CONCUBINE AND ENCHANTRESS: KATARZYNA TELNICZANKA AND HER BLACK MYTH
Summary
S.C. R O W E L L
Katarzyna Hochstadt of Telnicz (ca 1480–1528), mistress of Sigismund the Old, mother of John of the Lithuanian Dukes, bishop of Vilnius (1519–36) and Poznań (1536–38) has come down in history as an enchanting beauty or a witch, or both. Her image is defined by her relationship with powerful men – her lover, her son, her husband (Andrzej Kościelecki, castellan of Wojnicz and sub–treasurer of the Crown of Poland) and alleged victims (various royal secretaries and high–ranking clerics). This article assesses what little by way of solid evidence is known of her life and how this can be related with the
image of man–chasing vamp, interference in the running of the diocese of Vilnius (thereby allegedly provoking the appointment of bishop protectors to the see) and scandal in village and town (according to one seventeenth–century historian). There is evidence that while John of the Lithuanian Dukes was still a minor and enjoyed the rank of provost of Płock and Poznań and canon of Kraków the property associated with his office was overseen by his step–father and perhaps by his mother. After John became
bishop of Vilnius, Her Magnificence the Bishop‘s Mother, the Lady Dowager Castellan of Wojnicz and Sub–Treasurer of the Crown of Poland resided for some time at her son‘s court in Vilnius and on at least two occasions exercised her maternal influence to facilitate access to the bishop for canons (Stanislaw Dambrowka, Martin of Dusniki and Albert Wielezinski) involved in a dispute with their brother canon and scholast Jakub Staszkowski. The detailed discussion of internal cathedral disputes in the presence of a lay person, and even worse, a woman, scandalised members of the Cathedral Chapter
but there is no evidence that Lady Katarzyna sought to determine the outcome of this case. We also know that she patronised at least one noblewoman (the widowed sister–in–law of Bishop Albert Tabor) who subsequently adopted Bishop John as her son and heir and made financial endowments on both the bishop and his mother. After Katarzyna died in Vilnius in the late summer of 1528 her corpse was transported to Kraków for burial by a Vilnius canon, Erasmus Eustachii, whose family had connections
with Andrzej Kościelecki and Bishop John of Vilnius. The satirical verse penned by Andrzej Krzycki concerning a mother–stepmother and father–stepfather (Katarzyna and King Sigismund) and „an old hag who stinks like a goat“ represents neo–Latin literary exercises provoked by fear of the influence at the royal court of Katarzyna and her family rather than an accurate and literal description of Katarzyna and her activities.
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