Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (18.2018)

2. Stary Sącz, the church
of Poor Clares, floor plan
according to Architektura
gotycka w Polsce, vol. 2,
p. 516.
-> see p.7
3. Stary Sącz, the church
of Poor Clares, view from
the nave towards the choir.
Photo by Piotr Pajor.
4. Stary Sącz, the church of
Poor Clares, a corbel in the
northern wali of the choir.
Photo by Piotr Pajor.
-> see p.8

established an indulgence for visiting the Poor Clares church and supporting the
on-going construction of a new church with donations (ad opus ecclesie de novo
ibidem constuende) .4 It is also known that the Sącz church was consecrated in
1332 by bishop Jan Grot.5 On the other hand, the chronicler Długosz was not well
informed about the circumstances of the construction, and instead he attributed
the founding of the church to Bolesław the Chaste.6
However, can we be certain that the above-mentioned information sources
relate to the same building? As I will demonstrate later in the paper, there are two
positions on this subject. According to one of them, the construction of the church
was a continuous process, lasting from about 1285 to 1332, and therefore the present
church as we know it was built, at least in part, during Kingas lifetime, and in any
event before the finał takeover of power in Małopolska by Władysław the Short.
However, the second scenario is also possible, in which the church that is preserved
until today had been created directly before 1332, and is not the same as the one
mentioned by Jakub Świnka. In any case, we cannot rule out that the construction,
which began in the 1280S, had never been completed. After all, neither Leszek the
Black was in favour of the work,7 nor were the subsequent war for succession in
Lesser Poland, the death of the foundress in 1292, or plans to transfer the convent
(that were being considered, at the very least) to the town of Nowy Sącz (New Sącz),
only just established in that same year.8 It appears that the easiest way to answer
these questions is through the formal analysis of style.
Kraków 1985, pp. 27-31; P. Pencakowski, A. Włodarek, Stary Sącz, Kościół p.w. św. Klary, Klarysek,
Obecnie p.w. Trójcy Świętej, in: A. Włodarek (ed.), Architektura gotycka w Polsce, vol. 2: Katalog
zabytków. Warszawa 1995, pp. 214-215; O.M. Przybyłowicz, Architektura kościoła i klasztoru
klarysek w Starym Sączu w świetle źródeł pisanych i literatury przedmiotu, “Rocznik Sądecki”, 38,
2010, pp. 41-44; D. Karczewski Franciszkanie w monarchii Piastów i Jagiellonów w średniowieczu.
Powstanie - rozwój - organizacja wewnętrzna, Kraków 2012, pp. 138-139.
4 kdm, vol. 2, issue 502.
5 Ibidem, issue 606.
6 Jan Długosz, Liber Beneficiorum Dioecesis Cracoviensis, vol. 3, published by A. Przezdziecki,
Cracoviae 1864 (= Joannis Dlugossii Senioris Canonici Cracoviensis Opera omnia, 8), pp. 336-337.
7 Writing at length on this theme, see: P. Żmudzki, Studium podzielonego królestwa. Książę Leszek
Czarny, Warszawa 2000, pp. 310-322.
8 There is no doubt that the location of Nowy Sącz (New Sącz), madę at the initiative of Wences-
laus 11, was initially intended as a translocation of Stary Sącz (Old Sącz) situated nearby; the
location charter document refers to the location of the city of Sącz in a different place than
before (see: A. Rutkowska-Płachcińska, Sądeczyzna w xiii i xiv wieku. Przemiany gospodarcze
i społeczne, Wrocław 1961, pp. 126-133; F. Kiryk, Początki miasta, in: F. Kiryk (ed.), Dzieje
miasta Nowego Sącza, vol. 1, Warszawa-Kraków 1992, p. 88; B. Krasnowolski, Lokacyjne układy
urbanistyczne na obszarze ziemi Krakowskiej w xiii i xiv wieku, part 2: Katalog lokacyjnych
układów urbanistycznych, Kraków 2004, p. 154). Often associated with the plans for transferring
the monastery to the new city, is a document issued in 1299, in which the lady of Stary Sącz and
the Abbess of Poor Clares, Gryfina, gave one Jan called Bogacz 100 fields of land near the town
of Kamienica, in return for his transfer of land towards the construction of the monastery by
the townspeople. (kdm, vol. 1:1178-1386, published by F. Piekosiński, Kraków 1886, issue 132;
see: A. Rutkowska-Płachcińska, Sądeczyzna, pp. 132-133; J. Rajman, Osadnictwo okolic Nowego
Sącza i kształtowanie się strefy podmiejskiej (xm-xv w.), in: Dzieje miasta, p. 62; D. Karczewski
Franciszkanie w monarchii Piastów, p. 142). However, it should be noted that the document
does not contain any information about the location of the fields on which the monastery
was to be built, therefore, it can not be ruled out that this was in fact in Stary Sącz. Consider-
ing that a significant part of the population residing in the older city moved to a new centre,
Jan Bogacz could have owned land there. The conviction about the location of Jan Bogacz s
plot in Nowy Sącz is based on the clarification of this issue in the modern register, where the

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Piotr Pajor