The population of Poland reached 7.5 million at the end of the Jagiellonian era. Poles, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Jews, Armenians, Tatars, Karaites, representatives of many European countries (Germans, Italians, the Dutch), who had their own religions and customs, lived next to each other. The Commonwealth of that time was a country of many nations, cultures and religions, never becoming a country where multi-faith and multi-ethnicity would lead to open wars and bloody conflicts. Thanks to this, it earned the name of a state without stakes, and religious tolerance was a constant element of the social order. The multicultural society was divided into estates that differed in laws and were subject to separate courts: nobility (approx. 8-10%), clergy (0.2%), townspeople (approx. 25%) and peasants (approx. 65% – 70%), in addition, the so-called free people were outside the structure. Membership in the estate was determined by birth (except for the clerical estate), but it was possible to move from a lower to a higher estate. The Golden Age of the Jagiellonians was a period of economic and trade development, a time of urban expansion and a flourishing of craftsmanship. We now know this primarily from written sources. This section presents original handwritten and printed documents on the social and economic history of the Jagiellonian GoldenA ge, illustrating selected issues in this field.
Multi-faith in the 16th-century Poland
Polish and Kipchak translation of the Latin statute law approved by king Sigismund I the Old at the General Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland in Piotrków in 1519. The law of the Armenians of Poland was based on an old Armenian code of laws (Datastanagirk), written by a monk, Mkhitar Gosh, at the end of the 12th century. Brought by the Armenian immigrants from their old country to Lviv, the code was anonymously translated into Latin by order of Sigismund I the Old, discussed at the General Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland in Piotrków and approved by the King in 1519. The Armenian Code of Law (Statuta iuris armenici) kept some court rituals previously unknown in Poland, but the law regulations which varied considerably from Polish legal norms were removed and replaced with the new ones. Although the law was originally composed to be used by the Armenian Community in Lviv, it was soon adopted by the Armenian courts in Kamieniec Podolski, Zamość and other cities. The courts acted on behalf of the Polish king who served also as the highest appellate authority in case a party requested a formal change of the courts’ official decisions. The original Latin copy of Statuta iuris armenici was held in the archives of the Council of Elders of the Armenian Community in Lviv. It was translated into two languages spoken by the Armenians of Poland – Kipchak and Polish. Only several surviving copies of these translations are known to exist. The oldest one, presented at the exhibition, dates from 1528 and comprises two texts of the Statuta – in Polish and in Kipchak written in Armenian alphabet. In 1604, a supplement was added to Statuta entitled Porządek sądów i spraw prawa ormiańskiego (Judical procedure in Armenian courts under the Armenian law). Statuta iuris armenici stand as a monument to the Polish royal legislation and to the unique culture of Armenians in Poland, which they were able to create thanks to the liberty given to them by the Polish kings.
Title: Code of law of the Armenians of Poland
Created: Lviv, probably 1528
Physical description: paper, 343 leaves (some left blank), 21,8 x 30,5 cm
Bibliographic references: Bischoff F., Das alte Recht der Armenier in Lemberg, „Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien”. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 40, Wien 1862; Barącz S., Rys dziejów ormiańskich, Tarnopol 1869, p. 205-261; Corpus Iuris Polonici, 3, Annos 1506-1522 continens, ed. O. Balzer, Kraków 1906, p. 401-538;Balzer O., Statut ormiański w zatwierdzeniu Zygmunta I z 1519, Lwów 1910; Oleś M., The Armenian law in the Polish Kingdom (1356-1519): a juridical and historical study, Roma 1966; Lewicki M., Kohnowa R., La version turque kiptchak du Code des lois des Arméniens polonais d’après le ms. No 1916 de la Bibliothèque Ossolineum, „Rocznik Orientalistyczny”, 21, 1957, p. 153-300; Торе Бітігі. Кыпчакско-польская версия Армянского Судебника и Армяно-кыпчакский Процессуальный кодекс. Львов, Каменец-Подольский. 1519-1594 гг. Порядок судов и дел Армянского права, составители А. Н. Гаркавец, Г. Сапаргалиев, Алматы 2003; Thomson R. W., The Lawcode (Datastanagirk’) of Mxit’ar Goš, Amsterdam-Atlanta 2000
Provenance: 1. Council of Elders of the Armenian Community in Lviv (16th-18th century); 2. Gift of Sadok Barącz to the Ossolineum Library in 1872.; 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in gilt and blind, book-corners, metal and leather clasps – 17th century (probably 1612)
Notes: in Kipchak part, arabesque decorations in black ink, coloured in red or blue
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: 1916/II
By Andrzej A. Zięba
Gregory (Grigor), called the Great, was the first archbishop of the Polish Armenians. He was ordained in 1363 by the Catholicos Mesrob in Sis, the capital of the Kingdom of Cilicia, and in 1367 he obtained a privilege from King Casimir the Great that allowed him to settle in Lviv and “to remain in and to abide by his law and faith, and to use them in a manner and according to the Armenian custom”. It was the first Polish document addressed solely to the Armenians, a testimony of openness to visitors from a distant country and their culture that had a common Christian heritage. However, the relationship between the Archbishop and Catholicos took a wrong turn. Mesrob’s successors excommunicated Gregory and appointed a new hierarch. Gregory did not step down from his office, and the nevirags (legates) sent from Sis were unable to resolve the conflict. Thus, Armenian Lviv had two bishops who competed with each other. Then, the State spoke. The new ruler of the Kingdom of Poland, Jadwiga, claimed Ruthenia, ending the episode of Hungarian rule, and her husband, King Ladislaus Jagiełło, approved Gregory’s rights in 1388, repeating the words of Casimirs’s privilege. Catholicos Thedoros protested against it in a kondak (bull) issued the same year, but his curses and complaints did not bring any effects. The document of Ladislaus Jagiełło stabilized the Armenian bishopric, an institution that was crucial to the cultural identity of Armenians, and at the same time, confirmed the State’s protection over it.
Author: Ladislaus II Jagiełło (1352/62-1434)
Title: Confirmation of the privilege issued by King Casimir the Great in 1367 for Gregory, Bishop of Polish Armenians in Lviv
Created: Lutsk, the Eve of the Conversion of St. Paul [24 stycznia], 1388
Physical description: parchment, in Latin, royal wax seal with cord, 35 x 13,5 cm
Bibliographic references: Obertyński S., Die florentiner Union der polnischen Armenier und ihr Bischofskatalog, „Orientalia Christiana“, 96, 1934, p. 42-43; Petrowicz G., La Chiesa Armena in Polonia, 1, 1350–1624, Roma 1971, p. 19-31; Stopka K., Początki biskupstwa ormiańskiego we Lwowie, „Rocznik Lwowski”, 2017, p. 47-54; Stopka K., Zięba A. A., Ormiańska Polska, Warszawa 2018, p. 95-100
Provenance: Council and Diocesan (later Cathedral) Archive of the Polish Armenians in Lviv
Notes: handwritten notes on the verso of the document, inscribed in the Council Archive of the Polish Armenians in Lviv: Uladislai / Ao 1388 / In Vigil[ia] conver[sionis] B[eati] Pauli (by Ladislaus / In 1388 / on the Eve of the Conversion of St. Paul); in Kipchak, Armeniann script: Bu privilegjaj Vladislav koroldan bierilgan ajr[abet] der grikor achpasz [wyraz skreślony] kaj kij kazimir […] a […] biel […]ian privilegajniji potwierżat [?] ettij […] ir […] (This privilege was given to Bishop Gregory the shephard by King Ladislaus, who confirmed the privilege of [King] Casimir […]); in Latin: Oblata est suscepta ad Acta Regni Cancellariae Maioris feria quinta post festum sancti Hedvigis proxima Anno D[omi]ni 1641. Andreas Bialsky fecit [?] M[anu] p[ropria] (The act was entered into the books of the Grand Royal Chancellery on last Friday after the feast of Saint Jadwiga in 1641. Andrew Bialsky signed with his own hand). Note: Ao 6 / No laskach [?] / Litt: B. b. In Latin: Anno 16[?]88 / Confirmatur Priuileium [?] / Casimiri Regis / Gregorio Episcopo Armenorum (In 16[?]88 / the privilege given by King Casimir to Gregory, Bishop of Armenians, is confirmed).
Held by: Archive of the Foundation for Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians, Warsaw
Shelfmark: Collection of the Parchment Documents, no. 10
By Andrzej A. Zięba
Work on the sacrament of Baptism performed in the Armenian Rite, published in Cracow in 1544. The Armenians appeared in the multinational Poland in the mid-fourteenth century, when the territories of Red Ruthenia that they inhabited were incorporated into Poland, and King Casimir the Great approved their religious identity, granted them a number of municipal and judicial privileges and allowed the Armenian bishop to build a cathedral in Lviv. Starting from the times of the Florentine Union (1439), the concepts of uniting the Latin Church with the Orthodox Church and the Armenian Church were circulating among some parts of the Polish society. In 1443, Ladislaus of Varna formally made the Orthodox nobility and the Catholic nobility equal. The privilege was later confirmed by Sigismund I the Old in 1511 and Sigismund II Augustus in 1543. Giving more religious and legal rights to the Armenians arouse people’s interest and curiosity in the Eastern rites. In such atmosphere Baptismus Armenorum, or Liturgia seu Missa Armenorum by Andrzej Lubelczyk, were composed and published. Lubelczyk, as well as other writers of that time, such as Andrew Frycz Modrzewski or Stanislaus Orzechowski, addressed the matter of the unity of the Churches in their works. The concept was realized when the Union of Brest was signed in 1596, and as a result, the Ruthenian Uniate Church was established.
