The aim of this study is to establish the place of Jan Kochanowski’s Lyricorum libellus (1580) in the history of Polish Renaissance neo-Latin ode presented against a wider European background. The development of this genre in this historico-literary period in Poland has received only fragmentary reporting, e.g. in relation to Horatianism in literature or as a background for the vernacular ode. Yet, as Carol Maddison argues in her Apollo and the Nine, the Neo-Latin ode is, in a sense, a new genre revived and newly “devised” by Renaissance humanists. In her fundamental work, Maddison also presents the development of the ode and its variations in Italy and France. According to ancient patterns used by poets, Horatian odes (including Kochanowski’s odes) can be divided into the “Pindaric” and the “Anacreontic-Sapphic.” This division coincides to some extent with the classification of odes as “political” or “private.” Similar categorisation criteria adopted by various researchers (Zofi a Głombiowska, Jacqueline Glomski, Józef Budzyński) may result in individual odes being assigned to several different categories. The first part of this paper, therefore, emphasises the identity of the NeoLatin ode and its status as a new genre strongly related to Renaissance Humanism. In the second part, the author attempts to assign particular poems from Lyricorum libellus to patterns indicated by Maddison, and deals with previous attempts at classification based on differentiating between political and private odes. She also underlines that Kochanowski frequently imitated both pindaric and anacreontic patterns through Horace. In the third part, the author analyses the strophic organisation of individual odes and their metre as well as their rhetorical structure. The odes are here classified with regard to these criteria and interpreted in accordance with their historical context. The author pays close attention to the genre’s borderline between ode and hymn, stylistic “nobilitation” of lyrical poems and the outright Horationism of the collection. Lastly, she presents conclusions concerning the role of Lyricorum libellus in the development of the ode. Before Kochanowski, a significant role in the evolution of the genre was played by the so-called “university ode,” which was popular in Silesian and German poetic circles, as well as in odes by Paweł z Krosna. Kochanowski’s odes, however, bear little resemblance to this stage of the development of the genre in Poland. Imitating Horace in the spirit of such poets as Michael Marullus or Giovanni Pontano, Kochanowski demonstrates a mature awareness of the neo-Latin ode, formed at the meeting point of ode and hymn and constituting an element of a cycle organised in accordance with a certain idea.

* The translation and publication was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland) and the Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University (Cracow, Poland) under Grant 643/P-DUN/2018 2. Polish text: E. Buszewicz, “Forma gatunkowa ody w łacińskiej poezji Jana Kochanowskiego (Lyricorum libellus),” Terminus 30 (2014), pp. 21–38.

The aim of this study is to show how Kochanowski imitated Horace in various ways and at different levels of his poetry. As to this moment, the matter has been discussed, mainly in regard to the Lyricorum libellus, by Zofia Głombiowska and Józef Budzyński. In this paper, the author briefly summarises their statements and comments upon them expressing her own view. She also mentions some other publications dealing with the Horatianism of the Polish poet to a lesser degree.

The text is divided into four sections. In the first one, the author makes a brief comparison between Kochanowski and Petrarca in the context of their mental kinship with Horace that resulted in poetry which is “Horatian” not only in terms of the verba but also some ideas.

The second section is devoted to the Horatianism of Kochanowski’s collection of odes (Lyricorum libellus). The author begins with a brief summary of the previously mentioned scholars’ views. She also demonstrates that some of these views may oversimplify the question of Horatian imitation in case of at least several of Kochanowski’s poems. To illustrate this, she presents an analysis of ode XI (In equum) in the context of its Horatian models; the conclusion is that in this poem, as well as in the entire collection, Kochanowski imitates Horace in a sophisticated and polyphonic way.

The third part of the text, after a brief mention of the “loci Horatiani” in Kochanowski’s elegies, shows the interplay of ideas between Horatian poetry and Kochanowski’s Elegy III 1. The author puts emphasis on the fact that Kochanowski adapted some of the elegiac themes to the Horatian rhetoric.

Concluding her disquisition, the author argues that Kochanowski’s Horatian imitation is neither superficial nor confined to the imitation verborum, but reaches deep in the structures of Horace’s poetry.

* The translation and publication was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland) and the Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University (Cracow, Poland) under Grant 643/P-DUN/2018 2. Polish text: E. Buszewicz, “Imitacja horacjańska w łacińskiej twórczości Jana Kochanowskiego,” Terminus 31 (2014), pp. 151–168.

