Königsberg and Prussia in Life and Works of Jan Kochanowski

Researchers interested in Jan Kochanowski have paid little attention to the impact of German Humanism – as represented in Königsberg – on both the writing and the life of the poet. The aim of this article is: first, to present literary sources testifying to the poet’s stay in the capital of the Duchy of Prussia and his contacts with Prince Albert von Hohenzollern and humanists from the Albertina University; and second, to discuss Kochanowski’s view of Prussia (both Royal Prussia and the Duchy of Prussia) in his poems, and the possible influences of Georg Sabinus upon the Polish poet’s works.
So far the connections of the Polish poet with Königsberg University (Albertina) and the court of the Prussian prince (actually duke) Albert Hohenzollern have been researched in the majority by Stanisław Kot, to whom we owe the publication of Kochanowski’s letter to the prince and his reply, and Janusz Małłek, who has verified Kot’s intuitional remarks using sources from the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, but only from an historian’s biographical perspective.  
Kochanowski went to Königsberg for the first time in summer or autumn 1551 and stayed until the following spring. He returned for a second visit in spring 1555 and remained at least until mid-1556. The Polish poet’s second stay in the Prussian capital, especially, has been well documented thanks to Kochanowski’s autographed letter written to Prince Albert on April the 6th, 1556, and the prince’s reply dated April the 15th. Moreover, important information is recorded in the Prussian court’s expenditure accounts (Ausgabe-Bücher) from 1555 and 1556. These documents give explicit evidence of the Polish poet’s links with the ducal court. They also give implicit proof of his relations with humanists from the university (Georg Sabinus, the first rector of the Albertina) and the court.
Of all Kochanowski’s works, the most important source for his feelings towards Prussia is his Proporzec albo Hołd pruski. He celebrates there the homage paid in 1569 to Sigismund Augustus by Albert Frederic (1553–1618), the son of Prince Albert, whom Kochanowski introduces as the very model of a good monarch: a virtuous, faithful and wise prince (v. 25–36). Whereas it is Royal Prussia itself that is praised by the poet in his Satyr albo dziki mąż (v. 85-90). Less known is the fact that Kochanowski’s poetry was influenced not only by Italian but also by German humanists: by the authors of handbooks of poetics and rhetoric such as Philipp Melanchthon or Joachim Camerarius, and especially by the poetry and theoretical treatises (e.g. Fabularum Ovidii interpretatio) of Georg Sabinus (1508–1560).
The paper’s author concludes that the period (in total two years) which the young poet spent in the Duchy of Prussia was important for at least three reasons: the experiences gained at the court of Prince Albert definitely helped the poet in his further career as a courtier of Sigismund Augustus; ducal patronage helped Kochanowski in at least one trip to Italy; and the ducal library and acquaintance with Georg Sabinus obviously influenced the poetry (especially Latin poetry) of Jan of Czarnolas.

The ode as a genre in the Latin poetry of Jan Kochanowski (Lyricorum libellus)

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.” To some extent this division coincides with the classification of odes as “political” or “private.” Similar categorisation criteria adopted by various researchers (Zofia Głombiowska, Jacqueline Glomski, Józef Budzyński) may result in individual odes being assigned to several different categories.
The first part of the paper, therefore, emphasises the identity of the Neo-Latin 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 logical-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 Michal 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.

Jan Kochanowski’s amorous Foricoenia: Ovidian models

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 of the 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 common to 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 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.
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 in general 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 special Ulys-ses, described as amorous, a lover rather than an epic hero, exactly as Ovid taught for 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).

Wanda – a Sarmatian Amazon in Latin poetry in Poland. From Jan of Wiślica to Jan Kochanowski

The aim of this paper is to show how Polish Renaissance poets reinterpreted the legend of Wanda and modelled the character of the princess depending on the chosen genre and the target readers.
The author analyses the following source texts: Jan of Wiślica, Bellum Prutenum; Klemens Janicki, Vitae Regum Polonorum; Georgius Sabinus, De nuptiis Sigismundi Augusti et Elissae; Petrus Roysius, Hedvigis and Ad Proceres Polonos de matrimonio regio carmen; Joachim Bielski, Istulae convivium. In nuptiis Stephani Primi Regis Poloniae et Principis Annae; Jan Kochanowski, Elegiarum libri IV.
In the canon of ancient rulers of Poland there is a woman called Wanda, daughter of Krak. This gallant virgin-king (in Poland a king could be male or female) who can be found in the oldest chronicles is also a character in Neo-Latin poetry. Jan of Wiślica in his epic poem Bellum Prutenum and Klemens Janicki in his cycle of historical epigrams Vitae Polonorum principium praise Wanda as a brave woman who equals Camilla, Semiramis and Tomyris in valour. In these two works the poets place the emphasis on Wanda’s heroic qualities as an excellent ruler and leader.
On the other hand, Petrus Roysius looks disparagingly upon Wanda. In his poem Ad Proceres Polonos… he criticises her suicide as a sign of recklessness and concentration on her private life, which resulted in her shirking responsibility for the state she was entrusted with. Wanda’s story is a persuasive exemplum that was supposed to induce Sigismund August to consider a new matrimony that was crucial for reasons of state. In another poem, Hedvigis, Roysius reproaches Wanda for her exaggerated bashfulness, which drove her to such a desperate act.
Wanda is also a character in royal epithalamia. Georgius Sabinus in his De nuptiis… presents Wanda as a beautiful, gallant and pure woman who lived the life of an Amazon. Her beauty attracted the attention of Istul, the god and king of Vistula. He kidnapped Wanda into the current of the river and made her his wife. In Istulae convicium… Joachim Bielski also depicted her as the unusually charming and refined spouse of the king of rivers. In both of these epithalamia Wanda does not commit suicide, but instead enters into matrimony. This is an innovation that departs from the canonical version of the legend.
Jan Kochanowski dedicated one of his most beautiful elegies to Wanda, in which the Cracow Amazon becomes a responsible ruler and leader who acts according to the ethos of chivalry. The elegy is an aitiological epyllion that explains the origins of the name Mogiła upon Vistula. It is also in artistic rivalry with Propertius (IV 4). Here the brave Wanda becomes the opposite of the traitor Tarpei.
For Renaissance authors the legend of Wanda is an opportunity to cleverly combine the ancient history of Poland with the tradition of ancient heroes, or a native legend with the legacy of Roman poetry, and thus to undertake emulation of the ancient poets.

