DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0025
Another precious heirloom, which has been preserved to this day, is the pair of coronation sandals of
the infant Sigismund Augustus, crowned during the lifetime of his father in i 529. The sandals, of crimson
velvet with square shaped toes, were originally studded with pearls and precious stones, and their soles
were probably cork lined. Kept in the Royal Treasury at Wawel, they were saved from looting by Tadeusz
Czacki, who deposited them in the Temple of Sibyl in Pulawy. At present, the sandals are on view in the
Wawel collection.
According to tradition, the Silver Cock, the emblem of the Cracow Marksmen's Brotherhood, at pre-
sent in the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow, and still used by the Brotherhood on festive
occasions, was donated by King Sigismund Augustus in 1565. The first marksmen's brotherhoods were
established in European cities in the Middle Ages and since their members practised shooting at a wooden
cock, the latter became their emblem. The winner of the annual shooting competition was crowned King
of Marksmanship and had the privilege of carrying the emblem on various ceremonial occasions. Silver
cocks have been preserved in many museums in Western Europe, including London's Victoria and Albert
Museum. The earliest cocks date from the 14th century, but are small and flat in shape. The Cracow Cock
is unquestionably the best and most spectacular example. In fact it looks more like an eagle, the Polish
national emblem, than a cock. It is presumed to have been made by one of the Cracow goldsmiths.
The Cock of the Warsaw Marksmen's Brotherhood, bearing the date 1 5 52, smaller than the Cracow
one, is preserved in the Historical Museum of the City of Warsaw. It is probably the work of the Warsaw
goldsmith Mikolaj Erler and was the gift of Jan Baryczka, who was the Warsaw King of Marksmanship
in 1^2.
During the reign of Sigismund the Old, bells and objects in bronze, tin and pewter were mostly made
by German masters either working in Poland or in Augsburg and Nuremberg, for example the famous
workshop of the Vischer family in Nuremberg. The latter supplied bronze plates for the sepulchred
monuments of Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon in 1 510, Piotr Kmita (d. 1553), and Canon Pawel Szydlo-
wiecki (d. 1 506). In fact Polish dealings with the Vischers date back to the late 1 5th century when they
produced commemorative plates of Feliks Padniewski, Castellan of Lvov (d. 1488), buried in the Domi-
nican church in Poznah, and of Filippo Buonaccorsi called CaJlimachus (d. 1496), in the Dominican
church in Cracow. In 1532 Hans Vischer made an imposing grille wrought in bronze which shuts off
the Sigismund Chapel from the rest of Wawel Cathedral. The famous bell named 'Sigismund' after
Sigismund the Old, cast in 1 520, is the work of another Nuremberg master, Hans Behem, who settled
in Cracow. The Sigismund of Wawel Cathedral, famous for the extraordinary depth, purity and resonance
of its tone, is rung on church feastdays, important national anniversaries, and on special national
occasions; few bells in the world can compare with the Sigismund.
Manufacture of cannon was another important craft practised in royal, magnate and municipal
foundries. The last two sovereigns of the Jagiellon dynasty, Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus,
perceived the importance of artillery and ordered a large number of ordnance pieces, mostly from German,
Italian and Flemish craftsmen, as well as local masters. Cannon foundries existed in Cracow, Gdansk,
Lvov, Vilna, Toruh, and Warsaw. Cracow documents from the first half of the 16th century mention
more than twenty gun makers {magistri tormentorum), among them Hans Behem of Nuremberg, Georg
Algaier of Ulm, Servace Artz of Brussels, and Simon Hauwitz who settled in Cracow. The famous Nurem-
berg master Oswald Baldner worked for Sigismund Augustus in Cracow in 1559. ^n Lms period,
guns were decorated in various ornamental designs and inscriptions. Fine pieces of artillery were made
for the Radziwills at Nieswiez by their court founder Hermann Moltzfeld. Each of these guns was given
a name, for example Chimera, Circe, Parrot and Hydra; the last mentioned was cist in the likeness of
a classical column and carried the following inscription: 'Hydra, paro luctus piceos, dum concito
fluctus' (I am Hydra, when I storm, prepare black mourning). The barrel of one of the guns cast by
Oswald Baldner for Sigismund Augustus carried this inscription: Concutio turres, meonia sterno, agmina
verto, falconetes dicor. Abi atque cave' (I make towers shake, strongholds collapse, hosts fly, falcon
they call me. Go away and beware). An ordnance piece named Eaglet, now in the Polish Army Museum,
bears the arms of the City of Lvov, the date 1 571, and the inscription in Polish 'With whom God holds,
has good defence', and the letters CL {Civitas Leopoliensis).
