The Kingdom of Poland versus the Teutonic Knights: Oral Traditions and Literate Behaviour in the Later Middle Ages

The Kingdom of Po land versus the Teutonic Knights:
Oral Traditions and Literate Behaviour
in the Later Middle Ages
A nna Adamska
Reflection on the oral and textual elements in medieval culture may benefit
from a consideration of a fourteenth-century Polish source, the acts of the dispute
between the Kingdom of Po land and the Order of the Teutonic Knights. These were
committed to writing in 1 339. No less than 126 witnesses were interrogated about
events that had taken place in the (sometimes distant) past. The evidence is rich for
the study of oral tradition in the later Middle Ages. It is an important source for the
reconstruction of what actually took place, but also for the confrontation between
oral and Iiterale modes of thought.
The acts were produced under special political circumstances. In the PolishGerman
conflict, this instance of putting into writing col!ective knowledge about the
past was meant to serve – as so often – the interpretation ofthe present and thereby to
influence the future.1 To understand the text, it will therefore be necessary to analyze
it in the context ofthe political events that inspired its composition.
I. The conflict between Poland and the State of the Teutonic Knights
The Order of the Teutonic Knights, founded between 1 1 89 and 1 19 1 , was a
military order brought into being in the Holy Land at the times ofthe Crusades. From
the beginning, the Teutonic Knights, most of whom were Germans, sought recognition
from emperors and popes alike. Very quickly they tried to instaU themselves in
East Central Europe. Here, there was still room for missionary activity. First they
came to Transy!vania, then to Bohemia and Silesia, and they found their final theatre
of operations on the shores of the Baltic.
In 1228-1230, the Knights came to the border area between Masovia and
Piussia. They had been invited by Polish princes, in particular by Conrad I, the duke
of Masovia. Having received the Iands of Chelmno, probably by way of alms, they
were meant to undertake christianizing missions in Prussia. They were also to defend
the Polish Iands against Prussian inroads.
Before the end of the thirteenth century, the Knights had built themselves a
fully-fledged state, using the methods nowadays known as ethnic cleansing to rid
1 I am using the expression of Matthew lnnes. See M. lnnes, ··Introduction: using the past, interpreting
the present, inlluencing the future,“ in The Uses ofthe Past in lhe Early Middle Ages, eds.
M. lnnes and I. Hen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. I .
68 A􀀰NA ADAMSKA
Prussia of its indigenous population. Considering the remarkable degree of
centralization of the state of the Teutonic knights, its economic strength and military
potential, the growth of their Iands was an important phenomenon for the whole
• 2
reg10n.
Until the end of the thirteenth century, there were no conflicts b􀂟tween the
Knights and the Polish princes, who were busy trying to reunify their country.
Relations were correct, even good. A dramatic change came about in the autumn of
1308, when the Knights cunningly took Gdarisk and then burnt the town. Next, in the
sumrner of 1 309, they occupied all of Pomerania. A quick glance at the map is
sufficient to understand the importance of these events for Poland and for Ladislas
the Short (1259/60- 1333), the prince who brought about the country’s reunification.
The political situation was complicated by the collaboration of the Teutonic Knights
with John of Luxembourg ( 1296-1 346), King of Bohemia, who pretended to the
Polish crown. 3
From 1309 onwards, then, relations between Poland and the Teutonic Knights
were hostile, with a delicate balance between war and peace being maintained over
the next two decades. Periods with tensions alternated with attempts at mediation. 1n
1329 the Knights attacked the land of Dobrzyr1. In the autumn, helped by John of
Luxembourg, they attacked Greater Po land, Cuyavia and the land of Sieradz, leaving
the country in ruins behind them.4
All these events are reflected in the protocol of the trial, composed in 1339
under the direction of papal judges.
ll. The trial of 1339 and its protocol
The trial between Poland and the Order of the Teutonic Knights, comrnonly
known as the Warsaw trial ( 1339), was the result of diplomatic overtures by the
young king Kazimir the Great ( 1 3 1 0- 1370), who had succeeded Ladislas the Short in
1333. Having considered the political and economic weakness resulting from
Poland’s recent reunification, Kazimir wanted to avoid at all costs any further military
confrontations. He also wanted to show his determination to rec!aim the lost
Iands. After two years of diplomatic wrangling at the papal curia at A vignon, pope
Benedict XII ( 1335-1342) designated two judges (Galhardus de Carceres, papal Iegate
for Po land and Hungary, and Peter, a canon of the cathedral chapter of Le Puy) and
two notaries public, who had to keep a protocol of the proceedings (they were Pierre
2 For the basic bibliography, sce: Hartmut Boockmann, „Deutscher Orden,“ in: Lexikon des
Mille/alters, IJI (München and Zürich: Artemis Verlag, 1 984}, col. 768-777.
3 For the rich bibliography on those events, see recently: Maksymilian Grzegorz, Pomorze Gdaiiskie
pod rzll the Order of the Tcutonic Knights, 1308-1 466) (Bydgoszcz: Wydawnictwo Uczelniane WSP w
Bydgoszczy, 1 997).
4 For a more detailcd description of the cvents, see e.g. Paul W. Knoll, The Rise of Polish Monarchy.
Piast Poland in East Central Europe. 1320-1370 (Chicago and London: The University of
Chicago Press, 1 9 7 1 ), 50-64.
THE KINGDOM OF POLAND VERSUS THE TEUTONJC KNIGHTS 69
de Montiglio, clericus of Le Puy and Wojciech, clericus of the diocese of Cracow).
The trial lasted from 4 February to 15 August 1339. It was held in several places. lts
name, the Warsaw trial, comes from two important sessions that took place in
Warsaw. At the time this was a neutral place, because it was situated in Masovia,
which did not belong to the kingdom ofPoland.5
The protocol of the trial allows us to follow the course of events in detail,
surviving as a trustworthy copy ( instrumenturn publicum) made immediately after the
trial.6 This immense file, composed of 44 notarial deeds, was edited twice at the end
of the nineteenth century, with protocols of other trials, as Lites ac res gestae inter
Polonos Ordinemque Cruciferorum.7 The part that concems us here is the testimony
of 126 witnesses. They are edited on almost 300 densely printed pages.
