Some Supplementary Remarks on the Edition of Baltazar Opec’s Żywot Pana Jezu Krysta (on the Five Hundredth Anniversary of Its 1522 Edition)

500 years ago one of the most important Polish medieval works was published: Żywot Pana Jezu Krysta by Baltazar Opec (1522). It is the only complete Medieval apocryphal narrative written in Polish, describing Mary and Christ’s lives from the Annunciation till the Ascension and the Assumption of Mary. The first critical edition of this work was published in 2014, revealing multiple sources that may have been used by Opec. However, the primary sources of the last chapters dealing with the Dormition, Assumption and Coronation of the Mother of God were not identified. This paper presents these chapters together with fragments of a collection of Latin sermons by a Hungarian Franciscan Pelbartus Ladislaus de Temesvár, entitled Stellarium corone benedicte Marie Virginis (1498), which were previously used by the Polish translator and editor. The comparison of both texts makes it possible to observe how Baltazar Opec transformed Pelbartus’ erudite theological and Mariological treatise into the apocryphal narrative on the Dormition and Assumption of the Mother of God, preserving the style of the whole Żywot Pana Jezu Krysta. It is evident that Opec used Stellarium as model sermons but adapted them in a different way than the other sources of Żywot, such as Meditationes vitae Christi or Historia rythmica: he omitted the names and opinions of the Fathers of the Church and medieval theologians cited by the Hungarian Franciscan, as well as most of the references to ex Scriptura arguments.

* The research was funded by the Pedagogical University of Krakow.

Indirect Reception of Pindar: Jakub Vitellius’ Epinicion for King Ladislaus IV of Poland

The paper discusses the only known example of imitating Jan Kochanowski’s poetry written in Latin. The piece is a coronation encomium dedicated to King Ladislaus IV of Poland, entitled Epinicion in celeberrima inauguratione Serenissimi et Invictissimi Domini D[omini] Vladislai IV Regis Poloniae etc., Sueciae Hereditarii etc., electi Ducis Moschoviae (Cracow 1633), by Jakub Vitellius, a professor at Cracow University. The source of the imitation is Jan Kochanowski’s Epinicion (Ad Stephanum Bathorrheum, Regem Poloniae inclytum, Moscho debellato et Livonia recuperata Epinicion. Anno a Christo nato MDLXXXII, Cracow 1583). Modelling his work on Pindar’s epinicia, which are choral odes heralding Olympic victories, Kochanowski created a song celebrating the triumph of King Stephen Báthory over Muscovite Russia.

Vitellius reproduced the versification pattern of The 9th Nemean Ode from the 1560 Stephanus edition, i.e. the characteristic 12-verse stanzas and the composition of Kochanowski’s Epinicion; he however changed the order of the two major parts of the work in the interest of historical accuracy. He was also clearly inspired by Kochanowski’s similes, he took over some motifs and even copied some phrasings directly. On the other hand, Vitellius’ convoluted style abounding in synonyms, explications, epithets, complex adjectives, metaphors, periphrases, and extended similes does not resemble Kochanowski’s noble simplicity. Additionally, Vitellius tends to use rhetorical questions and exclamations to express his emotions and does not even hesitate to deploy offensive terms to refer to Poland’s Swedish, Turkish or Muscovite enemies. It is impossible to ascertain whether the striking difference in style between Kochanowski and Vitellius results from the influence of Baroque trends, or from Vitellius’ idea of Pindar’s style, which he acquired from Horace’s Ode IV 2, or perhaps from his own reading of Pindar’s odes.

Some Remarks on the Exhibition The Vistula River: The Queen of the Polish Rivers in the National Museum in Cracow

In this paper, the author shares some comments on the exhibition Wisła królowa pol­ skich rzek (The Vistula River: The Queen of the Polish Rivers) organized in the National Museum in Cracow (29.03.2022–4.09.2022). The curator Iwona Długopolska gathered maps, atlases, engravings and literary works from the 16th–mid 19th centuries from the collection of the National Museum. All of them deal with the Vistula River. The author focuses on the cultural dimensions of the representations of the river. At the beginning of the paper, there are remarks about the physiology of viewing. The author stresses the fact that exhibitions can be a way of carrying out historical research. In the next parts, he puts forth a classification of the interpretations of the river as a cultural phenomenon into four major groups, i.e. the economy, the war, the city and the expressions of the Polish national identity. He also links literary works by Polish authors with the visual representations of the Vistula.

* Artykuł powstał w ramach projektu OPUS 20 Polifoniczność mapy. Mapowanie Moskwy w XVI w. a mapa Antona Wieda (1542, 1555) UMO-2020/39/B/HS2/01755, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki.