Once Again on the Subject of the Great Caravel "Peter von Danzig"

As can be seen from the comments herein, every time that Długokęcki tries to add something new to the main themes I deal with in writing the history of the caravel, he makes error after error. It applies to both the marine layer of monograph and understanding of the European context. His interpretation of the sources and the theories he builds on this basis in order to create an alternative picture are unsuccessful. All in all, though it is evident that he has tried very hard, Długokęcki is unable to change any of the findings regarding the major themes addressed in my monograph.

Osoby duchowne w otoczeniu i czynnościach prawnych księcia gdańskiego Warcisława II

The above paper deals with the clergy in the state of Warcisław II, Duke of Gdańsk and East­­­‑Pomerania between 1266 and 1269/70. The careers of representatives of this class are reconstructed by collecting and verifying source information and the extensive discussions of earlier historians. Four clergymen from Gdańsk, 2 from Słupsk, and Michael priest of “Saulyn” have been authenticated, but it is not certain that the last two places actually belonged to Warcisław’s state. The main conclusion of this research is that during the reign of Warcisław II, clergy were of political significance. They served in administration and in an early chancellery service, as in the case of a group of clergy in the fortified church in Gdańsk. It is likely that one of local priests­­­‑ Wacław/Unisław – was also probably related to an influential gentry family This was also probably the case with Luder, priest of St. Catharine’s Church in the city of Gdańsk. He was probably an agent mediating between the Duke and the middle class. Warcisław II had good relations with the middle class and its political influence was growing during his reign. In Słupsk, too, the clergy participated in changing political affiliations, but that is visible only later. Clergymen also supported other dukes; this was visible and of importance during the East­­­‑Pomeranian civil war (1269–1271) between Warcisław II and Msciwoj II, which ended in the former’s exile. One historian believes that the priest Michael served in Salino in East­­­‑Pomerania. Perhaps his presence in a privilege from 1268 had a political context – by that act Warcisław II could show his claims to Białogarda’s land. This had been mortgaged to the Teutonic Order by Duke Racibor. Otherwise, according to the opinion of Klemens Bruski, Michael could have served in another place – Słona near Kościerzyna.

Bolesław Szczodry (1058–1079) konstruktorem środkowoeuropejskiego bloku antycesarskiego?

The article analyzes contacts between Bolesław Szczodry (1058–1079) and neighbouring states in Central Europe (Hungary, the Czech lands, the Lutician Federation, Saxony). The main emphasis is on the influence of those contacts on Polish­­­­­­‑German relations. The article attempts to answer the question as to whether the alliances formed by the Polish ruler were a result of a more serious, far­­­­­­‑reaching policy directed against the German ruler. In connection with this, each state is dealt with separately, and relations with it are viewed separately from the remainder. The effect of such an approach is the perception that the majority of the actions of Bolesław Szczodry were of an ad hoc nature, and not stricte directed against the Empire. Only the Polish­ ‑Hungarian alliance – although also not without certain controversial aspects – gives the appearance of a lasting alliance, one fundamental for Polish policy at that time. As a result, the answer to the question in the title is in the negative: Bolesław Szczodry did not form alliances with neghbouring states with the aim of weakening Germany and of building a more powerful coalition capable of defeating King Henry IV.

Damaging, Destroying and Rebuilding of Watermills and Windmills in the Late-Medieval State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia

