DOI article:
Miodońska, Barbara: Rex regum i rex Poloniae w dekoracji malarskiej Graduału Jana Olbrachta i Pontyfikału Erazma Ciołka: z zagadnień ikonografii władzy królewskiej w sztuce polskiej wieku XVI
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26594#0230
REX REGUM I REX POLONIAE
cipie of contrasting the symbolical meaning of the motifs of Hying birds and lighting
lizards as well as the movements of rising upwards and falling downwards.
John Albert's intention of donating the Gradual to the coronation cathedral arose
in the Hnal period of his reign and was only fully carried out after his death. It may
be assumed that the circumstances bringing about the donation were the King's
severe illness in 1499 during a difficult political situation for the State, and the pre-
parations to celebrate the Church jubilee year in 1500. Their political context was
the menace of a Turkish invasion of southern and eastern Europe and the attempt
to organize an anti-Turkish league undertaken by Pope Alexander VI. The Polish
king, whose country was exposed to the devastating Tartar raids inspired by the
Turks, and who had been engaged in onerous negotiations for peace with the Sultan
Bajazet, was to be a partner in this league, according to the Pope's plans. The direct
threat to the country, the great losses in men and the devastation caused by the raids
of the hordes led John Albert to seek immediate and more effective means of de-
fence than the papal projects, encompassed with difficulties. The King took a keen in-
terest in the possibility of using the jubilee tributes collected by the Church in Poland
,2.24 for the purpose of defending the country, with the cooperation of his brother, Car-
dinal Frederic Jagiellon, Bishop of Cracow and Archbishop of Gniezno.
We are free to think that the donation of the Gradual to Wawel Cathedral, "ifHer
ceiera. yha opera" including the gift of a missal to the Marian sanctuary
on Jasna Góra (C7ara Moas), was to be not only a propitiatory offering from an
earthly king to the Ruler of Heaven, but also a gesture of good will towards the clergy.
It was to show the need for harmonious cooperation between King and Church. The
"royal" motifs in the monographic programme of illumination of the Gradual stressed
the great dignity of monarchal power, coming from God and sovereign over other
earthly powers; this corresponded to the political programme of John Albert, the
advocate of a strong and independent royal power.
In contradistinction to the polychromes in the interior of the church and the paint-
ings of the altar retable, which were accessible to all the faithful, the ideological pro-
gramme of illumination of the Gradual must have been addressed especially to the
clergy and the pupils of the cathedral school from whom the cathedral singers were
recruited, and so to people possessing a certain stock of theological knowledge and
conversant with the liturgy. This rendered possible the comparatively great complexity
of the iconographic programme and of the ideological content conveyed by its means.
The illuminations were not merely to add splendour to the volume and in this way
serve as praise to God, but were also to assist people towards a better understanding
of the importance and full signiRcance of the spiritual function of liturgical singing,
and incidentally towards a better visualization of truths not only strictly theological
but also relating to the moral order of the world and the structure of its government.
FART 2
The Pontifical of Erazm Ciołek. RegttMW %eMtpora%e.
Otdo corotMmdi reyis
In 1503 Erazm Ciołek (1474—1522) became Bishop of Płock, through the good of-
fices of King Alexander. The ambitious and talented plebeian treated this incumbency
as the preliminary to a further career in the Church. After the death of Alexander
cipie of contrasting the symbolical meaning of the motifs of Hying birds and lighting
lizards as well as the movements of rising upwards and falling downwards.
John Albert's intention of donating the Gradual to the coronation cathedral arose
in the Hnal period of his reign and was only fully carried out after his death. It may
be assumed that the circumstances bringing about the donation were the King's
severe illness in 1499 during a difficult political situation for the State, and the pre-
parations to celebrate the Church jubilee year in 1500. Their political context was
the menace of a Turkish invasion of southern and eastern Europe and the attempt
to organize an anti-Turkish league undertaken by Pope Alexander VI. The Polish
king, whose country was exposed to the devastating Tartar raids inspired by the
Turks, and who had been engaged in onerous negotiations for peace with the Sultan
Bajazet, was to be a partner in this league, according to the Pope's plans. The direct
threat to the country, the great losses in men and the devastation caused by the raids
of the hordes led John Albert to seek immediate and more effective means of de-
fence than the papal projects, encompassed with difficulties. The King took a keen in-
terest in the possibility of using the jubilee tributes collected by the Church in Poland
,2.24 for the purpose of defending the country, with the cooperation of his brother, Car-
dinal Frederic Jagiellon, Bishop of Cracow and Archbishop of Gniezno.
We are free to think that the donation of the Gradual to Wawel Cathedral, "ifHer
ceiera. yha opera" including the gift of a missal to the Marian sanctuary
on Jasna Góra (C7ara Moas), was to be not only a propitiatory offering from an
earthly king to the Ruler of Heaven, but also a gesture of good will towards the clergy.
It was to show the need for harmonious cooperation between King and Church. The
"royal" motifs in the monographic programme of illumination of the Gradual stressed
the great dignity of monarchal power, coming from God and sovereign over other
earthly powers; this corresponded to the political programme of John Albert, the
advocate of a strong and independent royal power.
In contradistinction to the polychromes in the interior of the church and the paint-
ings of the altar retable, which were accessible to all the faithful, the ideological pro-
gramme of illumination of the Gradual must have been addressed especially to the
clergy and the pupils of the cathedral school from whom the cathedral singers were
recruited, and so to people possessing a certain stock of theological knowledge and
conversant with the liturgy. This rendered possible the comparatively great complexity
of the iconographic programme and of the ideological content conveyed by its means.
The illuminations were not merely to add splendour to the volume and in this way
serve as praise to God, but were also to assist people towards a better understanding
of the importance and full signiRcance of the spiritual function of liturgical singing,
and incidentally towards a better visualization of truths not only strictly theological
but also relating to the moral order of the world and the structure of its government.
FART 2
The Pontifical of Erazm Ciołek. RegttMW %eMtpora%e.
Otdo corotMmdi reyis
In 1503 Erazm Ciołek (1474—1522) became Bishop of Płock, through the good of-
fices of King Alexander. The ambitious and talented plebeian treated this incumbency
as the preliminary to a further career in the Church. After the death of Alexander