A Matter of Honor. On Masculinity in the Old Icelandic Family Sagas

The paper deals with the concept of masculinity in selected 13th-century Icelandic family sagas (Íslendingasögur). The author argues that the then ethos of aggressive masculinity, based on such values as honor, vengeance, subordination of women, and supremacy over other masculinities, oppressively infl uenced men who wanted to meet the exorbitant demands of medieval Icelandic society in order to avoid social stigmatization and accusations of eff eminacy. The author refers to the notion of “hegemonic masculinity”, a concept proposed by Raewyn Connell in her influential book Masculinities. In the paper, the model of hegemonic masculinity, characterized by the desire to sanction patriarchy and male domination, is confronted with other types of masculinities (subordinate and marginalized masculinities). Therefore, the following issues are also discussed: male initiation and code of honor, violence against women, emotions of the saga protagonists. The author concludes that unwritten orders and prohibitions that were supposed to protect men from dishonor and loss of social position contributed to a repressive system based on heroism and violence.

Ad ornatum templorum loci Pere erant. Evacuation of the Works of Art from the Latin Churches of Pera aft er 1453

Pera—a Genoese colony located on the north shore of the Golden Horn was seized by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, that is at the same time when Constantinople fell. There were numerous Latin churches there at that time, 18 of which we can list by names. Significant parts of two of them have survived, namely of the Dominican church of St. Paul and a Benedictine one. The Genoese almost immediately began to evacuate the elements of the decorations of the Latin churches. This took place usually at the initiative of the families of the original donors and the maintainers of Pera monastic churches. At least partially, it was the result of the papal bull issued by Nicholas V on 8 October 1453, in which the Pope called the clergy and laity, under penalty of excommunication, to save objects and liturgical books from Turkish hands. However, it pointed out that they should return to Pera if the Christians regain control over the colony. One example of such activity was the transfer of items from the church of Santa Chiara in Pera to St. Dominic’s church in Genoa that was carried out in early 1456 by Marietta di Pagana, who came directly from Pera. Another one took place at the same time when descendants of Tommaso Spinola, a wealthy Genoese merchant, donated liturgical vestments to the same church that Tommaso originally founded for the Dominicans in Pera. Dominicans themselves evacuated relics and the most valuable elements of the church equipment to Chios and later to Genoa, while a similar attempt made by the Benedictines failed.

In unknown circumstances, however, a much larger number of items from the churches of Pera arrived on the Genoese island of Chios and from there, in early 1461, were transported to Genoa. On 23 January 1461, the Genoese Signoria authorized six officiales from the finest families to carry out a large-scale operation to transfer the items, including many relics and books, to the churches of the metropolis. Th e authorities of Genoa asked Pope Pius II for help in conducting this project. Consequently, more than 20 churches of Genoa received valuable fi ttings. What is particularly important, donations to individual churches needed to be documented in an appropriate detailed inventory, including the estimated value of individual objects. Unfortunately, these documents did not record any information about specific churches from which the items originally came. They enable us to reconstruct the course of this action, and partly characterize the works of art that were brought to Genoa. They thus provide us with partial knowledge about the character of the equipment of the Pera churches. A few of them are still in Genoa. It is worth noting that this transport was preceded by a number of other works of art from the East that reached the Ligurian metropolis even as early as in the 13th century. This action was also one of the major shipments of works of art into the Latin West, which occurred immediately after the fall of the capital of the Eastern Empire in 1453.

Methods of Studying Old-Polish Literature Today. Analysis of Survey Responses

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a survey that the author of the text together with Krzysztof Obremski sent to researchers of old-Polish literature in Poland in April 2017. The questions concerned the issues raised many times during methodological discussions held in recent years by such researchers as Agnieszka Czechowicz, Mirosława Hanusiewicz-Lavallee, Iwona Maciejewska, Tomasz Nastulczyk, Piotr Oczko, Ireneusz Szczukowski and the authors of the questionnaire. Th is time, however, it was not about presenting one’s own position, but about listening to the opinions of other researchers.

