Between Textual Borrowing and Forgery. On Compilatory Practices of Medieval Universal Chroniclers Based on Martinus Polonus

Jacek Soszyński

Between Textual Borrowing and Forgery. On Compilatory Practices of Medieval Universal Chroniclers Based on Martinus Polonus

Publication date: 29.11.2021

ORGANON, 2021, Volume 53, pp. 79 - 95

https://doi.org/10.4467/00786500.ORG.21.004.14789

Authors

Pobierz pełny tekst

PDF

Titles

Between Textual Borrowing and Forgery. On Compilatory Practices of Medieval Universal Chroniclers Based on Martinus Polonus

Abstract

The author’s goal is to add to the understanding of the issue of where the border line is that marks the passage from an enlarged copy (an augmented or developed version) of a given chronicle to an independent authorial entity. In this context a side question arises concerning the acceptability of textual borrowing in the face of medieval authorial practices and conventions, i.e. where compiling ends and falsifying begins. The aforementioned issues are discussed on the basis of five historiographical texts composed between the mid–thirteenth and the third quarter of the 15th cent. Their common denominator is their affinity with the famous Chronicle of Popes and Emperors by Martin the Pole (or of Oppavia). Examining the character of the borrowings, their ideological stance, and their political opinions, the author reaches the conclusion that it was not the copy–and–paste technique frequently employed by the chroniclers, but their intentions that decide whether the resulting works should be treated as new entities, sometimes even forgeries.

Keywords

textual borrowing, medieval compilations, medieval universal chronicles, medieval manuscripts, Martinus Polonus (Oppaviensis) Königsberg World Chronicle

References

Download references

Manuscript sources

Gdańsk, Polska Akademia Nauk, Biblioteka Gdańska, Ms Mar. F 305 [MSPL 00136].

Königsberg, Staats– und Universitsätsbibliothek, Ms 1150 (lost).

Kraków, Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej, Ms 219 [MSPL 01106].

Olsztyn, Archiwum Archidiecezji Warmińskiej, Ms AB H 285 [MSPL 00023].

Warszawa, Biblioteka Narodowa, Ms 8052 III [MSPL 00032].

Printed sources

Alexander von Roes, Schriften, (eds.) H. Grundmann & H. Heimpel, Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1958.

Bonaventura, Commentarius in I. librum Sententiarum, in: Doctoris Seraphici S. Bonaventuræ S.R.E. episcopi cardinalis opera omnia, vol. 1, Collegium S. Bonaventuræ, Quaracchi 1882.

Ioannis Dlugossii Annales seu cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae, Lib. I–II, PWN, Varsaviae 1964.

Ioannis Saresberiensis Metalogicon, (eds.) J. B. Hall & K. S. B. Keats–Rohan, Brepols, Turnhout 1991.

Martini Oppaviensis Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum, (ed.) L. Weiland in: MGH Scriptores, vol. 22, Hahn, Hannover 1972, pp. 397–475.

Martini Poloni, archiepiscopi Consentini, ac summi pontificis poenitentiarij, chronicon expeditissimum, ad fidem veterum manuscriptorum codicum emendatum et auctum, opera Suffridi Petri Leouardiensis Frisij V. I. C., ex officina Christophori Plantini, Antverpiæ 1574.

Marcin Polak, Kronika papieży i cesarzy, (eds.) A. Fabiańska & J. Soszyński, Wydawnictwo Marek Derewiecki, Kęty 2008.

Martin von Troppau, Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum, (ed.) A.–D. von den Brincken [available at https://data.mgh.de/ext/epub/mt/, retrieved on Sept. 15, 2021].

Sächsische Weltchronik, (ed.) L. Weiland in: MGH Deutsche Chroniken, vol. 2, Hahn, Hannover 1877, pp. 1–384.

Secondary works

Bielowski A., [introduction to:] Kronika Boguchwała i Godysława Paska, (ed.) W. A. Maciejowski, Monumenta Poloniae Historica, vol. 2, [nakładem własnym], Lwów 1872, pp. 454–466.

Brincken von den A.–D., Martin von Troppau in: H. Patze (ed.), Geschichtsschreibung und Geschichtsbewusstsein im Späten Mittelalter, Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1987, pp. 155–193.

Brincken von den A.–D., Studien zur Überlieferung der Chronik Martins von Troppau in: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 41, 1/1985, pp. 460–531 & 45, 2/1989, pp. 551–591.

Brincken von den A.–D., Martin of Opava [Martin of Poland] in: G. Dunphy & C. Bratu (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, vol. 2, Brill, Leiden 2010, pp. 1085–1088.

Günther O., Katalog der Handschriften der Danziger Stadtbibliothek, vol. 5: Die Handschriften der Kirchenbibliothek von St. Marien in Danzig, Kommissions–Verlag von A. W. Kafemann GmbH, Danzig 1921.

