Gesta principum Polonorum

“Chronica Polonorum” redirects here. For other uses,see Chronica Polonorum (disambiguation).

The Gesta principum Polonorum (English: Deeds of thePrinces of the Poles) is a medieval gesta, or deeds nar-rative, concerned with Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth, hisancestors, and the Polish principality during and beforehis reign. Probably completed between 1112 and 1118,the extant text is present in three manuscripts with twodistinct traditions. Its author, though anonymous, is tra-ditionally called Gallus, probably a non-Pole connectedwith the monastery of Saint-Gilles or somewhere else inwestern Europe.The book is one of the earliest written documents onthe history of Poland, but also gives a unique EasternEuropean perspective on the general history of Europe,supplementing what has been handed down by Westernand Southern European historians. It pre-dates the GestaDanorum and the next major source on early history ofPoland, the Chronica seu originale regum et principumPoloniae, by roughly a century.

1 Title

The title intended for or originally given to the work isnot clear. In the initial capital of the text in the ZamoyskiCodex, a rubric styles the work the Cronica Polonorum,while in the same manuscript the preface of Book Iopens with Incipiunt Cronice et gesta ducum sive principumPolonorum ("[Here] begins the chronicles and deeds ofthe dukes or princes of the Poles”).[1] The incipit forBook II entitles the work Liber Tertii Bolezlaui (“Bookof Bolesław III”), and that for Book III Liber de GestisBoleslaui III (“Book of the Deeds of Bolesław III”).[2]These however are not reliable as such things are oftenadded later.[3]

The latest editors and only English translators of the textstyle it Gesta principum Polonorum (“the deeds of theprinces of the Poles”), primarily to acknowledge its faithwith the gesta genre (and the likely authenticity of thispart of the title) and to avoid confusion with the later workknown as the Chronica principum Poloniae (“chronicle ofthe princes of Poland”).[4]

2 Author

Main article: Gallus Anonymous

The author of the Gesta is unknown, but is referred to byhistorigraphic convention as “Gallus”, a Latin word for a“person from France or Gaul” (though also, potentially, aforename). The only source for Gallus’ existence comesnot from the text but rather from a note made by historianand Bishop of Warmia Martin Kromer (1512–89) in themargin of folio 119 of the “Heilsberg manuscript”.[5] Itis not known why Bishop Kromer called the author Gal-lus.[6]

In Gottfried Lengnich’s printed edition, Lengnich namedthe author as “Martin Gallus” based on a misreading ofJan Długosz, where Gallus was conflated with Martinof Opava.[6] Martin Gallus became the standard namein German scholarship for some time to come, thoughthis identification is now rejected by most historians.[6]Historian Maximilian Gumplowicz identified the authoras Baldwin Gallus,[7] allegedly Bishop of Kruszwica,though likewise this theory has failed to gain generalacceptance.[6]

There have been frequent attempts to identify Gallus’origins from clues in the text . Marian Plezia andPierre David both argued that Gallus came fromProvencein what is now southern France, and was closely con-nected with the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Gilles.[8]Another historian, Karol Maleczyński, argued that theevidence suggests a connection with Flanders,[9] whileDanuta Borawska and Tomasz Jasiński have argued basedon stylistic evidence that he was connected with Veniceand that he authored an anonymous translatio of StNicholas.[10] Marian Plezia argued in 1984 that his writ-ing style suggests an education in one of the schools ofcentral France, likely Tours or Orléans.[11]

Plezia and others further argue that Gallus’ extensiveknowledge of Hungary testify to connections there, pos-tulating a connection to the Benedictine monastery ofSomogyvár in Hungary, a daughter-house of St Gilles’.[12]He appears to have been closely connected to the Aw-dańcy clan, a kindred of Norse or Rus origin who hadbeen successful under Boleslaw II, and who had been ex-iled to Hungary but returned to prominence in Polish af-fairs during the reign of Boleslaw III.[13] As he statedthat “the city of Gniezno ... means “nest” in Slavic”, itis thought that the author may have known the languageof the country.[14] All that is certain is that he was a

