The paper has two aims: one is to publish a critical edition of an early humanistic poem, the oth... more The paper has two aims: one is to publish a critical edition of an early humanistic poem, the other is to explain the circumstances in which it was written. The study engages the traditional methods of textual criticism. The author analyses several sources, among them the manuscript 802 preserved in the Kornik Library which contains the poem. In the first part of the paper Jacob’s biography is reminded. Jacob of Sienno (Jakub z Sienna, 1413–1480) was a diplomat, a politician, the bishop of Kujawy and next the archbishop of Gniezno. He was born in an nobleman family, studied in Rome and in the mid 1430’s pursued his ecclesiastical and political career. He turned back to Italy many times, both as a royal diplomat and a political refugee during his conflict with king Casimir IV Jagiellon. The author stresses the fact that in his Italian journeys he must have come in contact with the early Humanistic culture, which is proved for instance by his collection of Renaissance decorated books acquired in Italy. In the second part the author reveals the circumstances in which the poem was written. The deliberations here touch upon the problem of authorship. Although some researchers made a conjecture that the author would have been Leonardo Mansueti (1414–1480), the Master General of the Dominican Order and Jacob’s friend, a hypothesis that an anonymous Cracow scholar would have been the grateful poet is more convincing. The author reminds a long-standing relationship between Jacob and the University of Cracow. As a patron of the university the bishop made it a gift of his library. The third part contains analysis of the text. The poet drew a picture of a bishop-good shepherd and a wise statesman devoted to the country. To construct such a figure, typical for Renaissance literature in the next century, he employed the classical rhetoric, astrology and especially the Stoic philosophy. The analysis leads to the conclusion that To Jacob of Sienno can be one of the first Humanistic panegyrics in Poland. It can be considered a result of Jacob’s patronage on literature and fine arts. At the end the author asserts that the bishop courts in Poland in the 15th century were important centres of Humanistic culture, among them Jacob’s court. Future research on this topic can shed new light on the beginnings of the Renaissance in Poland. Additionally, the paper provides critical edition of the Latin text and its Polish translation with commentaries.
The paper has two aims: one is to publish a critical edition of an early humanistic poem, the oth... more The paper has two aims: one is to publish a critical edition of an early humanistic poem, the other is to explain the circumstances in which it was written. The study engages the traditional methods of textual criticism. The author analyses several sources, among them the manuscript 802 preserved in the Kornik Library which contains the poem. In the first part of the paper Jacob’s biography is reminded. Jacob of Sienno (Jakub z Sienna, 1413–1480) was a diplomat, a politician, the bishop of Kujawy and next the archbishop of Gniezno. He was born in an nobleman family, studied in Rome and in the mid 1430’s pursued his ecclesiastical and political career. He turned back to Italy many times, both as a royal diplomat and a political refugee during his conflict with king Casimir IV Jagiellon. The author stresses the fact that in his Italian journeys he must have come in contact with the early Humanistic culture, which is proved for instance by his collection of Renaissance decorated books acquired in Italy. In the second part the author reveals the circumstances in which the poem was written. The deliberations here touch upon the problem of authorship. Although some researchers made a conjecture that the author would have been Leonardo Mansueti (1414–1480), the Master General of the Dominican Order and Jacob’s friend, a hypothesis that an anonymous Cracow scholar would have been the grateful poet is more convincing. The author reminds a long-standing relationship between Jacob and the University of Cracow. As a patron of the university the bishop made it a gift of his library. The third part contains analysis of the text. The poet drew a picture of a bishop-good shepherd and a wise statesman devoted to the country. To construct such a figure, typical for Renaissance literature in the next century, he employed the classical rhetoric, astrology and especially the Stoic philosophy. The analysis leads to the conclusion that To Jacob of Sienno can be one of the first Humanistic panegyrics in Poland. It can be considered a result of Jacob’s patronage on literature and fine arts. At the end the author asserts that the bishop courts in Poland in the 15th century were important centres of Humanistic culture, among them Jacob’s court. Future research on this topic can shed new light on the beginnings of the Renaissance in Poland. Additionally, the paper provides critical edition of the Latin text and its Polish translation with commentaries.
