The Forgery of Polish Traditions of Yore. On Two Legendary Medieval Customs Mentioned in Satyr albo Dziki mąż by Jan Kochanowski

• Authors: Radosław Grześkowiak
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

In his Satyr, or The Wild Man Jan Kochanowski refers to two old-time customs: first that, during the mass, at the reading of the Gospel, old Poles were to half draw their swords in token of their readiness to defend the Christian faith (vv. 185–200), and the second that infamists were punished upon their honour in such a way that when they sat at table with other people, the host cut the tablecloth to indicate that he did not want to share a meal with them (vv. 231–236). The article analyses numerous references to those customs in the old-Polish literature (unanimously attesting to the lack of these rituals in the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries), to indicate that both were literary legends.

Keywords

PL

Jan Kochanowski; old custom; knightly culture; historical novel

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 61

Dates

published

2017

online

2018-03-25

Contributors

author

Radosław Grześkowiak

Identifiers

DOI

10.12775/OiRwP.2017.SI.10