Marian Małecki

Daniel Wojtucki, The Hangman and His Workshop in Silesia, Upper Lusatia, and Kladsko County from the Beginning of the 16th to the Mid- 19th Century, DiG Publishing House, Warszawa 2014, 559 p.
In his monograph The Hangman and His Workshop in Silesia, Upper Lusatia, and Kladsko County from the Beginning of the 16th to the Mid – 19th Century Daniel Wojtucki presents the profession of executioner. Having analysed historical sources, the author comprehensively characterizes the work of the executioner in the broad social context. He describes the profession on the background of the executioner’s family and presents a common approach to such a job. Particularly worth mentioning were some of the extraneous activities that the executioner took up and the collaborators with whom he cooperated. According to legal aspects, the author described the procedure for execution of a sentence as well as tools used in the executioner’s work. As an appendix, the author attached biographies of various executioners.

The author of this work presents ideological currents which led to establishing, in the second half of the 20th century in Habsburg monarchy, a strong current of reformist ideology in the Church called Theresianism and Josephinism. The author describes Jansenism which appeared in the Netherlands and then in France in the 17th century,  Gallicanism, Episcopalism dating back to medieval Concilliarism and also Febronianism. These currents were established in different countries and led to the “The New Thinking” in Austria which resulted in the reforms carried out in relations between the State and the Church in Galicia. They had diverse character in the reign of Maria Theresa and Joseph II and were characterized by considerable radicalism.

The paper sheds light on a rather narrow aspect of the history of Knights Templar, analyzing it from the point of view of its internal disciplinary legislation. As an order grouping knights, in its statute, the Order made numerous references to discipline and the penal system. In the paper, the author characterized the various preserved copies of the Order’s Statute, out of which as many as 15 have survived until the present times; subsequently, he referred to the so called hierarchical statutes of the Order; among others, the latter defined in detail the disciplinary responsibility of Order members. On the basis of the above sources, the author divided the disciplinary measures into groups, beginning with the most restrictive ones and ending with the penitential and expiatory ones. He showed the types of offences which, when committed, threatened the wrongdoer with a loss of a home or tunic, as well as minor offences for which one could adjudicate penance or else abandon the idea of punishing the culprit altogether. The author described the procedure which initiated disciplinary proceedings as well as the penitential practices of the penitent. He also provided pertinent examples of violations of the Statute by the Templar Brothers, relying on source materials.

The new book by Prof. Orsolya Falus concerns hospitalier orders of knights in Hungary during the reign of the Arpad dynasty. The topic undertaken by the author is largely unknown in Poland, and therefore worth presenting. The author, a graduate of the University of Pécs, dealt with six orders that were active during the reign of the Arpads and had hospitalier profiles in their activities.

The work presents the achievements of Professor Grodziski. Research directions, major publications, didactic and organizational activities at the Faculty of Law and Administration, and membership in scientific organizations and associations are presented. The professor reactivated Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was an outstanding expert on the Old Polish Sejm and the history of Galicia and Austria. In short, he was an excellent teacher.

After the first partition of Poland, it was in the Austrian partition zone of Galicia that the Josephinistic legislation treated the priest as the civil servant. He was therefore charged with the duties to draw up and keep certificates typical of the civil registry office. In view of the previous absence of homogeneous practice in this area, the requirements laid down by the Austrian statutory law seemed to be advisable. The requirements referred in particular to baptism, marriage and death certificates. Those who were obligated to see to it that the entries be correctly made were the bishops on occasion of their inspection of parishes. Also the competitions for the Church posts, including those of the parish priest, were the manifestations of the control excercised by the administration over the priests, this being reminiscent of the medieval dispute referring to investiture. Also a series of detailed provisions referring to the Church area and concerned with the fire prevention, minerals obtained by mining or forest economy, were exponential of administrative dealings with clergy.