The Boats during the Siege Operation on the Lake. Two Episodes from the Times of Alexios I Komnenos

In his article, the author took up an issue which is described but rarely in the history of military science. Even if combined ground-water operations were resorted to in different historical periods, on the whole it was the larger floating units that were used in them. Exceptionally, when the theatre of military operations was situated in the vicinity of rivers or small lakes and if one of the opponents treated these water reservoirs as a strategic element, boats and other craft more or less adapted to military operations were being used. The latter could be used as combat units or else as means of transport. The author subjected to analysis two examples of the use of combat boats by Byzantines at the time of Alex I Komnen (1081–1118) during the sieges of fortresses situated on the lake shores: namely that of Kastoria lake in 1083 and that of Nikea lake in 1097. In the first case, it was the Normans who were the defendants, whereas in the second case, it was the Sedgwick Turks, whereas the Byzantines cooperated with the Crusaders from the I Crusade. On the basis of detailed analysis of historical sources, the author presented above all the sabotage and control activities carried out by the Byzantines by means of the transport-combat boats which thanks to the excellent knowledge of the terrain by the Byzantines and the perfect synchronization of their actions with that of their infantry units, constituted an element of surprise for the opponents, ultimately determining the result of the battle. What proved to be a decisive element was the perfect training of the Byzantine soldiers and the foresight of their commanders, particularly as regards the use of tactical measures. As regards the issue of taking advantage of the victory (particularly in the case of Nikea lake), it was also the efforts of the Byzantine diplomacy, far superior to that of the allies and opponents that played an important role here.

Out-of-wedlock offspring of the Rulers in Central Europe in the 14th c.

On the example of the rulers of Central Europe in the 14th century, the author showed not only the phenomenon of illegitimate offspring of kings, but above all, he drew attention to their social status. Undoubtedly, it was the out-of-wedlock offspring of king Kazimierz Wielki /Casimir the Great/ that occupied the lowest position on the social ladder (3 illegitimate sons: Niemierz, Jan and Pełka), about whom little is known, whereas more detailed information concerning it is known from the writings of historian Jan Długosz who lived in the 15th century. The natural sons of the Polish king were completely forgotten by their father who did not ensure them decent posts and offices. The plight of the illegitimate children of the Czech and Hungarian rulers is quite different. Almost every illegitimate son of a Czech or Hungarian king became a bishop or else received another high church benefice, ensuring a high level of material existence. Koloman, the son of Charles Robert, became a bishop of Győr; Jan Voltek, the son of the Czech king Vaclav II, became a bishop of Olomuniec; Nicolas, the son of John of Luxemburg, was the bishop of Naumburg, and subsequently a patriarch of Aquilea. Whereas Elizabeth, the daughter of Vaclav II (or III), became an abbess. A career within the church seemed to be quite natural for the illegitimate offspring of the ruling families, as they were deprived of the rights to inherit the crown.

The Latin Middle East in the Second Half of XIIIth century according to the Chronicle of So-called Templar of Tyre