Title: Baptismvs Armenorvm … Adiecta est prætera purificatio mulieris Armenæ post partum in calce libelli
Translator: Lubelczyk, Andrew (ca 1500-ca 1577)
Published: Cracow: Helena Ungler, 1544
Physical description: [20] leaves, collation: A8, B-D4 ; 8°
Illustrations: woodcut (coat of arms)
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1906, vol. 21, p. 427; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1490
Provenanace: former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 45.713
Binding: marbled paper – 19th century
Notes: marginal notes in Latin, notes on the title page (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.613
By Konrad Szymański
Tefsir, as understood by the exegetes of Islam, is a „commentary, an explanation” of the Quran. For the Muslim Tatars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the name Tefsir denotes a translation of the Quran from the forgotten Arabic language into Polish, commonly used in Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the manuscript, the original text in Arabic is written in the horizontal lines, while the translation, which is written in Arabic alphabet adapted to the specificity of Polish phonetics, is positioned interlineally, diagonally to the Arabic text. In addition, the beginning and end pages of the manuscript contain prayers and instructions on how to recite the Quran. Tefsirs were commissioned by the Muslims as a gift for a mosque (Arab. Waqf – „in Muslim law a pecuniary record for religious, charitable or public purposes”). The origins of the Tatar literature, including the Tefsirs, are linked with the history of the Tatar settlement. It was at the end of the 14th century when the Tatars started to settle down in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the initiative of Duke Vytautas. The Dukes of Lithuania from the Jagiellonian dynasty continued his politics. Recognizing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as their homeland by choice, the Tatars quickly became assimilated with the native population, but they kept their religion. It was facilitated, among others, by translations of Muslim books into the languages of the new motherland – Polish and/or Belarusian. The most important book of Islam, the Quran, was translated into Polish by an anonymous author as soon as in the second half of the 16th century. As, for doctrinal reasons, it was forbidden to translate the Quran into other languages, the Tatar translation was given the status and form of Tefsir. At the same time, other types of literature of the Tatars of Grand Duchy of Lithuania were also created, e.g. kitabs, prayer books called hamaili, tajwids. The manuscript is an eighteenth-century (1723) copy of a lost original that dated from the end of the sixteenth century. The document presented at the exhibition is one of many copies that were made at different times, in different places and by copyists with different competences. Until this day, about 20 manuscripts have survived. They are held in libraries, museums and archives in several countries (including Vilnius, Minsk, Petersburg, Psków, London), as well as in private collections. The earliest known dated copy was made in 1686, and is held in the Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus [shelfmark П16-18/Cp2, inventory no. P214)]; the youngest is dated from 1890, and is held in the National Museum in Vilnius, shelfmark НМЛ (R-13.012).
Title: Tefsir of the Tatars, Muslims of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; the earliest translation of Quran into Polish, 1723
Created: 1723
Writer/Copist: son of Mustapha Ismael Jabłońskiego, whose name was written down in the colophon (p. 483a). The text was completed and corrected by another copist, Ibrahim Januszewski, whose name also appears in the colophon „Od narodzenia Jsi Proroka 1723. roku Dopisany ten StyTiefsyr, a Poprawiony przez Jbrahima Januszewskiego Jmama Winksznupskiego 1836. Roku. Dnia 12-24 Sierpnia czyli augusta w Winksznupiach” (p. 485b), and „temu Lat 113 od napisania poprawiony” (p. 485b)
Physical description: paper, 485 leaves, 35 x 20 cm
Bibliographic references: http://www.tefsir.umk.pl/; cf. Drozd A., Dziekan M. M., Majda T., Piśmiennictwo i muhiry Tatarów polsko-litewskich. Katalog zabytków tatarskich, Warszawa 2000; Мишкинене Г., Намавичюте С., Покровская Е., Каталог арабско-алфа-витных рукописей литовских татар, Вильнюс 2005; Тарэлка М.У., Рукапісы татараў Беларусi XVIII – пачатку XXI стагоддзя з дзяржаўных і грамадскіх кнігазбораў краіны. Каталог, Мінск 2015
Provenance: dedication from 1806 signed: „Jozefowicz” (p. 1)
Binding: brown leather, tooled in blind, envelope flap – 18th century
Language, writing and interpunction: the Arabic Quran in horizontal lines and the Polish translation with elements of the Belarusian language (a subscript translation written diagonally in Arabic alphabet). Legible writing, in at least two different handwriting, with numerous glosses of different chronology. Some of the glosses are in Latin in red ink. The dots that indicate the end of the ayahs are present only in the Arabic text written in continuo.
Content: p.1: dedication from 1806 signed: „Jozefowicz”; p. 2a-b: notes in Polish (on the family matters); p. 3b-4b: text in Arabic; p. 5a-478a: tefsir; s. 478b-479b: text in Arabic (spontaneous prayer by the copist, so-called du‘ā’ ẖatmi al-Qurāni); p. 480a-480b: table of contents – suras’ names and pagination in the table; p. 481a-482a: notes on the family matters; p. 482b-485b: tefsir.
Notes: black and red-brown ink, sometimes corrected to black (especially in the text of the subscript translation). Pagination: Arabic numeration in the upper left corner, notation partially defective. One page contains 8 lines of the Arabic text with its subscript translation into Polish with elements of the Belarusian language (the so-called Northern Borderland Polish). Categorization: suras – most of them are preceded by a title and information about the number of ayahs that form a sura (these data are usually located in the last line of the previous sura, which is consistent with the notation in handwritten Arabic Koranic texts). The first and second suras are preceded by the announcement in the frame: „rōzʒal ō xwale ks̱engi s̀edm ajeťōw” (I); „rōzʒal ō krōwe dweśce ōśmiʒeśōnt šeśc ajeťōw”(II). In addition, the suras were distinguished graphically – by designating a place for the so-called basmala. Division into safars, reclamantes.
Held by: private collection in Alytus, Lithuania; scans of the Tesfir in possesion of the „Tefsir” project group [Tefsir – a project of philological and historical study and a critical edition of the so-called Tefsir of the Tatars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the second half of the 16th century (the first translation of the Koran into Polish)]
Shelfmark: –
By Joanna Kulwicka-Kamińska, Czesław Łapicz
Fifteenth-century copy of the confirmation of the Calisian privileges granted to Jews from Red Ruthenia in 1367 by Casimir III the Great. The first Statute of Kalisz was an act granted by Duke Boleslaus V the Chaste in 1264 in Kalisz to Jews that inhabited Greater Poland. It regulated the legal status of the Jewish population, e.g. it placed Jews under the Duke’s power and guaranteed them his protection, ensured religious tolerance and economic freedom, and imposed severe penalties on Christians for persecuting Jews. The Statute was extended and confirmed for the entire territory of Poland in 1334 by King Casimir III the Great, gaining the rank of a general privilege. It was in force for the next several hundred years and was re-approved by almost all Polish kings, up to the last one, Stanislaus August Poniatowski. When in 1349 the territory of Red Ruthenia, with Lviv and Halicz, was incorporated into Poland, King Casimir III the Great extended the scope of the Calisian Statute to these areas. He confirmed it in 1367, slightly expanding and changing some points. The manuscript presented at the exhibition contains a copy of the 1367 act, made at the end of the 15th century during the times of the Jagiellonian dynasty. It is part of a volume which also contains legal regulations relating to the lands of Red Ruthenia, including the earliest Old Polish translation of the Magdeburg sentences (i.e. judgments and legal explanations concerning cities founded under Magdeburg law), compiled around 1480 in these areas.
Title: Sentences of the Magdeburg Law and Jewish laws
Created: 1480-1500
Physical description: paper, 157 leaves, in Latin and Polish, in one hand, 30,5 x 21,8 cm
Bibliographic references: Katalog Rękopisów biblioteki Zakładu Nar. im. Ossolińskich, wyd. W. Kętrzyński, vol. 1, Lwów 1881
Provenanace: 1. Ioannis Andrzeiowicz, consulis Cazimir[iensis] et […]; 2. Nr Inw. 50; 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv
Binding: brown leather – 20th century, fragments of the original binding glued on the new one: brown leather, tooled in blind, bosses, clasps – 16th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: 50/II
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First part of the fundamental Code of Jewish law, first edition that included Ashkenazi interpretation of the Talmudic laws. The Shulhan Arukh was written by Joseph Karo in the circles of the Sephardic Jews, and it has a form of a commentary on the on written and oral Torah’s laws. The Code contained regulations concerning, among other things, Sabbath and Jewish holidays, kosher rules, marriages, and civil and criminal laws. In its first edition, printed in Venice in 1565, Karo did not take into account local Ashkenazi traditions. For this reason, the rabbi of the Jewish community in Kazimierz (Cracow), Moses Isserles – commonly known by the acronym Rema for his Jewish title רבי משה איסרליש, i.e. rabbi Moses Isserles – added to Karo’s Shulhan Arukh his own commentaries, adapting it to the Ashkenazi customs. The first edition with the notes of Moses Isserles was published in Cracow by Isaac Prostic, who, in 1568, obtained a privilege from King Sigismund II Augustus that allowed him to print Hebrew books. At the turn of December 1569 and January 1570, Prostic began printing the first part of Shulhan Arukh entitled Tur Orach chajim, the other three parts of this edition were probably never issued. The Mappa was published not as a separate supplement, but as a commentary next to the text of Karo’s commentary, always beginning with the phrase הגה, meaning explanatory note. To print Shulhan Arukh Prostic used type sorts with a square Sephardic script and a semi-cursive Sephardic script called Rashi that had been used for the first time in the 15th century by Hebrew printers in Italy. The origin of title woodcut blocks with ornaments can also be traced back to Italy. Prostic, who studied the art of printing in Padua, bought them from the Padua printer Lorenz Pasquato in the late 1560s along with his all printing equipment. Earlier, the woodcut blocks had also gone from one Italian printer to another, and their earliest known owner was the Venetian publishing house of Marco Antonio Giustiniani – it is, therefore, possible that they were made by Venetian woodcutters. The motifs appearing on the woodcut frame surrounding the title are characteristic of the art of the Italian Renaissance. The Ossoliński Shulhan Arukh is one of the two surviving copies of this edition in the world.