The same thirty questions (articuli) were put to each witness. Together, the
answers give a mass of information about the witnesses themselves (their social
standing, education, family relations and careers) and about their knowledge of
historical events. Most of the information contained in the protocol cannot be found
in any other source. It is therefore understandable that many Polish and German
historians studied the text. They were mainly looking for the composition of the
protocol,8 social data,9 and political ideology. Until now the evidence has been
5 The most detailed study of this trial is still: Helena Chlopocka, Procesy Polski z Zaktmem
Krzyiackim w XIV wieku. Studium ir6dloznawcze (Trials between Poland and the Order of the
Teutonic Knights. A study in source criticosm) (Poz.naJi: Pailstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe,
1967).
6 H. Chlopocka, Procesy Po/ski, p. 1 14.
7 Lites ac res gestae inter Polonos Ordinemque Cruciferorum, I“ ed.: 1-lli, ed. T. Dzialyli.ski
(Poznari.: n. p., 1855-1 856) (Supplementum, Poznari., 1880); 2″d ed.: 1-lli, ed. I. Zakrzewski
(Poznari.: n. p., 1 890-1 892), JTI, ed. J. Karwashlska (Poznari, 1 935); 3’d ed: I, ed. H. Chlopocka
(Wroclaw-Warszawa-Krak6w: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolhlskich, 1970). I am using the edition
ofl. Zakrzewski of 1890 (quoted henceforth as Lites).
8 H. Chlopocka, „Die Zeugenaussagen in den Prozessen Polens gegen den deutschen Orden im 14.
Jahrhundert,“ in Deutschordensstaat Preussen in der polnischen Geschichtsschreibung der
Gegenwart, eds. Udo Amold and Marian Biskup (Marburg: Elwert, 1982), pp. 165-188; H.
Chlopocka, „Chronikalische Berichte in der Dokwn.entierung der Prozesse zwischen Polen und
dem Deutschen Orden,“ in: Geschichtsschreibung und Geschichtsbewusstsein im späten
Mittelalter, ed. Hans Patze (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1 987), pp. 471-483. Wieslaw
Sieradzan, „Aussagechroniken in der Quellensammlung Lites ac res gestae inter Polonos
Ordi11emque Cruciferorum,“ in Die Geschichtsschreibung in Mitteleuropa. Projekte und Forschungsprobleme,
ed. Jaroslaw Wenta (Tonui: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikolaja Kopernika,
1999), pp. 277-289.
9 This approach has been developed, a. o. by Janusz Bieniak. See, e.g.: 1. Bieniak, ‚“ Litterati‘
swieccy w procesie warszawskim z 1339 roku“ (The liuerati laymen in the Warsaw trial of
1339), in C’ultus et cognitio (Warszawa: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1976), pp. 97-105:
J. Bieniak, „‚Milites‘ w procesie polsko-krzyiackim z r. 1 339,“ (fhe milites in the Warsaw trial
in 1339), Przeglad Historyczny, 75 ( 1 984), pp. 503-514; 1. Bieniak, „Srodowisko swiadk6w
proces u polsko-knyiackiego z 1339 r.“ (Witnesses at the trial between Poland and the Order of
the Teutonic Knights as a social group), in Genealogia – kregi zawodowe i grupy interesu w
Polsee 9’edniowiecznej na tle por6wnawczym, ed. Jan Wroniszewski (Tonui: Wydawnictwo
Uniwersytetu Mikotaja Kopemika, 1989), pp. 1-35.
70 ANNA ADAMSKA
scrutinized primarily in the context of the Polish-German conflict, in search of the
oldest traces of a Polish national consciousness growing under strong German
pressure.10
The protocol ofthe Warsaw trial can be analyzed as part ofa whole series of
trials that took place in different parts of Europe from the end of the twelfth century
onwards. Held according to civil or canon law (e. g. canonization trials), these trials
produced many documents. Transcriptions of depositiones testium from ltaly, France,
England, 1 1 or Po land pose problems of interpretation that merit individual treatment.
From the point of view of source criticism these types of document have to be
analyzed carefully, as they were very formalized.12 In the first place, the testimony
was limited by the questions put, i. e. by the character and the content of the articuli.
Next comes an important problern of translation and transcription. The principal
language of the trial of Warsaw was Latin, and from the formulary we know that,
when a witness was unable to understand Latin, the questions were translated into
Polish. Afterwards, the answers were translated from Polish into Latin.13 The
question is how the double translation and the transcription of orally formulated
information by educated clerics in a written protocol influenced the form of the
testimony available to us. This question is still subject to discussion. A third important
question in criticizing a source such as the protocol of the Warsaw trial is the
well-known problern of the objective mechanisms of individual and collective memory,
what Mare Bloch once called the ‚psychology ofevidence‘.’4
The wording of the witnesses‘ evidence from the Warsaw trial of 1339 is
generally considered to be very reliable. For the questions I will discuss here, there
are no objections to be found against the trustworthiness ofthe protocol. My aim is to
show a crucial moment in social communication: that of putting into writing
knowledge of the past, of a vision of the past, which had until then resided only in
10
See W. Sieradzan, Swiadomosc historyczna iwiadkow w procesach polsko-krzyzackich w XIV-XV
wieku (TI1e historical consciousness of lhe witnesses at lhe trial between Po land and the Order of
the Teutonic Knights in the fourteenth and fifteenlh centuries) (Torwi: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu
Mikolaja Kopemika, 1993), with a rich bibliography; W. Sieradzan, „Das nationale Selbstbewusstsein
der Zeugen in den Prozessen zwischen Polen Wld dem Deutschen Orden im 14. und
15. JahrhWldert,“ in Nationale. ethnische Minderheiten und regionale Jdentiläten in Mille/alter
und Neuzeit, ed. Antoni Czacharowski (Torwi: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikolaja Kopemika,
1994). 1 1 See: Guy P. Marchal, „Memoria, Fama, Mos MaioflUll. Vergangenheit in mündlicher
ÜberliefefWlg im Mittelalter, unter besonderer BerücksichtigWlg der Zeugenaussagen in Arezzo
von 1 1 70/80,“ in Vergangenheit in mündlicher Überlieferung, cds. Jürgen von Ungem-Stemberg
and Hansjörg Reinau (Stuttgart: B.G. Tcubner, 1988), notes 2 and 3.
