Bolezlauus dux inclitus ...
Bolezlauus dux inclitus… ( Boleslaw, the famous prince ) is the incipit of an epic poem which precedes the first book of the Chronicle of Gallus Anonymous , written in Middle Latin , and which depicts the wonderful conception and birth of Bolesław III. Thematized crooked mouth. Thus the poem is in the tradition of miracle literature .
shape
Like the other two introductory poems of the second and third books ( Nobis astate, nobis hoc opus recitate ... and Deo vero laus et honor ... ) the poem is referred to as an epilogue 'short version'. Formally it consists of 56 verses in 14 Ambrosian hymn stanzas .
content
The first stanza names the subject of the poem: the God-given miraculous birth of Bolesław. In the second stanza the narrator turns to the audience and justifies his narrative plan with the wish of the listeners themselves to learn more about this event ("Qualiter istud fuerit, / […] / Possumus vobis dicere, / Si placeat addiscere.") . This literary approach goes back to the Exordium and the prologue in the epic and drama .
The epic narrative begins with the third stanza. The ruling couple Władysław I. Herman and Judith of Bohemia cannot produce any offspring. Therefore it is reported to them that they can implore a successor to Saint Aegidius . To do this, they would have to send a gold statue in the form of a child to the Saint-Gilles Abbey in Provence . This statue is sent with other precious gifts to the local monks, who were able to implore a son for the couple by fasting for three days. Even before the ambassadors return to Poland, Judith is pregnant and shortly afterwards gives birth to a son, who is given the name Bolesław.
The last two verses of the last stanza of the poem serve as a transition to the first book of the Cronica by introducing his plan ("De cuius gestis scribere / Iam tempus est insistere.").
expenditure
- Kazimierz Liman (ed.): Antologia poezji łacińskiej w Polsce . Średniowiecze. Wydawnictwo UAM, Posen 2004, p. 243-245 .
- Karol Maleczyński (Ed.): Galli Anonymi cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum (= Monumenta Poloniae Historica. Nova Series . Volume II ). Polska Akademia Umiejętności, Krakau 1952, p. 4-6 .
literature
- Teresa Michałowska: Średniowiecze (= Wielka Historia Literatury Polskiej . Volume 1 ). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2002, ISBN 978-83-01-12851-7 , p. 119-121 (first edition: 1995).
- Teresa Michałowska: Bolezlaus dux inclitus… In: Literatura Polskiego Średniowiecza . Leksykon. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2011, ISBN 978-83-01-16675-5 , p. 139 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Josef Bujnoch (ed.): Poland's beginnings . Gallus Anonymus: Chronicles and Deeds of the Dukes and Princes of Poland. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1978, ISBN 3-222-10554-5 , p. 45 .