Author: Karo, Joseph ben Ephraim (1488-1575)
Title: Szulchan aruch mi-tur Orach chajim [The Set Table, part: The Way of Life]
Published: Cracow: Icchak ben Aaron Prostic, 1569/1570
Physical description: [422] leaves ; 2°
Illustrations: title surrounded by an elaborate architectural woodcut framework
Bibliographic references: Bałaban M., Drukarstwo żydowskie w Polsce XVI w. [in:] Pamiętnik Zjazdu Naukowego im. J. Kochanowskiego, Kraków 1931, p. 102-116; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1896, vol. 14, p. 63; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 304; Korotajowa K., Drukarnie żydowskie [in:] Drukarze dawnej od XV do XVIII w., vol. 1, pt. 1, 385-388
Provenance: collection of the Poniński family from Horyniec
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, traces of clasps – 16th century, renovated
Notes: lacking last leaf (handwritten completions)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4501
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Consultation: prof. Shalom Saar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Fragment of the liturgical work entitled Triod kwietny, published in the world’s first Cyrillic printing house established in Cracow around 1489. The publishing house was established at the initiative of the Orthodox nobility at the court of Casimir IV Jagiellon, thanks to the financial support of Jan Turzo, a merchant and entrepreneur, and the Cracow patrician Jan Tesznar. The founder and owner of the publishing house was Szwajpolt Fiol (ca 1460-1525 / 1526), a goldsmith and embroiderer from the city of Neustadt an der Aisch in Franconia. The Cracow Cyrillic printing house published liturgical books in the Church Slavonic language, intended primarily for Orthodox Ukrainians and Belarusians living in the eastern territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and for the needs of the faithful of the Duchy of Moscow, where no printing house existed at that time. Fiol commissioned casting Cyrillic type sorts in a casting workshop of Ludolf Borchtorp (Rudolf Borsdorf) from Braunschweig, who is the first type caster in Poland known by name. Researchers associate the text redaction of Fiol’s editions with the Ukrainian or Belarusian scientific and cultural circles, as indicated by linguistic features. Fiol’s printing house published a total of 4 liturgical books: Oktoich, Czasosłow, Triod postny and Triod kwietny. The first two works had the publication date specified in the colophon (1491), while the next two were published without it; hence there are different opinions on the date of their publication. Recent studies of documents related to the activities of Fiol and his printing house, as well as watermarks in the books, indicate that the Triod postny and Triod kwietny were printed later, after Fiol was released from prison, where he had been sent to in July 1491, accused of heresy. Upon the accession to the throne of John I Albert in 1492 and the appointment of his brother Frederic Jagiellon (whose adviser and teacher was the Italian humanist Pilipp Callimachus) as the Archbishop of Gniezno in 1493, more favourable conditions for religious and cultural activity were created in Poland. The Fiol’s Cyrillic printing house resumed work, so the above-mentioned books could have been published around 1493. The full copy of the Triod kwietny consists of 366 leaves; the numbers were printed on the first six leaves of each quire. The frontispiece features a woodcut with the Crucifixion scene and printer’s name: “Шбеиполть Фиоль” (only one existing frontispiece is preserved in a copy of Triod kwietny held in Brasov (Romania), found in 1971). Triod kwietny is the most richly decorated publication of Fiol’s printing house: it contains one vignette and 62 initials, pressed in total from 13 woodblocks. The text was printed in continuo, which was a consequence of imitating early Cyrillic manuscripts. A fragment of Fiola’s Triod kwietny from the Ossoliński collection consists of two leaves in folio. It was found in 1879 by the priest Ignacy Polkowski, a historian, archivist and bibliophile, in the binding of a Latin psalter from 1493. The fragment was part of the Ossolineum collection in Lviv – it was donated to the institution by the Poniński family, who bought it, along with Polkowski entire book collection, in 1895 at an auction after his death. The Ossoliński fragment contains leaves 347 and 358, with the liturgical text for Pentecost Monday and All Saints’ Sunday. On the verso of the leaf 358, there is an interlaced initial “B” in red, with braids resembling leather. Polish institutions hold a total of 7 out of 29 surviving copies and fragments of Fiol’s Triod kwietny. All the books issued in the Fiol’s publishing house are exceedingly rare and valuable – about 80 known copies and fragments have survived to this day, the vast majority of which have been preserved in Russian book collections.
Title: Тріωдь цвҍтнаѧ = Triod kwietny
Published: Cracow: Szwajpolt Fiol, ca 1493
Physical description: fragment: 2 leaves: 347, 358 ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcut vignette, initials
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1936, vol. 31, p. 322-323; Żurawińska Z., Jaroszewicz-Pieresławcew Z., Katalog druków cyrylickich XV–XVIII wieku w zbiorach Biblioteki Narodowej, Warszawa 2004, no. 1
Provenance: 1. Ze zbiorów / X. J. POLKOWSKIEGO [stamp]; 2. Donated by the Poniński family; 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 194.561
Binding: brown leather – 21st century
Notes: on the endpaper, a note explaining how the fragment was found by Ignacy Poniński: „Dwie środkowe kartki z druku Sławiańskiego // Osmohłasnik Joana Damaskyna // druk Krakowski Swiętopełka Fiola z 1491. // kartki te znaleziono w okładkach // Psałterza łacińskiego z r. 1493”.
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XV.428
By Olga Tkachuk
First complete printed translation of the Bible into Church Slavonic, published in 1581, called the Ostroh (Ostrog) Bible after the place of its publication. Translating the Bible was possible thanks to the religious freedoms granted to the followers of the Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The printer and publisher of the translation, Ivan Fedorov, was a graduate of the Cracow Academy and an outstanding representative of East Slavic culture. He moved to Ostroh in Volhynia and founded a printing house on the estate of Constantine Vasil Ostrogski. After having new type sorts casted specially for this purpose, he printed at least one thousand copies of the Bible translated into Church Slavonic. Ostrogski wrote a preface to this edition; he also provided Fedorov with money to publish the Bible. It concludes with an afterword by Ivan Fedorov, who died two years after its publication. The Ostrog Bible, becoming a kind of testimony to the cultural maturity of East Slavic communities, was a frequent gift in diplomatic contacts. Constantine Vasil Ostrogski donated one of the copies to Pope Gregory XIII, and Ivan the Terrible is said to give a copy to the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth I, John Horse.
Title: БИБЛІА СИРѢЧ КНИГЫ вeтхаго иноваго завѣта, поязыку словенску = Biblïâ Sirěč’ Knigy Vethago I Novago Zavěta Poâzyku Slovensku
Published: Ostroh: Ivan Fedorow, 1581
Physical description: [8], 276, 180, 30, 56, 78 leaves ; 2º
Illlustrationse: title surrounded by an architectural woodcut framework, coat of arms
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1894, vol. 13, p. 38; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 163; Запаско Я., Ісаєвич Я., Каталог стародруків виданих на Україні, книга перша (1574–1700), книга друга, частина перша (1701–1764), частина друга (1765–1800) [= Пам’ятки книжкового мистецтва], Львів 1981, 1984, 13
Provenanaces: 1. м(с)ца дескбрѧ второна(д)цат[…] днi // Сиѧ книга // зовома Быблиѧ // здана(c) здалъ // училищу школѣ соборнаго // бра(т)ства лво(в)скаго // во вѣчныѧ лѣта // от благочистиваго мужа // имене(м) леонътїѧ // мещанина // лво(в)ского // ктитора // фундатора // и старѣшинъ // бра(т)ства // и школы // лвовcкое // будижчему вѣчнаѧ // памѧть [17th century]; 2. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 1078
Binding: boards, brown leather, clasps – 17th/18th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4528
By Konrad Szymański, Olga Tkachuk
Polish translation of Confessio augustana by Martin Kwiatkowski, a courtier of Albrecht Hohenzollern. Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession, is a set of doctrinal principles of Lutheranism compiled by Philip Melanchthon, authorized by Martin Luther and read in 1530 at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg. Ten years later, Melanchthon issued a revised version of the Confession entitled Confessio Augustana variata (Revised Augsburg Confession). The original Confession was written simultaneously in Latin and German; its first Polish translation was published in 1540 and was reissued many times throughout the 16th century. The work presented in the exhibition is the first edition of the Polish translation of the Revised Augsburg Confession. Kwiatkowski is believed to undertake the task of translating the second version of the Confession at the instigation of Melanchthon himself, whom he had met during his trip to Wittenberg. Printing began in Königsberg, but the work was halted due to the disagreement between Prince Albrecht and members of the University Senate who had some objections to the revised version of the Confession. Kwiatkowski managed to retrieve sheets of unfinished copies from the publishing house and took them to Leipzig, where printing was resumed. The translation was well received by Polish Protestants, e.g. Kwiatkowski, as he himself noted, had the support of Nicholas Rej. The work was presented to King Sigismund II Augustus at the Sejm in 1562/1563.
