JUSTINIAN AND THE EARLY DAYS OF THE SLAVS. REMARKS ON FLORIN CURTA’S THEORY
Carried out by Florin Curta in his work The Making of the Slavs and repeated in subsequent publications, the entire reconstruction of the historical situation in the Balkans under the rule of Justinian I does not reflect the reality of the period. Overestimating the role of barbarian invasions and the lack of a critical analysis of thed scription presented in the 4thbook of De Aedificiis by Procopius of Caesarea resulted in an artificial depiction of the situation on the imperial territories in the first half of the 6thcentury. Drawing on an episode connected with Chilbudius’s expeditions to the north bank of the Danube and an excerpt from Justinian’s 11thNovella devoted to Aquis, Curta „discovered” Justinian’s political activities that the ruler never actually undertook, i.e. the aggressive policy towards barbarians or burdening bishops with land security responsibilities. The analysis of historical sources present in Curta’s works is merely a tool since it is used only to prove the thesis that the beginnings of the Slavs by the Danube were an outcome of Justinian’s building activities..

BRANCH CHURCHES AND THEIR PLACE IN THE PARISH SYSTEM IN MEDIEVAL MORAVIA
The text introduces the issue of branch churches in the context of parish system and functioning in medieval Moravia. The Czech literature has often depicted the medieval parish system on Czech territories as a structure divided into two clearly defi ned and explicitly varying groups: parish churches and branch churches. Yet different sources contain a more complex picture of branch churches as being a deeply diverse group in which there are both churches of marginal signifi cance and temples not considerably differing from parish churches in terms of their status and function. The author presents several instances illustrating the position of branch churches in the parish system in medieval Moravia as well as reasons for changes in the status of churches and ways in which these changes were introduced.

The kingdom of Cyprus as an object of interest to mediterranean countries between 1192–1489. A sketch of the problem

Under the rule of the French Lusignan dynasty, Cyprus quickly became the focus of interest to other countries: Sicily under the reign of the Hohenstaufen, Anjou and Aragon houses, Italian countries of Genoa, Venice and Duchy of Savoy, England and African Mamluk Sultanate. Initially the interest was based on political reasons, however, with the arrival of the Crusaders to the Holy Land and then the development of trade with Muslims there were economic reasons for seizing power over the island. What is more, the above deliberation clearly reveals the declining political position of the Lusignan

dynasty who starting from the end of the 14thcentury could only observe how Mediterranean countries fought for control over Cyprus. After the death of Peter I of Cyprus (1359–1369), the most prominent king and the conqueror of Alexandria, the period of glory, when the island influenced international policy mostly – though not only – in the eastern region of the Mediterranean Sea, came to an end. From then on Cyprus was merely a subject of diplomatic, economic as well as military efforts and conflicts undertaken by Mediterranean countries.

The present paper does not assume to exhaust the subject. However, it is an introduction to a broader research on the matter in question which is immensely relevant for depicting the medieval political and economic situation in the Mediterranean Sea region. 

The Herald’s Book of the Jülich-Berg Order of St. Hubert and the Stained Glass Windows in the Choir of Ehrenstein Church

Some years ago I was doing research on the 15th century stained glass windows of our parish church. There, in the choir of Ehrenstein church I came across the Jülich-Berg Order of St. Hubert. Very few contemporary sources relating to the Order remain. They are the Statuten, the Heroldsbuch, the Bruderschaftsbuch and half a dozen images. The Herald’s Book, berol. ms. germ. quart. 1479, is in the Biblioteka Jagiellonska of Krakow University. Hitherto the manuscript was erroneously known as the Herald’s Book of Hermann von Brunshofen and was thought to have been made around 1480. Apparently it had never been thoroughly examined.
As it turned out, the manuscript does not only date back to the reign of Wilhelm IV Duke of Jülich-Berg (1475–1511), but even to the early history of the Order during the reign of its founder, Gerhard II Duke of Jülich-Berg (1437–1475). Once seen in this light, the Herald’s Book revealed more hitherto disregarded information about the Order of St. Hubert. Thus establishing the manuscript as a most important primary source for the history of the Order indeed.
On October 22nd, 2009 the new appreciation of the Herald’s Book was presented in a lecture at the Institute of History of Krakow University. The contents of that lecture form ‘the backbone’ of the following essay.
In order to put the results of the research into context, the essay begins with a presentation of the stained glass windows in the choir of Ehrenstein church and an introduction into the Order of St. Hubert. It ends by pointing out, how the Herald’s Book contributed to the understanding of these stained glass pictures. The historical backdrop – in connection with the Herald’s Book in particular the fortunes of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy – is given much attention throughout.

