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Between Cultural Studies and Semiotics of Culture: The Case of Culture Jamming

Kultuuriuuringute ja kultuurisemiootika piiril: kultuuritõkestuse juhtum

Author(s): Remo Gramigna / Language(s): Estonian / Issue: 9/2012

Keywords: cultural semiotics; cultural studies; disciplinary identity; culture jamming; subvertising

The aim of the present work is to set forth a comparative analysis between two fields of study, namely, cultural studies and cultural semiotics. Although both disciplines traffic with „culture” as a complex object of study, theoretical and methodological differences, as well as the historical development of their formation, set them apart. The current paper seeks to explore the existing theoretical differences and potential similarities that unite and divide these two fields of study. Cultural studies is engaged in an ongoing self-description as discipline. The latter, in the acceptation of the Tartu–Moscow School, has set forth a theoretical approach that might be able to provide a metadisciplinary methodology that could unify humanitarian disciplines dealing with „culture”. Furthermore, this work presents, as a specific case study, the phenomena of ‘culture jamming’ and focuses on the techniques used by interpreters in order to sabotage and subvert corporate advertisements, messages and logos. Taking up the two perspectives of cultural studies and semiotics of culture, different levels of analysability are demonstrated in respect to the same object of study, namely, the practice of „subvertising”.

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Awakening into dystopia: on the ambiguities of utopian form

Ärkamine düstoopiasse: utoopilise vormi mitmetimõistetavusest

Author(s): Jaak Tomberg / Language(s): Estonian / Issue: 9/2012

Keywords: utopia; dystopia; narrativity; ideology; awakening

The article compares the formal attributes of classic literary utopias and modern literary dystopias and concludes that only a minimal difference separates the two – the interference or awakening of a narrative subject in dystopia. Using the metaphor of a dream as something that has to be awakened from, the article further portrays everyday ideological existence as a constant oscillation between utopian (ahistorical) sleep and (dystopian) wakefulness.

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The Subject’s Self-Formation in Power Relations: Theories of Subjectivity in Agamben, Badiou and Foucault from the Semiotic Perspective

Subjekti eneseloome võimusuhetes: Agambeni, Badiou’ ja Foucault’ subjektsuseteooriad semiootilisest vaatepunktist

Author(s): Ott Puumeister / Language(s): Estonian / Issue: 9/2012

Keywords: subjectivity; discourse; power relations; emancipation; autocommunication; singularity; event; politics

Within the liberal democratic context the individual is mostly seen as an autonomous agent with the freedom of choice on how to conduct one’s own life. However, this autonomy generally comes down to „choosing one’s lifestyle” and making decisions on what kinds of products to consume. This kind of autonomy leaves the subject without any political relevancy. To think on the possibilities and potentialities on the agency of the political subject, this article will turn 1) to Giorgio Agamben and his theorization of whatever singularities and the coming politics; 2) to Alain Badiou’s account of the event – the radical break of the established political situations; and 3) to Michel Foucault’s conceptualization of the technologies of the self in Antiquity and their importance to today’s political thinking. Finally, all these authors are viewed through the perspective of semiotics, which is provided mainly by the semiotics of culture of Juri Lotman. I think that the perspective of semiotics can add something to the understanding of the political subject both as an agent in the context of power relations and as a phenomenon to be studied by semiotics as a discipline.

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Towards Semiotic Sociology. A synthesis of Semiology, Semiotics and Phenomenological Sociology

Semiootilise sotsioloogia suunas: semioloogia, semiootika ning fenomenoloogilise sotsioloogia süntees

Author(s): Risto Heiskala / Language(s): Estonian / Issue: 9/2012

Keywords: semiotics; semiology; phenomenology; sociology; social theory

Departing from the common view according to which structuralist semiology (the Saussurean tradition), pragmatist semiotics (the Peircean tradition) and phenomenological sociology (Husserl, Schutz, Berger & Luckmann, and Garfinkel) are seen as mutually exclusive alternatives the article attempts to outline their synthesis. The net result of the synthesis is that a conception emerges where action theories (rational choice, Weber etc.) are based on phenomenological sociology and phenomenological sociology is based on neostructuralist semiotics which is a synthesis of the Saussurean and the Peircian traditions of understanding habits of interpretation and interaction. This is how we get a research programme for semiotic sociology.