Summary
The aim of the book Nieśmiertelne teatra sławy. Teoria i praktyka twórczości panegiryczne... more Summary The aim of the book Nieśmiertelne teatra sławy. Teoria i praktyka twórczości panegirycznej na Litwie w XVII–XVIII w. (The Immortal Theatres of Fame: Theory and Practice of Panegyrics in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 17th–18th centuries) is to answer the question of the significance to the early literary culture of Lithuania of the rhetorical genus demonstrativum. The region studied, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was a component part of the joint state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a territory where several cultural models, linguistic systems, and religion were in contact with each other. The first chapter presents a discussion of the research conducted hitherto on laudatory literature. I have shown the process of degradation to which this branch of letters was subjected by Post-Romantic scholars, and the 20th-century attempts to rehabilitate the concept of the panegyric. In my second chapter I define the principal terms used by rhetoricians to write about laudatory literature. I have classified laudatory works largely on the basis of the function which these historic texts performed. Chapters three and four contain an account of the theory of laudation in ancient Greece and Rome, and also in modern Europe. I concentrate on five authors: Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Priscian of Caesarea, and J.C. Scaliger. I subdivide rhetorical texts into three genres, including the genus demonstrativum and its modifications; and I discuss the topoi of laudation. I found questions concerning the ethos of the panegyrical speaker and the problems of origins and elocution relevant issues. Chapter five presents the significance of laudatory literature in the culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. I describe the conditions in which panegyrics were created, the ways in which they were disseminated, and their place in the Lithuanian system of clientage. I emphasise the role played by the Jesuits. Most of the contemporary panegyrics, the majority of which were published, were penned in the Academy of Vilnius and other colleges run by the Jesuits of Lithuania. In this chapter I also address the function of socialisation played by panegyrical literature. The ability to deliver a speech in praise of someone or something was one of the essential social skills among the nobility and gentry. Moreover it was also a critical factor in the way reality was perceived: in terms of virtue and vice, praise and censure, and by means of the laudatory topoi. The strong impact of cliental relations on the structure of Lithuanian panegyrical literature proved highly relevant. In the 17th century the links between the Jesuit colleges and their aristocratic patrons “institutionalised” the panegyric. Chapter six is entitled ‘The theory of laudation in 17th–18th-century Lithuania.’ In it I discuss the sources of the genus demonstrativum and the role it plays in them, and then go on to present its definition, subject, aim, the role in it of the category of appropriateness, recommended style, and matters concerning amplification. I devote separate attention to the interpretation of the various opinions held on the subject of disposition in works of laudation. The book’s last five chapters give an account of the main trends in panegyric writing in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first to be considered is the printed panegyric, defined as an independent laudatory work (or anthology of works on the same subject), the purpose of which is to demonstrate the virtues and achievements of the person praised. Panegyrics came in a variety of generic forms, e.g. epic poems, elogia, speeches, and would often combine a number of different modes of expression within a single work. The final parts of the book show the role and forms of the principal panegyric genres, the elogium, the epic, and the emblem. An extensive chapter on eulogising homiletics, especially funerary sermons, is also to be found at the end of the book. An important phenomenon presented in this chapter is the transformation which occurred in printed panegyrics in the early 17th century. A characteristic feature of the ‘new’ panegyrics was their generic syncretism, their tendency to combine the visual and verbal art-forms, and to experiment with style and structure. A gradual moving away from the imitation of the Classical authors may be observed, in favour of emulation, or even outright defiance, of their accomplishments. In the Latin poetry and prose this led to a severing off from the Classical roots and consequently to the exhaustion of the literary language’s potential for renewal. On the other hand the formal experiments manifest in the Polish-language poetry would provide inspiration for the literature of subsequent times. The supplement at the end of the book contains a collection of passages cited from manuscript treatises on rhetorics and poetry, and a bibliography. Its purpose is to provide a record of some of these forgotten texts and make them more accessible to modern readers. translated by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa
This is an edition of a 1617 sermon by Jan Aland SJ. The sermon was preached at the anniversary o... more This is an edition of a 1617 sermon by Jan Aland SJ. The sermon was preached at the anniversary of the funeral of Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł "Sierotka" (the "Orphan") in Niasvizh and published in Vilnius. The edition was prepared by the students of the Teacher College in Bielsko-Biała (Poland) attending the seminar of J. Niedźwiedź in 2003.