Młyny wodne i wiatraki stanowiły ważny element infrastruktury miast i wsi w późnym średniowieczu – zapewniały bowiem możliwość przemiału odpowiedniej ilości zbóż i słodu potrzebnych do produkcji dwóch najważniejszych produktów spożywczych: chleba i piwa. W związku z tym były narażone na zniszczenia w czasie toczonych wówczas konfliktów zbrojnych. Oczywiście uszkodzenie i niszczenie młynów i wiatraków następowało też z przyczyn naturalnych: czynników atmosferycznych (wezbrania wody, przerwania grobli w wypadku młyna wodnego czy też silnego wiatru w wypadku wiatraka). Problem uszkodzenia, niszczenia, ale i odbudowy młynów wodnych i wiatraków został tu przedstawiony na przykładzie władztwa zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach w późnym średniowieczu (w XIV i pierwszej połowie XV w.). Obok kwestii prawnych i gospodarczych związanych z tym zjawiskiem podjęto próbę określenia skali i rejonizacji występowania młynów pustych, zniszczonych lub tylko opuszczonych, uszkodzonych i później nieodbudowanych. W pierwszej połowie XV w. nastąpił dość wyraźny spadek wysokości ogólnego czynszu z młynów, jaki pobierał zakon krzyżacki. Wynosił on w wypadku komturstwa ostródzkiego 12%, bałgijskiego 7–8%, a elbląskiego 4%. Znacznie gorzej było natomiast na terenie ziemi chełmińskiej i na Pomorzu Gdańskim, które znajdowały się w zasięgu intensywnych działań wojennych, toczonych w ramach kolejnych konfliktów z Polską. W komturstwie kowalewskim spadek czynszu wyniósł 40%, brodnickim 25%, a w tucholskim aż 64%. Wprawdzie nie dysponujemy wykazami obejmującymi w tym czasie całe władztwo zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach, jednak nawet na podstawie zachowanych przekazów można stwierdzić, że działania powodowane wojnami prowadzonymi przez zakon z Polską w pierwszej połowie XV w. przyniosły ogromne zniszczenia struktur gospodarczych na wsi, w tym i znajdujących się tam młynów wodnych i wiatraków. Nie wszystkie z tych urządzeń zostały później odbudowane, po części z nich zostały jedynie wzmianki w starszych wykazach czynszowych sporządzanych przez urzędników zakonu krzyżackiego.

Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420–1497) – a Mystic?

Bardzo często sugerowano, że wyjątkowa twórczości Johannesa Ockeghema była być może odbiciem mistycyzmu łączonego w XV w. z ruchem religijnym znanym jako devotio moderna. Ponieważ jednak trudno to twierdzenie udowodnić, bardzo często zgłaszano do tej teorii zastrzeżenia. Artykuł jest próbą ukazania, że muzyka Ockeghema – mimo swojej oryginalności – ma również wiele cech występujących w utworach innych kompozytorów działających w XV w. Podobnie jak jego rówieśnicy Ockeghem hołdował idei różnorodności jako wiodącej w tamtym czasie zasadzie estetycznej. Stosował także tzw. ukrytą imitację i eksperymentował z niskim rejestrem głosu basowego. Patrząc zatem na twórczość Ockeghema przez pryzmat dzieł innych kompozytorów działających w XV w., jego twórczość wydaje się być dobrym przykładem wszystkich ważnych tendencji i zmian, które były tak charakterystyczne dla kultury muzycznej tamtych czasów.

Jeszcze o zbrodni rogozińskiej i granicy między Polską a Brandenburgią na Noteci w XIII–XIV wieku

