The hieroglyphic in the theory of the Polish Republic (17th-18th century): an overview 

The article is concerned with the definition of the “hieroglyphic” which was used in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 17th to the 18th century. It takes into consideration the definition found in linguistic dictionaries and studies the area of rhetoric and poetics (printed and handwritten texts, mainly Jesuitical and Piarist ones). Apart from terminological allusions in literary texts they constitute the basic sources of information for understanding emblems and symbols (Polish writing lacks a separate treatise on issues related to symbolical genres). Polish definitions were far from egyptological issues or the hermetic tradition. During the review of material, attention has been afforded to the blurring of the differences between symbolical genres (for example considering the hieroglyphic as equivalent to an emblem or symbol due to their “symbolic” character, and using hieroglyphics as an emblematic pictorial element) was to a great extent caused by the rhetorical character of their reception. The use of scripts and dictionaries of symbols lead to the loosening of the definition of the hieroglyphic after the first half of the 17th century, and to the use of the hieroglyphic to name motifs or comparisons regarded as abstract, mysterious and allegorical. The key issues related to the definition of the hieroglyphic in Poland invovlved defining the relationship between the genre and image or writing. Among other things, the relationship between hieroglyphics and Egyptian letters was emphasized, the lack of the lemma, the use of sign images or sentences. Due to the influence of studies on the art of memory, hieroglyphics were perceived as compositions consisting of letters of rebus-like character and pictorial alphabet. In the last years of the 17th century the genre has gained interest due to cryptography and universal language. In Poland hieroglyphics were mainly understood as animal and object symbols of simplified, abstract and established, traditional meaning. They were also seen in the context of Egyptian keepsakes from the past and the mysterious sacrum. Attention was also given to this genre in the context of heraldry (coats of arms were perceived as hieroglyphics of representatives of noble families). It was believed that hieroglyphics stemmed from the principle of similarity (similitudo, sometimes identified with allegory), as well as metonymy and synecdoche. In the rhetoric of the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, hieroglyphics were combined with the moral doctrine which is typical of emblematics. In the first half of the 18th century it was common to simplify information about hieroglyphics and to reduce the historical content and sacral aspect of the genre in favor of symbolism and iconology. The enigmatic nature of meaning has gained a pejorative sense. The material which has been subject to analysis (a list of handwritten rhetoric and poetics has been included in the annex) has proved that the reception of hieroglyphics has exerted a decisive influence on the distinctness of Polish emblematics. What may be clearly seen in the context of the definition of the hierogliphicum is the specificity of symbolical writing on the territory of the Polish Republic – the borderline between the emblem and stemma.

Unknown Polish subscriptiones to the emblems by Otton van Veen and Herman Hugon. Some remarks on how Western sacred engravings functioned in the Old Polish culture

The Seweryn Udziela Etnographic Musem in Kraków holds an impressive collection of old engravings, among which there are also copperplates by Cornelis Galle. He used selected prints from Amorum emblemata (1608) and Amoris divini emblemata (1615) by Otton van Veen and Pia desideria (1624) by Herman Hugon to form his own emblematic cycle on metaphysical relations between the Soul and Amor Divinus. The drawings from the works of Veen and Hugon were very popular in the 17th century and inspired numerous poets and editors around Europe. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth it was Hugons Pia desideria that aroused particular interest. The cycle was imitated and translated by e.g. Mikołaj Mieleszko SJ, Zbigniew Morsztyn, Aleksander Teodor Lacki and Jan Kościesza Żaba. On three of the Galle’s prints stored in the Kraków museum an anonymous author wrote, unknown until now, epigrams accompanying the icons taken from the cycle by Veen (No. 8 and 21) and by Hugon (II 5). This emblematic micro-cycle was, with all probability, written down at the end of the 17th or at the beginning of the 18th century by a nun or a monk in one of the Little Poland convents or monasteries. Possibly the origins of the cycle may be linked with the Carmelite nuns’ convent in Cracow. And whether it is the actual place where the cycle was created or not, it is a good point to begin studies on the employment of emblematic practices in Catholic convents and monasteries in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and the 18th centuries. Imported copperplates and woodcuts were a typical piece of the equipment of a cell. They were hung on the cell walls or simply were collected in sets of prints and often exchanged as gifts among nuns or monks, e.g. on the occasion of New Years Eve (an example of such a gift from 1724 is given in this paper). It was a common practice to put notes of diverse character on the reverse side of such prints, e.g. autobiographic details, short prayers or excerpts from sacred texts and religious literature. Still, the main purpose of the emblems was their application in everyday meditations and other forms of personal prayers. The three subscriptiones in the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow are also prayers of this kind, combining word and image

