Public houses – inns, taverns, and alehouses – during the Jagiellonian Dynasty (1385–1572) in Cracow functioned as important establishments in the diplomatic services of kings, city officials, and the nobility. Not only did these locales offer drink, food, and accommodations to emissaries for their travels and work, but they provided much more. For the diplomats, the inns, taverns, and alehouses were sites to learn the latest news, gossip, and public opinion. They provided a place to fraternize and they were also trusted locations for sensitive diplomatic negotiations. Public houses likewise served as “post offices” where envoys could receive their letters. Although scholars have studied these establishments, the diplomacy, and urban history throughout Europe in various epochs, they have neglected to analyze the role of the Cracovian public houses in diplomatic services in the Jagiellonian era. This article provides a comprehensive examination of sources, including royal and municipal accounting and personal correspondence, to reveal the role of public houses in the diplomatic practices of the Jagiellonian dynasty. 

European and Turkish translations and reception of works by Juda Tadeusz Krusiński SI regarding the Afghan-Persian war and the fall of the Safavid dynasty

This article discusses the process of developing, editing and translating a Latin text written by the Polish Jesuit J.T. Krusiński dedicated to the reasons behind the fall of the Safavid dynasty and to the course of the Afghan-Persian War. The first manuscript was titled by the author as Historia revolutionis persicae. The Latin text, which was prepared in Rome, was then sent to Paris where it wasnot only translated into French, but also significantly modified and shortened by A. du Cerceau. The French paraphrase, published in 1728, became the basis for the English and Italian editions. Another version of Krusiński’s work was prepared and published in German by J. Stöcklein. He used not only the French edition, but also the Latin original of Krusiński’s text, which he had received from Vienna, as well as other sources. For the needs of the Ottoman court, Krusiński reviewed the Latin version, which was then translated and published in Turkish in 1729. This last edition caused a sharp dispute over the authorship of the Turkish translation between Krusiński and Ibrahim Mütaferrika, head of the Istanbul printing house. The Turkish edition of Father Juda Tadeusz Krusiński’s work complicated its reception in Europe even more, especially after the Turkish version had been retranslated into Latin by J.Ch. Clodius. The manuscripts stored in the Vienna library make it possible to trace the stages of developement of Krusiński’s work, which culminated in the publication of the book Tragica vertentis … (Lviv, 1740), his most comprehensive study of the Persian revolution.

Refugee depots for Polish emigrants in Châteauroux and Indre department in the years 1831–1833

In the article the author presents the setting up and operation of refugee depots (Fr. dépôts) in the Indre department for Polish emigrants who arrived in France after the fall of the November Uprising. The refugee depot in Châteauroux was one of the several depots founded by the French government. It was intended for civil exiles. The other camps for military refugees were set up in Avignon, Lunel, Besançon, Bourges, Lons-le-Saunier, Salins and Dijon. From the beginning of August 1832 till August 1833, the French authorities directed civilians to cities of Indre: Châteauroux – the capital of the department, as well as Issoudun, Levroux, La Chatre, Argenton, Buzançais, Chatillon, Saint Benoit, and La Blanc. The author establishes that in that period of time, 634 Polish refugees went through the camps of the Indre department. Most of them were students (from the Vilnius University), young officials and members of free professions. They came from the pre-partition areas of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Lithuania, Volhynia and Podolia). Despite the restrictive policy of the administration and the fact that they stayed in the French province, the Poles engaged in the social and political life of emigration. They participated actively in democratic and educational organizations of the Great Emigration. In many cases, by their own determination, they went to study and obtained aducation at French universities and technical universities. The article is based on sources from the Indre Department Archives in Châteauroux, archives of the Defense Historical Service in Vincennes, the National Archives in Paris, the Polish Library in Paris, the Princes Czartoryski Library in Krakow, and academic studies.

The care of the Cracow Charitable Society over the altar and painting of Our Lady at the Florian Gate in the 19th and early 20th centuries

The aim of this article is to present the actions taken by the Cracow Charitable Society in order to protect the altar and the painting in the Florian Gate. The image of Our Lady was handed over to the Society for care in 1817, which it provided until the communist authorities disbanded the Society in 1951. In order to renovate the painting and altar, the Society mainly raised funds through public sacrifices and donations of individual people. Among the benefactors there were many affluent and well-known people from Cracow, as well as anonymous individuals. Source materials reveal that the image was revered both by the inhabitants of Cracow and its surroundings and that the religious services held there in the 19th century were infused with patriotic spirit. Next to the painting an alms box was placed for financial donations to the poor who were cared for by the Society – it had the highest income among all the poor boxes in Cracow. Today, the Florian Gate still houses an altar with a painting, which is currently under the care of the Daughters of Charity.