12 See: Judith Everard, „Swom testimony and memory of the past in Brittany, c. 1 1 00-1 250,“ in
Medieval Memories. Men. Women and the Past. 700-1300, ed. E1isabeth van Houts (London and
New York, Longman, 2001), pp. 73-74.
13 In several places of lhe protoco1 one finds lhe formu1a: testis (.. .) examinatus super articulis (.. .)
Sibi vulgarizatis quia illiteratus erat . Sec, e.g. Liles, p. 176.
14 Mare Bloch, ‚·Reflexions d’un historien sur 1es fausses nouvelles de Ia guerrc,“ in idem, Histoire
et historiens (Paris: Arrnand Colin, 1 995), p. 147.
THE KINGDOM OF POLAND VERSUS THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS 7 1
oral collective memory.15 The research is far from fmished, and the reader will have
to make do with a first, provisional, commentary.
111. The evidence
During the trial, 1 26 witnesses were interrogated.16 Questions were asked
about four chronologically distinct moments in the past, belonging to three • slices‘ of
time. Questions about the earliest of these moments (articuli 1-Ill) required the witnesses
to think back a hundred years. The next two moments lay back thirty to fifty
years earlier (articuli IV-Vll, xvn-xvm). The most recent moment, fmally, required
the witnesses to think back to eight to ten years previously (articuli IX-XV, XIX-XXX).
Not all witnesses, however, answered all questions. There were persons who were
only questioned about the most recent of these moments, that is to say about the
attack of the Teutonic Knights of 133 1 . Nevertheless, if we Iook at what the protocol
contains about all four moments, we may leam something about the foundations and
sources of collective historical knowledge.
Ill. l. Knowledge Stretching back a cenh􀃔ry
The first three articuli of the protocol are concemed with the question as to
which political and ecclesiastical entities the land of Chelrnno belonged. This land
had been given to the Teutonic Knights around 1230. Of 34 witnesses questioned
about this matter, only one did not know anything about either the gift itself or the
circumstances of the donation. 17 All the others knew that originally it had been Polish
land, which had been offered to the Order. Most witnesses knew the name of the
prince Konrad ofMazovia, who had made the gift.
For all witnesses, oral tradition was the main source for this knowledge, most
often transmitted by members of the family: audivit a parentibus suis, 18 audivit a
patre suo,19 se audivisse a parentibus suis et a senioribus.20 And Wojciech, the
palatinus of Brzesc (in Cuyavia) says that he audivit a patre suo, qui fuit antiquus
homo, et a quodam patruo suo, quifoit suo patre antiquior?1
15
There is an abW1dant bib1iography on the subjects of ‚ora1 tradition‘ and ‚oral collective memory.‘
See Marco Mostert, „A Bib1iography of Works on Medieva1 Communication,“ in New
Approaches 10 Medieval Communication, ed. M. Mostert (Turnhout: Brepo1s, 1 999), pp. 235-
238. ln the context of lhe source being ana1yzed, see H. Chlopocka, „Tradycja o Pomorzu
Gdailskirn w zeznaniach swiadk6w na procesach po1sko-krzy:i:ackich w XIV i xv wieku,“
(Tradition about Pomerania in the testimonies of the witnesses during the tria1s between Po1and
and the Order of the Teutonic Knights in the fourtecnth and fifteenth centuries), Roczniki Histo16
ryczne 25 ( 1959) pp. 65-142.
One can find the most important data about lhese witnesses in the appendix.
17 Przezdrzew, canon in Pozna.Jl: Lites, p. 157. 18
Lites, p. 143.
19 Lites, pp. 177, 187, 241.
20 Lites, pp. 217, 249, 294, 304. 21
Lites, p. 347.
72 1\NNA ADAMSKA
Historical knowledge could also be transmitted by trustworthy members in a
witness’s social circle: Andrzej, the chancellor of the bishop of Poznari. declared that
he came to know of these events of a century ago domino suo episcopo Poznaniensi
qui eciam audiverat.22 Mikolaj, the prior of the Dominican convent at Sieradz
mentioned fratres plures antiqui conventui Plocensis, who told him about these
events.23 A knight Boguslaw had heard a quodam vi/lano suo multum, quod ita
narrabat sibi/4 another one a villanis suis diele ville Ce/anta, qui fuerunt antiqui
homines multum.25
A second source for these events that took place a hundred years before, was
public knowledge, gub/ica fama et vox, understood as „that which people say or teil,
the common talk.“ 6 In the protocol, the existence of fama et vox is an important
argument for the authenticity of knowledge. If, so it is reasoned, there exists a
publica vox et fama that a hundred years ago the land of Chelmno belonged to
Poland, this must be true. But what is public knowledge? Who possesses it? During
the interrogations, the witnesses were asked to define the expression. Carefully, the
notaries observed that only one person nescivit exprimere.27
There are several recurrent elements in the explanations of the expression
given by the witnesses. First, public collective knowledge is universal: i/lud quod
communiter dicitur/8 illud quod totus mundus scir/9 and it is clear: quod homines
non occulte, sed palam locuntur.30 Next, this knowledge can be transmitted from one
generation to the next by word of mouth: quod omnes homines sciunt per vocem et
per auditum;31 quod homines inter se locuntur et tenent communiter et alii dicunt, et
alii audiunt, ulterius referent publice.32
􀄏t is not only the number of people transmittingfama publica, that is important.
