DOI article:
Janicki, Marek A.: Zaginione inskrypcje poetyckie katedry wawelskiej (do końca XVI wieku): Część I: Epitafia biskupie i królewskie
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19890#0077
THE LOST POETIC INSCRIPTIONS IN THE WAWEL CATHEDRAL
(UNTIL THE EM) OF THE 16™ CENTURY)
PART I: EPISCOPAL AND ROYAL EPITAPHS
Summary
The paper presents the problems of the epigraphic publications
of poetic epitaphs in the Wawel cathedral from the third ąuarter of
the 12Ih - the first half of the 13* century (the probable datę of origin
of the poetic epitaph of St Stanislaus) to the end of the 16* century.
The set of tomb inscriptions in the Wawel cathedral, of
exceptional historical and cultural rank by Central-Eastem European
standards, augmented to a size perceptible today, grew from the 12*
century onwards (a lead tablet and a bishop’s ring from the tomb of
Bishop Maur, d. 1118). At the same time it was steadily depleted
under the influence of changing cultural and esthetic trends as well
as historical cataclysms.
A considerable proportion of the lost cathedral mscriptions can
be known from archival and printed sources, so far not used in fuli.
In addition to the hitherto largest printed collection of tomb
inscriptions in Latin from the territory of the Polish Commonwealth
(Monumentu Sannatarum, ed. Szymon Starowolski. Kraków 1655),
should be mentioned, among other publications, Jan Dlugosz’s
Annciles. Chronica Polonorum by Maciej of Miechów (Kraków 1519,
1521). and Herby rycerstwa polskiego [Armoriał Bearings of the
Polish Knighthood] by Bartosz Paprocki (Kraków 1584, 2nd ed.,
Kraków 1858), and among manuscript sources the corpus of the
poetic legacy of Andrzej Krzycki and of other Neo-Latin poets in
the time of Sigismund I. compiled in the first half of the 16* century
by Stanisław Górski. Conventionally called Corpus Cricianum, it is
mainly represented by manuscript no. 243 in the Library of the Polish
Academy of Sciences at Kórnik (which has numerous modified and
amplified copies). A substantial part of the epigraphic materiał
contained in it was included in the edition of Andrzej KrzyckTs poetry
(Carmina, ed. K. Morawski, Kraków 1888).
Jan Długosz. Maciej of Miechów, Stanisław Górski, and Szymon
Starowolski were canons of Cracow Cathedral and they knew it from
continual autopsy, which is of primary importance to the criticism
of the credibility of their records.
Outstanding among the lost cathedral inscriptions is a set of poetic
epitaphs.
The practice of commemorating representatives of the Church
hierarchy who had a reputation for holiness was Consolidated in Latin
Europę certainly not without the influence of the tradition of a papai
poetic epitaph. a tradition that existed uninterruptedly from the end
of the 4* to the mid-15* century (cf. liro Kajanto, Papai Epigraphy
in Renaissance Romę (The Chapters on Paleography by Ulla
Nyberg), Helsinki 1982).
The phenomenon of poetic epitaph in Cracow Cathedral can be
followed in particular from at least the first half of the 13* century
(beginning with the already-mentioned brief, four lines long, epitaph
of St Stanislaus, in all likelihood placed on his tomb still prior to his
canonization, and later on a reliąuary coffin which survived till the
second half of the 17* century) to the second half of the 16* century.
when it seems to be gradually supplanted by prose inscription.
The early 15* century witnesses extensive epitaphs of an
epicedium type. They are composed, as is the epitaph of Queen
Hedvige of Anjou. of 60 or even almost twice as many lines (epitaph
of Ladislas Jagiełło written by Grzegorz of Sanok). The epitaph of
Queen Hedvige (perhaps dating from as early as the first decade of
the 15* century) is still a typical medieval work. The epitaph of
Ladislas Jagiełło (written soon after 1434) is rendered in an already
evidently antiąue-style manner. These texts were included by,
among others, Długosz in his Annales, but without definite
confirmation that the texts were epigraphic publications placed at
the tombs of the persons commemorated by them. Such information,
however. was given by Maciej of Miechów. It leaves no room for
doubt that at least the works recorded by him were indeed tomb
inscriptions in Cracow Cathedral, as was the outstanding, antiąue-
style Epitaphium Zavissii Nigri, one of the most famous European
knights of his time (killed in 1428), written by Adam Świnka
of Zielona, placed in the Franciscan church in Cracow. The
historiography of the tomb forms of commemoration has not thus
far attached great importance to this information. although it had
been known for ąuite a long time. Some time ago the authority of
a historian of literaturę strengthened the mistaken belief that such
long compositions in the form of inscription could not have existed.