Title: Confessio Avgvstanae Fidei, To iest Wyznanie Wiarei Krzescianskiei…
Published: Königsberg: Johann Daubmann ; Leipzig, 1561
Physical description: [128] leaves, collation: A-B4, A-Z4, aa-gg4 ; 4°
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1896, vol. 14, p. 355; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 442; Kowalska H., Kwiatkowski (Quiatkovius) Marcin [in:] Polski Słownik Biograficzny, vol. 16, Wrocław 1971, p. 358-360
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 9205
Binding: cloth, clasps – 20th century, fragments of original binding glued on the new one – white leather, tooled in blind – 16th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.3190
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Copy of the first complete heterodox translation of the Bible into Polish. The translation, dedicated to Sigismund II Augustus and intended for the Polish Calvinists, is known as the Brest Bible (after the place of printing), the Radziwiłł Bible (after the name of the publisher) or the Pińczów Bible (after the name of town where the process of translation took place). The first initiative to translate the Bible into Polish, so that it could be read in vernacular language following the principles of the Protestant doctrine, appeared in the Lutheran circles in the middle of the 16th century – in 1552, the New Testament was translated in Polish by Jan Seklucjan, a theologian and Lutheran pastor, was published. In 1557, Polish Calvinists decided to prepare their own translation of the Bible. The works began in 1559, and some famous Protestants participated in them, e.g. the writer Andrew Trzecieski, the poet Jakob Lubelczyk, and the humanist John a Lasco. The works were financed by Nicholas Radziwiłł the Black, Grand Marshal of Lithuania, a promoter and protector of Calvinism in Lithuania, who in 1553 had founded a congregation and a printing house in Brest-Litovsk. Its greatest publication was the Brest Bible, still considered to be one of the most beautiful Polish translations of the Bible in the terms of language.
Title: Biblia swięta, Tho iest, Księgi Starego y Nowego Zakonu, własnie z Zydowskiego, Greckiego, y Laćińskiego, nowo na Polski ięzyk z pilnośćią y wiernie wyłożone. [Variant A]
Published: Brest-Litovsk: Cyprian Bazylik, at the expense of Nicholas Radziwiłł, September 4, 1563
Physical description: [14], [1], 579 [last blank] leaves, 143 [i.e. 142], [8, last blank] leaves, collation: *8,**6, A-Z, Aa-Zz, Aaa-Zzz, Aaaa-Zzzz, Aaaaa-Ddddd6 Eeeee4, A-Z, Aa-Bb6 ; 2°
Illustration: title surrounded by an elaborate architectural and figural woodcut framework depicting Biblical scenes, numerous woodcut initials in the text, e.g. monogram of Sigismund II Augustus “SA”, several woodcut illustrations in the Old Testament
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1894, vol. 13, p. 16-17; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 157; Pietkiewicz R., Pismo Święte w języku polskim w latach 1518–1638, Wrocław 2002, p. 231-250
Provenance: 1. Ex libris (Heterodoxis cum Licentia Superiorum ad correctionem legendis) M. Hyacynthi Augustini Joannis Cantij Pietrzyniecz Ph[ilosoph]iae D[octo]ris et Professoris mpp; 2. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 1.073
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, clasps, book corners – 16th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4013
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
The second Protestant Bible translation into Polish intended to be used by the Polish Brethren (called Arians), first translation based mostly on the original Hebrew and Greek languages (previously, Latin Vulgate was also utilized). Depending on the approach, it is called the Nieświeska or Nesvizh Bible (after the place of publishing) or the Budny Bible (after the translator’s name). It was the first Bible translation into Polish made by a single person, namely by Symon Budny, a member of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland and notable Protestant Reformer active in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He decided to translate the Bible into Polish once again because of the objections he had towards the first Protestant Bible translation into Polish, the Brest Bible translated by the Calvinists in the first half of the 1560s (see entry Okazania sfałszowania i wyznanie prawdziwej nauki Pana Krista). As an advocate of the literal translation of the Bible, Budny used a lot of neologisms and Hebrew and Greek grammar constructions in his work. Some of them are used in Polish to this day, e.g. “rozdział” for “chapter” instead of “kapitel”, used previously. Following the doctrine of the Polish Brethren, he omitted all references to the deity of Jesus Christ in his translation. The printing of the Bible started in Nesvizh, but before the work was completed, the owner of the publishing house, Nicholas Radziwiłł, had converted to Catholicism and expelled the printer Daniel of Łęczyca from Nesvizh. It is believed that he completed his printing work in Zaslawye or Uzda. Most of the copies of the Budny Bible, which was listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (similarly to the Brest Bible), were destroyed during the Counter-Reformation period. Nowadays, the Ossolineum Library holds three copies of this rare edition of the Bible.
Title: Biblia. To iest, księgi starego y nowego przymierza, znowu z ięzyka Ebreyskiego, Greckiego y Lacińskiego, na Polski przełożone
Translator: Budny, Symon (ca 1530-1593)
Published: Nesvizh and Zaslawye or Uzda: Daniel of Łęczyca, in the publishing house of Albrecht, Hector and Matthias Kawieczyński, 1572
Physical description: [12], 468, 121, 143, [6] leaves ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcut title page with scenes from the Bible
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1894, vol. 13, p. 17-18; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 158; Pietkiewicz R., Pismo Święte w języku polskim w latach 1518–1638, Wrocław 2002, p. 251-270
Provenance: Z Biblioteki Józefa hr. Dzieduszyckiego [bookplate]
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind and gilt, clasps – 16th century, renovated
Notes: marginal notes in Polish and Latin (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.2339
By Konrad Szymański
Unique copy of a work on the Holy Trinity written by Stanislaus Wiśniowski, one of the members of the Polish Brethren, who were commonly called “Arians”. The Polish Brethren belonged to the Unitarian Churches, i.e. they rejected the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity. They were considered to be the most radical faction of the Reformation in Poland because of, among other things, their opinions on social matters included abolition of serfdom and partnership between a woman and a man in a married relationship. They started to operate as a religious community around the year 1562-1565, having separated themselves from the Polish Calvinist Church. Around 1570, they established an Arian congregation (to which Wiśniowski also belonged) in a small village of Lusławice near Craców, and opened a publishing house there. Wiśniowski’s work, which includes a lecture on the Holy Trinity, is also a beautiful testimony of religious tolerance. “To kill for the sake of faith is not only against the doctrine and decree of the Holy Spirit, but it is against common reason,” claimed the author. Of all typographic production of the publishing house in Lusławice, only three unique copies have survived, among which is the Okazanie sfałszowania i wyznanie prawdziwej nauki Pana Krista (Demonstration of the falsification of Christ’s teaching and explanation of its true nature). The book lacks some initial pages, including title page – the title was stamped on the binding: OKAZANIE SFALSZOWANIA NAVKI PANA KRISTA (Demonstration of the falsification of Christ’s teaching). The binding was commissioned by an anonymous owner whose initials “F. V.” were pressed on the top cover. The uniqueness of the binding lies in its unusual decoration: below the symbols of the Holy Trinity, the bookbinder put a cartouche-rolled ornament tooled in gold, with a quotation from Nugae by Nicolas Bourbon (1533):
Illustrat radijs totum Sol igneus orbem
ille tamen tempus quo tenebrescet erit.
At Christus, qui vera Dei stat patris imago,
solus hic aeterni lumina Solis habet.
Author: Wiśniowski, Stanislaus
Title: Okazania sfałszowania i wyznanie prawdziwej nauki Pana Krista
Published: Cracow [i.e. Lusławice]: publisher unknown, 1572.
Physical description: [16], 616 leaves, collation: A-Oooooo5 ; 4°.
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 19339, vol. 33, p. 99; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2662; Kawecka-Gryczowa A., Lusławice [in:] Drukarze dawnej Polski, vol. 1., pt. 1, p. 118-124
Provenanace: 1. F.V. [supralibros]; 2. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 18.666.
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.3256
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
The earliest existing Polish book that survived in its complete form, a translation of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The book was published by Hieronymus Vietor, and his co-worker, Hieronymus Spiczyński prepared the translation. Hieronymus Vietor, born in Lubomierz in Silesia, is considered to be a pioneer of printing in Poland and one of the best sixteenth-century printers. Being an advocate of vernacular printing, he gathered around his publishing house prominent Polish authors and translators, whom he encouraged to translate popular works. First books in Polish started to appear in his printing house in 1522 thanks to the standardization of Polish orthography. In earlier publications that contained some sentences in Polish, the system of writing was shaky, imitating the imperfect orthography of medieval manuscripts. There was a visible change in 1522 – the Cracow printers made an attempt to unify the Polish orthographical system by, for example, introducing „ą” and „ę” for nasal vowels. Thus, it was thanks to the printers that new standards were implemented, and many solutions that were proposed not only by Vietor but also by later printers are still in use nowadays. Ecclesiastes is the earliest printed translation of the Bible text into Polish. Vietor, who was aware of the need to publish Polish version of the Bible and initiated the publication of Ecclesiastes, chose the Book of Kohelet because of its spiritual closeness to the ideas of the Renaissance – it included words of wisdom of eternal value that were still valid in the 16th century.