The text consists of an introduction, a chapter analysing the answers to the survey questions and a chapter that summarizes the results of the survey and specifi es the cognitive benefi ts of conducting it. Th ey seem obvious to the author. Firstly, the survey allows us to say goodbye to the stereotype of methodological conservatism of scholars who study old-Polish literature, and secondly, it made it possible to redefine the relationship between theory and history of literature in such a way that the latter ceases to appear as just a “recipient” of concepts developed in the theoretical fi eld and becomes an active actor leading to the deconstruction of theoretical and literary notions.

Reformation Biblical Poetry of Laurentius Fabricius (1539—1577) from the Period of His Stay in Königsberg (1561—1571) and Its Religious and Political Significance

The aim of this paper is to discuss the religious poetry of the Lutheran preacher and poet Laurentius Fabricius of Rudy (1539—1577), published by a Silesian during his stay in Königsberg during the reign of Duke Albert of Prussia. To date, the topic of the work of Laurentius Fabricius of Rudy (not to be confused with the Hebraist Laurentius Fabricius of Gdańsk, who lived in the years 1555—1629) has not been researched at all, neither in Poland nor abroad. Apart from the author of this paper, no-one studied the literary output of this poet. Laurentius Fabricius was briefl y mentioned by Reinhold Curicke (1687), Joannes Albert Fabricius (1709), Andreas Charitius (1715), Ephraim Pretorius (1760), Ludwig F. Rhesa (1834), and Hermann Freytag (1898 and 1903).

The author presents the most important themes and motifs present in the poet’s oeuvre, briefly discussing the functions of individual works in promoting and explaining the most important doctrinal principles and issues related to the Lutheran Reformation (sola gratia, sola fide, solus Christus, sola Scriptura and others). She also draws attention to the way in which biblical themes are interpreted, which translates into the spread of certain social attitudes (e.g. giving up celibacy or promoting humility and poverty in order to prevent the escapes and revolts of the subjects of the Prussian duke). She also points out attempts to modify the biblical content in pursuance of building a Protestant worldview and religious order (the leading role of the ruler in the preservation and observance of a doctrine) and discusses selected cases of individualisation of the situational context for the purposes of Duke Albrecht’s current policy (here especially the war with the papacy and support for the marriage of Gotthard Kettler and Anna of Mecklenburg).

The paper enriches the knowledge about Lutheran religious poetry printed in Königsberg during the reign of Albert of Prussia and sheds some light on the work of an unknown Neo-Latin poet. Th e author proves that the role of this poet in the capital city of the Prussian state in the 1560s must have been quite signifi cant. Not only did Fabricius study at the University of Königsberg and during his studies published his works dedicated to the university professors and the Duke himself, but he was also clearly connected with the Königsberg court (through the Duke’s collaborators and advisors), which suggests that he also had personal contact with the prince. Not without signifi cance is also the fact that for many years he served as a preacher or pastor in one of the churches near the city (in Löbenicht).

The paper presents the propagandistic and opinion-forming role of Fabricius’ poetry in the literary, social, confessional and political life of the then Königsberg, and at the same time paves the way for further comparative research on its infl uence on reformation literature, written both in Latin and vernacular languages, in Prussia and neighbouring countries, especially in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in Livonia in the second half of the 16th century.

Robert Bellarmine’s Disputationes de controversiis Christianae Fidei as a Source of Commentaries in Jakub Wujek’s Translation of the Holy Writ: The Example of Augustyn Biesiekierski and Indirect Borrowings from Disputationes

The first part of the paper is dedicated to the issues of adapting the Biblical commentaries on idolatry and ‘entitled’ depictions—originally featured in Disputationes de controversiis Christianae Fidei published by Robert Bellarmine—for the purpose of Jakub Wujek’s endeavour to translate the Bible into Polish. A careful analysis has shown that at least four out of thirteen of the investigated commentaries are adaptations of Bellarmine’s considerations in the form of translations or paraphrases. Building upon this discovery, the author proceeds to the second part of the paper, where he poses a question about the possibility of there being an indirect reception of Bellarmine’s theological categories, which might have occurred in the discussed biblical commentaries. The problem is addressed by comparing Augustyn Biesiekier ski’s A Short Treatise on Adoration and Veneration of Sacred Images (the author made use of the Disputationes…, as proved by Piotr Krasny) and the content of respective commentaries.