Development of Typography in the Netherlands in 16th Century on the Example of Antwerp and the Role of Printing during the Dutch Revolt

The Netherlands and especially Antwerp acted a significant role in developing of printing. The Scheldt city, called one of the three typographical capitals of Europe, was in the 16th century famous of its stock exchange, merchants, skilled artists and craftsmen. All of them where converged by guild of Saint Luke in which very strong position took the fraternity of printers. In the second half of 16th century the main role played there Christoffel Plantijn and his De Gulden Passer publishing house.
This article is focusing on the developing of printing in the Netherlands on the example of Antwerp in comparative perspective to other cities in this region and Venice. I’m describing conditions which have had the main infl uence on evolution of printing methods in the metropolis and bringing closer characteristic attributes of Antwerp’s typography as well as figures of main printers and publishers. In the second half of 16th century began the revolt against Spanish reign in the Netherlands, which evolved to one of the longest confl icts of Europe – the Eighty Years War. Fighting factions started to use for the first time in history of the propaganda possibilities created by printing. Books and devotional pictures conceded to political texts, pamphlets, leafl ets and broadsheets. The simplicity of manufacture, quickness of duplication and low market price of these prints caused that the propaganda appeared in the  modern meaning. Because the role of typography during fi rst twenty years of the Dutch Revolt is hard to overestimate, I’m also pointing main streams of use of such propaganda texts, methods of dissemination and censorship.
The fall of Antwerp after one-year siege in 1585 ended a golden age of this metropolis. But the transfer of Weltwirtschaft centre to Amsterdam and later to London didn’t stop Antwerp’s typography. Situated in city publishing houses were still working. Only the variety of publication languages and topics were confi ned to catholic and mostly Spanish and Latin texts.

The South Slavs in the Concept of Slavic Mutual Cooperation by Karel Havlíček Borovský
The beginnings of the Czech independent political journalism are intrinsically connected with the person of Karel Havlíček Borovský, a writer, a journalist and an activist. In 1846–1851 he subsequently worked as the editor of three nationalistic and liberal journals: Pražské Noviny, Národní Noviny and Slovan. In Pražské Noviny he published a series of polemical articles entitled Slovan a Čech (1846). It was a manifest, considered by contemporary scholars to be the fi rst Czech political programme which prioritised the Czech national issues over the general Slavic interests, thereby demystifying the myth  f Slavic commonwealth. The point of reference was the concept of Slavic reciprocity formulated by Ján Kollár (On the literary reciprocity between Slav tribes and vernaculars). Havlíček appreciated the idea of close cultural cooperation between the Slavic nations, but he rejected the concept of considering all Slavs as one people. Havlíček reduced the idealistic project of Kollár in the spirit of Austroslavism and arrived at an idea of pragmatic and mutually benefi cial cooperation between the Czechs and the South Slavs in the area of culture, economy and politics. When evaluated from the contemporary vantage point, the infl uence of Havlíček’s ideas upon the Czech socio-political thought is visible in the presence of the South Slavic orientation in the international relations policy adopted by the Czech Republic.

Between a Tribute of Adoration and Ideological Distance. On the Kraków Celebrations of the 100thAnniversary of Juliusz Słowacki’s Birthday 

Juliusz Słowacki was a poet who remained until the day of his death in the shadow of the Great Foremost One, as Adam Mickiewicz was called. It was not until the following generations started to know and understand him better that he was elevated to the rank of the nation’s „forerunner”. This advancement took place at the beginning of the 20thcentury upon the initiative of neoromantic artistic milieus (Young Poland movement) fascinated by the extraordinary breadth of vision and the power of imagery present in Słowacki’s poetry. The other group who placed him on the pedestal were young people calling for liberation of Poland. They reacted arduously to Słowacki’s cry for going „one by one to death, / As stones thrown by God at the rampart!…” in the name of freedom for their motherland (the quoted passage comes from the poem „My Testament”).
In 1909, the year of the 100thanniversary of Słowacki’s birthday, both groups mentioned above took the opportunity to pay tribute to the poetic genius as well as to demonstrate patriotic feelings and striving for liberation. More than one thousand various anniversary celebrations were organized in 550 places within the former borders of Poland and in other countries.
This article discusses the Kraków celebrations of the 100thanniversary of the „second bard’s” birthday The author is less interested in the particular events themselves and more in the ideological atmosphere pervading these celebrations, since, as it has been revealed, „the spirit of Juliusz Słowacki” in 1909 was more a spirit of discord than of concord…
The reason for such a state of affairs was that many readers at that time considered the author of Kordian to be an „emblem” of certain ideological and political values, including the independence of Poland, for whom one should always fi ght until the last drop of blood, republicanism, democracy, in a word, progress in political and social life. Those values were unacceptable at Kraków’s aristocratic palaces, bourgeois salons and the Dual Monarchy institutions loyal to Vienne. In consequence, the members of those infl uential Cracovian circles ideologically distanced themselves from „the most romantic one among the romantics”.