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2 5 PRINTED EDITIONS

monk and a non-Slav living in Poland, perhaps on a Polishbenefice.[15]

3 Date

Generally, it is thought that the original text was com-posed at some point between 1112 and 1117.[16] Thededicatory letter on the preface of the Gesta fixes com-pletion of the origin text between 1112 and 1118.[17]The last event mentioned in the work is the pilgrimageof Boleslaw III to Székesfehérvár in Hungary, which oc-curred in either 1112 or 1113.[17] The work was almostcertainly completed before the revolt of Skarbimir in1117–18.[17] There is some evidence that several inter-polations were added subsequently. For instance, thereis reference to the descendants of Duke Swietobor ofPomerania (ii.29).[18]

4 Manuscripts and prints

TheGesta is not extant in the original, but instead survivesin three different manuscripts representing two differ-ent traditions. The Codex Zamoyscianus (Z) and CodexCzartoryscianus (S) represent the first, and earliest doc-umented tradition, the latter being derived from the for-mer. The Heilsberg codex, though later and surviving inless detail, is an independent witness to the text and con-stitutes the second distinct tradition.

4.1 Codex Zamoyscianus

The earliest version lies in the manuscript known asthe Codex Zamoyscianus or Zamoyski Codex.[19] Thiswas written down in the late 14th-century, probably inKrakow between 1380 and 1392.[19] It was located inthe library of the Łaski family until the 15th century.[19]Thereabouts Sandivogius (Sędziwój) of Czechłoj (d.1476), a canon of Gniezno Cathedral and friend of thehistorian Jan Długosz, came into possession of it.[19] Itwas later in the library of the counts of Zamość, but isnow in the National Library in Warsaw as Ms. BOZ cim.28.[19]

4.2 Codex Czartoryscianus

A second version of the Gesta lies in the Codex Czarto-ryscianus, also called the Sędziwój Codex.[19] Between1434 and 1439 Sandivogius of Czechło had a secondcopy made for him, produced from the version in theCodex Zamoyscianus.[19] As it is a direct copy, its use-fulness is limited in reconstructing the original text.[19]This version currently lies in the Czartoryski Museum ofKraków, Ms. 1310, fols. 242–307.[19]

4.3 Heilsberg Codex

The third and latest witness to the text is the version inthe so-called Heilsberg Codex.[19] This version was writ-ten down between 1469 and 1471, based on an earlierversion.[19] The latter had been written at Kraków around1330, was in Łekno monastery (Greater Poland) in 1378,and had been transferred to the monastery at Trzemesznobefore coming into the hands of Martin Kromer, Bishopof Warmia (1579–1589).[20]

Between the mid-16th century and the 18th century, themanuscript was located in the German-speaking Prussiantown of Heilsberg (today the Polish town of LidzbarkWarmiński), hence the name.[19] Unlike the version in theCodex Czartoryscianus, this is an independent witness tothe original text. It is currently in the National Library inWarsaw as Ms. 8006, fols. 119–247.[19]

The Heilsberg text omits large sections of text present inthe other two manuscripts, for instance omitting severalchapters like 27 and 28 in Book I.[21]

5 Printed editions

The text of theGestawas printed for the first time in 1749,when an edition based on the Heilsberg Codex was pub-lished by Gottfried Lengnich, reprinted two decades laterby Laurence Mizler de Kolof, and has since been printedin many editions.[22]

• Gottfried Lengnich (ed.), Vincentius Kadlubko etMartinus Gallus scriptores historiae Polonae vetustis-simi cum duobus anonymis ex ms. bibliothecae epis-copalis Heilsbergensis edititi, (Danzig, 1749)