Title: Ecclesiastes Xyęgi Salomonowe, ktore polskim wykładem kaznodzieyskye myanuiemy
Translator: Spiczyński, Hieronymus ( -1550)
Published: Cracow: Hieronymus Vietor, 1522
Physical description: 19 [i.e.16] leaves, collation: A-D4 ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1929, vol. 27, p. 37; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 177; Pietkiewicz R., Pismo Święte w języku polskim w latach 1518–1638, Wrocław 2002, p. 99-103
Provenance: 1. Erazm Strzetelski (1787-1862); 2. Z Biblioteki Józefa hr. Dzieduszyckiego [bookplate]; Biblioteka Poturzycka J.W.D. [stamp]
Binding: half-leather – 19th century
Notes: manuscript note dated 1858 by Joseph Łoziński, head librarian of the Dzieduszycki Library, on the endpaper
Held: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2891
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła, Konrad Szymański
First edition of the first Polish translation of the complete Bible, commonly known as Leopolita Bible (after the name of its translator, John Kasprowicz vel Nicz who was born in Lviv, and was called Leopolitanus) or Szarffenberg Bible (after the name of its printer, Nicolaus Szarfenberger). Based on Latin Vulgate, the translation by John Leopolitanus, a lecturer at the Cracow Academy, is sometimes criticized because of its stylistic features, but until the end of the 16th century (when a new version by Jacob Wujek appeared), it was the only Catholic translation of the Bible into Polish. The work was dedicated to Sigismund II Augustus whose woodcut portrait can be seen on the title page. The copy presented in the exhibition was once owned by Thaddeus Czacki, a member of the Commission of National Education and well-known bibliophile, who co-wrote the Constitution of 3 May 1791. In 1788, Czacki gave the book to Joseph Maximilan Ossoliński, a founder of the Ossolineum Library, as evidenced by his handwritten dedication.
Title: Biblia To iest Kxięgi Stharego y Nowego Zakonu… [Variant A]
Translated: Leopolita, John (ca 1523-1572)
Published: Cracow: Szarfenberger Publishing House, 1561
Published: [616, 2 blank] pages, collation: *A4 *B6 A8 (1 cz.) B-C6 D4 E-Q6 R4 S-Z6 Aa-Ss6 Tt-Vv4 AAa-MMm6, AAaa-XXxx6 YYyy4 ZZzz6 ; *2 AA-YY6 ZZ4 AAA-BBB4 ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1894, vol. 13, p. 13-14; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 159; Pietkiewicz R., Pismo Święte w języku polskim w latach 1518–1638, Wrocław 2002, p. 215-231
Provenance: 1. Conuent[us] Cracou[iensis] ad S. Casimir[um] PP. Refor[mator]um [17th century]; 2. Szanownemu Obywatelowi Zasłużonemu w Rzeczpospolicie Nauk Mężowi Jozefowi Hrabi Ossolińskiemu w miłym hołdzie poświęca – Tadeusz Czacki – 4go Czerwca 1788 Roku w Krakowie; 3. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 1072
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, traces of clasps and book corners – 16th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4065
By Konrad Szymański
First edition of a well-known Confessio fidei by Stanislaus Hosius, published in 1553. Hosius, a royal secretary of Sigismund II Augustus, Grand Crown Secretary and one of the leaders of the European Counter-Reformation, added some new elements to his Confession of Faith, which he had prepared for Council of Piotrków in 1551. The edition published in Cracow in 1553 included only first part of Hosius work. The complete edition was printed four years later in Mainz. It was undoubtedly one of his most important works, which gained him fame in the Christian world. While the author was still alive, the Confession of Faith was published 30 times. A few years after Mainz publication, Confessio fidei was translated into German, French and even Armenian. The Conffession of Faith was a systematic study of Catholic dogma, clearly defining the attitude of the Catholic Church to Protestant movements. In this work, divided into two parts and 93 chapters, Hosius repeatedly criticizes Lutheranism and other „heretics” who have deviated from the ideas of the Church Fathers and the apostolic tradition of faith. To some extent, the Confession of Faith formulated the program of renewal of the Catholic Church, initiated at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), presided, among others, by Stanislaus Hosius.
Author: Hosius, Stanislaus (1504-1579)
Title: Confessio Fidei Catholicae Christiana, Avthoritate Synodi prouincialis quae habita est Petrcouiae, Anno M. D. LI. Mense Iunio, aedita… P. 1
Published: Cracow: Mark Szarfenberg, 1553
Physical description: [7, 1 blank], CCXXXVIII, [14] leaves ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcuts (coats of arms)
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1901, vol. 18, p. 278; Kardynał Stanisław Hozjusz (1504-1579). Osoba, myśl, dzieło, czasy, znaczenie, ed. S. Achremczyk, J. Guzowski, J. Jezierski, Olsztyn 2005; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1120
Provenance: 1. Petrvs Zalvsky [letter superalibros; 16th century]; 2. Joannes Sacranus Mar. [16th century]; 3. Stanislaus Linczowsky [in other hand:] Żywiecensis, 1616; 4. Bibliothecae Cracoviensis S. Marci [17th century]; 5. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 2694
Binding: half-leather – 20th century, partially preserved original binding: brown leather, tooled in blind – 16th century
Notes: handwritten notes on the endpapers, e.g. book price: Hic liber emptus est g[rossi]s 12, bills in Polish (16th centuries)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2981
By Konrad Szymański
First official printed edition of the Warsaw Confederation, published in a book Konstytucje, statuta i przywileje by Nicholas Szarfenberger in 1580. The Warsaw Confederation is a name of the resolution adopted on January 28, 1573, at the Convocation Sejm in Warsaw. It guaranteed the freedom of religion to the Polish gentry. The act stipulated that no one could be persecuted because of his faith, and if the ruler tried to mistreat religious groups because of their beliefs, the Polish nobility was obliged to counteract it. The Confederation was introduced because of the death of Sigismund II Augustus, known for his religious tolerance – he permitted to all dissenters to enjoy full freedom of religion. The last of the Jagiellonians had no heir, so the Polish nobility was obliged to choose a new king. Considering the numerous religious wars taking place in Europe, the Polish nobles, many of them Protestants, were worried about their future under next ruler – among the candidates, there were, e.g. Archduke Ernest of Austria, an ultra-Catholic, and Henry III from France, a country plagued by religious troubles so numerous that Poles often expressed their fear that things would not happen “à la française” in Poland. The rules of the Warsaw Confederation were incorporated into so-called the Henrician Articles, i.e. a set of legal regulations established in 1573, which every king of Poland had to swear in before his coronation and obey afterwards. Thus, with the Warsaw Confederation, religious tolerance in Poland was officially guaranteed.
Ttitle: Confederacio Generalis Varsoviae [in:] Constitucie, Statuta y Przywileie na walnych Seymiech Koronnych od Roku Pańskiego 1550 aż do Roku 1578 uchwalone etc.
Published: Cracow: Nicholas Szarfenberger, 1579 [i.e. 1580].
Physical description: leaves 119v-120 [in:] [2], 18, [3], 18-153, [2, 1 blank], 155-213 [i.e. 212], [8] leaves, collation: [ ]2, A-D4, E8, F-Z4, Aa-Ee4, Ff6, Gg-Pp4, AAa-MMm4, A-C4, *4, **4 ; 2°.
Illustrations: woodcuts (coats of arms)
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1905, vol. 20, p. 38-39; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 459; Tazbir J., Państwo bez stosów. Szkice z dziejów tolerancji w Polsce XVI i XVII wieku, Warszawa 1967, p. 111-119
Provenance: Biblioteka Poturzycka J.W.D. [stamp]
Binding: half-leather –19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4359
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First edition of one of the two most known works written by the father of Polish heraldry Bartholomew Paprocki, published in 1578. In Gniazdo Cnoty (The Nest of Virtues), the author describes the origins of prominent noble families of Poland and neighbouring countries. The book is decorated with woodcut illustrations showing their coats of arms and portraits of some of their famous members. The author, a cupbearer of the Dobrzyń region, maintained professional relationships with many influential figures of that time; he also took part in, among others, diplomatic missions and the Gdańsk expedition of Stephan Báthory. When, for political reasons, he was forced to go to Bohemia, he busied himself with work on Moravian and Czech genealogy and armorials. He also popularized Jan Kochanowski’s works, translating his writings into Czech. Many of the original sources on genealogy and heraldry that Paprocki used during his work have not survived to our times. Hence, nowadays, his books are an invaluable source material for the history of old noble families.