Haskins Ch. H., The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA – London 1992.

Ikas W.–V., Martin von Troppau (Martinus Polonus), O.P. ([obit] 1278) in England: Überlieferungs– und wirkungsgeschichtliche Studien zu dessen Papst– und Kaiserchronik, Reichert, Wiesbaden 2002.

Ikas W.–V., Neue Handschriftenfunde zum Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum des Marin von Troppau in: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 58, 1/2002, pp. 521–537.

Kaeppelli Th., Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum medii aevi, vol. 3, Ad S. Sabinæ, Roma 1980.

Kamler A., The Jagiellons vis–à–vis the Book and the Education of the Nobility in: A. Chamera–Nowak, D. Embree & J. Soszyński (eds.), Book versus Power: Studies in the Relations between Politics and Culture in Polish History, Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2015, pp. 89–103.

Minnis A. J., Medieval Theory of Authorship: Scholastic literary attitudes in the later Middle Ages, Scholar Press, London 1984.

Polkowski I., Katalog rękopisów kapitulnych katedry krakowskiej, part 1: Kodexa rękopiśmienne 1–228, Akademia Umiejętności, Kraków 1884.

Ranković S., Budal I. B. & al. (eds.), Modes of Authorship in the Middle Ages, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto 2012.

Semkowicz W., Przewodnik po zbiorze rękopisów wilanowskich, (ed.) P. Bańkowski, PWN, Warszawa 1961.

Soszyński J., Between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: The Wilanów Manuscript Reconsidered in: Medievalia Philosophica Polonorum 34, 2001, pp. 199–206.

Soszyński J., Sacerdotium – imperium – studium. Władze uniwersalne w późnośredniowiecznych kronikach martyniańskich, Oficyna Wydawnicza ASPRA–JR, Warszawa 2006.

Soszyński J., Recent Polish Investigations into the Life and Works of Martinus Polonus of Oppavia, in: Rediscover: Final Conference Proceedings: Prague, 15 September 2010, National Library of the Czech Republic, Praha 2010, pp. 89–107.

Soszyński J., Papal Plenitude of Power and World History: Papal Political Ideology in the Chronicle of Martin the Pole in: A. Chamera–Nowak, D. Embree & J. Soszyński J. (eds.), Book versus Power: Studies in the Relations between Politics and Culture in Polish History, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2015, pp. 45–72.

Soszyński J., Martini Poloni Continuatio Coloniensis: A Historiographical Misapprehension in: K. M. Kincses (ed.), Hadi és más nevezetes történetek. Tanulmányok Veszprémy László tiszteletére, HM Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeum, [Budapest] 2018, pp. 477–482.

Soszyński J., Kur baigiasi skolinimasis ir prasideda klastojimas? Apie vėlyvųjų viduramžių kronikininkų rašytojiškas praktikas in: R. Čapaitė (ed.), Surasti tiesą: pagalbiniai istorijos mokslai falsifikatų tyrime, Lietuvos istorijos institutas, Vilnius 2021, pp. 237–256.

Waitz G., [Preface to:] Chronica Regia Coloniensis, (ed.) G. Waitz, Hahn, Hannover 1880, pp. V–XXV.

Ward L. C., Authors and Authority: The Influence of Jean Gerson, and the Devotio Moderna on the Fasciculus Temporum of Werner Rolevinck in: J.

Hogg (ed.), Die Kartäuser und Ihre Welt: Kontakte und Gegenseitige Einflüsse, vol. 1, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg 1993, pp. 171–188.

Wolf J., Die sächsische Weltchronik im Spiegel ihrer Handschriften. Überlieferung, Textentwicklung, Rezeption, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München 1997.

Wolf J., Königsberg World Chronicle in: G. Dunphy & C. Bratu (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, vol. 2, Brill, Leiden – Boston 2010, p. 971.

Wołodkiewicz W. (ed), Prawo rzymskie. Słownik encyklopedyczny, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 1986.

Information

Information: ORGANON, 2021, Volume 53, pp. 79 - 95

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/00786500.ORG.21.004.14789

Article type: Original article

Titles:

English:

Between Textual Borrowing and Forgery. On Compilatory Practices of Medieval Universal Chroniclers Based on Martinus Polonus

Polish:

Between Textual Borrowing and Forgery. On Compilatory Practices of Medieval Universal Chroniclers Based on Martinus Polonus

Authors

Jacek Soszyński

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-3569

Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences
ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

Published at: 29.11.2021

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Jacek Soszyński (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

Publication languages:

English

View count: 780

Number of downloads: 887

<p> Between Textual Borrowing and Forgery. On Compilatory Practices of Medieval Universal Chroniclers Based on Martinus Polonus</p>

Download xml