Ceremonie pogrzebowe biskupów wrocławskich (1300-1600)

• Authors: Ewa Wółkiewicz

Title variants

EN

THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF WROCŁAW BISHOPS (1300-1600)

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article explores two poorly researched aspects of the funerals of Church dignitaries. One of them is the widely understood logistics of the ceremony, including the problems that had to be solved in connection with the choice of the place and time, as well as the organisation of the ceremonial escort of the body to the church. The other one is the political and ideological import of bishops’ funerals, which was particularly significant when bishops combined their ecclesiastical functions with the role of lay lords, as was the case with the bishops of Wrocław (Breslau). Due to the special role of symbolic communication in pre-modern societies it is necessary to consider to what extent funeral ceremonies were used for that purpose. The public character of bishops’ funerals made them a tool of legitimising and stabilising the authority. The funerals of Wrocław bishops is relatively well documented. Particularly valuable among the preserved documents is the agenda of the funeral of Henryk of Wierzbna, including a detailed description of the funeral liturgy. The detailed accounts from the second half of the 15th c. make it possible to reconstruct both the ceremonies and the course of their preparation. From the 16th c. onwards the varied sources available give more insight into the ideological aspect of those public spectacles. To illustrate the political aspect of the ceremonies, the article analyses the valediction address delivered at the funeral of bishop Balthasar von Promnitz (d. 1562).

Keywords

EN

FUNERAL CEREMONIES; BISHOPS; WROCŁAW

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 209-225

Contributors

author

Ewa Wółkiewicz

• Niemiecki Instytut Historyczny, Pałac Karnickich, Aleje Ujazdowskie 39, 00-540 Warszawa