense, declined.

The present article outlines the problem of the production of cannons in the Warsaw foundry in the years 1780-1784, in the light of the report submitted to the Seym by major Stanisław Wągrowski, the director of the foundry. The author presents the administrative staff of the foundry, the specialist craftsmen responsible for casting the cannons, and the participation of further cooperators, for various specialists, not employed by the foundry, also took part in the process of producing the cannons. The author focuses on the subsequent stages of the production, and is particularly interested in its financial aspects, as the cost of the production of particular cannons was changeable. In the above-described period, the Warsaw foundry was producing 3-pound, 6-pound, and 12-pound cannons.

After the lost Polish war with Russia in 1792, between 200 and 700 persons emigrated, for political reasons, from the Republic. This was a small group, but they had quite considerable political influence in Poland. The part of the society that was hostile to the rule of the Targowica confederacy, and towards their formal protectors - the Russians, pinned their hopes for a better future, to a large extent, on the activity of the emigrants. The latter were not, however, willing, until the announcement of the Second Partition, to undertake any decisive actions aimed at destabilising the government of the country. Only when the inevitability of the new partition became clear, the most energetic part of this expatriate group started to think in terms of fighting for independence. The idea of seeking a compromise with the Targowica people was practically abandoned, while the option of reaching an agreement with the King Stanislaus Augustus was still open only for those who were afraid of violent social changes in Poland comparable with those that were occasioned by the French Revolution. It must be borne in mind, that all the emigrants were fully aware that Poland was heading for a total downfall, they all wanted to save the Republic, but not all were quite ready to take part in such a risky undertaking. The Polish emigrants who left the country after 1792 had no doubt a hand in preparing the outbreak of the Kosciusko insurrection, but they were not the most decisive factor. It seems that the uprising was brought about and started by a group of, predominantly military, enthusiasts who felt that the new reality deprived them of any long-term professional outlooks, of course as long as they were not prepared to forsake a minimum decency and dignity. A large part of the Polish gentry supported the 1794 insurrection because they felt that the country’s economic and moral foundations of existence were shaken by the policy of Russia and the Targowica confederacy. It is also worth observing that the insurrection, without the strong anti-Russian, anti-Prussian sentiments, would have fallen on the day of its outbreak. A part of the emigrants decided to get involved in the political turmoil in Poland only after the fists military successes of the insurrectionists, very few of them took this desperate step immediately, apart from Thaddeus Kosciusko himself.

Jan Wypler (1890-1965) was one of the most extraordinary people who ever lived and wrote in Upper Silesia. Fully educated, he studied at the German universities in Wroclaw and Kiel. Ever since his childhood, he was, apart from Polish, using German, which became for him, to some extent, a second native language. He was constantly broadening his knowledge, and acquiring more and more foreign languages, of which he could speak fluently around twenty. He made his name as a zealous propagator of classical Polish literature and its translator into German . Already as an adult man, he got interested in the Chinese language and literature. Sinology became the passion of his life. In a short time, he became one of the most outstanding translators of Chinese literature, and, as one of the first Polish translators, he was basing, in his work, on the Chinese originals. Apart from translations, he dealt with linguistics, and with literary, and theatrical, criticism. He also wrote poetical works in German, was a historian, columnist, editor, and teacher. His study of particular languages was completed with research on the history, philosophy, and culture of the countries and nations that spoke those languages.

The pre-war parish papers that appeared in the Katowice diocese are a precious and still relatively neglected historical source. The purpose of the present article is to characterize one of them, the „Parish News” issued in Wielkie Hajduki (now Chorzów Batory, part of the city of Chorzów), in the years 1929-1939, as a historical source. The parish of Wielkie Hajduki, which at that time was still a separate district in the county of Świętochłowice, has become a rewarding area of research because of its well preserved archives, and because of its being a very representative, standard, and characteristic example of industrial and proletarian areas in the Upper Silesia as it was in the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century. The Hajduki „Parish News”, as a historical source, is no doubt highly valuable for all kinds of research, concerning, among other things, demography, sociology, national problems, but also mentality, social mores, and the ways of spending leisure. Above all, it gives us access to the religious practices, the activity of societies and fraternities, and, broadly speaking, to the forms of the religious life of the local community, centred on the parish, at that time. The „Parish News” provides us with a deep insight into the everyday life of the parishioners, and also into the strivings of the clergy to develop desirable attitudes towards religion. The life of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Wielkie Hajduki, as it appears in the parish paper, can be described as intensive and colorful. Above all, the image of it seems credible, authentic, lively, and many-sided. We clearly see the efforts of the local priests to turn their numerous flock of parishioners into a genuine parish community, with a heightened religious and civic awareness. We can also clearly observe the local community with its various problems. We are also given a chance to notice here the characteristic features of the mentality of those times, to carry out demographic, or sociological research, and, finally, to complete the historian’s detailed knowledge on the past of particular cities and districts. Bearing in mind that similar papers were published in many parishes, we may regard then as offering an exciting possibility to deepen substantially our knowledge of the local history. A historian may find in the Wielkie Hajduki „Parish News” a lot of precious information. Important matters are interwoven with trivial ones, exceptional events with everyday ones, people’s successes with failures. In a word, we get here an excellent guide to the everyday life of Upper Silesia in the inter-war period, a source then that makes it possible for the historian to understand the past better.