Measuring of time by means of huge tower clocks was first noted in Poland in the latter half of
the 14th century. A written mention of the first clock in Cracow, on one of the spires of the Church
of Our Lady, dates from 1380. At first, clockmakers were foreigners, mostly from Italy and Nuremberg
the infant Sigismund Augustus, crowned during the lifetime of his father in i 529. The sandals, of crimson
velvet with square shaped toes, were originally studded with pearls and precious stones, and their soles
were probably cork lined. Kept in the Royal Treasury at Wawel, they were saved from looting by Tadeusz
Czacki, who deposited them in the Temple of Sibyl in Pulawy. At present, the sandals are on view in the
Wawel collection.
According to tradition, the Silver Cock, the emblem of the Cracow Marksmen's Brotherhood, at pre-
sent in the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow, and still used by the Brotherhood on festive
occasions, was donated by King Sigismund Augustus in 1565. The first marksmen's brotherhoods were
established in European cities in the Middle Ages and since their members practised shooting at a wooden
cock, the latter became their emblem. The winner of the annual shooting competition was crowned King
of Marksmanship and had the privilege of carrying the emblem on various ceremonial occasions. Silver
cocks have been preserved in many museums in Western Europe, including London's Victoria and Albert
Museum. The earliest cocks date from the 14th century, but are small and flat in shape. The Cracow Cock
is unquestionably the best and most spectacular example. In fact it looks more like an eagle, the Polish
national emblem, than a cock. It is presumed to have been made by one of the Cracow goldsmiths.
The Cock of the Warsaw Marksmen's Brotherhood, bearing the date 1 5 52, smaller than the Cracow
one, is preserved in the Historical Museum of the City of Warsaw. It is probably the work of the Warsaw
goldsmith Mikolaj Erler and was the gift of Jan Baryczka, who was the Warsaw King of Marksmanship
in 1^2.
During the reign of Sigismund the Old, bells and objects in bronze, tin and pewter were mostly made
by German masters either working in Poland or in Augsburg and Nuremberg, for example the famous
workshop of the Vischer family in Nuremberg. The latter supplied bronze plates for the sepulchred
monuments of Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon in 1 510, Piotr Kmita (d. 1553), and Canon Pawel Szydlo-
wiecki (d. 1 506). In fact Polish dealings with the Vischers date back to the late 1 5th century when they
produced commemorative plates of Feliks Padniewski, Castellan of Lvov (d. 1488), buried in the Domi-
nican church in Poznah, and of Filippo Buonaccorsi called CaJlimachus (d. 1496), in the Dominican
church in Cracow. In 1532 Hans Vischer made an imposing grille wrought in bronze which shuts off
the Sigismund Chapel from the rest of Wawel Cathedral. The famous bell named 'Sigismund' after
Sigismund the Old, cast in 1 520, is the work of another Nuremberg master, Hans Behem, who settled
in Cracow. The Sigismund of Wawel Cathedral, famous for the extraordinary depth, purity and resonance
of its tone, is rung on church feastdays, important national anniversaries, and on special national
occasions; few bells in the world can compare with the Sigismund.
Manufacture of cannon was another important craft practised in royal, magnate and municipal
foundries. The last two sovereigns of the Jagiellon dynasty, Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus,
perceived the importance of artillery and ordered a large number of ordnance pieces, mostly from German,
Italian and Flemish craftsmen, as well as local masters. Cannon foundries existed in Cracow, Gdansk,
Lvov, Vilna, Toruh, and Warsaw. Cracow documents from the first half of the 16th century mention
more than twenty gun makers {magistri tormentorum), among them Hans Behem of Nuremberg, Georg
Algaier of Ulm, Servace Artz of Brussels, and Simon Hauwitz who settled in Cracow. The famous Nurem-
berg master Oswald Baldner worked for Sigismund Augustus in Cracow in 1559. ^n Lms period,
guns were decorated in various ornamental designs and inscriptions. Fine pieces of artillery were made
for the Radziwills at Nieswiez by their court founder Hermann Moltzfeld. Each of these guns was given
a name, for example Chimera, Circe, Parrot and Hydra; the last mentioned was cist in the likeness of
a classical column and carried the following inscription: 'Hydra, paro luctus piceos, dum concito
fluctus' (I am Hydra, when I storm, prepare black mourning). The barrel of one of the guns cast by
Oswald Baldner for Sigismund Augustus carried this inscription: Concutio turres, meonia sterno, agmina
verto, falconetes dicor. Abi atque cave' (I make towers shake, strongholds collapse, hosts fly, falcon
they call me. Go away and beware). An ordnance piece named Eaglet, now in the Polish Army Museum,
bears the arms of the City of Lvov, the date 1 571, and the inscription in Polish 'With whom God holds,
has good defence', and the letters CL {Civitas Leopoliensis).
Measuring of time by means of huge tower clocks was first noted in Poland in the latter half of
the 14th century. A written mention of the first clock in Cracow, on one of the spires of the Church
of Our Lady, dates from 1380. At first, clockmakers were foreigners, mostly from Italy and Nuremberg