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Local Autonomy and Territorial Decentralisation in Capital Cities

Author(s): Mikk Lõhmus / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2008

Keywords: Local autonomy and decentralisation; Values of local government; Local autonomy and subsidiarity; Local autonomy and intra-city decentralisation; Organisational autonomy; The models of territorial decentralisation;

The creation of sub-local political bodies in many urban municipalities in many countries in Western Europe can be viewed as an attempt to find the balance between integration and local differentiation. (Bäck et al. 2005) Territorial decentralisation reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, and two approaches caused by different objectives can be distinguished. The objective of the Central and Eastern European countries, recently freed from totalitarian dictatorship, was democratisation of their societies. (Illner 1998, Horvath 2000) The objective of Western Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries, was to overcome the consequences of the crisis of the welfare state and to search for a more effective management model. In addition to the ideas about NPM, one way was also territorial decentralisation within the city. (Bogason 1996, Bäck et al. 2005) The introduction of sub-local political bodies in the municipalities implies the creation of a new territorial tier in the local governmental structure. The construction of the relationship between these tiers is a conceptual question.

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Modular Government: An Industry Perspective on Public Innovation

Author(s): Niko Waesche / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2008

Keywords: Modularising business; Threat of commoditisation; global modules; Componentising government;

Multinational corporations used to be about ownership and control. In the face of increasing worldwide competition and enabled by recent advances in information technology, some global enterprises have begun to cede ownership and control in favour of more flexible and responsive forms of governance. Instead of divisions and hierarchies, modules are the building blocks of these businesses. Decomposition into modules allows companies to use their own assets more effectively, to access unique external skills, to become more responsive to their customers and to lower their costs. Government, similarly faced by threats of commoditisation and competition as well as rising costs, can adopt a strategy of modularisation as well. Modularisation allows governments to bundle their skills, access external know-how found in NGOs, commercial companies and even other governments, interact more deeply with their citizens and lower their costs. As a result of these strategies of decomposition, the worlds of government and enterprise will come together and form new combinations.

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Monarchy in search of a new status quo. The political situation in the Crown before the Union of Horodlo 1399–1413

Monarchia w poszukiwaniu nowego status quo. Sytuacja polityczna w Koronie przed Unią Horodelską 1399-1413

Author(s): Wojciech Fałkowski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Polish Kingdom; Ladislaus Jagiello; monarchy; legitimization of power; royal advisors; general assemblies

After the death of queen Hedwig in 1399 the Polish political elites had to redefine the overriding interests of the Crown and the legal situation of its ruler Ladislaus Jagiello. The issue which required an immediate answer concerned the ideological and political right to ascend to the throne and this led to the need of discussing the changes of the resolutions passed at the Union of Krewo. The period marked by the years 1399–1401 constituted a breakthrough in Jagiello’s rule, as at that time the king obtained a greater freedom of maneuver. In the charter of the Union of Radom, the corpus of the highest state administration confirmed the accord negotiated between the ruler and his subjects. According to the author, the beginning of the 15th century marked a period of soft politics which avoided violating the interests of powerful family groups and regional factions while at the same time by degrees promoting the king’s trusted favorites. Jagiello’s strategic goal was to acquire a strong personal position both in the Crown and in Lithuania. Whereas the years following the triumph at Grunwald brought about a more expansive policy, accompanied by a series of provoked conflicts associated with the formation of close-knit ruling elites by the side of the monarch. At the same time, a balance could be observed between the personal goals of the Giedyminowicze family and the program represented by the Crown lords who accepted the former ones’ vision of the grand monarchy.

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The monarch and the vassal: Witold and the Union of Horodlo

Monarcha i wasal: Witold a unia horodelska

Author(s): Rimvydas Petrauskas / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: monarch; vassal; Witold Kiejstutowicz; Grand Duke of Lithuania; Poland’s union with Lithuania

The goal of the present article is to present the scope and character of the authority of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Witold at the time of the Union of Horodlo on the basis of the entirety of written and iconographic sources dating back to the beginning of the 15th century. The documents of Horodło did not exert a direct impact on the legal status of Witold himself, yet in 1413 his real authority was much more extensive than 10 years earlier. The author focuses on an analysis of Witold’s policy in the first decade of the 15th century since the period between the year 1401 when he was officially entrusted with the grand ducal authority, and the year 1413, was by far the most important one in the task of building an independent political organization in Lithuania. Witold’s activities (diplomatic, territorial and propagandist ones) had led to an establishment of the sovereignty of power which was legalized by the Pact of Vilnius and Radom of 1401. The new monarchic conception and the image of Witold had been worked out in the ruler’s immediate entourage, whose core consisted of foreign scholars, secretaries and local Lithuanian magnates. The role of advisors from the grand ducal office in the process of development of monarchic ideology is unquestionable; it is particularly visible during the ideological struggle with the German Order in the Grunwald era. The development of monarchic power in Lithuania exerted a negative impact on Witold’s relations with his senior brother, the king of Poland and the supreme Lithuanian duke Jagiello. Shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Vilnius in 1401, Witold who concentrated power in his own hands began to treat his tributary obligations and oaths as his own exclusive rights. Ever since that moment Witold, who was a sovereign ruler in Lithuania, did not allow anyone to interfere in the relations between him and his subordinates. Jagiello could have only one vassal in Lithuania – namely Witold.