The process of the polarisation of national attitudes among the population of Upper Silesia, which started in the second half of the 19th c., was not finished until the division of this region after the First World War. There still existed a numerous group of the nationally indifferent population, knows popularly as an ‘intermediate class’. Those people were the main object of Polish and German efforts to win them over in the campaign before the national Plebiscite. After 1922, the struggle continued. Before the elections to the local councils, to the Silesian Seym, to the Seym of the Republic, to personnel councils, church councils, health-insurance funds, both the Poles and the Germans attempted to secure the votes of their electorate. Both sides counted such people as belonging to their nationality. From a statistic point of view, this group enhanced the number of the German minority, and strengthened the German social and political organisations, and the German minority schools. The members of this group were often given priority, before the Polish workers, in the matters of employment. The group in question also gave the German politicians some excuse for a very subjective interpretation of the national divisions in the region, as the nationally undetermined persons tended, on the whole, to be more pro-German than pro-Polish, even though they were from an ethnically Polish stock. In the article, the reader may find many examples of the behaviour of the nationally indifferent people, and the German point of view on the matter has also been presented.

The present article deals with matters belonging to several academic disciplines: history, sociology of knowledge, and, partly, social psychology. Above all, however, it is a study in historical hermeneutics - a work based on a specific historical source. The author’s purpose was to reconstruct „the outlook on the world and the human race” represented by the most outstanding Polish communists in the period from 1944 to 1956, on the basis of the interviews which seven of them gave Teresa Torańska, and which were later published in the book They. The author focused on the following problems, treating them as elements of the reconstructed communist world-view:
- the vision of the social reality (how the Polish communists perceived the subjects and objects of social activity)
- the vision of the historical process (how they perceived the historical process, and who, according to them, played the most active role in it)
- the province of values and social purposes.
The highly idiosyncratic convictions within this group stem from their ideological assumptions. Their outlook was also shaped by the characteristic social, and political experiences, it resulted also from the specific conditions that shaped the formation of this group.

The present article is a historical analysis of the rise of the idea of the anti-Communist resistance modelled on the Biela Légia. The ambitions of the creators of the Biela Légia transmitter have been compared to the effects of the anti-Communist struggle as recorded by the Czechoslovak Security Service in the process of the liquidation of the Biela Légia in Slovakia. Contrary to memoirs (published in 1999) of J.Vicen, who was chiefly responsible for the Biela Légia transmitter, an analysis of Vicen’s formally recorded testimony concerning the years 1948-1958 makes it clear that the idea of the Biela Légia arose and was put into practice in two stages. Initially, in the years 1948-1949, it was a broadly conceived political movement organised on the territory of Slovakia, a movement that undertook also a spying activity. In this way, Biela Légia, structured on the model of the organisation called Slovenská Tajná Ochrana (The Slovak Secret Self-Defence), was supposed to carry out the WACO intelligence project, financially supported by the American intelligence service called Counter Intelligence Corps. At the second stage, in the years 1950-1955, the Biela Légia existed in an unorganised form, and conducted a non-violent fight against the Communist terror. This struggle consisted in passive resistance to the orders of the totalitarian power. The absence of an organised resistance movement that would effectively defend the society against the regime was supposed to be compensated by the transmitter, which made it possible to address people individually. In opposition to this idea of the transmitter, there appeared in Slovakia numerous armed groups of Biela Légia, the purpose of which was to prepare a major change of political conditions and the restitution of the Slovak State.