„That the Ashes of My Bones Will Not Be Spurned...” (on the Posthumous History of Jan Kochanowski)

In the paper, the author undertakes an attempt to present the posthumous history of the earthly remains of the author of the Treny (Laments). To our great surprise, we confront here some very concrete questions. To begin with, our doubts arise already in connection with the exact date of the poet’s death; researchers squabble over the place of the poet’s first burial (Lublin? Sycyna or Zwoleń?); the history of the poet’s Zwoleń grave has not been properly researched. In the paper, the author focuses above all, on discussing the issues associated with the events which took place in Zwoleń in the course of the 19th- 20th centuries. Thus, he reminds the readers of the shocking deed of Tadeusz Czacki who in 1791 decided to take out from Kochanowski’s coffin the poet’s skull (up until today, the skull constitutes an exhibit in the Princes’ Czartoryski Museum in Krakow); he also reminds the readers of the equally shocking decision of the Zwoleń parish priest of 1830 to remove Kochanowski’s remains from the crypt under the church and bury them in a communal grave; subsequently, the author describes the symbolic burial of the poet in 1984. In the Aneks (Supplement), the author encloses a letter of pope John Paul II which the pontiff had sent for celebrations in Zwoleń; however, the letter had not been read during the celebrations as it had been delayed in the post, only to be delivered after the celebrations. The original of the letter is to be found in the archives of the Zwoleń parish.

In the paper, the author undertakes an attempt to present the posthumous history of the earthly remains of the author of the Treny (Laments). To our great surprise, we confront here some very concrete questions. To begin with, our doubts arise already in connection with the exact date of the poet’s death; researchers squabble over the place of the poet’s first burial (Lublin? Sycyna or Zwoleń?); the history of the poet’s Zwoleń grave has not been properly researched. In the paper, the author focuses above all, on discussing the issues associated with the events which took place in Zwoleń in the course of the 19th- 20th centuries. Thus, he reminds the readers of the shocking deed of Tadeusz Czacki who in 1791 decided to take out from Kochanowski’s coffin the poet’s skull (up until today, the skull constitutes an exhibit in the Princes’ Czartoryski Museum in Krakow); he also reminds the readers of the equally shocking decision of the Zwoleń parish priest of 1830 to remove Kochanowski’s remains from the crypt under the church and bury them in a communal grave; subsequently, the author describes the symbolic burial of the poet in 1984. In the Aneks (Supplement), the author encloses a letter of pope John Paul II which the pontiff had sent for celebrations in Zwoleń; however, the letter had not been read during the celebrations as it had been delayed in the post, only to be delivered after the celebrations. The original of the letter is to be found in the archives of the Zwoleń parish.