Author: Paprocki, Bartholomew (ca 1543-około 1614)
Title: Gniazdo Cnoty, Zkąd Herby Rycerstwa slawnego Krolestwa Polskiego, Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego, Ruskiego, Pruskiego, Mazoweckiego, Zmudzkiego y inszych Państw…
Published: Cracow: Andrew Piotrkowczyk, 1578
Physical description: [8] leaves, 1242 [i.e. 432] pages, [2] leaves ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1912, vol. 24, p. 61-62; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1816; Tułowiecka A., Herbarze i quasi-herbarze. Wokół konstrukcji genealogicznych Bartosza Paprockiego, Katowice 2009, p. 69-97
Provenance: 1. Lucae Piotrowski [17th century]; 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 5034
Binding: brown leather, tooled in blind -16th century, spine: brown leather – 20th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmmark: XVI.F.4194
By Konrad Szymański
First edition of the most important work by the father of Polish heraldry Bartholomew Paprocki, published in 1584. Until the 19th century, Herby rycerstwa polskiego (The Coats of Arms of the Polish Knighthood) served as a primary source for heraldic research on Polish nobility, and to this day the book is an invaluable compendium of knowledge on Old Polish culture, geography and law. While describing the history of the Polish nobility, the author used many previous chronicles, e.g. the Chronicle of Jan Długosz or Martin Kromer. In some parts of the text, Paprocki relies on archival material from bishop and monastery registers, crown records, town books or numerous family archives of the described noble houses. He also noted much invaluable information collected by word of mouth. While deliberating on the universal lineage of the nobility, the author referred to the text of Sacred Scripture and the patterns set by ancient literature. The Coats of Arms were divided into five books. Paprocki began his work with the origin of the Polish Eagle and the history of Polish rulers, then continued with the history of the “noble nation” (starting with the biblical Sam and Ham) and the description of individual coats of arms and noble families of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to conclude with the description of the emblems of Polish provinces and cities. Although there are not as many woodcut representations here as in his earlier work The Nest of Virtues, it was the Coats of Arms of the Polish Knighthood that became the most important heraldic work of the Renaissance period.
Author: Paprocki, Bartholomew (ca 1543-ca 1614)
Title: Herby Rycerztwa Polskiego. Na pięcioro Xiąg rozdzielone…
Published: Cracow: Matthias Garwolczyk, 1584
Physical description: [20] leaves, 723 [i.e. 747], [1] pages ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1912, vol. 24, p. 64-65; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1818; Tułowiecka A., Herbarze i quasi-herbarze. Wokół konstrukcji genealogicznych Bartosza Paprockiego, Katowice 2009, p. 98-120
Binding: brown leather – 17th century, renovated
Notes: marginal notes (16th/17th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4126
By Konrad Szymański
Rare publication from the beginning of the second half of the 16th century, containing a philosophical dialogue on the essence of nobility. The work of the unknown John Grotowski is a typical example of how ancient motifs could be used in the discussion on current social problems. The dialogue is held between the famous philosophers Socrates and Diogenes from Synope, and the Athenian politician Themistocles. They combine the realities of sixteenth-century Poland with the timeless values they represent. The approach to nobility presented in the book is typical for Renaissance discourse on morality, which was full of deliberations on virtue and the relationship between soul and body. Grotowski uses the figures of classical philosophers to show the religious anxieties of his era that feels “threatened” by the Reformation. Socrates urges the nobles “to glorify God first and not change religions of their ancestors, because “changing religion means changing or bringing havoc into the Commonwealth”. The philosopher also sums up the discussion with words: “Nobility is acquired by virtue, and it has to feed on virtue, [because] if someone plunges into the world of vice, he will be left with a coat of arms, but without nobility”.
Author: Grotowski, John
Title: Socrates Albo o Szlachectwie Rozmowa Jana Grothowskiego Do Jegomiłości Ksyędza Marcina Białobrzeskiego … Opata Mogilskiego…
Published: Cracow: unknown publisher, 1559/1565
Physical description: [10] leaves, collation: A-B4, C2 ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcut (coat of arms)
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1899, vol. 17, p. 417; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 987; Raubo A., Z dziejów synkretyzmu filozoficznego w epoce renesansu – Jana Grotowskiego Socrates albo o szlachectwie rozmowa…, „Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne. Seria Literacka” 2011, no. 18 (38), p. 285-316
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 5399
Binding: cardboard – 19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2770
By Konrad Szymański
Title woodcut depicting, in the foreground, a group of townspeople of both sexes, who are sitting and listening to the preacher standing in the outdoor pulpit. Next to them, a priest is administering the Holy Communion. In the background, two women and a man are sitting at the table in a tavern, and an alewife is serving them. The closed composition is framed with architectural building structures of the market square. The woodcut, commissioned by Łazarz Printing House, was used in Martin Kromer’s work On the Science of the Holy Church. The fourth and final conversation between the Courtier and the Monk. It was the fourth work in the author’s series of religious dialogues defending Catholicism against the allegations of the Reformation. At that time, its publication had a revolutionary character because it was the first Catholic work of that period published in a language other than Latin. The woodcut was created with a propaganda function in mind, to illustrate the author’s arguments. However, it also became a valuable iconographic source for everyday life of Polish townspeople in the mid-16th century – in Polish Renaissance literature, the individual images of burghers (except for certain professions, e.g. doctors), their life and urban areas (except for city panoramas) were much less numerous than the ones of other social estates. The Golden Age, especially the first half of the 16th century, was the period of the flourishing of the cities and towns – in most of them, thanks to the economic development, the number of inhabitants grew, and the patriciate became a well-off, often well educated, social class that actively participated in Polish cultural life.
Title: Townspeople in the market square [in:] M. Kromer, O nauce Koscyoła swyętego : Dworzanina z Mnichem Rozmowa czwarta y ostateczna
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, 1554
Technique: woodcut
Bibliographic references: Bystroń J., Dzieje obyczajów w dawnej Polsce, t. 1, Warszawa 1960, p. 189-228; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1905, vol. 20, p. 284; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1361
Provenance of the volume: 1. Zygmunt Czarnecki [supralibros]; 2. Biblioteka Fundacyi W. Hr. Baworowskiego [stamp]
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.62 adl.
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Manuscript fragment of a well-known satire by Nicholas Rej entitled Krótka rozprawa między trzema osobami, Panem, Wójtem, a Plebanem (A Short Conversation Between Three Persons, a Squire, a Voyt, and a Parson). The work, published in 1543, presents the problems that plagued the society at the time. They concerned public matters (corrupted judiciary, abuses, e.g. during the exploitation of salt mines, lack of a permanent defence system of the country), Church matters (superficial nature of the Church, mercenary character of the clergy), moral matters (profligacy of the nobles with their gambling, extravagant clothes and food) and peasants (feudal dues, rents, war provisions, tithes). They were presented in the form of a dialogue between three people: the Squire (noble), the Bailiff (peasant) and the Parson (priest). Current themes that focused on the conflict between three social classes: the nobility, the clergy and the peasantry, colourful, colloquial language, ironic overtone and situational comedy made Rej’s satire an extremely popular work in the 16th and early 17th centuries. It was reissued several times and sold at fairs and stalls in such parts of the Republic as, for example, Kamieniec Podolski. The popularity of the satire contributed to the destruction of almost all its copies – only one unique printed copy of the first edition (now held by the National Library of Poland) has survived to our times. However, before 1939, the Ossolineum Library had in its collection a sixteenth-century manuscript copy of the satire, extremely interesting because containing a slightly different version of the dialogue. The fragment, written in the second half of the 16th century, has a different title: Rozmowa pana z woitem o xiędzu, and is a conversation between a Squire and a Voyt about the Parson. The criticism of the clergy is accompanied by a direct call to return to the authentic faith that follows the principles of the Scripture, which brings the text closer to the Reformation ideals. A Conversation Between a Squire and a Voyt about the Parson is part of a volume that contains various documents from the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century (poems, speeches, letters, medical prescriptions, descriptions of battles, etc.), written in different hands. The volume is called the Chotelski Code because it once belonged to Albert Chotelski, a custodian of Wiślica, who inherited it from his uncle, the well-known Polish Renaissance writer Martin Kromer.
Author: Rej, Nicholas (1505-1569)
Title: Rozmowa pana z woitem o xiędzu
Created: 2nd half of the 16th century
Physical description: paper, leaf 36 [in:] 569 leaves
Bibliographic description: Katalog rękopisów Biblioteki Zakładu Nar. im. Ossolińskich, wyd. W. Kętrzyński, vol. 1, Lwów 1881; T. Witczak, Studia nad twórczością Mikołaja Reja, Warszawa 1975
Provenance: 1. Martin Kromer (1512-1589); 2. Albertus de Chotel, canonicus Vislicensis, plebanus Dobrowodensis, possesor; Albertus Chotelsky possesor [16th century]; 3. The Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 168/II
Held by: Stefanyk National Science Library in Lviv
Shelfmark: Fond 5, unit 5, ms. 168
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Woodcut illustration depicting haying in Poland in the first half of the 16th century, with an image of a peasant cottage in the background. The illustration was published in the second printed Polish herbal compiled by Hieronymous Spiczyński, a Cracow councilman and burgher. Spiczyński’s work contained numerous pictures, including the one showing peasants and haying, which was also reprinted in other books issued in the Ungler Printing House. In the sixteenth-century Poland, the peasants functioned as part of the feudal system, and their main feudal service was serfdom, namely working for a feudal lord in exchange for renting the land from him and farming it for their own need. In 1521, the Thorn privilege introduced a weekly service of 1–2 working days (before, 2-4 days a year), which began to increase starting from the second half of the 16th century. Economic dependence was accompanied by personal dependence that took form of tying the peasants to the land, i.e. peasants could not leave the land without permission of their lord – it was introduced by constitutional acts also at the beginning of the 16th century. Peasant and countryside were recurring elements of the Renaissance literature. These narrating motifs appeared in Krótka rozprawa (A Short Conversation) by Nicholas Rej, where a peasant makes important statements on the reform program of Poland, in De republica emendanda by Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, who criticized the way the nobility treated peasants, and in many works by Jan Kochanowski, who, although charmed with the countryside (Peaceful village, joyful village, // Who can speak of your advantage?), noticed the problems that affected people living there (Sometimes we are smitten with hail, // Sometimes ruined by a hot gale; // Each year our harvests get poorer, // Bigger expenses then occur. // You work by day, you work by night – // All this in vain if God doesn’t guide).
