DOI Heft:
Recenzje
DOI Artikel:Kurzej, Michał: Jeannie Łabno, "Commemorating the Polish Renaissance Child": [Rezension]; Ashgate, Farnham 2011
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32431#0196
190
5. Epitaphs of the von Hanau-Lichtenberg family, church of St. Nicolas in Babenhausen (photo: L. Aufsberg)
(.Borders, Boundaries and Barriers, pp. 61-72) constitutes an
unnecessary digression regarding the definition of border,
provincial, and peripheral regions, which in a significant
part was literally copied from older works.
Editorial shortcomings, however, are not as grave as dis-
crediting methodological errors. The author endeavours
to demonstrate that commemorating deceased children,
girls in particular, with tombstones was a phenomenon
characteristic of Poland (p. 136) remaining in contradiction
with funereal customs in other countries of Europe (p. 152).
She seeks the roots of this custom in the specificity of the
Polish society, claiming that the approach of Polish nobility
to their children was radically different from that in other
European countries (p. 51), whereas family relations in our
country were different than anywhere else in the world
(p. 148). Hence, she dedicated substantial swathes of her
work to Sarmatism, portraying it as an exceptional ideology
of Polish nobility (p. 43-44), which gave rise to a conviction
that noble origins are the source of courage and patriotism,
thus providing the grounds for the formation of a specific
model of family (pp. 57, 408) 17. Meanwhile, Sarmatism was
merely one of typical European ethnogenic myths with its
equivalents in almost each European country 18. Also, the
17 The description of Polish society presented in the book is internally
contradictory. E.g. on p. 408 one may read that Sarmatism was
related to intolerance, whereas on pp. 35-37 it is precisely tolerance
that is portrayed as one of the characteristics of Polish society.
18 Cf. e.g. K. Johannesson, The Renaissance of the Goths in Six-
teenth-Century Sweden, Berkely, Los Angeles, Oxford 1991;
conviction of the superiority of noble origins as a source of
virtues was by no means limited to Poland; it was common
all over Europe and probably in every society with the caste
structure. Inaccurate arguments the author brings forth in
support of this thesis include a comparison of the Polish
and English society - according to the author the latter
did not commemorate deceased children with tombstones
(pp. 139-140), whereas one of the reasons for this state of
affairs was the elimination of the cult of the Blessed Mary by
the Reformation (p. 141). Meanwhile, commemorating chil-
dren with tombstones was particularly popular in England,
of which the author may have well found out, if only from
the books she includes in her bibliography 19. Admittedly,
English tombstones more frequently commemorated entire
families, not exclusively children (although there were also
P. Piggott, Ancient Brittons and the Antiquarian Imagination, Lon-
don 1989; G. Brogi Bercoff, La storiografia umanistica di Dal-
mazia e Croazia tra modelli italiani e miti nazionali, “Ricerche
slavistiche”, 36,1989, p. 97-114 (reprinted [in:] eadem, Królestwo
Słowian. Historiografia Renesansu i Baroku w krajach słowiańskich,
Izabelin 1998, p. 29-42); R. E. Asher, National Myth in Renais-
sance France, Edinburgh 1993; R. Bizzocchi, Genealogie incredihili.
Scritti di storia nell’Europa moderna, Bologna 1995. K. Friedrich,
The Other Prussia. Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569-1772,
Cambridge 2000, p. 75-76 (Polish edition: Inne Prusy. Prusy
Królewskie i Polska między wolnością a wolnościami (1569-1572),
Poznań 2005, pp. 114-116).
19 Cf. e.g. N. Llewellyn, Funeral Monuments in Post-Reformation
England, Cambridge 2000.
5. Epitaphs of the von Hanau-Lichtenberg family, church of St. Nicolas in Babenhausen (photo: L. Aufsberg)
(.Borders, Boundaries and Barriers, pp. 61-72) constitutes an
unnecessary digression regarding the definition of border,
provincial, and peripheral regions, which in a significant
part was literally copied from older works.
Editorial shortcomings, however, are not as grave as dis-
crediting methodological errors. The author endeavours
to demonstrate that commemorating deceased children,
girls in particular, with tombstones was a phenomenon
characteristic of Poland (p. 136) remaining in contradiction
with funereal customs in other countries of Europe (p. 152).
She seeks the roots of this custom in the specificity of the
Polish society, claiming that the approach of Polish nobility
to their children was radically different from that in other
European countries (p. 51), whereas family relations in our
country were different than anywhere else in the world
(p. 148). Hence, she dedicated substantial swathes of her
work to Sarmatism, portraying it as an exceptional ideology
of Polish nobility (p. 43-44), which gave rise to a conviction
that noble origins are the source of courage and patriotism,
thus providing the grounds for the formation of a specific
model of family (pp. 57, 408) 17. Meanwhile, Sarmatism was
merely one of typical European ethnogenic myths with its
equivalents in almost each European country 18. Also, the
17 The description of Polish society presented in the book is internally
contradictory. E.g. on p. 408 one may read that Sarmatism was
related to intolerance, whereas on pp. 35-37 it is precisely tolerance
that is portrayed as one of the characteristics of Polish society.
18 Cf. e.g. K. Johannesson, The Renaissance of the Goths in Six-
teenth-Century Sweden, Berkely, Los Angeles, Oxford 1991;
conviction of the superiority of noble origins as a source of
virtues was by no means limited to Poland; it was common
all over Europe and probably in every society with the caste
structure. Inaccurate arguments the author brings forth in
support of this thesis include a comparison of the Polish
and English society - according to the author the latter
did not commemorate deceased children with tombstones
(pp. 139-140), whereas one of the reasons for this state of
affairs was the elimination of the cult of the Blessed Mary by
the Reformation (p. 141). Meanwhile, commemorating chil-
dren with tombstones was particularly popular in England,
of which the author may have well found out, if only from
the books she includes in her bibliography 19. Admittedly,
English tombstones more frequently commemorated entire
families, not exclusively children (although there were also
P. Piggott, Ancient Brittons and the Antiquarian Imagination, Lon-
don 1989; G. Brogi Bercoff, La storiografia umanistica di Dal-
mazia e Croazia tra modelli italiani e miti nazionali, “Ricerche
slavistiche”, 36,1989, p. 97-114 (reprinted [in:] eadem, Królestwo
Słowian. Historiografia Renesansu i Baroku w krajach słowiańskich,
Izabelin 1998, p. 29-42); R. E. Asher, National Myth in Renais-
sance France, Edinburgh 1993; R. Bizzocchi, Genealogie incredihili.
Scritti di storia nell’Europa moderna, Bologna 1995. K. Friedrich,
The Other Prussia. Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569-1772,
Cambridge 2000, p. 75-76 (Polish edition: Inne Prusy. Prusy
Królewskie i Polska między wolnością a wolnościami (1569-1572),
Poznań 2005, pp. 114-116).
19 Cf. e.g. N. Llewellyn, Funeral Monuments in Post-Reformation
England, Cambridge 2000.