King Stanislaus. Albert Sorel’s La Question d'Orient au XVIIIᵉ
siècle (Paris, 1889) is lucid and accurate, but somewhat superficial.
Wolfgang Michael’s Englands Stellung zur ersten Teilung Polens
(Hamburg, 1890) is of especial interest to Englishmen. Maryan
Dubiecki’s Karol Prozor (Pol., Cracow, 1897) shows with what
self-sacrificing devotion the gentry and people supported Kościuszko’s
rising. For more complete bibliography see Józef Korzeniowski’s
Catalogus actorum et documentarum res gestas Poloniae illustrantium
(Cracow, 1889), and Ludwik Finkel’s Bibliography of Polish
History (Pol., Lemberg, 1891). For the period 1815–1863 see also
N. A. Day, The Russian Government in Poland (London, 1867);
Theodor Schiemann, Russland unter Kaiser Nikolaus I., vol. i.
(Berlin, 1904).
polish literature
The Polish language belongs to the western branch of the Slavonic tongues, and exhibits the closest affinities with the Czech or Bohemian and Lusatian Wendish. Unlike the people of other Slavonic countries, the Poles are comparatively poor in popular and legendary poetry, but such compositions undoubtedly existed in early times, as may be seen by the writings of their chroniclers; thus Gallus translated into Latin a poem written on Boleslaus the Brave, and a few old Polish songs are included in Wojcicki’s Library of Ancient Writers. A great deal of the early literature written in Poland is in Latin. The earliest specimen of the Polish language is the so-called Psalter of Queen Margaret, discovered in 1826 at the convent of St Florian. The date of the manuscript appears to be the middle of the 14th century, and probably in its present form it is only a copy of a much older text; there is also a translation of the fiftieth psalm belonging to the 13th century.[1] The ancient Polish hymn or war song, Piesn Boga Rodzica, was an address to the Virgin, sung by the Poles when about to fight. The oldest manuscript of this production is dated 1408, and is preserved at Cracow. By a legend which subsequently grew up the composition of it was assigned to St Adalbert. John Lodzia, bishop of Posen from 1335 to 1346, composed several religious songs in Latin.
The next monument of Polish literature to which we come is the Bible of Queen Sophia or Bible of Szaroszpatak. It is imperfect, and only contains the early books, viz. the Pentateuch, Joshua, Ruth and Kings, there are, however, fragments of three others. It is said to have been written for Sophia, the fourth wife of Jagiello, about the year 1455. It has been edited with great care by Malecki. Five religious songs in Polish dating from the 15th century have been preserved; they are ascribed to Andrew Slopuchowski, prior of the monastery of the Holy Cross on Lysa Góra. There is also the fragment of a hymn in praise of Wycliffe. To these fragments may be added the prayer-book of a certain Waclaw, a sermon on marriage, and some Polish glosses. These are all the existing memorials of the Polish language before the 16th century.