The purpose of this article is to find classical references in Jan Kochanowski’s amorous foricoenia, as yet not systematically studied. Scholars have focused on the meaning ofthe title Foricoenia (Szatyńska-Siemion) or on the ancient references (e.g. the presence of Terence in some epigrams or the translations from Greek, studied by Głombiowska), but have not studied the amorous epigrams as a whole.

At the beginning the author indicates some topoi that are typical of elegiac poetry (recusatio or the heroes treated like elegiac lovers). Firstly, the author shows that Kochanowski uses elegiac material and topoi in his epigrams, presenting to the reader a little epigrammatic collection Ars Amatoria, based on Ovid’s model. Secondly, he argues that even when Kochanowski translates epigrams from Greek, he chooses those that are more appropriate to his literary project, i.e. the “elegization” of the epigrams. Conclusions: Kochanowski “elegizes” his epigrams, first of all presenting a small Ars Amatoria, and then writing his texts according to the elegiac tradition, both in terms of topoi and textual imitations.

Having singled them out, I propose an interpretation of Kochanowski’s choices: I argue that he engages in a long-distance dialogue with Ovid’s Ars amatoria and, in more general terms, with the whole ancient amorous-elegiac tradition, which he sometimes denies. I bring forward a few examples, starting from a comparison between Kochanowski’s epigram XVI and Ovid’s Remedia amoris 501–502 and Ars amatoria I 45–48 (i.e. the hunter caught in his own nets). Epigram V, In paellas venetas, introduces a particular instance of Ulysses described as amorous, a lover rather than an epic hero, patterned exactly after the Ovid’s model of this character. Furthermore, writing epigram LXIX to his friend Torquato, Kochanowski assures him he can make people fall ill with love, as well as cure his friend of such a “disease;” similarly, Ovid teaches how to make people fall in love (Ars amatoria) and how to recover from love (Remedia amoris).

* The translation and publication was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland) and the Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University (Cracow, Poland) under Grant 643/P-DUN/2018 2. The first version of this paper was published in Italian in Giornale Italiano di Filologia 65 (2013). I would like to thank Prof. Carlo Santi and the editorial board of the journal for their consent to publish a slightly altered Polish version supplemented with some biographical details. The Polish version of the paper: F. Cabras, “Elegijność Foricoeniow miłosnych Jana Kochanowskiego –wzorce Owidiańskie,” Terminus 16 (2014), pp. 39–53.

The purpose of this article is to find Classical references in Jan Kochanowski’s amorous foricoenia, which have not yet been systematically studied. Scholars have focused on the meaning of the title Foricoenia (Szatyńska-Siemion) or on the ancient references (e.g. the presence of Terence in some epigrams or translations from Greek, researched by Głombiowska), but have not studied the amorous epigrams as a whole.

At the beginning I point out some topoi that are common to elegiac poetry (recusatio or the heroes treated like elegiac lovers). Firstly, I show that Kochanowski uses elegiac material and topoi in his epigrams, presenting to the reader a little epigrammatic Ars Amatoria, based on Ovid’s model. Secondly, he argues that even when Kochanowski translates epigrams from Greek, he chooses those that are more appropriate to his literary project, i.e. the “elegisation” of the epigrams. Conclusions: Kochanowski “elegises” his epigrams, first of all presenting a small Ars Amatoria and then writing his texts according to the elegiac tradition, both in terms of topoi and textual imitations.

After singling them out, I propose an interpretation of Kochanowski’s choices: I argue that he engages in a long-distance dialogue with Ovid’s Ars amatoria and more generally with the whole ancient amorous-elegiac tradition, which he sometimes denies. I give a few examples, starting from a comparison between Kochanowski’s epigram XVI and Ovid’s Remedia Amoris 501–502 and Ars amatoria I 45–48 (i.e. the hunter caught in his own nets). Epigram V, In puellas venetas, introduces a specific Ulysses, described as amorous, a lover rather than an epic hero, exactly as Ovid presented this character. Furthermore, writing epigram LXIX to his friend Torquato, Kochanowski assures him he can make people fall ill with love, as well as cure his friend of such a “disease”; similarly, Ovid teaches how to make people fall in love (Ars amatoria) and how to recover from love (Remedia amoris).