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Byzantine frescoes in the Sandomierz cathedral: a royal gift for the greater glory of God or a reflection of the idea of the Union of Horodło?

Bizantyńskie freski w sandomierskiej katedrze: królewski dar na chwałę Bożą czy odblask idei Unii Horodelskiej

Author(s): Małgorzata Smorąg-Różycka / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Byzantine-Russian paintings; cathedral in Sandomierz; Anna of Cilli; Ladislaus Jagiello; church union

The subject of our deliberations is the ideological significance of the Byzantine frescoes founded by Ladislaus Jagiello and preserved until the present day in the Sandomierz cathedral. The origin of the polychrome should be traced to the period of the king’s marriage to Anna of Cilli, whose coat-of-arms is to be found in the row of coats-of-arms discovered during the conservation work conducted in the cathedral in the years 2008–2011. The very fact that Anna’s coat-of-arms had been placed within the row of coats-of-arms of the Kingdom of Poland, should be viewed in a wider perspective as a pictorial testimony of the royal legacy after king Casimir the Great and the continuity of the Piast monarchy under Jagiello’s rule. Thanks to an analysis of the content of the scenes as well as their arrangement, the authoress distinguishes two main axes of interpretation of the content of the paintings – the historical-eschatological image of theophany and the royal foundation. The polychromes gave testimony to the existence of two Christian cultures united within a single state organism, whereas the placing of the paintings and foundation plaques in within the space of the presbytery, proves that they fulfilled an important role as propaganda tools during the visits of the most illustrious guests of the kingdom.

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The authors of the Union of Horodło

Twórcy unii horodelskiej

Author(s): Maria Koczerska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Ladislaus Jagiello; grand duke Witold; Union of Horodło; succession to the throne, archbishop Mikołaj Trąba; heraldic adoption; Union documents

The authoress supposes that the numerous resolutions of the Union of Horodło of 2 October 1413 had been authored by various subjects, both individual and collective ones. The creator of the article concerning succession to the throne in Poland and Lithuania, after the death of Jagiello and Witold, as well as of the resolution introducing the permanence of the institution of grand ducal authority in Lithuania, which is closely associated with it, including after the death of Witold, was none other but Ladislaus Jagiello himself. It was also the latter one who together with Witold extended the scope of the land privileges for the Lithuanian boyars. The price which the Poles had to pay for the succession article and the stabilization of the grand ducal power in Lithuania was the article concerning the incorporation of Lithuania into Poland in the year 1386 and in the present. The above article was of considerable importance from the ideological point of view, but had no real foundations. The authoress is of the opinion that it was the archbishop of Gniezno Mikołaj Trąba, who at that time as well as previously had enjoyed Jagiello’s full trust, that had been the real initiator of Lithuanian boyars’ heraldic adoption by the Poles. The authoress is also of the opinion that the complete texts of all four Union documents had been brought to Horodło only to be sealed there.

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The Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Poland at the time of Ladislaus Jagiello’s rule

Kościół katolicki w Królestwie Polskim w czasach Władysława Jagiełły

Author(s): Tadeusz M. Trajdos / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: The Polish Church; synodal legislation; preaching; parish network; Queen Hedwig; Ladislaus Jagiello

The article constitutes an attempt to show in a synthetic way the main elements of Jagiello’s policy in relation to the Polish Church and the latter one’s situation in the complex reality of the western schism, the conciliar movement as well as Hussitism; it also draws attention to the most important processes taking place in the Gniezno province. The author of the article also describes the monarch’s active policy in relation to the issue of appointments to church posts. As a rule it was the well-educated people who had proved themselves in the service of the monarch’s office as well as in the diplomatic service who were appointed as heads of bishoprics. The monarch had also conducted an active policy in relation to the appointments of some prelatures and canonries in cathedral chapters. The article discusses the foundational activity of the king and its impact on the development of the parish network. While presenting the reform initiatives within the Polish Church at the time of the great western schism and the conciliar movement, the author tries to prove that it was the synods and their legislation that became the main instrument of these changes. In the synodal statutes one can observe a process of gradual deepening of the religious life of the faithful as well as striving to their moral formation. The intellectual and moral requirements as regards the clergy and their pastoral ministry were also on the increase. The author proves that the figures of Queen Hedwig and Ladislaus Jagiello had played a key role in the history of the state and of the Polish Church at the turn of the 14th and at the beginning of the 15th century and that the most important fruits of their activity and decisions have continued to exert an impact throughout centuries right up until the present times.

