Anatomia herbarza
The Anatomy of the Peerage

Summary/Abstract: Scholars of heraldry in pre-modern Poland were no doubt familiar with the word “herbarz,” which today signifies “peerage” (a book containing a list of peers and peeresses, with their genealogy and history), but until the nineteenth century was synonymous with “herbarium” (a collection of preserved plant specimens). In the context of old-Polish writing, the genre of the herbarz-peerage ought to be understood broadly, as it encompassed works that were quite different from one another. Kazańczuk discusses their differences by drawing on Karlheinz Stierle’s notion that every work derives its form from its function. The questions who writes and for whom are crucial. Reflecting on the genre of the old- Polish peerage, the paper emphasizes this genre’s relationship to historiography.

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