The aim of this short study is to present the problem, which has not yet appeared in the polish historical literature. The article treats of two main issues. First of them is concerned with the identity of the chronicle’s author, whereas the other one pays attention to the events emerged from his narrative.
The Old French Chronique du Templier de Tyr constitutes the third part of the larger composition Les Gestes des Chiprois and describes the last decades of the Frankish rule in the Levant. The edition took place in 2000 and was prepared by Laura Minervini.
In the chronicle one can notice the change of perspective. It is so, because the author did not belong to crucesignati, who every year were arriving to the Holy Land. He was born in the Latin East. As a member of the Frankish society he conducted his account, filled with intensive and personal memories, untill the culmination, which was the fall of Acre in 1291. The chronicler participated in that dramatic event. Although the story lasted till 1314 (the ultimate chronologically shown episode is the one related with the trial of the Templars and the death of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay), he continued the narrative, as it can be supposed, more from the sense of duty than from the inclination towards it. Moreover, his testimony is the only latin source that demonstrates the siege of the city by the Mameluks and its fall, as they were seen by the eye-witness.
The reconstruction of the chronicler’s life and the solution of the problem, whether he was or not a member of the Templar military order finds difficulties, due to the lack of information. The only notes, that we have at our disposal, are the ones of the autobiographical character directly from the text.
Presumably he was born in Tyre circa 1253, where he seems to have spent his youth. In 1269 he became one of four servants of Margaret of Antioch, the wife of John of Montfort, the lord of Tyre. He needed to be closely connected to both of them, because he was able to detect the changes in their physical appearance. After the death of John of Montfort in 1283 he left Tyre and moved to Acre, where he received work at the Templar secretariat. All that time he stayed in entourage of the Grand Master William of Beaujeu. He played an important role in the hierarchy of order. He was obliged to draw and copy documents. He even once translated from Arabic the letter of the Egyptian sultan. When Acre was captured by the Mamluks, as well the other inhabitants of the city, he fled to Cyprus.
It is not possibile to determine with the accuracy, if the chronicler really joined the order or maybe remained a secular person, who was only temporary affiliated to the Templars. We are not able to propose any conclusion, because there is a deficiency of final evidence in favour or against of two mentioned options. The author described in detail the last years of the Latin States in the Middle East. He distinguished four fields of interest and focused on: the problem of succession in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the antagonism between princes of Antioch (and at the same time counts of Tripoli) and Embriaco family, conflicts between Templars and Hospitallers and the Levantine rivalry between Genua and Venice. It is worth mentioning that the whole geographical horizon of the chronicle is really impressive. It spreads from the Western Europe to the Far East and from Constantinople to Gibraltar. In the middle of this world occurs Mediterranean with Syrian and Palestinian coast.

“Natural monarchs” and the electiveness of the throne in medieval Poland

The concept of “natural monarchs”, the only legitimate heirs to the monarchical power, was most closely associated with the Piast dynasty. Yet at the time of regional disintegration of Poland which occurred in the period 1138–1320, the disputes concerning succession to the Krakow throne, had led to a situation when side by side the principle of heredity, certain elements of electiveness of the supreme ruler had already been introduced. More and more often it was the magnates who decided about the election of the monarch, in exchange for support and certain class privileges. The first ruler to be elected from outside the Piast dynasty was the Czech king Vaclav II who ascended to the throne in the year 1291, having paid for the support of the nobility with the privileges granted to them in the town of Lutomyśl. The dying out of the Piast dynasty in the 14th cenuty, had led to the situation when the succession of the Andegaven dynasty both in the male and female line, had to be obtain the approval of both the clergy and the knighthood. And although Jadwiga /Hedwig/ was recognizsed as the “natural monarch”, her husband Władysław Jagiełło, had to be formally elected by the nobility, regardless of the so called “treaty of Krewo” – thus he was an elected king. In the 30’s of the 15th century, the principle of the hereditary rights to the throne sustained by the Jagiellon dynasty and the principle of the electiveness of the king supported by the nobility, became the object of arguments between the monarch and the “political nation”. Ultimately, it was the principle of electiveness that gained the upper hand, yet in practice it was subsequently realized within the Jagiellon dynasty. After the dying out of the Jagiellons, the Polish-Lithuanian state became fully elective, and when choosing each successive monarch, up until the year 1669, the nobility always took into consideration the blood ties of the successive king elect with the extinct Piast and Jagiellon dynasties.