Collective knowledge is only trustworthy if it is transmitted by trustworthy persons
who are respectable because of their age or their social position: probos homines et
antiquos discretos;33 antiqui homines fidedigni;34 milites et nobiles regni Poloniae/5
bonos et graves regni Polonie.36
22 Liles, p. 172.
23 Lites, p. 260.
24 Lites, p. 253.
25 Lites, p. 347.
26 A Latin Dictionary, eds. Charles T. Lewis and Charles Short (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1879), p. 722. Sec also: G. P. Marchal, pp. 3 1 1 -3 12.
27 28 lt was the knight Jan, il/iteratus: Lites. p. 210.
For examples: Lites, pp. 144, 149, 173, 2 1 1 .
29 Lites, p. 187.
3° Chebda, castellan of Brze5c, illiteratus: Lites, p. 301.
31 The knight, Wojciech z Mirkowa, illiteratus: Liles, p. 207.
32 Zbylut, castellan of Ujscie, i/lireratus: Wes, p. 391.
33 Lites, p. 163.
34 Lites, p. 167.
35 Liles, p. 367.
36 Lites, pp. 288, 294, 367.
THE KINGDOM OF POLAND VERSUS THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS 73
The evidence ofthe depositions shows both the strengths and the limitations of
oral tradition. I wo of Ch􀂪ciny, provost of Gniezno, says that the land of Chehnno
belongs to Po land because he heard this to be the case non a centum, sed a mille et ab
omnibus dicitur prout audivit. However, at the same time, he does not remernher the
narne of the prince who once owned the land.37 Several witnesses try to belittle the
vagueness of their testimony by rerninding the judges that the events took place a
century ago. K.azimir, the prince of Cuyavia, says that he aliter nescit quia ipse testis
et pater suus nondum fuerant nati, ita antiquum factum est.38 And another witness
says that he hirnself non est ita antiquus quod possit recordari, nec erat natus, ita
antiquum negocium est.39
!11.2. Knowledge of events taking place around 40 years earlier
The questions about events that happened forty years or so before the trial
concem the problern of whether Pornerania belonged to Poland, and the way in
which the Order of the Teutonic Knights had gotten hold of these Iands. Witnesses
were asked to think back forty years (to the year 1296) or even almost sixty years (to
the year 1280 or thereabouts).40 The sources of information about these mornents
were different frorn those about earlier events; the personal experience of the
witnesses now becomes the most important factor. Arnong 63 witnesses who claimed
that Pornerania had always been part of Po land and a part of the Polish ecclesiastical
province, only 22 refer to oral tradition (the information having been handed down
by their ancestors).41 For most of the witnesses, their personal experience is the most
irnportant source of their knowledge: they personally saw Polish princes exercise
power in Pomerania in the past, pacifice et quiete. Collective knowledge, the fama et
vox publica, is invoked only a few times.42 It seerns rnuch less irnportant as a source
of historical knowledge about the second and third rnoments in time, what witnesses
were questioned about.
The crucial moment the witnesses are asked to remernher is the third one, that
of the years 1306-1309. They are interrogated about it in Articles VI and VIf of the
trial. These concem the reestablishment of the legal sovereign ’s power, that of Ladislas
the Short, followed by the aggression of the Teutonic Knights against Pomerania.
Most witnesses answered that they had personally scen the prince ruling in Pomerania.
This result is the logical outcorne of the choice ofwitnesses, as they were for the
rnost part the old officiales of the State. Simultaneously, we see a return of the argu-
37 Lites, pp. 2 1 0-21 1 .
38 Liles, p. 2 8 1 .
39 Lites, p. 249.
40 Ln 1282 the treaty of KC(JlnO was concluded. According to the terms of this treaty, after the death
of the last local Pomeranian prince, power was to pass into thc hands of the Piasts. Ln 1296
Ladislas the Short took power in Pomerania.
41 Lites, pp. 1 44, 157, 168, 173, 194, 201, 216, 226, 227, 237, 278, 356, 383, 384, 394, 397, 400,
404.
42 Liles, pp. 163, 221, 374, 384.
74 ANNA ADAMSKA
ment based on collective knowledge. This is expressed in the formulae of publica vox
et fama, or by the observation that the matter est notorium:43 everyone knows that
Ladislas the Short ruled in Pomerania, and that afterwards the Teutonic Knights took
Pomerania using the arts of war. Oral messages were important in transmitting
inforrnation about the Knights‘ attack. Very often the witnesses say that they heard of
the aggression from Pomeranian refugees who managed to escape to Poland. The
provost of Gniezno said that there were two refugees, and that he audivit ab illis, qui
fuerunr in dicta terra Pomoranie quando dicti Cruciferi eam occupaverunt.44
Evidence such as this is very common.45
111.3. The most recent moment
The last ’slice of time‘ about whlch witnesses were interrogated concerned
events taking place in the recent past, ten to eight years previously. The subject
matter of these articuli was the annexation of the land of Dobrzyti by the Teutonic
Knights ( 1 3 29), their devastation of the Greater Poland and Iands of Sieradz and
l.yczyca ( 1 3 3 1 ), and, finally, the annexation of Cuyavia ( 1 332).
The witnesses‘ evidence is now very much like a modern, 1ively report about
war-time Po land. We fmd reports of the systematic destruction of villages and churches,
of torture and crime, of the brutal raping of women. Strong emotions come to
the surface, especially fear and perplexity at what happened. Very often one can read
that a witness a Ionge erat et fugiebat quantum paterat ab eis ad silvas, ubi posset
salvare vitam suam et evadere manus eorum.46 These emotions make the evidence
the more trustworthy.
IV. Oral tradition and chrono1ogical markers
The preponderance of orality in the formation of the witnesses‘ collective
memory is confmned by their attempts to date events with a semblance of precision.