Perhaps a few words should be said concerning the writers in Latin. Martin Gallus lived in Poland between 1110 and 1135. From his name he has been supposed by some to have been a Frenchman or Walloon, and we must remember that Poland swarmed at that time with foreign ecclesiastics. Lelewel, the Polish historian, The Latin Chronicles.considers that it is merely a translation into Latin of some such name as Kura, signifying “a fowl.” Others suppose him to have been an Italian, or a monk from the convent of St Gall in Switzerland. He has plenty of legends to tell us, and writes altogether in a poetical style, so that his prose seems to fall into rhythm unconsciously. His quotations from the classics, Sallust, Lucan and others, show the extent of his reading. Gallus was followed by Matthew Cholewa and Vincent Kadlubek, two bishops of Cracow, and Bogufal or Boguchwal (Gottlob), bishop of Posen, who all used Latin. The work of Kadlubek is more ornate in diction than that of Bogufal, and for a long time enjoyed great popularity. He was born in 1160, educated at the university of Paris, and died in Poland in 1223 as a Cistercian monk. His Latin, like that of Gallus, is far from classical, but he writes with spirit and throws a good deal of light upon the events of his time. The education of the country was wholly in the hands of the ecclesiastics, many of whom were foreigners. In this way we must explain the great prevalence of the Latin language. Such a system would be sure to stifle all national outgrowth, and accordingly we have among the Poles none of those early monuments of the language which other countries boast. For instance, there are no bîlinî or legendary poems, such as are found among the Russians, although many passages in the ancient chroniclers from their poetical colouring seem to be borrowed from old songs or legends, and the first verses of some of these compositions have been preserved. Mention may here be made of other chroniclers such as Martin the Pole (Polonus), who died in 1279 or 1280, and Jan of Czarnkow, who died in 1389; the latter was the historian and panegyrist of Casimir the Great. With the reign of Casimir III. (1333–1370) must be associated the statutes of Wislica. Jadwiga, the wife of Jagiello, was mainly instrumental in creating the university of Cracow, which received a charter in 1364, but did not come into effective existence till its reconstitution in 1400. In this institution for many years all the great men of Poland were trained—among others Gregory of Sanok, Dlugosz and Copernicus. Casimir the Great may be said to have laid the foundation of this university. Having obtained the consent of Pope Urban V., he established at Cracow a studium generale on the model of the university of Bologna. It consisted of three faculties—Roman law, medicine and philosophy. But the aristocratic youth still preferred frequenting the universities of Prague, Padua and Paris, and accordingly the newly founded studium languished. Jadwiga, however, obtained from Boniface IX. permission to create a new chair, that of theology; and the university of Cracow was remodelled, having been reorganized on the same basis as that of Paris. Another university was founded later at Vilna by Bátory, and one at Zamość by the chancellor Zamoyski, There were also good schools in various places, such as the Collegium Lubranskiego of Posen and the school of St Mary at Cracow. In the year 1474 a press was set up in the latter city, where Günther Zainer printed the first book. The first press from which books in the Polish language appeared was that of Hieronymus Wietor, a Silesian, who commenced publishing in 1515. A few fragments printed in Polish had appeared before this, as the Lord’s Prayer in the statutes of the bishops of Breslau in 1475, the story of Pope Urban in Latin, German and Polish in 1505, &c.; but the first complete work in the Polish language appeared from the press of this printer at Cracow in 1521, under the title, Speeches of the Wise King Solomon. The translation was executed by Jan Koszycki, as the printer informs us in the preface, and the work is dedicated to Anna Wojnicka, the wife of a castellan. In 1522, a Polish translation of Ecclesiastes appeared from that press, and before the conclusion of that year The Life of Christ, with woodcuts, translated into Polish by Balthasar Opec. Many other presses were soon established. Printers of repute at Cracow, during the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, were Sybeneicher and Piotrkowczyk.
Little as yet had been produced in Polish, as the chroniclers still adhered to Latin; and here mention must be made of Jan Dlugosz, who called himself Longinus. He was bishop of Lernberg, the capital of Galicia, and has left us a very valuable history which has merits of style and shows considerable research. So anxious was Dlugosz to make his work Dlugosz.as perfect as he could that he learned Russian so as to be able to read the Chronicle of Nestor. The best part of his book is that which treats of the period between 1386 and 1480. About 1500 was written an interesting little work entitled “Memoirs of a Polish Janissary” (Pamietniki ianczara polaka). Although written in the Polish language, it was probably the production of a Serb, Michael Constantinovich of Ostrovitza. He was taken prisoner by the Turks in 1455 and served ten years among the Janissaries, after which he escaped into Hungary. About this time also flourished Nicholas Copernicus, a native of Thorn, one of the few Poles who have made themselves known beyond the limits of their country.
The Poles call the period between 1548 and 1606 their golden
- ↑ The Psalter is called after Margaret, the first wife of King Louis, who died in 1349, by a mere conjecture. Caro thinks it more probable that the book belonged to Mary, his daughter.