Institution of the Professors’ General Meeting at the Public Universities in the Second Polish Republic
The article describes the institution of the Professors’ General Meeting which constituted the highest collegial self-government body at universities in the Second Polish Republic. The basic formal and legal conditions for the functioning of the institution are described. The body of the article is divided into six parts. The introduction points to the unique nature of the General Meeting in the context of Polish academic legislation of the 20thcentury and the first decade of the 21st century as well as the grounds for commencing the research from the date of 15 September 1920. Subsequently, the system of public academic education is described, including the classifi cation of universities within the scope relevant for the subject of the research, and academic privileges considered unique in comparison with other research and education units are specifi ed. The second chapter discusses the institution of the Professors’ General Meeting and its three stages of development that can be identifi ed in the interwar period. The author also analyzes the member roster and its changes in time as well as the impact that the academic groups (teachers, administrative employees and students, including all ranks and categories) exercised upon the functioning of the university, comparing the 1920–1939 period and the Third Polish Republic. The next chapter describes the basic procedures of the Professors’ General Meeting. The further deliberations concern the detailed competences of the body with special emphasis put on the reduction of these competences and their classification in terms of dependence on or independence from the approval of the Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Education. Additionally, the specific character of the Professors’ General Meeting in one-faculty universities in 1933–1937 is also discussed since the rights of that body in such cases were extended by the responsibilities of the faculty council and the university senate. The article is concluded with a summary of basic facts from the history of the institution of the Professors’ General Meeting at public universities in the interwar Poland and an attempt to explain the conspicuous tendencies in its development and the reasons for this development.

Emigration of the Jewish Population from Poland to Israel in 1956–1959. Reasons, Stages and Assimilation in the New Country
The present article discusses the reasons for the emigration of Jews from Poland in 1956–1959, the stages of the process as well as the emigrants’ assimilation in Israel. For the purpose of presenting a complete description of the subject, I began with depicting the social and political transformations of the Jewish minority in the aftermath of World War II. In the next section I concentrate on the reasons for emigration and its structure. I also devote special attention to the assimilation process of the Polish Jews in Israeli society and its numerous and various difficulties. The article is concerned with the period of 1956–1959. In October 1956 the Central Committee of the Polish Workers’ United Party (PZPR) appointed Władysław Gomułka as the first secretary. He was the one to issue an emigration permit, while the year 1959 marks the end of the Jewish mass departures for Israel.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Historical Research

The author of the article discusses the application of GIS systems for historical research as well as for presenting the research results. The fi rst part of the article contains defi nitions of GIS and a short history of the method development in the second half of the 20thcentury. Afterwards the article focuses on scant sources on the subject in the Polish language and slightly less so in English. Since an essential aspect of the issue is the software employed for the research, the author presents its short characteristics and systematization. The most interesting historical GIS projects, which may become an inspiration for other researchers in Poland, are also described in the body of the article. The author warns against excessive enthusiasm for this methodology, emphasizing that its proper application requires interdisciplinary knowledge comprising historical cartography, IT and spatial analysis. Alongside the use of GIS in space-related historical research, one should also bear in mind that it is an attractive tool for presenting the results and it may contribute to spread such results among a wider audience through the Internet.