Decisions of Medieval General Councils Concerning the Infidels

The states of medieval Europe were inhabited by the followers of various religions: Judaism, Islam and paganism, hence it became necessary to establish the principles of mutual co-existence between the Christians and the infidels. This goal was to be achieved by means of suitable legislation introduced by individual lay rulers as well as by the church legislation contained in the canonical law, which included the decisions of general councils (particularly the councils which were held between the 12–15th centuries). The Council decrees directed against the infidels referred to the current social and political situation, and hence they had a practical and not a dogmatic character. Among the restrictions, there emerge: the order to wear distinctive clothes (Lateran IV, Basle), the ban on appearing in public during the Easter period (Lateran IV, Basle), a ban on summoning to prayer from the mosques and a ban on organizing pilgrimages to the tombs of Marabuts (Vienna) as well as the obligation to move to specially designated city quarters (Basle). The remaining decisions in reality concerned the Christians who were banned from performing certain functions: e.g. going into service of the infidels or admitting them into service as babysitters (Lateran III, Basle), contacting them except in matters of utmost importance (Basle), appointing them to positions in public offices or else punitive institutions (Lateran IV, Basle). The bishops were obliged to teach the truths of faith to the infidels who inhabited their dioceses (Basle). Since the 14th century, attention was being paid to a suitable conduct with respect to the followers of other religions, by showing them due respect and love (Vienna, Basle). One should note that the goal of Council decrees was not the total elimination of different religions and beliefs. However, the councils did aim at gradual but consistent limitation of the infidels’ rights with respect to the Christians, which on the one hand was to protect the faithful against potential apostasy, and on the other, it was to discourage the non-Christians from persevering in their faith.

The History of the Bison in the Bialowieza Forest

The bison (Bison bonasus L.) has inhabited the forests of Europe for thousands of years. The above fact is best borne out by the numerous images of these animals to be found on the walls of caves – the dwelling places of the pre-historic man. Yet the development of civilization has led to a gradual extinction of the bison in individual countries, among others, due to hunting, which was willingly indulged in by the feudal elites and the catching of these animals and exporting them to the zoos and private breeding stations. Except for Poland, this species had become extinct before the end of the 18th century, whereas by the next century, it was only the Bialowieza Forest in Poland that remained its only sanctuary. Since the year 1809 an annual registration of the bison has been carried out there; at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the number of these animals oscillated around a few hundred specimen. Yet the situation changed during World War I. Already during the German occupation of the territory of the Bialowieza Forest, a rapid drop in the number of bisons could be observed, whereas during the period of anarchy which followed shortly after the withdrawal of the Germans, in the first half of 1919, these animals became totally exterminated. Four years later, an International Association for Bison Protection was founded from the initiative of Dr. Jan Sztolcman (the then vice-director of the National Natural History Museum in Warsaw). The main goal of this organization, which grouped countries in which there existed closed bison breeding farms, was to increase the numbers of these animals; in its activity, the Society took advantage of the experiences of the “American Bison Society”, an organization whose aim was to protect the American bison. In the year 1929, the first pure blood specimens of the lowland bison were brought to the specially created bison sanctuary in the Bialowieza Forest and in the year 1937 the first bison offspring were born from these cubs. In 1952 the first young were release to the Bialowieza reserve and five years later the Bialowieza herd began to multiply in the wild. At present, thanks to the efforts of a few generations of activists involved in the protection of the bison, this species is no longer facing extinction.

The Beginning of Formal-Legal Activities in Favor of Public Health Protection in the 19th Century England

The rapid progress which occurred in the sphere of industry in England in the second half of the 18th c. and at the beginning of the 19th c. – and consequently a change in the character of the society from an agricultural to an industrial one – had a direct impact on many walks of life, among which public health was not of least importance. A rapid and unplanned urbanization which was the consequence of an increase in the number of inhabitants in the cities, contributed to the worsening of sanitary conditions among the working class population, which had an impact, among others, on the rapid spread of infectious diseases. It is no coincidence therefore that the attempts aiming at an improvement of the public health system which emerged in the first half of the 19th c. – focused chiefly on an improvement of sanitation.
Among the features that characterized the period prior to 1848 one finds, among others, a lack of national legislation concerning health and a lack of definite procedural principles relating to public health as a sphere of functioning of the state. Yet such activities were being effected on the local level and they originated from an increased awareness of the local authorities who attached an ever greater importance to the conditions of living of the local population in a given region.
The first half of the 19th century is a period of drawing up the first reports which were the effect of gathering data and subjecting it to scientific analysis, that is attempts to “gauge the problem”. The results of these analyses exemplified an obvious correlation between sanitary conditions and the high rate of incidence of diseases and high mortality rate.
The culminating point and at the same time an important caesura in the above-presented activities was the year 1848 and the adoption of the Public Health Act – the first act whose goal was to promote public health, The adoption of this act marked a clear-cut boundary line in the history of the development of public health in the 19th century England. In spite of the many shortcomings and imperfections – that are noticeable particularly from today’s perspective – this act was nevertheless a clear-cut reflection of the state’s interest in the issues associated with public health; moreover, it initiated a series of legislative steps and led to the creation of the first national institution responsible for shaping the health policy – the National Health Council. In spite of its very modest prerogatives, the Council testified to the acceptance of planned and oriented activities in issues related to public health.