A New Edition of Abraomas Kulvietis's Confessio fidei. The paper discusses the latest edition of ... more A New Edition of Abraomas Kulvietis's Confessio fidei. The paper discusses the latest edition of the works of a Lithuanian humanist and propagator of the Reformation, Abraham Kulwieć (Abraomas Kulvetis, ca. 1510/1512– 1545), edited by a Lithuanian scholar, Dainora Pociūtė. In the first part the author raises the question of Kulvetis's absence in the contemporary historical studies of Polish Renaissance literature. In the second part of the paper the author reminds the role of this person in the development of humanist culture and Reformation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first half of the 16th century.
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The aim of the book Nieśmiertelne teatra sławy. Teoria i praktyka twórczości panegirycznej na Litwie w XVII–XVIII w. (The Immortal Theatres of Fame: Theory and Practice of Panegyrics in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 17th–18th centuries) is to answer the question of the significance to the early literary culture of Lithuania of the rhetorical genus demonstrativum. The region studied, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was a component part of the joint state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a territory where several cultural models, linguistic systems, and religion were in contact with each other.
The first chapter presents a discussion of the research conducted hitherto on laudatory literature. I have shown the process of degradation to which this branch of letters was subjected by Post-Romantic scholars, and the 20th-century attempts to rehabilitate the concept of the panegyric.
In my second chapter I define the principal terms used by rhetoricians to write about laudatory literature. I have classified laudatory works largely on the basis of the function which these historic texts performed.
Chapters three and four contain an account of the theory of laudation in ancient Greece and Rome, and also in modern Europe. I concentrate on five authors: Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Priscian of Caesarea, and J.C. Scaliger. I subdivide rhetorical texts into three genres, including the genus demonstrativum and its modifications; and I discuss the topoi of laudation. I found questions concerning the ethos of the panegyrical speaker and the problems of origins and elocution relevant issues.
Chapter five presents the significance of laudatory literature in the culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. I describe the conditions in which panegyrics were created, the ways in which they were disseminated, and their place in the Lithuanian system of clientage. I emphasise the role played by the Jesuits. Most of the contemporary panegyrics, the majority of which were published, were penned in the Academy of Vilnius and other colleges run by the Jesuits of Lithuania. In this chapter I also address the function of socialisation played by panegyrical literature. The ability to deliver a speech in praise of someone or something was one of the essential social skills among the nobility and gentry. Moreover it was also a critical factor in the way reality was perceived: in terms of virtue and vice, praise and censure, and by means of the laudatory topoi. The strong impact of cliental relations on the structure of Lithuanian panegyrical literature proved highly relevant. In the 17th century the links between the Jesuit colleges and their aristocratic patrons “institutionalised” the panegyric.
Chapter six is entitled ‘The theory of laudation in 17th–18th-century Lithuania.’ In it I discuss the sources of the genus demonstrativum and the role it plays in them, and then go on to present its definition, subject, aim, the role in it of the category of appropriateness, recommended style, and matters concerning amplification. I devote separate attention to the interpretation of the various opinions held on the subject of disposition in works of laudation.
The book’s last five chapters give an account of the main trends in panegyric writing in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first to be considered is the printed panegyric, defined as an independent laudatory work (or anthology of works on the same subject), the purpose of which is to demonstrate the virtues and achievements of the person praised. Panegyrics came in a variety of generic forms, e.g. epic poems, elogia, speeches, and would often combine a number of different modes of expression within a single work. The final parts of the book show the role and forms of the principal panegyric genres, the elogium, the epic, and the emblem. An extensive chapter on eulogising homiletics, especially funerary sermons, is also to be found at the end of the book.
An important phenomenon presented in this chapter is the transformation which occurred in printed panegyrics in the early 17th century. A characteristic feature of the ‘new’ panegyrics was their generic syncretism, their tendency to combine the visual and verbal art-forms, and to experiment with style and structure. A gradual moving away from the imitation of the Classical authors may be observed, in favour of emulation, or even outright defiance, of their accomplishments. In the Latin poetry and prose this led to a severing off from the Classical roots and consequently to the exhaustion of the literary language’s potential for renewal. On the other hand the formal experiments manifest in the Polish-language poetry would provide inspiration for the literature of subsequent times.
The supplement at the end of the book contains a collection of passages cited from manuscript treatises on rhetorics and poetry, and a bibliography. Its purpose is to provide a record of some of these forgotten texts and make them more accessible to modern readers.
translated by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa