DOI Artikel:
Svanberg, Jan: The legend of Saint Stanislaus and King Boleslaus on the 12th century font in Tride, Sweden
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20618#0035
land by its founder, Henricus.10 Below this scene on the
underside of the basin we see a wolf or a dog biting a
pig (ill. 5).11 The wolf has obviously used a stone or lit-
tle mound behind the pig to climb up on to its back to
be able to bite its neck.
The remaining relief on the basin of the Tryde font
has a bishop enthroned at its centre, with a monarch
seated on the left and a man standing on the right (ill.
4). Here the bishop has a saint’s halo and an archbish-
op’s pallium and is holding his crosier himself with his
right hand raised in benediction. The monarch has the
same crown with a raised plaque between two lower
ones as in the previous scene, and his plait now hangs
to one side of his head. He is now wearing a mantle,
his sword is drawn, and his left hand points at the
bishop. On the other side of the bishop, the standing
man is of lower rank, which can be seen from the
smaller scalę in which he is depicted and also because
he stands in profile in front of the two dignitaries en-
throned fuli face. He has a beard and a knee-length gar-
ment in contrast to all the other figures in the relief who
are clean-shaven and wearing foot-length gowns. He is
holding an axe with a long shaft. On the underside of
the basin beneath this scene a lion is portrayed killing a
deer (ill. 6).
The motif of the reliefs on the basin, a man of the
Church “who raises someone from the dead and takes
him out among the living” is one that can be found in a
number of legends about saints, as Roosval pointed out
in 1917 when he presented the earliest interpretation of
the scenes on the Tryde font.12 What best fits in with the
scenes depicted in Tryde, according to Roosval, is the
legend about Poland’s national saint, Stanislaus
(Stanisław), who was Bishop of Cracow 1072-1079-
This legend tells us that Stanislaus had bought the
estate of Piotrowin on behalf of the Church from a
knight called Piotr (“the nobleman Piotrowin” in
Roosval’s version, who confused the name of the
owner with the estate named in his honour). However
Stanislaus was unable to verify this with any Deed of
Purchase when the knighfs heirs claimed the estate af-
ter his death. The dispute was submitted to the jurisdic-
tion of King Boleslaus who, because he had been an-
gered by the Bishop, supported the heirs and during
the hearing terrified all the witnesses into remaining si-
lem. Then Stanislaus begged the king to clelay his
judgement for three days “so that the dead man may
10 H. Thum m 1 e r, Die Soest-Erwitter romanische Bilkbauer-
toerkstatt und ihre Ausstrahlung nach Schonen, Konsthistorisk Tidskrift
1971, p. 71, ill. 6.
11 A. Bennett interprets the beast of prey as being a panther, which
according to Physiologus has positive symbolic value, and its victim as
a wild boar, a symbol for evil, on page 20 of the paper referred to in
notę 15. But the two animals lack the characteristics of a panther and a
boar, the first being clearly a wolf or a dog, and the second
a pig.
himself testify”. After three days of intensive prayer and
fasting, the Bishop went to Piotr’s grave, madę it open
and persuaded the dead man to go with him to the
Royal Court to testify to the purchase of the land. When
judgement was granted to the Church, Piotr was led
back to his grave. He had no desire to remain among
the living “as he had already passed through most of
Purgatory and he was unwilling to risk undergoing the
same process again.”13
According to Roosval, in the first relief we see
Stanislaus coming to revive the dead man with the help
of God, whose hand can be seen in the sky above (see
ill. 2). In the next scene Bishop Stanislaus is leading
Piotr to the King’s court, where the newly risen witness
confirms the purchase (ill. 3). One onlooker “falls back-
wards out of terror, pointing at the walking corpse” and
King Boleslaus has to yield to the evidence and grasps
the Bishop’s Staff to support himself. However, the en-
mity between the King and the Bishop persists. In the
third relief King Boleslaus sits with drawn sword point-
ing at the Bishop, who he has condemned to death. Ac-
cording to the legend he first sent soldiers to kill him
(see ill. 4), but when they refused, he drew his own
sword and siew Bishop Stanislaus while he was cel-
ebrating Mass, which is how he became a martyr.14
Roosval’s interpretation was fully accepted by all
scholars for half a century. Agneta Bennett does so as
well in a paper on the Tryde font presented in 1968, but
for the finał scene.15 Why would this merely depict the
order being given to kill the bishop and “not the dra-
ma tically morę rewarding martyrdom”, in which the
king himself slays the bishop? She also points out that
on nonę of the other fonts attributed to “Majestatis”,
does the representation of the Lord Enthroned interrupt
the narrative, which may be recounted clockwise or
anti-clockwise, but always begins and ends on either
side of it. If this rule also holds true for the Tryde font,
the scene that Roosval considered to be the finał mar-
tyrdom becomes instead the first episode of the legend
(see ill. 4). Bennett therefore assumes that it depicts the
first phase of the “trial of Stanislaus when the King is
just about to announce his judgement. The King is
pointing at the guilty party. A soldier stands guard next
to him.”16 In the two scenes that follow, he raises the
dead man and takes him with him to the finał trium-
phant conclusion of the trial, and here Bennetfs inter-
pretation coincides with Roosval’s.
12 J. R o o s v a 1, Sveriges och Danmarks óstliga konstfórbindelser un-
der medeltiden, Konsthistoriska Sallskapets Publikation 1917, pp. 7-10.
13 Ibid., p. 9.
14 Ibid. R o o s v a 1 repeats this interpretation in less detail in Die
Steinmeister..., p. 165 ff. (there as well Piotrowin is mistakenly given
as the name of the owner instead of the estate).
15 A. Bennett, Trydefunten. Term paper for Advanced Course
in Art History presented during the spring semester of 1968 at Stock-
holm University.
16 Bennett, o. c., p. 13.
31
underside of the basin we see a wolf or a dog biting a
pig (ill. 5).11 The wolf has obviously used a stone or lit-
tle mound behind the pig to climb up on to its back to
be able to bite its neck.
The remaining relief on the basin of the Tryde font
has a bishop enthroned at its centre, with a monarch
seated on the left and a man standing on the right (ill.
4). Here the bishop has a saint’s halo and an archbish-
op’s pallium and is holding his crosier himself with his
right hand raised in benediction. The monarch has the
same crown with a raised plaque between two lower
ones as in the previous scene, and his plait now hangs
to one side of his head. He is now wearing a mantle,
his sword is drawn, and his left hand points at the
bishop. On the other side of the bishop, the standing
man is of lower rank, which can be seen from the
smaller scalę in which he is depicted and also because
he stands in profile in front of the two dignitaries en-
throned fuli face. He has a beard and a knee-length gar-
ment in contrast to all the other figures in the relief who
are clean-shaven and wearing foot-length gowns. He is
holding an axe with a long shaft. On the underside of
the basin beneath this scene a lion is portrayed killing a
deer (ill. 6).
The motif of the reliefs on the basin, a man of the
Church “who raises someone from the dead and takes
him out among the living” is one that can be found in a
number of legends about saints, as Roosval pointed out
in 1917 when he presented the earliest interpretation of
the scenes on the Tryde font.12 What best fits in with the
scenes depicted in Tryde, according to Roosval, is the
legend about Poland’s national saint, Stanislaus
(Stanisław), who was Bishop of Cracow 1072-1079-
This legend tells us that Stanislaus had bought the
estate of Piotrowin on behalf of the Church from a
knight called Piotr (“the nobleman Piotrowin” in
Roosval’s version, who confused the name of the
owner with the estate named in his honour). However
Stanislaus was unable to verify this with any Deed of
Purchase when the knighfs heirs claimed the estate af-
ter his death. The dispute was submitted to the jurisdic-
tion of King Boleslaus who, because he had been an-
gered by the Bishop, supported the heirs and during
the hearing terrified all the witnesses into remaining si-
lem. Then Stanislaus begged the king to clelay his
judgement for three days “so that the dead man may
10 H. Thum m 1 e r, Die Soest-Erwitter romanische Bilkbauer-
toerkstatt und ihre Ausstrahlung nach Schonen, Konsthistorisk Tidskrift
1971, p. 71, ill. 6.
11 A. Bennett interprets the beast of prey as being a panther, which
according to Physiologus has positive symbolic value, and its victim as
a wild boar, a symbol for evil, on page 20 of the paper referred to in
notę 15. But the two animals lack the characteristics of a panther and a
boar, the first being clearly a wolf or a dog, and the second
a pig.
himself testify”. After three days of intensive prayer and
fasting, the Bishop went to Piotr’s grave, madę it open
and persuaded the dead man to go with him to the
Royal Court to testify to the purchase of the land. When
judgement was granted to the Church, Piotr was led
back to his grave. He had no desire to remain among
the living “as he had already passed through most of
Purgatory and he was unwilling to risk undergoing the
same process again.”13
According to Roosval, in the first relief we see
Stanislaus coming to revive the dead man with the help
of God, whose hand can be seen in the sky above (see
ill. 2). In the next scene Bishop Stanislaus is leading
Piotr to the King’s court, where the newly risen witness
confirms the purchase (ill. 3). One onlooker “falls back-
wards out of terror, pointing at the walking corpse” and
King Boleslaus has to yield to the evidence and grasps
the Bishop’s Staff to support himself. However, the en-
mity between the King and the Bishop persists. In the
third relief King Boleslaus sits with drawn sword point-
ing at the Bishop, who he has condemned to death. Ac-
cording to the legend he first sent soldiers to kill him
(see ill. 4), but when they refused, he drew his own
sword and siew Bishop Stanislaus while he was cel-
ebrating Mass, which is how he became a martyr.14
Roosval’s interpretation was fully accepted by all
scholars for half a century. Agneta Bennett does so as
well in a paper on the Tryde font presented in 1968, but
for the finał scene.15 Why would this merely depict the
order being given to kill the bishop and “not the dra-
ma tically morę rewarding martyrdom”, in which the
king himself slays the bishop? She also points out that
on nonę of the other fonts attributed to “Majestatis”,
does the representation of the Lord Enthroned interrupt
the narrative, which may be recounted clockwise or
anti-clockwise, but always begins and ends on either
side of it. If this rule also holds true for the Tryde font,
the scene that Roosval considered to be the finał mar-
tyrdom becomes instead the first episode of the legend
(see ill. 4). Bennett therefore assumes that it depicts the
first phase of the “trial of Stanislaus when the King is
just about to announce his judgement. The King is
pointing at the guilty party. A soldier stands guard next
to him.”16 In the two scenes that follow, he raises the
dead man and takes him with him to the finał trium-
phant conclusion of the trial, and here Bennetfs inter-
pretation coincides with Roosval’s.
12 J. R o o s v a 1, Sveriges och Danmarks óstliga konstfórbindelser un-
der medeltiden, Konsthistoriska Sallskapets Publikation 1917, pp. 7-10.
13 Ibid., p. 9.
14 Ibid. R o o s v a 1 repeats this interpretation in less detail in Die
Steinmeister..., p. 165 ff. (there as well Piotrowin is mistakenly given
as the name of the owner instead of the estate).
15 A. Bennett, Trydefunten. Term paper for Advanced Course
in Art History presented during the spring semester of 1968 at Stock-
holm University.
16 Bennett, o. c., p. 13.
31