For many years this had a highly unfavourable effect on the
identification of a poetic epitaph and its consideration in the
literaturę as a real tomb inscription.
The texts of these pieces were most probably painted on wooden
panels. The boards for poetic inscriptions of the 15*-16* centuries
are termed in sources as tabula or tabella. A tabula corresponds to
the Old Polish word tablica [panel], this today terminologically
corresponding to panel painting, that is. painting on board. In the
context of sepulchral art a tabula usually denotes a pictorial epitaph.
This was probably also the case of the boards of the majority of
the known poetic epitaphs, at least those of the 16* century.
Unfortunately, the notes that accompany the texts of the compositions
in the records are not unequivocal and they do not mention pictorial
representations, so it is difficult to settle this ąuestion, especially
with regard to the earlier epitaphs. Nevertheless, it is most likely
that panel paintings were hung separately.
In the 16* century a poetic epitaph appeared both on panels placed
by the tomb or on the tomb itself. The border of the brass tomb piąte
of the Primate, Cardinal, and bishop of Cracow, Frederick Jagiellon,
cast in 1510 in the Nuremberg workshop of the Vischers, contains
a composition consisting of three elegiac distichs. The prose
inscription preserved on the front piąte of the tomb was in all
probability accompanied by another, poetic, epitaph placed on the
panel suspended nearby. Successive poetic epitaphs of the bishops
of Cracow, in the form of epigraphic publications either painted or
incised in stone, were composed by humanists connected with their
court and chancellery.
The poetic epitaphs that once decorated the Wawel cathedral
were written by the most prominent men of letters of the Polish Pre-
Renaissance of the 15* century and of the Renaissance of the 16*
century: probably from Adam Świnka of Zielona to certainly
Grzegorz of Sanok, Andrzej Krzycki, Jan Dantyszek. Stanisław
Hozjusz, and Marcin Kromer, up to the most outstanding of them,
Jan Kochanowski, who is the author of the epigrams present on the
tomb of Bishop Filip Padniewski (d. 1572).
Part I of the study, presented here. deals with the epitaphs of the
bishops and kings.
71
(UNTIL THE EM) OF THE 16™ CENTURY)
PART I: EPISCOPAL AND ROYAL EPITAPHS
Summary
The paper presents the problems of the epigraphic publications
of poetic epitaphs in the Wawel cathedral from the third ąuarter of
the 12Ih - the first half of the 13* century (the probable datę of origin
of the poetic epitaph of St Stanislaus) to the end of the 16* century.
The set of tomb inscriptions in the Wawel cathedral, of
exceptional historical and cultural rank by Central-Eastem European
standards, augmented to a size perceptible today, grew from the 12*
century onwards (a lead tablet and a bishop’s ring from the tomb of
Bishop Maur, d. 1118). At the same time it was steadily depleted
under the influence of changing cultural and esthetic trends as well
as historical cataclysms.
A considerable proportion of the lost cathedral mscriptions can
be known from archival and printed sources, so far not used in fuli.
In addition to the hitherto largest printed collection of tomb
inscriptions in Latin from the territory of the Polish Commonwealth
(Monumentu Sannatarum, ed. Szymon Starowolski. Kraków 1655),
should be mentioned, among other publications, Jan Dlugosz’s
Annciles. Chronica Polonorum by Maciej of Miechów (Kraków 1519,
1521). and Herby rycerstwa polskiego [Armoriał Bearings of the
Polish Knighthood] by Bartosz Paprocki (Kraków 1584, 2nd ed.,
Kraków 1858), and among manuscript sources the corpus of the
poetic legacy of Andrzej Krzycki and of other Neo-Latin poets in
the time of Sigismund I. compiled in the first half of the 16* century
by Stanisław Górski. Conventionally called Corpus Cricianum, it is
mainly represented by manuscript no. 243 in the Library of the Polish
Academy of Sciences at Kórnik (which has numerous modified and
amplified copies). A substantial part of the epigraphic materiał
contained in it was included in the edition of Andrzej KrzyckTs poetry
(Carmina, ed. K. Morawski, Kraków 1888).
