Pamiętnik Biblioteki Kórnickiej

The foundation of the city of Kórnik is usually dated by historians back to the middle of the fifteenth century. The recently discovered documents relating to the establishment of the local parish church in 1437 permit us to date this event shortly before that year. The city was established by Nicholas of Górka, chancellor of the Poznań cathedral chapter, who made his family powerful and influential in the province. Around 1423 he had to litigate with some of his relatives and lost interest in his hometown of Miejska Górka. Therefore he decided to establish a new complex of landed properties with their new seat in Kórnik. He purchased several surrounding villages, rebuilt the already existing castle and established a new town. These events were also combined with vast changes in the local environment. It was exactly at this time that Kórnik was transferred to its current location east of the lake. The original village was certainly located somewhere else, on the opposite side of the lake, where in the beginnings of the seventeenth century local people still indicated a place commonly called the “Old Village”. The new little town, located close to Poznań and just west of Bnin, did not have a chance to develop and prosper, and Kórnik remained a settlement functioning in the shadows of the magnate’s castle. The article was supplemented by the edition of the only existing page of a medieval city register containing notes made in the years 1483-1486 as well as the testimonies of several witnesses to litigation over the tithes in 1603, who expressed interesting opinions on reconstructing the local topography.

The Historical-Philosophical Faculty of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, including its Committee on History, was involved in very intensive scholarly and editorial activity. Among the many institutions which broadly cooperated with the Academy, one can indicate the Kórnik Library. The scholars representing the Lviv and Cracow academic circles composed the dominant group of those who conducted their research in the Kórnik Library. The impressive source editions, initiated by the Academy, were significantly based on the Kórnik collections. The scholars were interested in those sources dealing mainly with history of the Polish state and nation, the history of its law, literature, religion and warfare. The cooperation between these two institutions also included making excerpts, copying and answering to the requests of the scholars, as well as exchanges of various publications. As an addition, the Kórnik Library offered a whole collection of its own publications to the Cracow researchers. The mutual contacts were often based on personal friendship and can be considered as an example of friendly academic cooperation being utilised to fulfil a common task. No doubt this cooperation contributed to the development of Polish academia, enriching the status of research on the history of Poland, enabling numerous source editions and monographs as well as helping to maintain the direct contacts between Polish scholars living and working in various parts of the Polish lands under Austrian and German occupation at the turn of the twentieth century.

This article presents the next period in the history of Jadwiga Zamoyska’s School of House Keeping (Szkoła Domowej Pracy Kobiet Jadwigi Zamoyskiej). It was established in 1882 in Kórnik, but as a consequence of oppressive Prussian policy it was moved to Galicia, to Kuźnice near Zakopane, to where the Zamoyski family also moved their residence. When World War I broke out, Jadwiga Zamoyska and her children – Władysław and Mary – stayed in Paris. They could not return to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy because they were French citizens. Zamoyska could supervise the school and give advice in various matters only by mail. It was also difficult to financially support the school, because most of her landed properties were located in Prussian Poland. Besides these hardships, the school could still function, though the number of teachers and schoolgirls diminished. Under the circumstances, the school’s personnel offered a shelter to war refugees and orphans. As the main aim of this school one can point to the upbringing of the schoolgirls in the Catholic faith and the shaping of their personality in such a spirit. The school programme was focused on developing practical skills (cooking, sewing, gardening, farming, etc.) as well as general knowledge in mathematics, humanities and the natural sciences (with special reference to the history of Poland, aesthetic needs were fulfilled by classes in singing and drawing as well as physical education).

This article deals with the question of why economic conditions and changes, based on the potentialities of the landed properties of Władysław Zamoyski (Kórnik and Zakopane), were used by him only to a certain degree. One should notice that Count Zamoyski initiated several economic projects with proper calculations, being often motivated by a patriotic spirit or national needs, which played an important role for him. It is striking that he did not use the possibilities which were created by the fact that Zakopane developed as a popular tourist resort and spa. Similarly, his Kórnik properties did not benefit from their close proximity to the large industrial and economic centre of Poznań. It usually took him rather a long time before he made decisions, being influenced by unjustified prejudices or paying attention to decidedly minor problems. All these factors diminished the chances for economic prosperity and efficiency for Zamoyski’s projects. On the other hand, it was he who contributed significantly to the development of several enterprises, and not his opponents. It should suffice here just to mention the Tatry National Park, Kuźnice, Kórnik Castle and Library and, finally, the „Zakłady Kórnickie” Foundation, which are the most convincing examples.