• Laurence Mizler de Kolof (ed.), HistoriarumPoloniae et Magni Ducatus Lithuaniae ScriptorumQuotquot Ab Initio Reipublicae Polonae Ad NostraUsque Temporar Extant Omnium Collectio Magna,(Warsaw, 1769)

• Jan Wincenty Bandtkie (ed.), Martini Galli Chroni-con Ad Fidem Codicum: Qui Servantur In PulaviensiTabulario Celsissimi Adami Princpis Czartoryscii,Palatini Regni Poloniarum/ Denuo Recensuit ...,(Warsaw, 1824)

• J. Szlachtowski and P. Koepke, Chronica etAnnales Aevi Salici, in Georg Henirich Pertz(ed.),Monumenta Germaniae Historica, (Hannover,1851), SS IX, pp. 414–78

• A. Bielowski (ed.), Monumenta Poloniae Historica,(Lemberg, 1864) pp. 379–484

• Ludwig Finkel & Stanisław Kętrzyński (eds.), GalliAnonymi Chronicon, (Lemberg, 1898)

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• Julian Krzyżanowski (ed.), Galla Anonima Kro-nika : Podobizna Fotograficzna Rekopisu Zamoys-kich z Wieku XIV. Wyda i Wstepem Opatrzy Ju-lian Krzyzanowski./ Galli anonymi Chronicon codicissaeculi XIV Zamoscianus appellati reproductio pale-ographica, (Warsaw, 1946)

• Karol Maleczyński (ed.), Galli Anonymi Cronica etGesta Ducum sive Principum Polonorum/ Anonimatzw. Galla Kronika Czyli Dzieje Książąt i WładcówPolskich, (Kraków, 1952)

• Ljudmila Mikhailovna Popova (ed.), Gall Anonim,Khronika u Deianiia Kniazei ili Pravitelei Polskikh,(Moscow, 1961)

• Josef Bujnoch, Polens Anfänge: Gallus Anonymus,Chronik und Taten de Herzöge und Fürsten vonPolen, (Graz, Styria, 1978)

• Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum:The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles, (Budapest,2003)

JanWincenty Bandtkie, who also used Heilsberg, was thefirst to utilise the Codex Zamoyscianus tradition.[22] Asthe Heilsberg Codex was “lost” between the 1830s andthe 1890s, texts in this period make no original use ofit.[22] Finkel & Kętrzyński’s 1898 edition likewise makesno use of Heilsberg.[23] Julian Krzyżanowski producedthe first facsimile in the 1940s, while in the 1950s KarolMaleczyński’s edition was the first to collate all threemanuscripts.[23]

The text has been fully translated several times. It wastranslated into Polish by Roman Grodescki by 1923,though this was not published until 1965.[3] There was aRussian translation in 1961, a German translation in 1978and an English translation in 2003.[3]

6 The narrative

The work begins with an address and dedication toMartin, Archbishop of Gniezno, and to the bishops ofPoland’s regions, Simon (Bishop of Plock, c. 1102–29),Paul (Bishop of Poznań, 1098–c. 1112), Maurus (Bishopof Kraków, 1110–18) and Zyroslaw (Bishop ofWroclaw,1112–20).[24] Thomas Bisson argued that the text was pri-marily written in the gesta genre of Latin literature as acelebration of Duke Boleslaw III Wrymouth, defendinghis actions and legimizing his dynasty (compare the near-contemporary Deeds of Louis the Fat).[25]

The work is divided into three books, focused on geneal-ogy, politics and warfare. Book one, of 31 chapters, treatsthe deeds of the ancestors of Boleslaw III (beginningwith the legendary Piast theWheelwright), and their warsagainst the Germans and Slavic peoples such as the Rus,the Bohemians, the Pomeranians and the Mazovians.[26]

The first Book claims to rely on oral tradition, and islargely legendary in character until the reign of MieszkoI.[27] The earlier material tells of the rises of the Piastsfrom peasants to ruler, a tale common in early Slavonicfolk-myth.[28]

Book two, of 50 chapters, traces the birth of Boleslaw,his boyhood deeds and documents the wars wagedby himself and “count palatine” Skarbimir against thePomeranians.[29] Book three, of 26 chapters, continuesthe story of the wars waged by Boleslaw and the Polesagainst the Pomeranians, the war against the German em-peror Heinrich V and the Bohemians, and against theBaltic Prussians.[30]

7 Notes[1] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.

xxiv; p. 10.