Janusz Bieniak’s study Zarębowie i Nałęcze a królobójstwo w Rogoźnie (The Zaręba and Nalęcz Families and the Regicide in Rogoźno – 2018), alongside important discoveries and interesting proposals of a prosopographic and genealogical nature, has as its main aim to discredit information in the sources concerning the participation (possibly even direct participation) of those families in the crime committed in 1296 in Rogoźno. The crime occurred through the agency of the Margraves of Brandenburg, of the older (Johannine) line of the House of Ascania/ Anhalt. This article takes issue with several aspects of Bieniak’s argument. Bieniak questions my earlier view of the probable recognition of the Nałęcz family of the suzerainty of the Margraves over their Greater Polish possessions situated to the north of the middle and lower stream of the River Noteć, that is on formerly Pomeranian territory (centred on Człopa), which could of course lay them open to the charge of treachery, since in Poland there was no consciousness or understanding of German claims (essentially rights) to the region of Pomerania. At the same time, in terms of German law, from 1231 Pomerania, including, of course, the territory of Nadnotecie still remaining in the thirteenth­ ‑century and – from a Polish perspective – of the former Pomeranian Zanotecie, remained within the gift of the German Empire within the fief of the Margraves of Brandenburg. Bieniak decisively rejects any reckoning in Poland in the thirteenth century with any kind of claim of the (in any case weakened) German state as a whole (Bieniak calls this the Empire), and even more of Brandenburg, the rulers of which as conquerors had no interest in the historical borders of Pomerania and did not even know them, but were driven only by brutal force and not by any legal titles. Of course, they ignored these, and the Nałęcz and Zaręba families did not see themselves as subordinate to anyone, just like everyone in Poland. Thus, they must be exonerated from participation in the crime of 1296. In this controversy, I wish to point out even more forcibly than previously (and, indeed, quite frequently) that the Nałęcz family, just like the Greater Poland princes (an example from 1253 is cited) and the knightly families settled in Pomerania (the Wedlow, Liebenow, Güntersberg, and Borkow families, 1296–1297, and the Święc family, 1307) knew the suzerain competences of the Margraves and recognized them – of course, under military pressure – over the castles and towns held by the Poles on the left bank of the Noteć (Santok–Drżeń–Wieleń– Czarnków–Ujście) along with their hinterlands, thus becoming Brandenburg and Polish subjects. In fact, the few sources do not permit such a maximum treatment of all the Brandenburg claims at the end of the thirteenth century, but that becomes obvious in subsequent decades of the fourteenth century, when it is by the intervention of the Margraves with support of the Nałęcz, Güntersberg, and Wedlow families that the territories and castles and towns of the eastern lands of Nadnotęcie are seized. That is why reference was made even to the rights raised by the Nałęcz family (of Ostroróg) to several villages in Puszcza Notecka near Drezdenko, most obviously because of those brought in the dowry of Małgorzata Nałęczówna of Szamotuły around 1330 to the German von der Osten lords in Drezdenko, when in 1408 they sold them along with their castle to the Teutonic Knights. On the margins of the article, I also offer a “gentle” defence of my position (also criticized by Bieniak) in the matter of the identification – in a contemporary entry in the annals of the Cistercians of Kołbacz – of Jakub “Kaszuby”, the principle perpetrator (and the only one known by name) of the regicide, with the German knight Jakub Güntersberg, who did, indeed, come from Kaszubia, since in 1296 he had left the service of the Dukes of Western Pomerania (from 1295, the Wołogoski dukedom), having up till then a fief in the lands near Stargard. In this case, “Kasube” was not an ethnic description, but only a geographical­­­‑political one.

The Oath "More Judaico" Two Early Modern Jewish Oaths from Wrocław and Świdnica and Their Comparison with Medieval Jewish Oaths

Forma, a niekiedy gest przysięgi były jedną ze składowych świata symboliki epoki średniowiecznej i nowożytnej. Celem pracy jest przedstawienie dwóch wczesnonowożytnych przysiąg zachowanych w zbiorach (księgach przysiąg) z miast tzw. magdeburskiego okręgu prawnego – Wrocławia i Świdnicy – oraz ich analiza w kontekście rozwoju przysięgi żydowskiej (juramentum judeorum, sacramentum Hebreorum, Judeneid) w Europie Środkowej. Na podstawie porównania tekstu obu wspomnianych przysiąg z przysięgami średniowiecznymi została podjęta próba prześledzenia ciągłości owego zjawiska oraz zmian we wzajemnych relacjach pomiędzy mniejszością żydowską a chrześcijańską większością. Brzmienie przysięgi żydowskiej zależało od celu, jakiemu miała ona służyć. Przysięga została stworzona przez chrześcijan, którzy dążyli do tego, by jak najbardziej ograniczyć możliwość jej złamania. Biorąc pod uwagę przepisy dotyczące praktycznego zastosowania przysięgi, można powiedzieć, że jej celem było również ukazanie miejsca i pozycji narodu żydowskiego w społeczności chrześcijańskiej. Przysięga była przede wszystkim narzędziem dyscyplinowania i kontroli. Z powyższych powodów stanowi ona bogate źródło cennych informacji na temat rozwoju społeczeństwa miejskiego oraz zapewnia wgląd w zmiany, jakim podlegało ono na przestrzeni znaczącego i długiego okresu swojego istnienia.