The article discusses the figure of Jan Piotrowski, a forgotten and underrated Old Polish diarist, native of the Wielkopolska Province, priest and secretary to King Stefan Batory of Poland. Having adopted the pen name “A friend at the royal court” Piotrowski wrote secret reports about various courtly events to Polish aristocrat and politician Crown Marshal Andrzej Opaliński, who lived outside the Polish royal court in order to provide him with information helpful in his political activities. His letters set in chronological order constitute a systematic diary and are a broad and vivid reflection of Polish politics, diplomacy and military culture of the last quarter of the 16th century. Many of Piotrowski’s letters remain currently in the Kórnik Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Apart from Piotrowski’s well-known letters published under the pen name of “A friend at the royal court” the author of the article examines his unpublished letters as well as hypothesizes about Piotrowski’s authorship of a diary concerning Polish-Austrian negotiations – the so-called Będzin settlement. The settlement was a failed attempt to put Maximilian Archduke of Austria on the Polish throne. The author of the article proves that the hitherto unpublished diary existing in two copies in the Kórnik Library was written by Jan Piotrowski. This fact not only expands Piotrowski’s epistolary legacy and contributes to the Old Polish tradition of writing political diaries, but it also sheds light on Polish-Austrian relations, which have been largely neglected in works of both Polish and Austrian historians.

This article presents a detailed portrait of Walenty Wolski and his lifetime achievements based on a general collection of sources, including parish record books, memoirs and economic documents. The author describes the life of Walenty Wolski, his education, various interests and his involvement in the maintaining of his manor in Royal Pomerania, which was presented against the social and economic background of this province after its annexation to the Prussian State. Wolski, the landlord, expressed his vivid interest in scholarly life and books. He was educated in the humanities, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth still existed, and wanted to save many of the artefacts from the former glory of his home-country. He also produced several of his own works, including a description of the war between Prussia and Napoleon in 1806-1810. He started to collect Polish books, manuscripts and graphics as early as the 1770s. It is worth mentioning that many of them were printed in the seventeenth century. The author described the second-hand book market and prices of the books in details. The Wolskis’ private library consisted of an impressive collection of portrait graphics (ca. 12.000 pieces). In 1819-1822 Wolski himself produced from them 32 albums. In doing this he preceded other collectors, such as J. M. Ossoliński, T. Działyński and E. Raczyński. After Wolski’s death, his heirs donated or sold off his collection to various persons or institutions. Many of them were purchased by T. Działyński for the Kórnik Library, where they remain preserved till today. As many as 16 albums of the graphics are now kept in the National Gallery in Poznań. The description of the fate of Wolski’s library certainly contributes to the history of Polish books and their circulation over the centuries.

The author of these letters, Maria Harsdorf, informed Helena Mycielska about her impressive involvement in the activity of various Catholic women’s charity organisations, which – in her opinion – should balance the influences of the charity organisations created by Polish feminists at that time. She was careful to present several forms of activity by Catholic groups in order to avoid protectionism and over-sensibility towards persons entrusted to her care. She definitely aimed to help them restart their “independent life”. The passages of these letters are somehow similar to the thoughts of Pope John Paul II on Christian charity (cf. Novo millenio ineunte). She also publicised economic scandals in Galicia and mentioned the fact that she kept writing reviews of the works submitted to her by Jerzy Mycielski (Helena Mycielska’s cousin). She often described the everyday life in Świstelniki- Dąbrowa in Eastern Galicia as well as shared her impressions from various trips, e.g. from the expected trip to Italy.

When John Dee, an influential English mathematician, natural philosopher, and scientist, in the later part of his life decided that the only way of gaining even greater knowledge was through magic, he started a series of meticulously documented séances of communicating with angels through his medium Edward Kelley, later an alchemist in his own right. He soon made an acquaintance of a Polish magnate Olbracht Łaski and at his request travelled to Poland, and then to Bohemia, together with Kelley, their wives, children, and servants. There is vast literature on their stay in Central Europe and its consequences, both real and imaginary, but little attention was paid to the actual journey as recorded by Dee. From the scanty notes devoted to the company’s passage through Great Poland in the winter of 1583/1584 the harsh reality of early modern journeys can be discerned. Some of his very short but precise observations shed new light on such topics as the monument of Boleslaus the Brave in the Poznań Cathedral (this important source was not known to any of the numerous participants in the discussion going on since the early 19th c.) or its library. The description of the bridge in Konin is also of interest, as are Dee’s notes on the use of the newly introduced Gregorian calendar in Poland.