Military themes in selected 18th century prayer books - in relation to the emblem tradition

The starting point in the article is an absence of studies which show the realizations of the military-erotic symbols in religious literature that is associated with the emblem tradition. The discussed works – prayer books by Andrzej Gabriel Kasperowicz; anonymous Atak Niebieskiej Twierdzy… [The attack of the Heavens… or The attack into Fortress of Heavens…] and Wojsko serdecznych afektów… [The army of heartfelt affections…] by Hieronim Falęcki – retain high formal and semantic discipline; as a result, they are examples of interesting phenomena of Baroque culture.
In the first part of her article Iwona Słomak presents three prayer books in which the concept is based on analogy with the organization of the army of Christ. In the second part she shows the book in which the theme of war connects with the issue of „holy erotica”. In part three she discusses a print whose composition refers to the structure of the military detachments. It is conceived as a collection of „affections” whose task is „to conquer” heaven and the hearts of readers. Characteristically, the formula of the discussed books will be understandable only if we reconstruct their reference to the popular allegorical images (we find them in the collections of emblems, in many treatises on religious themes or in descriptions of the great ceremonies of that era); therefore, it is necessary to take into account the emblematic model that clearly influenced their final shape.

Samuel Brzeżewski on people and trees. Emblematics of the sermon Oliwa wdzięcznoozdobnej zieloności

Samuel Brzeżewki was a Baroque, nowadays forgotten, preacher. There are three sermons hold as his testimony. First two sermons refer to Marian theme; the last one (dated on 1645) is a funeral homily. Oliwa wdzięcznoozdobnej zieloności przysadzonej […] na kazaniu przy pogrzebie […] Gerzego Pucniewskiego is dedicated to a nobleman, Pucniewski. He came from Minor Poland, Abdank Coat of Arms and remained practically an unknown figure. In order to present Pucniewski as a Christian role model, Brzeżewski used a very popular device, symbolism. He intended to create an unconventional as well as memorable picture for his audience. The author compared (referring to the works by Aristotle and verses from the Bible) the man with an olive tree and a palm tree in order to show him humility and piety. Brzeżewski used this symbolism on purpose. He argued that it is important for an imperfect human mind to portray things using symbols and concepts to understand the meaning. Connecting didacticism and mnemonic, the preacher referred to funeral vocabulary. The number of terms shows similarities between genres. This method was not a novelty in the XVIIth century. However it was not always followed with deep understanding on the literary theory. It was more important to create a visual comparison and analogies. Taking this into account, one may state that Brzeżewskis sermons are fairly conventional, yet show authors eloquence.

The Picture and the Word in Aleksander Dubowiczs Sermon Titled Dispatching Person Commemorating the Figure of Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz

The article shows different forms of pictorial thinking, particularly emblematic in funeral sermons, an example is Aleksander Dubowicz oration to honour Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz.
In the funeral compositions from the Tyszkiewicz family, we see testimony of transformations, which take place in the early stages of developmental relationships between emblematic culture and occasional literary output. In the Sermon on funeral B. Naruszewiczówna and in Dispatching Person we find some elements, which determine a record of ornamental contents presented in the occasional funeral ceremony. The sermon to honour Tyszkiewicz fits this particular role; it is a prime example of emblematic construction and the function of inscription. The subscription is the praise of the deceased throughout the sermon by illustrating different roles he played in life.
The entire concept of A. Dubowicz sermon is based on world vision as a theatre. He cast God in the role of director and a man as an actor which plays various roles. The orator splits peoples lives like a play, into acts preceded by a prologue and supplemented by an epilogue. In this conceptual world-theatre, A. Dubowicz superimposes a suitable biographical funeral oration schema: “Born gate” serves to display the deceaseds family (leaf B3–Dv); “Youth prologue” characterizes the virtues acquired during the time of education (l. Dv–D4v); “Soldier person” describing courageous service to the king (l. D4v–F); “Senators person” talks about Tyszkiewicz wisdom, which his commitment appears through his affairs of state in the senate and contains laudation to the deceased as learned (l. F–G2); “Epilogue” brings a description of religious death (l. G2–H2), while “Death gate” is a supplement of the allegorical word as theatre (an actor after finishing the spectacle strips of their vestments) and the deceaseds laudatory biography comes to a summary conclusion.
Emblematic thinking is shown on various levels: as preachers exemplum, as a central oratorical idea; organizing whole statement structure by reference to the iconic element, which was located before the oration, like in Dispatching Person.