Translations of Jan Kochanowski: Teresa Bułak-Ulewiczowa
Title: Haying [in:] H. Spiczyński, O Ziolach tutecznych y zamorskich y o moczy ich…. [Variant B]
Published: Cracow: Helena Ungler, 1542
Physical description: page 39 [in:] 12 leaves, 247 pages ; 4°
Technique: woodcut
Bibliographic description: : Bystroń J., Dzieje obyczajów w dawnej Polsce, vol. 1, Warszawa 1960, p. 231-256; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1933, vol. 29, p. 117-119; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2403
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4067
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
The Books on Farming by Peter Crescentius is the first printed Polish book on farming and country estate management. It is a translation of the Latin treatise Ruralia commoda, written around 1300. The author of the translation, Peter Crescentius, was an Italian doctor, lawyer and senator who, after withdrawing from public life, was spending his time on managing his lands and writing a handbook on agriculture, in which he made use of his practical knowledge and information taken from ancient works. The Polish translation, published in 1549 in Cracow, was for years the only complete compendium of knowledge on how to manage a country estate. Its content was adapted to the farming conditions of the northern climate, e.g. in its part consecrated to plants, the translator added information on the cultivation of tartary buckwheat, completely unknown in Italy, or rye, which did not play any role in ancient Rome. Crescentius’s handbook tackled many practical issues, for example, “what to see first, when you want to buy a farm”, “how to deal with your official”, “what to do at the farm during winter time”, “how to kill mice or garden moles”, “how to know a splendid horse”, as well as gave useful advise “on roosters, hens and their chickens”, “on catching rabbits” etc. In addition to farm topics, the work also included health tips for people and animals. Nowadays, the book, decorated with numerous woodcuts showing people working in the fields, is an invaluable source of information on Old Polish material culture.
Author: Crescentius, Peter (1233-ca 1320)
Title: Piotra Crescentyna Kxięgi o gospodarstwie, y o opatrzeniu rozmnożenia rozlicznych pożytkow, każdemu stanowi potrzebne
Published: Cracow: Helena Ungler, 1549
Published: [12] leaves, 697 [i.e. 700] columns, [1] leaf, collation: A-C4, A-Z6, Aa6, Bb-Ii4 ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1896, vol. 14, p. 450-451; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 560; Ochmański W., Wiedza rolnicza w Polsce od XVI do połowy XVIII wieku, Wrocław 1965, p. 21-23
Provenance: 1. Liber sit unusquisque a libro isto, quia neminem capiet si quis illum non caperet. Joannes Ferinandus Midzkey de Radlin die 25 Maji An[n]o 1691; 2. Ex libris Petri Czerny [beginning of the 18th century]; 3. Hic liber a pie memoriae illustrissimo Domino Petro Czerny castellanide sandecensi oblatus et applicatus Conventui Kentensi Patrum Reformatorum cuius animae benevolus lector non praetermittat suffragium ferre [18th century]
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind and gold, traces of clasps – 16th century, renovated
Notes: marginal notes (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4025
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
One of two existing copies (both held in the Ossolineum Library) of a work on fish ponds, written by Albert Strumieński. The author of the treatise was an administrator of John Firlej’s estate in Balice near Cracow. The book, based on his experience and practice, was composed in clear and succinct language. Its worth lies in the originality of the subject, rich content and detailed way in which the author described such topics as levelling, pond construction and pisciculture. Thus, the handbook is considered to be the best work on fish stocking and ponds in the sixteenth-century European literature. At that time, Polish fish culture and farming (especially carp farming) were very well-developed, in Europe second only to Czech ones as for its size and innovation.It was a consequence of the growing domestic demand for fish that was caused, among other things, by demographic boom in cities and increasing wealth of the sixteenth-century Polish society, especially the middle class. Fish, apart from grain (also sent for export), was then the primary good produced by estate owners in Poland. Strumieński’s work was so popular among them that after the copies of the first edition were sold out, the nobles from Lesser Poland themselves demanded its reissue.
Author: Strumieński, Albert ( -1579/1580)
Title: O Sprawie Sypaniu, Wymierzaniu y Rybieniu stawów: także o Przekopach o Ważeniu y prowadzeniu Wody…
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, 1573
Physical description: [68] leaves, collation: A-R4 ; 8°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1933, vol. 29, p. 342; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2460; Szczygielski W., Gospodarska stawowa na ziemiach południowo-zachodniej Rzeczpospolitej w XVI-XVIII w., Łódź 1965, p. 17, 23-24
Provenance: 1. Julij Ginter 1712; 2. Jan Januszewski 1850; Z księgozbioru Jana Januszewskiego komornika lwowskiego; 3. Biblioteka Poturzycka JWD [stamp]
Binding: parchment, ties – 16th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.1104 adl.
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Poem on the Wieliczka Salt Mine, written by the Silesian neo-Latin poet Adam Schroter, and dedicated to Sigismund II Augustus. Salt mining in Wieliczka, which traces its beginnings to the neolithic era, started to develop on an industrial scale in the Middle Ages. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Wieliczka became a centre of interests for Polish and foreign writers; it was described by such authors as Conrad Celtes, Jodocus Willich and Joachim Rheticus. Schroter’s work was the most extensive Renaissance account on Wieliczka salt mines. The author described the origins and properties of salt, the legend on the discovery of salt in Wieliczka, prominent persons who contributed to the development of the mine, as well as the history of shafts and mining work. The work is based on Schroter’s visit to Wieliczka, which the author mentions when describing his journey from Cracow to the mine. Thanks to the information that the Schroter included in Salinarum Vieliciensium descriptio, the poem is a valuable source for the history of mining in Poland. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, recognized as the most beautiful object of this kind in Europe, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1970s.
Author: Schroterus, Adam (1525-1572)
Title: Salinarvm Vieliciensivm Ivcvnda Ac Vera Descriptio…
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, 1553
Physical description: [16, last blank] leaves, collation: A-D4 ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcut (coat of arms)
Bibliographic references: Bugaj, R., Renensansowy poemat o soli kamiennej: Adam Schröter Salinarum Vieliciensium descriptio, „Kwartalnik historii nauki i techniki” 1999, no. 44, p. 61-94; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1929, vol. 27, p. 275-276; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2237
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 15.166
Binding: marbled paper – 19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.3177
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
During the reign of Sigismund I the Old, the monetary system was established, which, with major or minor changes, survived until the end of the First Polish Republic. In 1526, the Sejm meeting in Piotrków passed a new ordinance establishing the so-called mint rate, i.e. a very strict definition of the number of specific coins minted from a fixed amount of gold. The Cracow grzywna, i.e. a lump of metal (silver) weighing 197 g, was adopted as the basis for weight and calculation. 48 grosze (Polish name for groats; grosze – plural, grosz – singular) or 8 six grosz coins or 16 three grosz coins were minted from such a block. In addition to grosze, there was also a denarius system, so 864 denarii or 288 ternars (three-denar coins) or 144 szelągi (coins worth 6 denarii or 2 ternars) could be minted from the Cracow grzywna. As you can see, unlike today’s decimal system, the Jagiellonian monetary system was based on a multiple of three.
In 1526, the first national coarser coin in the form of Polish grosze, was issued in Cracow – the first since the times of Casimir the Great. The new type of coin on the obverse showed a Renaissance crown, below which there was an inscription in 3 lines: “SIGISMVND // PRIM.REX // POLONIE” (Sigismund I King of Poland) and the coat of arms of the Grand Treasurer of the Crown. On the reverse there were: the Eagle surrounded by an inscription: “MONETA REGNI POLONIE” (Coin of the Polish Kingdom) and date. The small denarii bear only the letters “S – P” (Sigismundus Primus). In 1528 new denominations were introduced successively: trojaki (3 grosze) and szóstaki (6 grosze). The trojaki on the obverse show a realistic portrait of the king in a crown in right profile and the inscription: “SIGISMVNDVS PRIM[vs] REX POLONIE”, and on the reverse of the Eagle surrounded by an inscription: “MONETA REGNI POLONIE 1528”.
Sigismund II Augustus ordered the weight of the Cracow grzywna to be increased to 201.8 g, which was confirmed in the coinage ordinance of 1580.
In the times of Sigismund, a new unit of account also appeared in Poland, namely the złoty equal to 30 silver grosze. At the time, it was not a separate coin, but a theoretical conversion factor.On the other hand, coins corresponding to Western European thalers were put into circulation, the weight of which was about 27 g, and the value was just 30 grosze.
The first Polish medal thalers were ordered in the Thorn mint by Sigismund the Old in 1533. The work was continued by his successor, Sigismund Augustus, who in 1564 started minting the so-called Lithuanian półkopki (the name derives from the Lithuanian accounting system – a kopa (60) of Lithuanian grosze was divided into 2 półkopki of 30 grosze or 4 ćwierćkopki of 15 grosze). A półkopek was made of silver weighing about 27.8 g. The obverse bears the
crowned monogram of the king “SA” (Sigismundus Augustus) and the date “15 – 64”, with “XXX” below. On the reverse there is a six-field coat of arms under the grand-ducal miter, consisting of the Polish Eagle, Lithuanian Pahonia, Kiev Archangel Michael, Samogitian Bear and the Volyn Cross; in the centre, there is the Sforza serpent (or dragon), the coat of arms of the king’s mother – Bona.
