Search

The paper offers a sample of a commentary to Jan Kochanowski's two foricoenia, namely Ad Lu-clnam (21) and De Neaera (4). The commentary is effectuated in connection with a new edition of the poet's Carmina Latina. When interpreting the two epigrams, an important context is made not only by antique works (e.g. from The Greek Anthology) to which the poet referred within the framework of the Renaissance aemulatio, but also by New Latin ones, inter alia Andrea Navagero's Lusus and Michael Marullus' epigrams. Forlcoenia enters into intertextual relationships with the works of other humanists and contributes to the common good of Renaissance Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses a recently completed critical edition of Jan Kochanowski's Fraszki (Trifles), which will before long be issued as a subsequent volume of his Dzieła wszystkie (Collected Works). Different aspects of the publication are presented, including facsimile, transcription, and commentary. As a representative sample, a few actual passages from particular trifles are discussed in length. These include the following poems: I 48, I 55, I 78, II 55, III 1, III 39, III 46, III 53, III 63, and III 69. The most remarkable added value of the edition is that it contains countless minute discoveries--individually marginal-- creating much broader, much richer, and much deeper picture of Trifles than the previous editions might suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show how Polish renaissance poets reinterpreted the legend of Wanda and modelled the character of the princess depending on the chosen genre and the target readers. The author analyses the following source texts: Jan of Wislica, Bellum Prutenum; Klemens Janicki, Vitae Regum Polonorum; Georgius Sabinus, De nuptiis Sigismundi Augusti et Elissae; Petrus Roysius, Hedvigis and Ad Proceres Polonos de matrimonio regio carmen; Joachim Bielski, Istulae convivium. In nuptiis Stephani Primi Regis Poloniae et Principis Annae; Jan Kochanowski, Elegiarum libri IV. In the canon of ancient rulers of Poland there is a woman called Wanda, daughter of Krak. This gallant virgin-king (in Poland a king could be male or female) who can be found in the oldest chronicles is also a character in neo-Latin poetry. Jan of Wislica in his epic poem Bellum Prutenum and Klemens Janicki in his cycle of historical epigrams Vitae Polonorumprincipium praise Wanda as a brave woman who equals Camilla, Semiramis and Tomyris in valour. In these two works the poets place the emphasis on Wanda's heroic qualities as an excellent ruler and leader. On the other hand, Piotr Rojzjusz looks disparagingly upon Wanda. In his poem Ad Proceres Polonos... he criticises her suicide as a sign of recklessness and concentration on her private life, which resulted in her shirking responsibility for the state she was entrusted with. Wanda's story is a persuasive exemplum that was supposed to induce Sigismund August to consider a new matrimony that was crucial for reasons of state. In another poem, Hedvigis, Rojzjusz reproaches Wanda for her exaggerated bashfulness, which drove her to such a desperate act. Wanda is also a character in royal epithalamia. Jerzy Sabinus in his De nuptiis... presents Wanda as a beautiful, gallant and pure woman who lived the life of an Amazon. Her beauty attracted the attention of Istul, the god and king of Vistula. He kidnapped Wanda into the current of the river and made her his wife. In Istulae convi-cium... Joachim Bielski also depicted her as the unusually charming and refined spouse of the king of rivers. In both of these epithalamia Wanda does not commit suicide, but instead enters into matrimony. This is an innovation that departs from the canonical version of the legend. Jan Kochanowski dedicated one of his most beautiful elegies to Wanda, in which the Cracow Amazon becomes a responsible ruler and leader who acts according to the ethos of chivalry. The elegy is an aitiological epyllion that explains the origins of the name Mogila upon Vistula. It is also in artistic rivalry with Propertius (IV 4). Here the brave Wanda becomes the opposite of the traitor Tarpei. For renaissance authors the legend of Wanda is an opportunity to cleverly combine the ancient history of Poland with the tradition of ancient heroes, or a native legend with the legacy of Roman poetry, and thus to undertake emulation of the ancient poets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]