Emblematics in Polish rosary books from the first half of the17th century

The aim of this paper is to present three Polish rosary books from the first half of 17th century and introduce research into their connections with the art of emblems. The most important works were created in the circle of Dominican Order in Cracow. The rhetoric culture of this centre remains still undiscovered, however the oeuvre of the most famous Dominican orator, Fabian Birkowski, is very appreciated by contemporary scholars.
Although the name of the author of the Sposób mówienia Psałterzyka is still unknown, we can suppose that he was closely related to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, established among the Dominican Convent of Cracow. Sposób mówienia Psałterzyka is a typical prayer book; every meditation related with the Mysteries of the rosary is illustrated, however it is not a classic emblem book. Mentioned work was very popular in 17th century; there were about 10 editions of this book between 1600 and 1650. It was created for everyday devotional use of the members of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.
The second work, Ogród Różany was written by Walerian Lithuanides, one of the most important Dominicans in Cracow from the first half of the 17th century. He introduced the Angelus Domini prayer to Polish adherents and initiated annual processions on the feast day of the Virgin Mary of the Rosary. His book is a compendium of information on the rosary, it contains meditations and stories about miracles related with this prayer and also a series of quasi-emblematic texts.
The last one – Ogród Rozkoszny by Adrian Wieszczycki is a typical emblem book, not related to the Dominican circle, but created as an elaborate gift for the writers noble patron.
The authors of these three books used emblematic (or quasi-emblematic) schemes especially to help the venerators of Virgin Mary to combine prayer and meditation in the virtue of symbolic images referring to the Mysteries of the rosary.

Lemmata in Old-Polish Armorial Poetry as a Manifestation of Genological Hybridization

One of the most popular panegyrical forms in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was the so-called “stemmata”. Similar to emblems, these visual works consisted of an illustrated coat of arms and an epigram, often attached to the front matter of printed texts during the Old-Polish Period. This article discusses select cases in which, influenced by emblems, lemma are incorporated into the stemmas structure. The text explains how the lemma is introduced to the stemma and how it affects stemmas meaning. Particular attention has been paid to cases in which mottos are treated as the title of a combination of a coat of arms and a poem.
The text also analyzes “academic stemmata”, a sub-genre of a heraldic poems that consists of several features characteristic of emblems. The presence of lemma in the structure of stemmata is recognized as the consequence of a trend to liven up this visual form. Making the emblem more attractive was a way to draw the attention of readers, increasing the producer chance of communicating a panegyrical message. Not only the authors of stemma, but also their powerful patrons came to require this effect. The presence of lemma in the structure of heraldic poems also relates to the role of mottos in the Jesuit educational system. Mottos and verba aurea were treated by teachers from Societas Iesu as a very useful medium for presenting moral and parenetic subjects and it was fairly easy for authors of stemmata to use them for panegyric purposes.
The lemmas role within the stemmas structure was twofold; it created a special connection between the stemma and the main text and simultaneously linked the fictional word of literature with the real one. The popularity of “classic stemmata” in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth led to the creation and popularization of other hybrid forms composed of a coat of arms and other textual elements.