Władysław Łokietek wiosną 1296 roku w Wielkopolsce po zabójstwie króla Przemysła II

The article discusses the issue of the attitudes of the magnates and knights of Greater Poland at the time of the accession of Władysław Łokietek to power in February 1296, immediately after the murder of King Przemysł II. On the basis of an analysis of the positions of witnesses to the peace treaty concluded in Krzywiń by Duke Władysław with Henryk of Głogów, who at that time was attacking Greater Poland, an attempt is made to show that there was a reluctance to continue warfare on the part of the leading magnates of Greater Poland. They were accustomed under the reign of Przemysł II to solving disputes above all by diplomatic means, and had exploited the extended period of peace on their territories to build up their economic might. The halting of the forces of Henryk of Głogów marching on Poznań took place on the approaches to the land of one of the most important officials of Greater Poland, the voivode of Kalisz, Mikołaj of the Łodzia family, who was acting in collaboration with the Bishop of Poznań, Jan Gerwardowic of the Leszczyc family, whose nearby estates had already suffered initial destruction. The article argues that it was the attitude of the leading magnates that forced Władysław Łokietek to conclude a peace with Henryk of Głogów and to cede him territory beyond the River Obra. It rejects the hitherto dominant view in Polish history writing that Władysław Łokietek gave way before his opponent’s military might, and that the concessions made towards Henryk lost Łokietek the trust of the local magnates right at the beginning of his reign in Greater Poland. The author of the essay also does not share the opinion that those leading magnates, who earlier had supported Przemysł II’s plans to unite the Polish lands around this area, were faced with a vital and urgent question about the future of this very policy once the treaty of Krzywiń was concluded. He believes that the leading magnates of Greater Poland acted at that moment out of typically personal motives and were not concerned with broader issues.

Dwie wersje skargi "Proposicio Polonorum" oraz kwestia jej genezy

The article discusses the Proposicio Polonorum, which contains an accusation against the Grand Master and the Teutonic Order of harbouring a hostile attitude towards Poland, King Władysław Jagiełło, and the Christianizing mission led by him in Lithuania. The indictment was presented by the Polish delegation to the Council of Constance in February 1416. The author discusses the manuscripts and the contents of the indictment. He compares various versions and on this basis considers the question of the authorship and the genesis of the text. The “Kraków” version held in the Jagiellonian Library (Cod. 1143) contains several “Lithuanian” elements (the marriage of the daughter of Witold with the Grand Duke of Moscow; the alliance of Svidrigiello with the Tatars) that are unknown in other manuscripts. This might indicate its preparation to support Duke Witold’s interests. Any details of the genesis of the indictment are hypothetical, but several factors emerging directly from its content (quotations from the twelfth-century letter writer Pierre de Blois) indicate that Piotr Wolfram, secretary to the Archbishop of Gniezno at the Council and professor of law at Kraków University, had a fundamental influence on its writing.

Międzynarodowy kontekst odzyskania ziemi sławieńskiej przez Mściwoja II w 1283 r. i zawarcia sojuszu brandenbursko­­­‑wielkopolskiego

Taking advantage of the war between the Margraves of Brandenburg and representatives of the federation of Rostock (1283–1284), in the spring­­­‑summer of 1283, Mściwój II, in collusion with Duke Przemysł II of Greater Poland, took the lands around Sławno from the Margraves of Brandenburg. Before the end of 1283, the Brandenburg House of Ascania/Anhalt, being embroiled in in a war in north Germany and in Pomerania, could not respond militarily. In December 1283, Ludgarda of Mecklenburg, the wife of Przemysł II, died in mysterious circumstances. Since just before her death the Duke turned from his policy up to then and entered into an alliance with his previous enemies the Margraves of Brandenburg (fighting in 1283–1284 with, among others, the mother, brothers, and other relatives of his dead wife), it appears that the matter of Ludgarda’s death and Przemysł political turn­­­‑about are linked. In initial peace negotiations in Vierraden (13 August 1284), Przemysł II was counted among the supporters of the Margraves of Brandenburg. Despite an agreement that was supposed to bring an end to the war with Pomerania and Rugia/Rügen and with the other members of the federation of Rostock (including the lords of Sławno and relatives of Ludgarda), the Duke was in need of a marriage­­­‑alliance that would strengthen his position in relation to the abandoned Pomeranian­­­‑Mecklenburg affiliation. It was to the Brandenburg Margraves’ Scandinavian contacts (important in the context of further relations of the House of Ascania/Anhalt with the trading cities of Połabie and Pomerania) that Przemysł II thanked the opportunity to balance the political influence of Ludgarda’s relatives and to enter into a marriage with Ryska, the daughter of Waldemar Birgersson and the ward of Magnus Birgersson Ladulås. This union also strengthened the Scandinavian influence of the Margraves. The Greater Poland-Brandenburg alliance determined the fact that for at least some time the House of Ascania/Anhalt gave up any attempt to recover the lands around Sławno.