Professor Marian Smoluchowski (1872–1917): The Forgotten Rector of the Jagiellonian University

The article presents the figure of the great Polish physicist Professor Marian Smoluchowski who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It presents his most important achievements as a scientist, a physicist of the Nobel Prize dimension, and in other fields:: didactic, organizational, as well as personal (related to his greatest passion – mountaineering). The study specifies the three most important periods of Smoluchowski’s life and scientific activity: the Vienna, Lviv and Krakow periods, and describes his cooperation with other scholars, mostly of the world-wide renown, such as Albert Einstein. The Viennese period included childhood, education at the Collegium Theresianum, physical studies at the University of Vienna, PhD and habilitation. In Lviv, Smoluchowski spent fourteen years employed at Jan Kazimierz University. There, he developed, among others, the theory of Brownian motion. He spent the last four years of his life in Krakow as a professor at the Jagiellonian University, where he mainly dealt with experimental physics. In 1917 he was elected rector of the University, but in the same year, at the age of 45, he died prematurely of dysentery before taking over this office. He managed to prepare the inaugural lecture “On the uniformity of natural laws.”

“Sokół” Gymnastic Society in Tarnów and Tarnów district before 1919

In 1867, the first “Sokół” Gymnastic Society in the Polish land was established in Lviv. In 1884, its first branches were registered in Tarnów and Stanisławów. In 1892, dozens of “nests” already existed in Galicia, and it was decided to combine them into the Union of Polish “Sokół” Gymnastic Societies in Austria (Związek Polskich Gimnastycznych Towarzystw Sokolich w Austrii). In 1895, there were already 70 societies in the country, so districts were created which served as a link between the “nests” and the Association. There were seven districts, with their headquarters in Kraków, Tarnów, Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Lwów, Tarnopol and Stanisławów, respectively. In the following article, the author presents the history of the “nests” of the Second District of Tarnów from the creation of the Tarnów society to the incorporation of the Galician “Sokół” Association into the new Association of the “Sokół” Gymnastic Societies in Poland in 1919.

Lviv Merchant Congregation in the interwar period

In the interwar period, Lviv Merchant Congregation was undoubtedly one of the main organizations of the economic life in Eastern Lesser Poland. The importance of this organisation was visible in the increasing number of its members, who actually could count on the Congregation’s support in the difficult times of economic depression. Although Lviv Merchant Congregation did not last long, in comparison to its long-lasting Cracovian counterpart, it noted many significant successes. The most important was the establishment of the Trade School in Lviv, which would function for many years. Another success was the promotion of products offered by merchants from the Congregation. Last but not least, there was a cooperation between the Lviv Merchant Congregation and Trade and Industry Chamber (both of which consisted of the same members) which aimed at improving commerce in Lviv during the interwar period.

Establishment of the National Higher Teacher Training College (WSP) and an attempt to merge it with the Jagiellonian University in 1956

After the Second World War, the Jagiellonian University lost its autonomy and the state authorities destroyed its structures by separating the departments and creating new universities out of them. Independently, in 1946, the National Higher Teacher Training College in Krakow was established. In 1954, it received the right to run a master’s course. The quality of education in WSP was assessed negatively by the Jagiellonian University. In turn, the WSP authoritiesclaimed that their school provided better training for future teachers. At the beginning of the 1950s, some reservations were voiced as to the grounds for the existence of higher teacher training schools due to overlaps with the university curriculum. In 1956, the state authorities decided to close some of these colleges. WSP was to be merged with the Jagiellonian University. A meeting was organized at the Jagiellonian University in April 1956, where representatives of the Ministry of Higher Education, the Jagiellonian University and WSP discussed the merger. However, the meeting didn’t yield the expected results due to the firm objection on the part of WSP. The opportunity to strengthen the Jagiellonian University’s position by merging with WSP was ultimately lost.

The 1786 estate settlement of Stanisław Rakowski, a castle court official of Radom

Stanisław Rakowski (d. post-1786), was one of the many anonymous representatives of the Polish judicature of the 18th c. Politically uninvolved, he spent a few decades in Radom, where he worked and lived as a member of the town’s elite (he never owned any land). In 1785 he transmitted his several-thousand property, gathered over the years, to his children: a son (rev. Ignacy) and two daughters (married to noblemen from lawyers families). The document, being an effect of the agreement between Rakowski’s successors, is the object of the present study. The estate settlement, preserved in the 19th-century mortgage book, belongs to the sparse descriptive sources on the pre-partition Radom and the material culture of its elite, as the basic sources on the Old-Polish Sandomierz Voivodeship had been destroyed during WWII. Above all, the act is a valuable relic of the Old-Polish law, presenting the manner of dividing property among the landless nobility (impossessionati): a problem slightly examined in Polish historiography.