In addition to silver coins, for the first time in Poland, own gold coins, i.e. ducats, minted at the Cracow mint from 1528, and from 1540 at the Gdańsk Mint, were also in circulation. The minting of gold coins was a prestigious undertaking for the last Jagiellons (the Republic of Poland did not have its own gold mines), intended to emphasize the importance of the kingdom. The value of the ducat in terms of grosze was systematically growing, in 1528 it was worth as little as 45 grosze. Coins with a denomination of one and two ducats were minted (in Polish: dukaty podwójne or dwudukaty) The first ducats of Sigismund the Old showed on the obverse a realistic portrait of the king in a crown, with half-long, evenly cut hair surrounded by inscriptions: “SIGIS.I.REX POL” and the date below. On the reverse, there was a five-field coat of arms containing the emblems of the Polish Eagle, Lithuanian Pahonia, Ruthenian Lion and Prussian Eagle with a sword, and in the centre a shield with the Austrian coat of arms of the queen mother – Elizabeth of Austria (Elżbieta Rakuszanka), and the letters on the sides: “C – N” (Cracov – Nicolaus), the symbol of the Cracow Mint and the Grand Treasurer of the Crown Nicholas Szydłowiecki, the whole is surrounded by the inscription: “IVSTVS VT PALMA FLOREBIT” (The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree).
Łukasz Koniarek, National Ossoliński Institute
Obverse with the Polish Eagle, inscription around the border „+ SIGISMVNDVS : DVX : GLOGOVIE” [Sigismund, King of Głogów].
Reverse with the Pogoń coat of arms surrounded by a pearled border, date below: “1506”, inscription around the border: „+KAZIMIRI : R : POLONIE […] ATVS” [Son of Casimir, King of Poland].
Object type: Glogovian grosz of Sigismund I the Old
Produced: Głogów, 1506
Physical description: minted silver coin, diameter: 24,2 mm, weigh: 2,098 g
Bibliographic references: Hutten-Czapski E., Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises du comte Emeric Hutten-Czapski, St. Petersbourg-Cracovie 1871-1916, no. 218; Białkowski A., Szweycer T., Monety ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warszawa 1975, no. 4
Provenance: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: C 255
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
Obverse with a bust of Sigismund I the Old facing right, wearing a closed crown and armour, with half-long, evenly cut hair hair. The inscription around the border: „*SIGISMVNDVS * PRIM * REX * POLONIE”. (Sigismund I, King of Poland).
Reverse with the crowned Eagle. The inscription around the border: „*MONETA * REGNI * POLONIE * 15Z8” (Coinf of the Kingdom of Poland, 1528).
Object type: royal trojak (3 grosze) of Sigismund I the Old
Produced: Craców, 1528
Physical description: minted silver coin, diameter: 28,6 mm, weight 4,590 g
Bibliographic references: Hutten- Czapski E., Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises du comte Emeric Hutten-Czapski, St. Petersbourg-Cracovie 1871-1916, no. 285; Białkowski A., Szweycer T., Monety ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warszawa 1975, no. 43
Provenance: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Notes: average condition, notched, scratches on the obverse
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: C 2112
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
Obverse with a bust of the King facing right, wearing a closed crown and armour, with half-long, evenly cut hair hair, date below: „1528”, garland ornament. An inscription around the border: „SIGIS : I . – REX : POL” (Sigismund I, King of Poland).
Reverse with a crowned five-field shield with coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Ducal Prussia, and, in the centre of the shield, the Austrian coat of arms of the queen mother, Elizabeth of Austria, flanked by letters: „C – N” (Cracov – Nicolaus). The inscription around the border: „* IVSTVS * VT * PALMA * FLOREBIT” (The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree).
Object type: royal ducat of Sigismund I the Old
Produced: Cracow, 1528
Physcial description: minted gold coin, diameter: 20,0 mm, weight: 3,542 g
Bibliographic references: Hutten-Czapski E., Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises du comte Emeric Hutten-Czapski, St. Petersbourg-Cracovie 1871-1916, no. 4832; Dutkowski J., Złoto czasów dynastii Jagiellonów, Gdańsk 2010, no. 02; Baran E., Złote monety i medale Zygmunta I Starego w zbiorach ZNiO we Wrocławiu (cz. II), „Przegląd Numizmatyczny”, no. 2(73)/2011, p. 13, no. 1
Provenanace: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Notes: reverse with initials of Nicolaus Szydłowiecki (1519-1532), Grand Treasurer of the Crown; very good condition
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: C 1419
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
Obverse with a bust of the King facing right, wearing a closed crown with a cap underneath, and coat with fur collar. An inscription around the border: „* SIGIS : PRI : REX : POLONIE . M : D : LITHVA * 1533” (Sigismund I, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, 1533).
Reverse with a crowned five-field shield with coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Ducal Prussia, and, in the centre of the shield, the Austrian coat of arms of the queen mother Elizabeth of Austria, flanked by letters: „C – S” (Cracov – Spytek). The inscription around the border: „* RVSS : TO : PRVSS . ET . MAZO : D : ET . HERES”, with a sicle of Justus Ludovicus Decius.
Object type: double royal ducat of Sigismund I the Old (counterfeit by Solomon Igel, 19th century?)
Produced: Cracow, 1533
Physical description: minted gold coin, diameter: 29,0 mm, weight: 6,922 g
Bibliographic references: Białkowski A., Szweycer T., Monety ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warszawa 1875, no. 57; Dutkowski J., Złoto czasów dynastii Jagiellonów, Gdańsk 2010, no. 14b; Baran E., Złote monety i medale Zygmunta I Starego w zbiorach ZNiO we Wrocławiu (cz. II), „Przegląd Numizmatyczny”, no. 2(73)/2011, p. 13, no. 3
Provenanace: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv, probably bought in 1865
Notes: reverse with initials of Spytek Tarnowski (1532-1549), Grand Treasurer of the Crown; very good condition
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: C 1418
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
Obverse with a bust of the King facing right, wearing armour and a closed crown with a cap underneath. The inscription around the border: „* SIGIS . I . REX . POLO . DO . PRVSS . 1547”
Reverse with two lion rampants that support the shield of the Gdańsk coat of arms (two heraldic crosses under a crown). The inscription around the border: „* MONE . NO . AVR . CIVI . GEDANENS”.
Object type: Gdańsk ducat of Sigismund I the Old
Produced: Gdańsk, 1547
Physical description: minted gold coin, diameter: 21,3 mm, weight: 3,359 g
Bibliographic description: Hutten- Czapski E., Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises du comte Emeric Hutten-Czapski, St. Petersbourg-Cracovie 1871-1916, no. 417; Białkowski A., Szweycer T., Monety ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warszawa 1875, no. 241; Dutkowski J., Złoto czasów dynastii Jagiellonów, Gdańsk 2010, no. 32; Baran E., Złote monety i medale Zygmunta I Starego w zbiorach ZNiO we Wrocławiu (cz. II), „Przegląd Numizmatyczny” 2011, no. 2(73), p. 13, no. 5
Provenance: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Notes: very good condition
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: C 1422
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
Obverse with crowned royal initials „SA”, flanked by the divided date: „1.5. – 64.”, value mark below: „XXX” (30 groats), laurel-wreath as outer border.
Reverse with a crowned five-field shield with coats of arms of Poland (Eagle), Lithuania (Pahonia), Russia (Saint Michael the Archangel of Kiov), Samogitia (Bear), Volhynia (Cross). In the centre of the shield, the Sforza coat of arms with a serpent (Bona Sforza coat of arms); laurel-wreath as border.
Object type: Lithuanian półkopek (=30 groats) of Sigismund II Augustus
Produced: Vilnius, 1564
Physical description: minted silver coin, diameter: 41,8 mm, weight: 27,244 g
Bibliographic references: Hutten-Czapski E., Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises du comte Emeric Hutten-Czapski, St. Petersbourg-Cracovie 1871-1916, no. 528; Białkowski A., Szweycer T., Monety ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warszawa 1975, no. 374
Provenance: donated by Stanislaus Garczyński in 2003
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: SG 707
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
Obverse with a bust of the King facing right, with a forked beard and wearing a closed crown and armour. The inscription around the border: „SIGIS . AVG . REX . POL . MAG . DVX . LIT”.
Reverse with a crowned five-field shield with coats of arms of Poland (Eagle), Lithuania (Pahonia), Russia (Saint Michael the Archangel of Kiov), Samogitia (Bear), Volhynia (Cross). In the centre of the shield, the Sforza coat of arms with a serpent (Bona Sforza’s coat of arms). The inscription around the border: „MONE . AVRE . MAG . DVCAT . LITV 15 – 65”.
Object type: Lithuanian ducat of Sigismund II Augustus
Produced: Vilnius, 1565
Physical description: minted gold coin, diameter: 22,3 mm, weight: 3,501 g
Bibliographic references: Hutten-Czapski E., Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises du comte Emeric Hutten-Czapski, St. Petersbourg-Cracovie 1871-1916, no. 4959; Białkowski A., Szweycer T., Monety ostatnich Jagiellonów, Warszawa 1975, no. 389; Dutkowski J., Złoto czasów dynastii Jagiellonów, Gdańsk 2010, no. 57
Provenance: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: C 1424
By Barbara Butent-Stefaniak
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