The Medieval Teaching Aid. The Analysis of One Page from
the Manuscript by Jakub of Piotrków

The purpose of this paper is to characterize page 190v of the manuscript preserved in the Jagiellonian Library (cat. number 1297). The page in question contains prayers and commentaries. Hitherto, researchers have neglected this page, so it has not been thoroughly described and some elements of the layout have not been identified or have indeed been misidentified (cf. A. Brückner, W.R. Rzepka and W. Wydra, C.K. Święcki et al.). The foregoing research has considered the page as a separate item disregarding the surrounding pages. In this paper, the author discusses the page as a whole. This allowed her to ask new questions concerning: the writer’s intention, the function of the page, and the possible status of this old-Polish text.
In the main part of the paper, the author makes an attempt to reconstruct the sequence of writing the elements of the layout (page composition), paying special attention to the relations between the elements. According to the author, it is possible to reconstruct the probable sequence of the writer’s actions, and therefore to retrace the creative process of the scribe (known as Jakub of Piotrków, the Canon of Płock). The author assumes there were three stages of the writer’s work. In the first stage, he wrote Polish and Latin texts of Pater noster and Credo on the page. Then the page could have been used to lecture on the prayers or to teach how to memorize them.
Comparing the page at this stage with other known collections of basic prayers, we can eliminate the function of this record as a compendium or collection of common prayers. At later stages, the writer added the next elements: a commentary on the translation of the prayers into Polish, a-few-word explanations (e.g. “The Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit”, the division of water into snow, rain and ice), an abridged version of Credo, a Polish version of Ave Maria and a paraphrase of Our Father by Ludolf the Carthusian. In the analysis, the author points out the motivation behind the writing of consequent elements and their function (preaching and mnemonic). The last hypothetical stage of the creation of the page is writing down the text of Benedictiones mensae, not related to the elements mentioned before.
The applied research procedure, that is reconstructing the sequence of writing the texts on the page, allows the proposal of a hypothesis of how the creative process might have looked. The analysis proves that the writer’s intention could have changed as subsequent elements were being written on the page. At the first stage of writing, the page could have served as a theological lecture or mnemonic teaching aid facilitating the memorizing of the texts (both in Latin and Polish). The receivers could have been the congregation (taught the basic prayers in Polish) or clerical students and priests preparing for ministration (as the texts of prayers in Polish and Latin indicate). At the second stage, the function of the page becomes clear: it serves as the teaching aid during the lecturing of the articles of faith and explaining theological and linguistic matters (metatextual and metalinguistic commentary on the translations of prayers into Polish). This is why we should consider the presumptive receivers consisted not only of simple folks (as some of the elements on the page could not be applied, should the public have such a profile) but of clergymen or clerical students as well.
Certain elements of the page were selected for use depending on the audience of the lecture and its purpose. According to the latest research on the distinguishing features and character of old-Polish texts, we can assert that linguistic relics like this one, closely bound up with orality of the medieval language, are not (were not) complete works in their final shapes, but rather texts in statu nascendi. The discussed text is an example of a genuine teaching aid, that served the writer, Jakub of Płock, and after that – probably the next clergymen, in ministering.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize page 190v of the manuscript preserved in the Jagiellonian Library (cat. number 1297). The page in question contains prayers and commentaries. Hitherto, researchers have neglected this page, so it has not been thoroughly described and some elements of the layout have not been identified or have indeed been misidentified (cf. A. Brückner, W.R. Rzepka and W. Wydra, C.K. Święcki et al.). The foregoing research has considered the page as a separate item disregarding the surrounding pages. In this paper, the author discusses the page as a whole. This allowed her to ask new questions concerning: the writer’s intention, the function of the page, and the possible status of this old-Polish text.

In the main part of the paper, the author makes an attempt to reconstruct the sequence of writing the elements of the layout (page composition), paying special attention to the relations between the elements. According to the author, it is possible to reconstruct the probable sequence of the writer’s actions, and therefore to retrace the creative process of the scribe (known as Jakub of Piotrków, the Canon of Płock). The author assumes there were three stages of the writer’s work. In the first stage, he wrote Polish and Latin texts of Pater noster and Credo on the page. Then the page could have been used to lecture on the prayers or to teach how to memorize them.
Comparing the page at this stage with other known collections of basic prayers, we can eliminate the function of this record as a compendium or collection of common prayers. At later stages, the writer added the next elements: a commentary on the translation of the prayers into Polish, a-few-word explanations (e.g. “The Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit”, the division of water into snow, rain and ice), an abridged version of Credo, a Polish version of Ave Maria and a paraphrase of Our Father by Ludolf the Carthusian. In the analysis, the author points out the motivation behind the writing of consequent elements and their function (preaching and mnemonic). The last hypothetical stage of the creation of the page is writing down the text of Benedictiones mensae, not related to the elements mentioned before.
The applied research procedure, that is reconstructing the sequence of writing the texts on the page, allows the proposal of a hypothesis of how the creative process might have looked. The analysis proves that the writer’s intention could have changed as subsequent elements were being written on the page. At the first stage of writing, the page could have served as a theological lecture or mnemonic teaching aid facilitating the memorizing of the texts (both in Latin and Polish). The receivers could have been the congregation (taught the basic prayers in Polish) or clerical students and priests preparing for ministration (as the texts of prayers in Polish and Latin indicate). At the second stage, the function of the page becomes clear: it serves as the teaching aid during the lecturing of the articles of faith and explaining theological and linguistic matters (metatextual and metalinguistic commentary on the translations of prayers into Polish). This is why we should consider the presumptive receivers consisted not only of simple folks (as some of the elements on the page could not be applied, should the public have such a profile) but of clergymen or clerical students as well.
Certain elements of the page were selected for use depending on the audience of the lecture and its purpose. According to the latest research on the distinguishing features and character of old-Polish texts, we can assert that linguistic relics like this one, closely bound up with orality of the medieval language, are not (were not) complete works in their final shapes, but rather texts in statu nascendi. The discussed text is an example of a genuine teaching aid, that served the writer, Jakub of Płock, and after that – probably the next clergymen, in ministering.