Tytus Działyński (1796-1861) collected in the Kórnik Castle a number of portraits of Polish and foreign kings, mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including king Sigismund III of Vasa, his two sons Władysław IV and John II Casimir, Gustav Adolf of Sweden, Frederic V Wittelsbach, Charles XII of Sweden, John III Sobieski of Poland and his son Alexander, Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and his daughter Mary, the queen of France, Frederic III the Wise of Wetting, August II of Poland, August III of Poland, his son Frederic Christian and his daughter-in-law Mary Antonina and Tsar Peter I the Great of the Romanov dynasty. Many of these paintings were produced by anonymous painters; however, some of them were painted by famous and distinguished painters, who acted during the reign of the Wettin kings, e.g. Louis de Silvestre, Pietro Rotari or the famous Slovak portraitist Jan Kupecky. The owner of the Kórnik Castle displaced the carefully collected paintings of the members of royal families in the Dinning Hall, ornamented with the coats of arms of the Polish knightly families which existed in the fifteenth century. All of them were placed onto the ceiling of this hall. He also promoted in this way the national spirit, reminding of the time of former Polish glory and of the many successes within the context of the great losses suffered in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Unfortunately, Działyński died before he completed his project. His son requested to move all the paintings to other rooms of the Kórnik castle.

The Krónik Library preserves a seal stamp made of green jasper, with the curved coat of arms of Ogończyk under a count’s crown and a cross of the St. Stanislas Order. The golden handle was shaped as the bust of a black boy wearing a turban. This element was also encrusted with previous stones (turquoise, almandine and opal). Most likely this figural presentation of the seal was produced in Dresden. The goldsmith may have been inspired by a catalogue of jewellry designs, drawn according to the projects of Friedrich Jacob Morisson of Vienna, published in Augsburg in 1693. It is very likely that the bust was purchased in Dresden by Augustyn Działyński (1715-1759), governor of Kalisz, when the seal itself was ordered – most likely in 1786 by his son Ksawery Działyński (1756-1819). The latter was received in 1786 by the Order of Saint Stanisław and in 1786 by the rank of the count. The handle of the seal stamp can be considered as an example of European influence on Polish cultural peripheries, in particular the fashion of the esoteric, as well as on Polish nobility, which often claimed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that the gentry was directly linked with the ancient Sarmatians.

This article deals with the presentation of St. Hyacinth (before 1200-1257) placed on the back seats of the stalls of the monastery churches in Poznań and Klimontów. The first known presentations of St. Hyacinth can be dated back to the fifteenth century, but certainly the canonisation of this Dominican friar (1594) gave a new impulse to creating artistic presentations and cycles. An important role in making his name more popular among Catholics was played by the graphics, which produced examples to be followed in other forms. Among the first graphics was the engraving of Raffaelo Guidi, made in 1594-1595 in Rome according to the drawing of Antonio Tempesta. One can presume that the copy of a late gothic painting from the Dominican church in Cracow served as an inspiration to produce the main scene of this print. A less elaborate engraving, taking into consideration the number of scenes depicted, was the one of Camillo Graffico, produced in Rome at this same time. In 1600 Jan Sadeler followed the concept of Guidi when he published his print in Venice. In 1601 Giacomo Lauro published in Rome a print presenting 12 scenes on the edge. This artefact inspired the Cologne publisher Peter Overadt, who printed in 1605 his engraving together with others, known as the cycle Icones et Miracula Sanctorum Poloniae. He significantly influenced Polish art in the seventeenth century. The low relief placed on the back-seats of the Poznań stalls, dating back to ca. 1620-1630, used the print of Overadt as a source for seven episodes (out of fourteen preserved). The back-seats at the church in Klimontów, produced ca. 1620-1640, include 10 scenes (out of 11) based on Overadt’s graphics. Both of these cycles were based on these same sources and were made separately, using other motifs, not always fully discovered, and indirectly some literary works were dedicated to St. Hyacinth.