Llibre de totes maneres de confi ts. Book on Diverse Ways of Preparing Confectionery – Old Catalan Collection of Recipes from the 14th Century

Llibre de totes maneres de confits is an anonymous collection of Catalan confectionery recipes from the second half of the 14th century and one of the earliest among those produced in the Christian part of the world during the Late Middle Ages. The only known manuscript is at the Barcelona University Library in the codex entitled Dies fl os de les medicines, pressmark ms. 68. The book contains 33 recipes for various sophisticated desserts made of honey and sugar. The major part of the recipes are instructions on how to prepare candied fruit (chapters I–XVI, XVIII–XXVI and XXVIII–XXIX; 28 recipes in total), stewed fruit (chapters XVII and XXVII) and cakes (chapters XXXI–XXXIII).
The name of the author as well as the circumstances related to its production and purpose remain unknown. The only trace that one could follow is provided in the words of the preface. As has been demonstrated by Joan Santanach i Suñol, they are far from credible since the author of the compilation relied heavily on other texts. The author of the Polish edition believes that the book was in fact written for people already familiar with the principles of culinary art and not for aristocrats to whom the anonymous compiler dedicates his work following a popular convention. Originally, the book may have been didactic in character and intended for future confectionary masters (e.g. apprentices).
The text was published for the first time in 1946 in „Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenos Letras de Barcelona” by Lluís Faraudo de Saint-Germain. The modern Catalan edition of Llibre de totes maneres de confi ts, which is the source text for this translation and the Polish edition, came out in 2003 and was edited by Joan Santanach i Suñol. So far this collection has never been translated in its entirety from the Old Catalan into any modern language and the Polish version is the very fi rst attempt. The text of the translation preserves the peculiar structure of the original with its numerous repetitions and inconsistent use of personal forms.

Fragment

Wśród rękopisów w języku rumuńskim, zachowanych do dzisiaj w monastyrze Dragomirna (ważnym i znanym ośrodku kultu religijnego w okręgu Suczawa na Bukowinie z początków XVII wieku fundacji metropolity Anastasie Crimca), znajduje się religijny rękopis, Oktoih1, kopiowany, jak wynika z jego własnoręcznych notatek, umieszczonych na marginesach w języku polskim i rumuńskim, przez obywatela Rzeczypospolitej Basilia Nikorowicza, w okresie miesiąca czerwca 1783 roku w Radowcach.

Fragment

Druga wojna indochińska, znana powszechnie jako wojna wietnamska, była jednym z najważniejszych konfl iktów XX wieku. Wzbudzała silne emocje zarówno wśród zwykłych ludzi, jak i środowisk naukowych jeszcze w trakcie swego trwania. Co więcej, mimo upływu czasu temperatura debaty historycznej dokoła amerykańskiej interwencji w Azji Południowo-Wschodniej bynajmniej nie opadła. Po okresie narodowej traumy w latach 70. kolejna dekada przyniosła wiele sukcesów militarnych i politycznych, które w połączeniu z upływającym czasem zaczęły zacierać obraz brudnego i niesprawiedliwego konfliktu, funkcjonującego w zbiorowej świadomości Amerykanów jeszcze dziesięć lat wcześniej. W tych korzystnych warunkach zaczęła się formować amerykańska historyczna szkoła rewizjonistyczna. Argumentując, iż rolą historyka jest podawać w wątpliwość i podważać powszechnie przyjęte prawdy, rozpoczęła ona intelektualną walkę z dotychczasowym przedstawieniem wojny wietnamskiej jako okrutnej, bezsensownej i od początku skazanej na niepowodzenie.

Sprawozdanie z konferencji Intelektualiści w okowach totalitaryzmów. Kontestacja. Kooperacja. Kolaboracja zorganizowanej z okazji 70. rocznicy Sonderaktion Krakau (Kraków, 4–6 listopada 2009 roku)

I Krakowskie Spotkania Źródłoznawcze: Teoria a praktyka edycji nowożytnych źródeł w Polsce XVI–XVIII wieku (Kraków, 19–20 listopada 2009 roku)

Nowości wydawnicze:
Piotr Augustynowicz, Białostocczyzna w blasku legendy Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego 1926–1939, Ośrodek Badań Historii Wojskowej Muzeum Wojska, Białystok 2008

Nowości wydawnicze:
Łukasz Burkiewicz, Na styku chrześcijaństwa i islamu. Krucjaty i Cypr w latach 1191–1291, Historia Iagellonica, Kraków 2008
 

Nowości wydawnicze: 
Hołodomor w pamięci historycznej Ukraińców

Nowości wydawnicze:
Roman Baron, Między Polską i Czechami. W optyce historyka z Brna, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2009