Jan Długosz. Maciej of Miechów, Stanisław Górski, and Szymon
Starowolski were canons of Cracow Cathedral and they knew it from
continual autopsy, which is of primary importance to the criticism
of the credibility of their records.
Outstanding among the lost cathedral inscriptions is a set of poetic
epitaphs.
The practice of commemorating representatives of the Church
hierarchy who had a reputation for holiness was Consolidated in Latin
Europę certainly not without the influence of the tradition of a papai
poetic epitaph. a tradition that existed uninterruptedly from the end
of the 4* to the mid-15* century (cf. liro Kajanto, Papai Epigraphy
in Renaissance Romę (The Chapters on Paleography by Ulla
Nyberg), Helsinki 1982).
The phenomenon of poetic epitaph in Cracow Cathedral can be
followed in particular from at least the first half of the 13* century
(beginning with the already-mentioned brief, four lines long, epitaph
of St Stanislaus, in all likelihood placed on his tomb still prior to his
canonization, and later on a reliąuary coffin which survived till the
second half of the 17* century) to the second half of the 16* century.
when it seems to be gradually supplanted by prose inscription.
The early 15* century witnesses extensive epitaphs of an
epicedium type. They are composed, as is the epitaph of Queen
Hedvige of Anjou. of 60 or even almost twice as many lines (epitaph
of Ladislas Jagiełło written by Grzegorz of Sanok). The epitaph of
Queen Hedvige (perhaps dating from as early as the first decade of
the 15* century) is still a typical medieval work. The epitaph of
Ladislas Jagiełło (written soon after 1434) is rendered in an already
evidently antiąue-style manner. These texts were included by,
among others, Długosz in his Annales, but without definite
confirmation that the texts were epigraphic publications placed at
the tombs of the persons commemorated by them. Such information,
however. was given by Maciej of Miechów. It leaves no room for
doubt that at least the works recorded by him were indeed tomb
inscriptions in Cracow Cathedral, as was the outstanding, antiąue-
style Epitaphium Zavissii Nigri, one of the most famous European
knights of his time (killed in 1428), written by Adam Świnka
of Zielona, placed in the Franciscan church in Cracow. The
historiography of the tomb forms of commemoration has not thus
far attached great importance to this information. although it had
been known for ąuite a long time. Some time ago the authority of
a historian of literaturę strengthened the mistaken belief that such
long compositions in the form of inscription could not have existed.
For many years this had a highly unfavourable effect on the
identification of a poetic epitaph and its consideration in the
literaturę as a real tomb inscription.
The texts of these pieces were most probably painted on wooden
panels. The boards for poetic inscriptions of the 15*-16* centuries
are termed in sources as tabula or tabella. A tabula corresponds to
the Old Polish word tablica [panel], this today terminologically
corresponding to panel painting, that is. painting on board. In the
context of sepulchral art a tabula usually denotes a pictorial epitaph.
This was probably also the case of the boards of the majority of
the known poetic epitaphs, at least those of the 16* century.
Unfortunately, the notes that accompany the texts of the compositions
in the records are not unequivocal and they do not mention pictorial
representations, so it is difficult to settle this ąuestion, especially
with regard to the earlier epitaphs. Nevertheless, it is most likely
that panel paintings were hung separately.
In the 16* century a poetic epitaph appeared both on panels placed
by the tomb or on the tomb itself. The border of the brass tomb piąte
of the Primate, Cardinal, and bishop of Cracow, Frederick Jagiellon,
cast in 1510 in the Nuremberg workshop of the Vischers, contains
a composition consisting of three elegiac distichs. The prose
inscription preserved on the front piąte of the tomb was in all
probability accompanied by another, poetic, epitaph placed on the
panel suspended nearby. Successive poetic epitaphs of the bishops
of Cracow, in the form of epigraphic publications either painted or
incised in stone, were composed by humanists connected with their
court and chancellery.
The poetic epitaphs that once decorated the Wawel cathedral
were written by the most prominent men of letters of the Polish Pre-
Renaissance of the 15* century and of the Renaissance of the 16*
century: probably from Adam Świnka of Zielona to certainly
Grzegorz of Sanok, Andrzej Krzycki, Jan Dantyszek. Stanisław
Hozjusz, and Marcin Kromer, up to the most outstanding of them,
Jan Kochanowski, who is the author of the epigrams present on the
tomb of Bishop Filip Padniewski (d. 1572).
Part I of the study, presented here. deals with the epitaphs of the
bishops and kings.
71