Demographic Changes in Lvov in the Years 1829–1938

In the article, the author sums up the results of research on the issue of demographic transformations which had taken place in Lvov in the years 1829–1938. Due to a lack of archival sources, the paper relies on the published statistical data. Up until now, Lvov possessed neither a monograph concerning demographic issues, nor any detailed analyses of population changes which had taken place there in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the analysis, the author makes use of the crude birth and death rates in order to single out the individual phases of the demographic transformation. The first phase is typical of the demographic ancient regime and is characterized by high values of the birth and death rates. However the author goes beyond this observation and undertakes an effort to answer the question what was the cause of such high mortality in Lvov and how the contemporary city authorities tried to counteract these unfavorable factors.
Subsequently, the author focuses on trying to define the time of commencement of the second phase of the transformation which began with the drop of the death rate. In spite of the fact that it is difficult to talk about precise dates, it seems that this process began at the turn of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries. The author also draws attention to a certain lack of precision in estimating the number of inhabitants in the city, due to a considerable volume of migration which intensified towards the end of the 19th c.; this phenomenon could have exerted an influence on entering the process of demographic transformations earlier than might be inferred from formal observations.
Apart from a general analysis, the author carried out community research taking into consideration such factors as gender and religious belief. If in the case of differentiation into gender, the results only confirmed the occurrence of inequality towards death among men and women, then in the case of religion, certain fundamental differences were observed. In the light of the conducted studies, it turned out that it was the Jews who entered the second phase at the earliest moment, which in turn led to an increased birth rate among the Jewish population. This process could have exerted a considerable influence on the perception of this religious group as a more expansive one at the beginning of the 20th century, not only in the economic, but also in the demographic sense.

Child in Krakow Family in the 2nd Half of the 19th Century. Demographical Study

The article constitutes the foundation for further demographic research on the population of children who lived in Krakow in the second half of the 19th century. The community which was the object of the study comprised the inhabitants of Krakow aged 1 and 14. On the basis of the preserved population censuses, the author investigated the percentage of children in the entire population of the city; she tried to answer the question what the structure of the defined subpopulation was with regard to sex and religion and what the percentage of families with children in the total number of Krakow households and families was; she also tried to provide an answer the question how numerous these households were and what the position of children in them was. The author also tried – unsuccessfully – to define in approximation the children’s professional activity. The results of this study point out that the biggest percentage of children, with a small predominance of boys occurred in the population of Krakow around the year 1869; it also showed that the children from Roman-Catholic households had reached the highest percentage (cir. 60%) around the year 1890. The households in which there were children constituted between 56 and 60% and upwards, in the years 1857–1890, whereas as regards the number of family members in these households, there predominated 5-person families in all of the investigated time intervals. Whereas throughout the entire period subjected to analysis, the number of children living outside the families continually increased. The children were entrusted to the care of various institutions, were sent away to boarding schools or else went into service; very often, they were entrusted to the care of distant relations or acquaintances. The number of children who had no families was also on the increase

W jednym z listów napisanym w Grenoble Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski zamieścił takie oto zdanie: „niezależnie od długoletniej służby w wojsku i w Ministerstwie Spraw Zagranicznych byłem i jestem literatem”. Powyższa opinia o sobie chyba najbardziej trafnie charakteryzuje tego człowieka pióra, autora niezliczonych tekstów o marszałku Józefie Piłsudskim i przede wszystkim twórcę ogromnego i ważkiego dzieła – może nie ze względu na objętość, bo i wcześniej powstawały książki o znacznie większej objętości, ale ze względu na wyzyskany materiał źródłowy i tło czasowe powstawania – Najnowszej Historii Politycznej Polski.