[2] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp.116, 210

[3] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxiv.

[4] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxiv, & n. 20.

[5] Dalewski, Ritual and Politics, pp. 2–3, n. 3; Knoll andSchaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp. xxiv–v

[6] Knoll and Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxv

[7] Glumpowicz, Bischof Balduin, passim

[8] Dalewski, Ritual and Politics, p. 3, n. 5 for references

[9] Dalewski, Ritual and Politics, p. 3, n. 6 for references

[10] Dalewski, Ritual and Politics, p. 3, n. 7 for detail andreferences

[11] Dalewski, Ritual and Politics, p. 3, n. 8 for reference;Plezia, “Nowe Studia”, pp. 111–20

[12] Dalewski, Ritual and Politics, pp. 3–4, n. 9 for references

[13] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxxii–xxxiii

[14] Knoll & Schaer (eds.),Gesta Principum Polonorum, p. 16,n. 2

[15] Bisson, “On Not Eating Polish Bread in Vain”, pp. 275–89; Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxvi

[16] Tymowski, “Oral Tradition”, p. 243

[17] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxxi

[18] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxxi, n. 41

4 8 REFERENCES

[19] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p. xx

[20] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp.xx–xxi.

[21] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxi.

[22] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxii.

[23] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, p.xxiii

[24] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp.2–3, and ns. 2–4

[25] See Bisson, “On Not Eating Polish Bread in Vain”, pp.275–89

[26] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp.3–115

[27] Tymowski, “Oral Tradition”, pp. 243–45

[28] Tymowski, “Oral Tradition”, pp. 251–52

[29] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp.117–209

[30] Knoll & Schaer (eds.), Gesta Principum Polonorum, pp.211–87

8 References

• Bisson, Thomas N. (1998), “On Not Eating PolishBread in Vain : Resonance and Conjuncture in theDeeds of the Princes of Poland”, Viator: Medievaland Renaissance Studies 29: 275–89, ISSN 0083-5897

• Dalewski, Zbigniew (2008), Ritual and Politics:Writing the History of a Dynastic Conflict in Me-dieval Poland, East Central and Eastern Europe inthe Middle Ages, 450–1450, Volume 3, Leiden:Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-16657-8, ISSN 1872-8103

• Gumplowicz, Maximilian (1895), Bischof BalduinGallus von Kruszwica, Vienna: Tempsky

• Knoll, Paul W.; Schaer, Frank, eds. (2003), GestaPrincipum Polonorum / The Deeds of the Princes ofthe Poles, Central European Medieval Texts, Gen-eral Editors János M. Bak, Urszula Borkowska,Giles Constable & Gábor Klaniczay, Volume 3, Bu-dapest/ New York: Central European UniversityPress, ISBN 963-9241-40-7

• Plezia, Marian (1984), “Nowe Studia nad GallemAnonimem”, in Chŀopocka, Helena, Mente et Lit-teris: O Kulturze i Spoŀeczeństwie Wieków Średnich,Pozńan: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im.Adama Mickiewicza, pp. 111–20

• Tymowski, Michal (1996), “Oral Tradition, Dynas-tic Legend and Legitimation of Ducal Power in theProcess of the Formation of the Polish State”, inClaessen, Henri J. M.; Oosten, Jarich G., Ideologyand the Formation of Early States, Studies in Hu-man Society, Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 242–55, ISBN90-04-10470-4, ISSN 0920-6221

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9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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