De consolatione somni – the figure of the comforter in renaissance love poetry. Jan Kochanowski and the current of Latin literature in Europe (Boecjusz, F. Petrarca, G. Pontano, J. Secundus)

This paper presents the history of a motif that the author calls De consolatione somni. It is based on the Boethian pattern of consolation brought about by a woman who appears in a dream. Lady Philosophy, who in De consolatione Philosophiae morally and philosophically comforts Boethius when under sentence of death, is later introduced by Dante and Petrarch into the Renaissance poetry. The motif was applied to two ends: to express love in amorous poetry and grief in poetry of mourning. In Dante’s Vita nova and Petrarch’s Canzoniere (the author analyses poems No. 282 and 359) the deceased beloved appears to the bereaved lover in a dream and brings him comfort. Boccaccio, the third jewel in the “Tuscan crown,” in his eclogue Olympia introduces this motif to literature of mourning, creating the patterns of poetry dedicated to deceased girls (his influence is visible, for instance, in the Middle English poem The Perl, in the Dialogue en forme de vision nocturne by Margaret of Navarre or in Lament XIX by Kochanowski). The 15th-century lyric bonds mourning and erotic elements together even more strongly, adding a sensual dimension. Giovanni Pontano, in his poems dedicated to the memory of his late wife (the author analyses works from Lyra 9, Eridanus II 1; II 32, Hendecasyllabi II 29), evokes dream visions in which her spirit visits him. This consolation, however, had a clear sensual and erotic character, for the dead wife would come to her husband’s bed. He also likewise envisioned the prospective unification of the spouses in Elysium. In the next two centuries, in anti-Petrarchan poetry such consolation experienced in erotic dreams appeared both in poems of mourning (when the beloved passed away) and in love poems (when fulfilment was impossible for other reasons). The latter option is here illustrated in elegy I 10 by Secundus. A dream that compensates for the deficiencies of reality is a frequent motif in baroque poetry (G.B. Marino, A. Morsztyn). Yet the target point of this study is determined by the works that constitute the compositional frame of book II of Jan Kochanowski’s Elegiarum libri IV. Here we come across a rather unusual idea. A betrayed lover wishing to free himself from his humiliating love has a dream in which the goddess Venus appears (elegy II 4). Like Lady Philosophy (the Boethian pattern is particularly visible in a previous version of the elegy that is preserved in a manuscript), Venus tries to convert her charge to her domain, that is, to renew love in him. (This character, and especially her way of reasoning, is reminiscent of the creation of the Mother in Lament XIX). The triumph of the comforter is not long – elegy 11 brings another concept: a suicide committed in a dream that symbolically puts an end to unhappy love.
Another significant aim of this paper is to draw attention to the influence that Boethius and his version of Platonism had on Renaissance poetry, and on Jan Kochanowski in particular. It seems especially important for recognising the sources of Lament XIX and elegies from book II of the printed volume. The first to have noticed Boethius’ impact on Kochanowski’s work was Izydor Richter (1912) but his discovery has not been exploited by later researchers.
To sum up, the paper presents the history of a non-obvious (singled out by the paper’s author) motif in modern poetry and its relation to both love poetry and poetry of mourning as well as the Neoplatonic basis of Renaissance erotic lyric. It also explains the origin and the meaning of the dream vision in Kochanowski’s book II of Elegies and (although it is not the chief aim of the paper) the genesis of the comforting Mother who appears with Orszulka, the departed daughter of the poet, in Lament XIX.

 

Recenzja książki:

Jörg Schulte, Jan Kochanowski i Renesans Europejski. Osiem studiów,Wydawnictwo Neriton-Uniwersytet Opolski, Warszawa2012