Writing History in Medieval Poland
Bishop Vincentius of Cracow and the 'Chronica Polonorum'
Edited by Darius von Güttner-Sporzyński
This volume presents an in depth analysis of a twelfth-century author’s construct of a history of his nation with emphasis on virtue and civic accountability. The author, Vincentius of Cracow, was a Polish clergyman. He was educated in Paris and Bologna and became the first canonically elected bishop of Cracow and a participant of th
This volume presents an in-depth analysis of the Chronica Polonorum, one of the greatest works of the twelfth-century renaissance which profoundly influenced history writing in Central Europe. The Chronica Polonorum was written by Poland’s first native historian Vincentius of Cracow. Educated in Paris and Bologna, he was the first canonically elected bishop of Cracow and a participant of the Fourth Lateran Council. The eyewitness accounts given in the Chronica Polonorum offer insights into the development of twelfth-century Poland, the ambitions of its dynasty, the country’s integration into Christendom, and the interaction between the Polish and Western elites. Vincentius’s work is considered a masterpiece in literary erudition grounded in classical training. The historical evidence it presents illuminates the socio-cultural interaction between Poland and the West during the period. Vincentius’s chronicle demonstrates the strong, enduring influence of the history, law, and traditions of ancient Rome in twelfth-century Europe. This book deals with several subjects which have increasingly gained in prominence in English-language scholarship in recent years, such as the development of political culture, the diffusion and growth of ideas, the Christianization of the peripheral regions of Europe, and the interaction between cultural, political, and economic changes. In analysing the work of Vincentius and the Polish historiography of the Chronica Polonorum, this volume provides important insights into the development of the so-called peripheral regions of twelfth-century Europe and Poland’s engagement in the twelfth-century renaissance.
- Edited by Darius von Güttner-Sporzyński
Other Titles in this Series
A Renaissance Baron and his Possessions
Paolo Giordano I Orsini, Duke of Bracciano (1541-1585)
Volume 15
From Tyrant to Philosopher-King
A Literary History of Alexander the Great in Medieval and Early Modern England
Volume 19
Victorine Restoration
Essays on Hugh of St Victor, Richard of St Victor, and Thomas Gallus
Volume 39
Order into Action
How Large-Scale Concepts of World-Order determine Practices in the Premodern World
Volume 40
Dreams, Medicine, and Literary Practice
Exploring the Western Literary Tradition Through Chaucer
Volume 18
Luigi Pulci in Renaissance Florence and Beyond
New Perspectives on his Poetry and Influence
Volume 29
Andreas Vesalius and the ‘Fabrica’ in the Age of Printing
Art, Anatomy, and Printing in the Italian Renaissance
Volume 33
Saints and their Lives on the Periphery
Veneration of Saints in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe (c.1000-1200)
Volume 9
Material Restoration
A Fragment from Eleventh-Century Echternach in a Nineteenth-Century Parisian Codex
Volume 7
Eclipse of Empire?
Perceptions of the Western Empire and its Rulers in Late-Medieval France
Volume 1
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