The evidence perfectly illustrates Bernard Guenee’s opinion that the year of the
incarnation was not the first fact retained in collective memory.47 Whenever our
witnesses are asked to give an exact date for events that took place some forty years
ago, they are invariably mistaken. Even when asked about events of eight or ten
years ago they have problems remembering, although they are slightly more precise.
The cruel attack of the Teutonic Knights of 133 1 , for example, according to some
witnesses took place seven or eight years ago, vel circa. Doubts about linear
43 See, e.g .. Lites, pp. 157-158, 164, 1 69, 173, 1 9 1 , 20 1 , 215, 2 1 6, 221, 238, 247, 261, 301, 307,
324, 338. 352, 396.
44 Lites, p. 2 1 2.
45 Lites, pp. 152, 1 69, 1 73, 212, 227, 250, 279, 348, 377, 393.
46 See, e.g., Lites, pp. 156, 322, 342, 360, 362.
47 Bemard Guenee, Histoire et culture historique dans I ‚Occident medieval (Paris: Editions AubierMontaigne,
1980), p. 78.
THE KINGDOM OF POLAND VERSUS THE TEUTONIC KN!GHTS 75
chronology are underlined by the expressions used: circa, prout credit et recordatur,
quasi, possibile est quod.
An important prop of memory was the liturgical calendar. Not everyone is
capable to give the year of the taking of Cuyavia, for instance, as 1332. Nevertheless,
almost all witnesses know that the attack took place during Holy Week and at
Easter.48 Maybe it helps when traumatic experiences can be related to major religious
feasts. On the other hand, the relation between holy periods and the crimes of the
Teutonic Knights could also be used to underline their unhuman and unchristian behaviour.
There is no great difference, as far as liturgical dating is concerned, between
literate witnesses and illiterati. In both cases, we find ourselves confronted with
phenomena that are typical of an imagination of time which is constructed on the
foundation of oral transmission. Historical facts are associated with cyclical rather
than with linear time. Familiarity with linear time appears linked intimately with
familiarity with writing.49
V. Oral tradition and writing
Apparently, written texts played only a secondary role among the sources for
the knowledge of historical events invoked by the witnesses at the trial of 1339. In
the protocol of300 pages there are onJy seventeen references to written texts.
Writing appears to be unimportant in the transmission of knowledge of events
that had taken place in the distant past. The only witness who cites a written narrative
source about the coming of the Teutonic Knights to the land of Chelrnno in the thirteenth
century is the archdeacon of Gniezno. He underlines the importance of the
spoken word when he says that: . . . se audivisse a patruo suo et aliis senioribus et
pluribus episcopis. Dixit eciam se legisse in Cronica Polonorum.50 De predictis est
publica vox et fama apud bonas et graves personas, ea sie ipse testis … audivit
semper dicere a iuventute sua.51
More often charters are mentioned. They are invoked both as juridical
arguments and as sources of historical information. What is more, most of them are
charters issued by the enemy, that is to say by the Teutonic Knights. Duke Leszek,
for instance, a literate prince from the Piast dynasty, declared that he vidit et legit
privilegium quod fitit factum de dicta concessione terre Culmensis, quod erat
sigillatum sigillo magistri generalis (. .). Pluries vidit et tenuit dieturn privilegium.52
48 Lites, pp. 188, 195, 234, 255, 266, 270, 284, 302, 340, 355, 357, 358, 401.
49 See also Alexander Murray, ‚Time and money,“ in The Work of Jacques Le Gof! and the
Chai/enges ofMedieval History, ed. Miri Rubin (Woodbridge: The Boydeli Press, 1997), pp. l –
25.
50 Most probably the Chronica Poloniae Maioris, wrinen at the beginning ofthe fourteenth century
[ed. Brygida Kürbis, in Monumenta Poloniae Hsi torica series nova, tomus VIII (Warsaw:
Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1970)].
51 Lites, p. 277.
52 Lites, p. 375.
76 ANNA ADAMSKA
Mikolaj, a Dominican, remernbered having seen several privileges for the Order of
the Teutonic Knights, which the Grand Master ofthe Order had once shown him.53
From this kind of documentary information (and from its Iack) we may deduce
that at the trial in Warsaw two mentalities opposed one another. The Polish arguments
were based on the convictions of collective memory. The Teutonic Knights,
who, incidentally, thought that the whole trial was flawed juridically from the start,
used arguments comprehensible to contemporary western literates. To the Knights,
who had developed the modern and centralized structure of a state, writing was the
most important means of communication and written documents were the most
important legal arguments.54
Sometimes the witnesses unwittingly show an astanishing nonchalance about
writing. Jan Grot, bishop of Cracow and once chancellor to a prince, was asked about
the contents of a document which had been mentioned: Jnterrogatus, si dietarn
litteram legit, ipse testis dixit quod non, sed bene vidit earn, quia aliis negociis dicti
regis erat occupatus.55 Another forrner chancellor, Piotr, said that he had seen the
charter of 1229 donating the Iands ofChetmno to the Teutonic Knights. Jnterrogatus
quanturn tempus est quod vidit illud privilegiurn, dixit quod XL anni vel circa ( .. ).
Jnterrogatus, ubi fuit monstraturn dieturn privilegiurn, dixit, quod non recordatur,
quod erant tune exules.56
VI. Conclusion: Collectivc Memory betwcen Orality and Literacy
Putting historical memory into writing in the manner ofthe trial’s protocol was
to prove wholly useless from the perspective of political decision making. True, the
judges considered the complaints of the Poles justified: they sentenced the Teutonic
Knights to the restitution of all Polish Iands they had annexed, and to pay in gold for
all darnage done. Yet, for political reasons, pope Clement Y1 (1342-1352) did not
confirrn the judges‘ sentence. Pomerania and the land of Chetrnno were to be
retumed to the Polish crown only in 1466, under completely different circumstances.