Tres tres sunt tres arces... – The role of Toruń coat of arms in Ulryk Schober poetry

Emblem was one of the most characteristic art forms of the Renaissance. Emblem Books were especially popular in the end of the sixteenth century and wielded an unusual influence on literature, especially in combination with younger stemmata. In order to get support from a wealthy patron, poets often wrote poems in which the symbolic interpretation of a coat of arms became a pretext for praise, however it was not always so. This article deals with an interesting example of making use of an emblem (or stemma) as means of persuasion. The emblem in question is also a rare example of the use of persuasion in connection to an urban (and not one of the nobility) coat of arms.
Taking into account the historical and religious context, one can read works of Schober more accurately. What is particularly valid is the influence of mayor Henryk Stroband. The ideological content of the poems was subordinated to policy of the city, and, on the other hand, to religious insulation, as a result of the progress of the Counter-Reformation in the Kingdom of Poland, and the concerns it brought about in the predominantly Protestant Torun. By referring to Stroband thought that „felix civitas quae tempore pacis timet bella,” and by use of his interpretation of Torun coat of arms, Schober tried to convince inhabitants to take responsibility for the security of the city, not only in practical terms – by building walls, but also more existential ones – by learning to cooperate.
To summarize, these poems are not merely an allegorical interpretation of Torun coat of arms. They reach far beyond the typical interpretation of stemma and also contain instructions for a particular vision of the city, which was to be implemented in Torun at the end of the sixteenth century.

At a cultural borderline: emblems and antiquity as main elements of the 17th century hybrid poem „Sphinx Samosonica…”.

In 1628, pupils and professors of Jesuits college in Rawa Mazowiecka presented to a bride and groom a poem called “Sphinx Samsonica…” - a unique book, full of allusions and references to the emblem of classical antiquity. The poem was created during the thriving baroque period which relished in abundance and variety. It was the perfect time to publish works which had bountiful contents which were as diverse and hybrid as “Sphinx Samsonica…”.The poem, in the fabric of which a few literary genres coexist, is a perfect example of an erudite Jesuit rhetoric full of parallels and with clear citations of many ancient writers. Thus showing that one of the main pillars of the poem is the theme of antiquity. The second pillar is its emblematic character as the multiple layers of this work are visible not only in the verbal area, but also in the pictorial. The emblems are one of the innovative tendencies of this work, tendencies which had just started to appear on the pages of printed panegyrics and which would become a part of panegyric literature in the 17th century. “Sphinx Samsonica…” is original in this area not only because of the presence of emblems in the poem, but also because of the “baroque”, ornamental construction of the work in which words and pictures are woven together in a unique way. Although Sphinx Samsonica… figured in many listings and was also mentioned in the bibliography of emblematic printouts written by Paulina Buchwald-Pelcowa, presenting basic information about this work, it has gone unnoticed for a long time. It is not mentioned in monographs devoted to modern epithalamiums, and it was marginally mentioned in monographs devoted to emblems. The dust of oblivion was finally wiped by Jadwiga Bednarska, who discovered the dormant potential of the pages of the Jesuits work in the first part of her book about Polish panegyric illustrations. In the second part, she considers the relationship of this work with Dutch emblems. Therefore, the work has been thoroughly researched from the point of view of the history of art. However, meticulous attention has not been lavished upon it, both from the philological point of view and also regarding the correlation between words and pictures. No research has been undertaken regarding its genre diversity and the work has been neither published, nor translated from Latin into Polish. However, the philological level is also important because it allows the research and discovery of what is hidden inside Latin comments and epigrams full of allusions to antiquity. This knowledge allows an explanation to the exact sense and meaning of the emblems, which very often are not clear and understandable at first sight. As a result, this article makes an attempt to enlighten the reader of the philological level of this work, and the foundation of the article is a presentation of the opulence of antique allusions which regularly appear in the whole text in a chosen fragment of “Sphinx Samsonica…” . Emphasis is also put on the unique and uncommon structure of the work, the main element of which is the emblems. The rich use of these two elements; their coexistence; and their complementation makes “Sphinx Samsonica…” a remarkable piece of literature.

Poema de vanitate mundi of Jakub Balde. A continuation of emblematic tradition and an example of the 17th century mannierism

