Danuta Quirini-Popławska

Nowości wydawnicze: Dawid Abulafia, The Great Sea. A human History of the Mediterranean, Allen Lane

The article is devoted to the part of Matriculazione Università Legista Polona from the years 1591–1598, found in the book No. 30 in the Archivio Antico dell’Università degli Studi di Padova and published for the first time. It is one of the results of the in-depth analysis of the archive, which has been carried out by the author for five years now. The public register consists of 83 entries of people from areas of the former Reczpospolita and, additionally, 6 names of Austrians and Germans. The set of names is supplemented by the list, published by Blasio Brugi and Aloysio Andrich in 1892 in Rotulus et matricula. The hitherto unknown list, entitled Natio Polona, was produced in the years 1592–1593 and contains 62 names. the fact that the majority of scholars coming from the area of the former Rzeczpospolita made entries in this public register of lawyers, providing their distinguishing marks, including birthmarks, scars, gashes and warts located on their faces, arms and necks is interesting and puzzling. Thus far, this kind of information has not been seen in the analysed public registers of European universities. In addition, following the comparison of the names of persons entered in the Register of the Polish nation (“Metryka nacji polskiej”), published by Henryk Barycz, the author of the article identified 25 names of Polish scholars, not listed elsewhere. Hence, the important conclusion is that, in the years 1592–1600, not all Polish scholars from the University of Padua were registered in the official Register of the Polish nation, and so, the number of Polish students at this university may have been much higher than previously estimated.

In the introductory part of the article, the authors emphasize the role played by one of the most famous centers of European thought in the Renaissance – University of Padua. They describe the scientific profiles of its six distinguished professors – lawyers, philosophers and philologists: Carlo Sigonio, Francesco Robortello, Jacopo Zabare lla, Marco Mantova Benavides, Antonio Riccoboni and Guido Panciroli. Since the 30s of the 16th century, period of the most extensive contacts between Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Padua school was recorded, where many of its prominent citizens’ so ns continued their studies. The authors discuss the course of their studies, the role they played among numerous international youth, their exercised dignities, and, above all, the degrees achieved. Personal contacts with the Paduan professors, fascination with their knowledge and the scientific atmosphere of then Italy, contributed to the deepening of Polish – Italian scientific contacts. One of their effects was the acquisition of the latest  works of the Paduan scholars, which were brought by the Poles to t heir homeland. Most of them over the years have found their place in the Collegium Maius library of the Cracow Academy. Various routes of this transfer were presented in the article on the basis of the archival materials studied at the Archivio Antico in Padua, the extensive foreign and  olish bibliography, but above all in the rich collections of old prints of the Jagiellonian Library, which took over the collections of the Collegium Maius library. The article has been enriched with six illustrations of the works of the Paduan scholars.

This text is an edited source material that is a part of the memoirs of Certified Colonel Eugeniusz Quirini de Saalbrück (1891–1978) from his stay in Scotland in his capacity as a cultural and educational officer in the Polish soldiers camp in Kirkcaldy during World War II. The text is an account of a Christmas celebration organised for Scottish children on 19 December 1940 under the supervision of Col. Quirini in the local Rio cinema. The original text is part of Col. Quirini’s estate that is in the possession of his family.