However, we have seen that for modern scholars the evidence of the 1 26 witnesses
registered at Warsaw in 1 339 is an invaluable sotrrce, and not only for the
inforrnation it contains on people and events. The protocol of the trial shows how,
around the middle of tne fourteenth centtrry, the historical tradition and collective
consciousness of Polish society was still informed mainly by orality. The riches and
coherence of oral tradition must Iead us to the conclusion that, more than three
centuries after the introduction of writing in Poland, orality provided an efficacious
means of communication and tradition, among literates as weil as among illiterates.
53 Lites, p. 260. See also pp. 1 5 1 , 178, 209, 287, 3 78.
54 See H. Boockmann, „Der Deutsche Orden in der Konununikation zwischen Nord und Süd,“ in
Kommunikation und Mobilität im Mittelalter. Begegnungen zwischen Süden und der Mitte
Europas (1 1.-14. Jahrhundert), eds. Siegfried de Rachewiltz and Josef Riedmann (Sigmaringen:
Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1 995), pp. 179-1 89.
55 Lites, p. 287.
56 Lites, p. 378.
THE KINGDOM OF POLAND VERSUS THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS 77
In the protocol, we witness the complex process of putting into wntmg
traditional historical knowledge, that had formerly been passed down from one
generation to the next. Apparently, the transmission of this knowledge had so far
taken place mainly within families. Often the history of the relationship between the
Order of the Teutonic Knights and Polish society had a strong, personal context. It
was family history, transmitted by the males (by fathers, grandfathers, uncles). In the
evidence of the Warsaw protocol women were completely absent as witnesses, and
almost absent as a depository ofthe knowledge of the past.57 This absence of female
witnesses was caused by the very choice of witnesses on the part of the Poles. It was
inspired by the fact that during the trial oral historical tradition was to be used as
what Jan Vansina would call a political weapon.58 Maybe during the operation of
putting this tradition into writinj some ‚restructuring of the past‘ took place to use
the expression of Patrick Geary. 9 For future research it may be the crucial question
to find out how far this restructuring has gone. In other words: how far can memories
of the past be reshaped by the needs of the present? Whatever the answer may be, it
is clear that this oral tradition, despite its parallel transrnission in written form, was to
remain important and valid also for later generations – even if writing was used ever
more often as a prop for memory. During the next great trial between Poland and the
Order of the Teutonic Knights (1422-1423) the Warsaw protocol, including its
transcription of oral tradition, was to become an important source of historical and
juridical references.
57 Only comes Dobrogost, castellan of Radzim, testified that he knew Pomerania belonged to
Poland, because his mother had told him so: fnterrogatus de causa sciencie dixit, quia mater
ipsius testis, qui eum portavit et nutrivit,fuit de Pomorania (..), Lites, p. 338.
58 Jan Vansina, Oral tradition as Hi story (London: James Currey, 1 985), p. I 02.
59 Patrick 1. Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance. Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First
Millennium (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), p.l34.
78 ANNA ADAMSKA
Appendix
Witnesses at the trial between Poland and the Order of the Teutonic Knights
in 1339
(after: Lites ac res gesrae inter Polonos Ordinemque Crucifororum, edirio altera, part I,
ed. !. Zakrzewski (Poznail, 1890)
126 persons
I . Geographical provenance
49 Greater Poland
13 Little Poland
22 Land of Sieradz
12 Land of Leczyca
20 Cuyavia
6 Mazovia
4 Pomerania (Pomorze)
2. Social provenance
20 Ecclesiastical elites (bishops and members of cathedral chapters)
I 0 Parish clergy
I I Religious orders
41 Lay elites
14 Lesser nobility
30 Town dwellers
3. Intellectual formation ofthe witnesses
41 Ecclesiastical litterati
I I Lay litterati, ofwhom
2 Princes
2 Knights
7 Town dwellers
74 Illiterati
ORAL HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
THE SPOKEN WORD IN CONTEXT
Edited by Gerhard Jaritz and Michael Richter
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
SONDERBAND XII
=
CEU MEDIEV ALIA
VOLU1vfE 3
Oral History of the Middle Ages
The Spoken W ord in Context
Edited by Gerhard Jaritz and Michael Richter
Krems and Budapest 200 1
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DER ABTEILUNG
KULTUR UND WISSENSCHAFT DES AMTES
DER NIEDERÖSTERREICIDSCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
niederästerreich kultur
copy editor: Judith Rasson
Cover illustration: The wife of Potiphar covets Joseph: “ … erat autem Joseph pulchra facie et
decorus apectu: post multos itaque dies iecit domina oculos suis in Ioseph et ait donni mecum.“
(“ … And Joseph was (a] goodly fperson], and weil favoured. And it came to pass after these
things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. „), Gen. 39:
6-7 (KJV). Concordantiae Caritatis, c. 1350. Cistercian abbey of Lilienfeld (Lower Austria), ms
151, fol. 244v (detail). Photo: Institut fiir Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit
(Krems an der Donau).
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, without the permission of the Publishers.
Published by:
and
– ISBN 963 9241 64 4 (Budapest)
-ISSN 1587-6470 CEU MEDIEVALIA
Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung
der materiellen Kultur des Mittelalters, Körnermarkt 13, A-
3500 Krems. Austria,
Department ofMedieval Studies, Centrat European University,
Nador utca 9, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary.
Printed by Printself, Budapest.
Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………………….. 7
Michael RICHTER, Beyond Goody and Grundmann ………. . . . . . . ………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I
Tom PETTIIT, Textual to Oral: the Impact ofTransmission
on Narrative Word-Art …………………………………………………………………….. 1 9
Elöd NEMER!<.ENYI, Fictive Audience. The Second Person Singular in the Deliberatio ofBishop Gerard of Csanäd …………………………………………….. 3 9 Katalin SZENDE, Testaments and Testimonies. Orality and Literacy in Composing Last Wills in Late Medieval Hungary ……………………………. 49 Anna ADAMSKA, The Kingdom of Po land versus the Teutonic Knights: Oral Traditions and Literale Behaviour in the Later Middle Ages …………… 67 Giedre MICKÜNAITE, Ruler, Protector, and a Fairy Prince: the Everlasting Deeds of Grand Duke Vytautas as Related by the Lithuanian Tatars and Karaites ………………………………… 79 Yurij Zazuliak, Oral Tradition, Land Disputes, and the Noble Community in Galician Rus‘ from the 1440s to the 1 460s ……………………………………… 88 Nada ZECEVIC, Ai􀃭tc; yA.uKeia. The Importance ofthe Spoken Word in the Public Affairs ofCarlo Tocco (from the Anonymous Chronaca dei Tocco di Cefalonia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 108 lohn A. NICHOLS, A Heated Conversation: Who was Isabel de Aubigny, Countess of Arundel? …………………………… 1 1 7 Tracey L. BILADO, Rhetorical Strategies and Legal Arguments: ‚Evil Customs‘ and Saint-Florent de Saumur, 979- 1 0 1 1 …………………….. 1 28 Detlev KRAACK, Traces of Orality in Written Contexts. Legal Proceedings and Consultations at the Royal Court as Reflected in Documentary Sources from l21h-century Germany ……… 1 42 6 Maria DOBOZY, From Oral Custom to Written Law: The German Sachsenspiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Martha KEIL, Rituals of Repentance and Testimonies at Rabbinical Courts in the 151h Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 64 Michael GOODICH, The Use of Direct Quotation from Canonization Hearing to Hagiographical Vita et Miracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 77 Sylvia ScHEIN, Bemard of Clairvaux ’s Preaching of the Third Crusade and Orality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Michael BRAUER, Obstades to Oral Communication in tbe Mission offriar William ofRubruck among the Mongois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Elena LEMENEVA, From Oral to Written and Back: A Sermon Case Study . . . . . . . . 203 Albrecht CLASSEN, Travel, Orality, and the Literary Discourse: Travels in the Past and Literary Travels at the Crossroad of the Oral and the Literary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 217 Ulrich MÜLLER and Margarete SPRJNGETH, “Do not Shut Your Eyes ifYou Will See Musical Notes:“ German Heroie Poetry („Nibelungenlied“), Music, and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Jolanta SZPILEWSKA, Evoking Auditory Imagination: On the Poetics of Voice Production in The Story ofThe Glorious Resurrection ofOur Lord (c. 1580) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Jens T. WOLLESEN, SpokenWords and Images in Late Medieval Italian Painting . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 257 Gerhard JARTTZ, Images and the Power of the Spoken Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Preface Oral culture played an instrumental role in medieval society.1 Due to the Iack of any direct source evidence, however, research into the functions and importance of oral communication in the Middle Ages must confront a number of significant problems. Only indrect traces offer the opportunity to analyze phenomena that were based on or connected with the spoken word. The ‚oral history‘ of the Middle Ages requires the application of different approaches than dealing with the 201h or 2 151 century. For some decades Medieval Studies have been interested in questions of orality and literacy, their relationship and the substitution of the spoken by the written word2 Oral and literate culture were not exclusive and certainly not opposed to each other.3 The ‚art of writing‘ was part of the ‚ars rhetorica‘ and writing makes no sense without speech.4 Any existing written Statement should also be seen as a spoken one, although, clearly, not every oral Statement as a written one. Authors regularly wrote with oral delivery in mind. ‚Speaking‘ and ‚writing‘ are not antonyms. It is also obvious that „the use of oral conununication in medieval society should not be evaluated … as a function of culture populaire vis-a-vis culture savante but, rather, of thc communication habits and the tendency of medieval man 1 For the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, cf. Willern Frijhoff, „Communication et vie quotidienne i1 Ia fin du moyen äge et a l’epoque moderne: reflexions de theorie et de methode,“ in Kommunialion und Alltag in Spätmillefalter und fniher Neuzeit, ed. Helmut Hundsbichler (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1992), p. 24: „La plupart de gens vivait encore pour l’essentiel dans une culture orale et !es procedes d’appropriation des idCes passaient de prefcrence par Ia parolc dite et ecoutee, quand bien memc on ctait capable d’une Ieelure visuelle plus ou moins rudimentaire.“ 2 See Marco Mostert, „New Approaches to Medieval Communication?“ in New Approaches to Medieval Communication. ed. Marco Mostert (Tumhout: Brepols, 1999), pp. 15-37; Michael Richter, “Die Entdeckung der ‚Oralität‘ der mittelalterlichen Gesellschaft durch die neuere Mediävistik,“ in Die Aktualität des Miue/alters, ed. Hans-Werner Goetz (Bochum: D. Winkler, 2000), pp. 273-287. 3 Peter Burke calls the constrnct of „oral versus literate“ useful but at the same time dangerous: idem, „Mündliche Kultur und >Druckkultur< im spätmittelalterlichen Italien,“ in Volkskultur des europäischen Spätmittelalters, eds. Peter Dinzelbacher and Hans-Dieter Mück (Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag, 1987), p. 60. 4 Michael Clanchy, „lntroduction,“ in New Approaches to Medieval Communication. ed. Marco Mostert (Tumhout: Brepols, 1999), p. 6. 8 to share his intellectual experiences in the corporate framework.“5 Oral delivery was not „the sole prerogative of any socioeconomic class. „6 For all these reasons, it is important to analyze the extent of and context, in which ’speech acts,‘ auditive effects, and oral tradition occur in medieval sources .7 Research into the use of the spoken word or references to it in texts and images provides new insight into various, mainly social, rules and pattems of the communication system. 1t opens up additional approaches to the organization and complexity of different, but indispensably related, media in medieval society, and their comparative analysis.8 The spoken word is connected with the physical presence of its ’sender.