Descriptions of the Lubiński Manuscript, mid-19th – early 21st Centuries

Abstract

The Lubiński Codex was created in the fi rst half of the 15^th century, predominantly by the efforts of Jan of Dąbrówka and his scribes. It comprises miscellaneous historical writings, found by Dąbrówka in older manuscripts, or sketched for current use by himself. Beside works by established authors, such as the chroniclers Wincenty Kadłubek, Dzierzwa, or Janko of Czarnków, and the Wielkopolska Chronicle, one can fi nd there Dąbrówka’s own opus magnum, his Commentary to the Chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek. Apart from these major writings the Lubiński Codex encompasses also his smaller pieces, like the three redactions of the Lineage of the Polish Princes, the Catalogue of the Bishops of Cracow, and excerpts from various chronicles and annals. The identifi cation of these writings took over a century and a half, and was not free of erroneous conjectures. Dorota Gacka demonstrates how the work on the Lubiński Codex progressed, and how the contemporary views were gradually elaborated. The analysis encompasses only the attempts at describing and interpreting the codex as a whole, and scrutinises the consecutive efforts of a number of Polish historians and librarians, from the nineteenth through early twenty-fi rst century. The article aims at facilitating further researches on the codex, now available in digitalised form in the CBN Polona, but it is also a contribution to medievalism, i.e. studies on the presence and functioning of the Middle Ages in the writings of later authors