The paper deals with the problem of cartographic imagination in Polish Renaissance literature. The other problem discussed is the impact of cartographic reason on establishing the early-modern national and European identity of the Poles. The methodological approach of the paper is inspired mainly by critical cartography (J. B. Harley). The term ‘map’ is defined here in its relatively broad meaning. It is not limited only to material representations, but it is also understood as a performance, a gesture and a form of thinking (D. Woodward, J. Pickles). The main text examined here is Ode II 24 by the Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584). The poem concludes his lyrical cycle published posthumously in 1585 and it is a Polish imitation of Ode II 20 by Horace (Non usitata nec tenui ferar). In the first part of the paper the author describes the context of the 16th-century use of maps. The cartographic revolution of that time had a great impact on art, literature and philosophy etc. Renaissance humanists all over Europe lived within the maps and used them as a tool or as a means of expressing, defining and shaping their ideas. In this part of the paper it is shown when and where Kochanowski would have consulted or watched and read maps. The second part of the text compares the poem by Kochanowski and its Horatian model. The author recalls the conclusions of previous interpretations by J. Ziomek, L. Szczerbicka-Ślęk and others. Kochanowski’s version is almost a translation, but the Polish poet rewrote Horace’s ode in a specific way. He changed the ancient names of places and put in their place the names of the regions of 16th-century Europe. In the subsequent analysis, the author argues that this is not only an example of Renaissance metonomasy, but it also shows the more complex process of replacing one cartographical imagination with another. While the cartographic imagination of Kochanowski was based on the Ptolemaic tradition and its early-modern transformations, Horace’s ode evokes the tradition of maps similar to the Porticus Vipsania in Augustan Rome and copies the Tabula Peutingeriana. Therefore, the metacartographies of the poets should be seen as different. The final part of the paper shows yet another difference between the two poems. While the gaze of the Roman poet goes beyond the limina of the Roman Empire, Kochanowski is looking only at the European and not very distant Mediterranean regions. The author concludes with the hypothesis that this European orientation became typical for Polish poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries. This Europocentric focus is one of the distinct features of Polish literature that made it different from the literatures of the countries interested in overseas colonial endeavours.

* This work was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the Grant The Relationship Between Polish Literature and Cartography in the 16th and the First Half of the 17th Centuries (Związki literatury polskiej i kartografii w XVI I I poł. XVII w.) UMO-2014/15/B/HS2/01104 (K/PBO/000337), DEC-2014/2015/B/HS2/01104. Polish text: “Humanistyczna mapa Europy Jana Kochanowskiego (Pieśń 24 Ksiąg wtórych),” in: Literatura renesansowa w Polsce i Europie. Studia dedykowane Profesorowi Andrzejowi Borowskiemu, red. J. Niedźwiedź, Kraków 2016, pp. 251–273.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, religious disputations became one of the means of conducting religious agitation. Texts providing an account of the course of such events confirm the application of the formal rules of school-type disputatio in public disputes using vernacular language. This undoubtedly resulted in the expansion of the audience at such spectacles beyond scholars conversant in Latin and influenced the change of the objectives of such debates, from a collective search for the truth to the defence of one’s own doctrine using all available methods, that is, dialectics and rhetoric.

Unlike mediaeval scholastic disputations, public disputes no longer engaged an arbiter to settle them. The victory was decided by the very course of the dialectic confrontation. The lack of an authoritative arbiter encouraged each of the parties involved to assure the public that they had won and therefore that their religious statements were true. After such a confrontation, ostensibly impartial and true accounts of the course of the dispute were published in print. This paper presents an analysis of eight prints providing detailed descriptions of six religious debates conducted in Polish between 1581–1599. These texts reaffirm the conviction (inherited from the Middle Ages) that the truth may be learnt through disputatio. They explicitly express the belief in the readers’ ability to individually assess the correctness of the arguments formulated and the counterarguments, and consequently to understand who is right. At the same time, noticeable techniques employed to authenticate the accounts as impartial and true dispiteously undermine the objectivity of the accounts that profess to be true. The discursive means employed to direct the reader in his reception of the conveyed message include a declaration of an ethical urge to proclaim the truth about the course of the debate and its winners, and concealment of the true authorship of the text with the aim of avoiding a charge of partiality, assuring that the account follows the pattern of the so-called autentyki (or originals), that is notes written down during the dispute.