‘ Speech may represent the authenticity of the given message in a more obvious way than written texts or images. Therefore, the use of ’speech acts‘ in written or visual evidence also has to be seen in context with the attempt to create, construct, or prove authenticity. Moreover, spoken messages contribute to and increase the lifelikeness of their contents, which may influence their perception by the receiver, their efficacy and success. Being aware of such a situation will have led to the explicit and intended use and application of the spoken word in written texts and images- to increase their authenticity and importance, too. lf one operates with a model of ‚closeness‘ and ‚distance‘ of communication with regard to the Ievel of relation of ’senders‘ and ‚receivers,‘ then the ’speech acts‘ or their representation have to be seen as contributors to a ‚closer‘ connection among the participants of the communication process.9 At the same time, however, Speech might be evaluated as less official. One regularly comes across ‚oral space‘ 5 Sophia Menache, The Vox Dei. Commwzication in the Middle Ages (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 19. 6 Ibidem, p. 21. Cf. also Jan-Dirk Müller, „Zwischen mündlicher Anweisung und schrifilicher Sicherung von Tradition. Zur Kommunikationsstruktur spätmittelalterlicher Fechtbücher,“ in Kommunikation und Alltag in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit, ed. Helmut Hundsbichler (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1992), p. 400: „Offensichtlich sind schriftliche und nichtschriftliche Tradierung von Wissen weiterhin relativ unabhängig voneinander, nachdem die Schrift längst dazu angesetzt hat, lnseln der Mündlichkeil oder praktisch-enaktiver Wissensvermittlung zu erobem. Die Gedächtnisstütze kann die Erfahrung nicht ersetzen, sendem allenfalls reaktivieren. Sie ist sogar nur verständlich, wo sie auf anderweitig vermittelte Vorkenntnisse stößt.“ 7 􀆿f. W.F.H. Nicolaisen, ed., Oral Tradition in the Middle Ages (Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1995). 8 See, esp., Horst Wenzel, Hören und Sehen, Schrift und Bild. K ultur und Gedächtnis im Mittelalter (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1995), passim. 9 See also Siefan Sonderegger, „>Gesprochen oder nur geschrieben?< Mündlichkeil in mittelalterlichen
Texten als direkter Zugang zum Menschen,“ in Homo Medietas. Aufsätze zu Religiosität,
Literatur und Denkformen des Menschen vom Mittelalter bis in die Neuzeit. Festschrift
for Alois Maria Haas zum 65. Geburtstag, eds. Claudia Brinker-von der Heyde and
Niklaus Largier (Bem e\ al.: Peter Lang, 1999), p. 665: „Jedenfalls darf man sich bewußt bleiben,
daß auch in den Texten des deutschen Mittelalters die Reflexe gesprochener Sprache eine
bedeutende Schicht ausmachen, die besonders dann immer wieder hervortritt, wenn es um
einen direkten Zugang zum Menschen geht, um einVerstehen aus unmittelbarer Partnerschaft
heraus … “
9
that has become institutionalized or more official by the application of ‚written
space.‘ 10 Simultanous employment of such different Ievels and qualities of
messages must often have had considerable influence on their efficacy.11
The papers in this volume are the outcome of an international workshop that
was held in February, 2001, at the Department ofMedieval Studies, Central European
University, Budapest. Participants concentrated on problems of the occurrence,
usage, and pattems of the spoken word in written and visual sources of the
Middle Ages. They dealt with the roJe and contents of direct and indirect speech in
textual evidence or in relation to it, such as chronicles, travel descriptions, court
and canonization protocols, sermons, testaments, law-books, literary sources,
drama, etc. They also tried to analyze the function of oral expression in connection
with late medieval images.
The audiovisuality of medieval communication processes12 has proved to be
evident and, thus, important for any kind of further comparative analysis of the
various Ievels of the ‚oral-visual-literate,‘ i.e. multimedia culture of the Middle
Ages. Particular emphasis has to be put on methodological problems, such as the
necessity of interdisciplinary approaches,13 or the question of the extent to which
we are, generally, able to comprehend and to decode the communication systems
of the past.14 Moreover, the medievalist does not come across any types of sources
in which oral communication represents the main concem.15 lnstead, she or he is
confronted, at first glance, with a great variety of ‚casual‘ and ‚marginal‘ evidence.
We would like to thank all the contributors to the workshop and to this
volume. Their cooperation made it possible to publish the results of the meeting in
the same year in which it took place. This can be seen as a rare exception, at least
in the world of the historical disciplines. The head, faculty, staff, and students of
the Department of Medieval Studies of CentTal European University offered
various help and support. Special thanks go to Judith Rasson, the copy editor of
10 This, e.g., could be weil shown in a case study on thc pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela:
Friederike Hassauer, „Schriftlichkeit und Mündlichkeil im Alltag des Pilgers am Beispiel der
Wallfahrt nach Santiago de Compostela,“ in Wallfahrt und Alltag in Mittelalter und früher
Neuzeit, eds. Gerhard Jaritz and Barbara Schuh (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 1992), pp. 277-316.
11 Cf. Bob Scribner, „Mündliche Kommunikation und Strategien der Macht in Deutschland im
16. Jahrhundert,“ in Kommunikation und Alltag in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit, ed.
Helmut Hundsbichler (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
1992), pp. 183-197.
12 Wenzel, Hören rmd Sehen, p. 292.
13 Cf. Ursula Schaefer, „Zum Problem der Mündlichkeit,“ in Modernes Miuelalter. Neue Bilder
einer populären Epoche, ed. Joachim Heinzle (Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig: Insel Verlag,
1994), pp. 374 f.
14 Frijhoff, „Communication et vie quotidienne,“ p. 25: „Sommes-nous encore en mesure de
communiquer avec Ja communication de jadis?“
1􀅄 Michael Richter, Sprache und Gesellschaft im Mittelalter. Untersuchungen zur mündlichen
Kommunikation in England von der Mit te des elften bis zu Beginn des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts
(Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1979), p. 22.
10
this volume, who took particluar care with the texts of the many non-native
speakers fighting with the pitfalls of the English language.
Budapest, Krems, and Constance
December 200 I
Gerhard Jaritz and Michael Richter