The article looks at how the mannerist tradition has influenced a seventeenth century long poem Poema de vanitate mundi by German Jesuit poet Jacob Balde (1604–1668). The paper starts with a general introduction about the author and the poem itself. De vanitate mundi has been described as a part of the mannerist tendencies occurring in different times and places (like the importance of conceit in formulating artistic texts or the role of formal means including extensive enumeratio and experimental cutting out of the syllables), as well as shows these features of it which can be directly connected to emblematic tradition of the early modern period. It focuses on three aspects of this tradition. Firstly – the unconventional role of the image in De vanitate mundi with particular emphasis on its connection to the surrounding printed text; secondly – the variety of paraphrases which form a complex, multi-genre structure of the poem; finally – the influence elogium (a phenomenon directly connected to emblem) must have had on Baldes work.
The emblematic tradition has been described as a composite of different tendencies rather than a normative and stable entity. The article aims at tracing this variety of tendencies in Balde poem. Particularly, the Jesuit (or modelled according to Jesuit habits) meditative emblem cycles are presented here as a source of the structure of De vanitate mundi. Also, the article emphasizes how the Jesuit culture influenced the shape and form of De vanitate mundi (e.g. the role of dramatic elements within the paraphrases, the meditative character of the poem or its didactic values).

Emblematic songbooks? A union of music and image in the 17th century Dutch emblem books

This article intends to trace the evolution of the Dutch songbooks and emblem books from the mid-16th century till the mid-17th century, with special emphasis on the period between 1600 and 1620, when a cross-over genre comprising both songs (or other lyrical genres) and emblems, made its appearance. If during the mid-to-late 16th century both the emblem genre and the songbook genre manifested itself within a separate, clearly distinct publishing tradition, then from the onset of the 17th century the northern Netherlands witnessed the emergence of a new type of publication: richly illustrated emblem books which contained songs and other types of lyrical poetry. In this article I first present a brief outline of the two genres (emblem books and vernacular songbooks), mentioning their main exponents, the functional features of the publications and the main aspects of their reception, until creation of a cross-over genre in Amsterdam around the year 1600. The innovative publishing concept of a dual songbook-emblem book pioneered by Amsterdam printers such as Dirck Pietersz Pers, was quickly adopted by other publishers, writers and editors. Books combining emblem imagery with songs became popular among young wealthy buyers among whom companionship went hand in hand with the enjoyment of various forms of oral literature. There were different functional approaches to the problem of combining emblemata with other genres, the most important of which are reviewed in this article. Some authors (e.g. Pieter Cornelisz Hooft) created a book comprising two symmetrical parts (emblems and songs or sonnets). Sometimes these parts were not symmetrical, but they nevertheless formed clearly distinct sections, for example in Roemer Visscher Sinnepoppen or Dirck Pietersz Pers Bellerophon. Other authors (e.g. Gerrit Hendrik van Breughel in Cupidos lusthof or Jan van der Veen in Zinne-beelden) placed the emblems at the beginning of each chapter of his book, where each of these chapters in itself comprised of a variety of lyrical genres, including songs. In this article the emblem genre is presented from the perspective of oral literature, pointing to the existence of a not yet entirely explored borderline area between emblems and song culture in the Northern Netherlands. Two examples of emblems from cross-over books of songs and emblemata analyzed in detail in this article are Gerrit Hendrik van Breughel emblem [18] from Cupidos lusthof (Den Pool,..), on standards of courtly behavior in the Commonwealth of Poland, and Jan van der Veen emblem [2] from Zinne-beelden (Trouwt vryicheyt aen vre…) which deals with questions of war and peace in relation to the identity of the Dutch Republic.

An emblematic pompa nuptialis. A collection of "wedding symbols" from the 17th century against a background of love emblems and erudit rhetoric arguments

The vast majority of the article consists of critical editions of two previously unknown Old Polish collections of nuptial emblems. They draw on the symbolism of popular love emblematics from Dutch cycles by Daniel Heisnius, Otto van Veen and Jacob Cats. In 17th-century Poland these cycles were imitated by only two poets, Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski and an anonymous author of inscriptions in a copy of Jacob Cats Silenus Alcibiadis. The texts published in this paper are a miscellaneous collection of subscriptiones, the main purpose of which was a fuction of rhetoric embellishments in wedding speeches.

Recenzja:

Seria „Lubelska Biblioteka Staropolska”

Recenzja ksiązki:

Marian Malicki, Repertuar wydawniczy drukarni Franciszka Cezarego starszego, 1616–1651.
Część 1: Bibliografia druków Franciszka Cezarego starszego, 1616–1651,
Kraków, Księgarnia Akademicka 2010 („Bibliotheca Iagellonica. Fontes et Studia”, t. 17)

Recenzja książki:

Companion to Emblem Studies, ed. Peter M. Daly, New York AMS Press, Inc., 2008

Nowości wydawnicze