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500th anniversary of the Union of Horodło of 1413. Between political culture and historical memory

500-letnia rocznica unii horodelskiej 1413 roku. Między kulturą polityczną a pamięcią historyczną

Author(s): Jūratė Kiaupienė / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: historical memory; Polish-Lithuanian union; national identity; union tradition

The authoress of the present article has embarked on the task of presenting the different views with regard to the Union of Horodlo of 1413, as presented in the Polish and Lithuanian press articles on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of this union. Moreover she has tried to find an answer to a few fundamental questions concerning the formation of the historical memory of the Poles and Lithuanians at the threshold of the restoration of their statehood. The questions concern, among others, the reasons for the differences in the evaluation of the Union of Horodlo between the Poles and Lithuanians, the moment when the memory of the Union began to take on a different shape and the links between historical memory and political culture. On the basis of examples derived from the Polish and Lithuanian press of 1913, the authoress proves that despite the many years of the Polish-Lithuanian union, a real rapprochement between the two states and societies did not take place, neither in the 15th century, not later, until the very end of the existence of the Commonwealth of Both Nations. The Polish interpretation of the union which was negotiated in Horodło in 1413 was unacceptable to a modern Lithuanian nation. Both sides, that is the representatives of the Polish and the Lithuanian nations had used the celebrations associated with the 500th anniversary of the Union of Horodło to formulate and propagate their most important goal – that is to restore their statehood and in order to achieve this goal, they were ready to subordinate their historical memory. But it is important not to forget that we are dealing with a specific kind of historical memory which is targeted and focused above all on the future.

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Imperial Past of Ancient Lithuania in the Historical Memory of the Modern Independent Lithuania

Author(s): Zenonas Norkus / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: comparative research on empires; historical culture of the interwar Lithuania; Kazys Pakštas; Vytautas Alantas; Antanas Smetona; Gintaras Beresnevičius

The paper is an inquiry into the origins and impact on the historical culture of modern Lithuania of the view of GDL as an empire. The inventor or discoverer of the GDL as empire was a Lithuanian geographer and geopolitician Kazys Pakštas (1893–1960), who provided seminal imperiological analysis of the ancient Lithuanian polity in his book Political Geography of Baltic Republics (1929). This work was probably the main source of inspiration for the Antanas Smetona (1874–1944), who was Lithuanian President in the years 1926–1940. He repeatedly designated GDL as an empire in his speeches, starting with the celebration of the 500th death anniversary of Vytautas Magnus in 1930. An important exponent of this idea was Vytautas Alantas (1902–1990), who served as editor-in-chief of a semi-official newspaper “Lietuvos Aidas” in 1934–1939 and contributed to the discourse on GDL as an empire in the Lithuanian diaspora. Because of ideological reasons, the subject of ancient Lithuanian imperialism was avoided by Lithuanian historians in the Soviet era. In the post-communist times, Gintaras Beresnevičius (1961–2006) resurrected and popularized the idea of GDL as an empire to legitimize the Eastern strategy of the foreign policy of the contemporary Lithuanian state and to mythologize the challenges of the Lithuanian membership in the European Union. Because of the mainstream historiography’s commitment to hermeneutic methodology (historism), Lithuanian academic historiography in the interwar period remained cautious about the very idea of GDL as an empire.

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Horodło from the perspective of the 20th and 21st century: memory of modernization, memory of the republic, memory of the empire

Horodło z perspektywy XX–XXI wieku: pamięć modernizacji, pamięć republiki, pamięć imperium

Author(s): Andrzej Nowak / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Polish-Lithuanian union; historical memory; Jagiellon policy; collective identity

For the author of the present article the basis for the analysis of the contemporary understanding of collective identity and the condition of historical memory, is a confrontation of the ways of shaping the memory of the Union of Horodło in the 19th and 20th c. The issue of identity, both Polish and Lithuanian one, as well as of common memory is closely associated with the legacy of the Union of Horodło. At the same time, the author is looking for ways of remedying the situation in which one deals with a loss of positive identification with the cultural and political legacy of one’s own community – a phenomenon which is currently observed in Poland. A suitable foundation for this kind of remedy is perceived by him in Poland’s past, and since the time of the Union of Horodło – also in Lithuania’s past, and in referring to the idea of the Commonwealth of Both Nations, to the notion of citizenship which co-creates it, to the specific vision of positive freedom which founds it. In the foreground of this collective memory, one finds the voice of the local council, Seym, of common parliamentary sessions devoted to the common good, the difficult process of forming opinions and shaping the foundations of political freedom, and of transformation of subjects into citizens. From this republican perspective, the Union of Horodło looms as an important experience and symbol.

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Provincial gentry and its attitude towards the Polish-Lithuanian union

Szlachta prowincjonalna wobec unii polsko-litewskiej

Author(s): Alicja Szymczakowa / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: provincial gentry; union of Poland and Lithuania; clerical career; heraldic adoption; participants of the Horodło conventio

The attitude of the Polish gentry towards the union with Lithuania and the new dynasty was subject to evolution – it evolved from distrust towards a dangerous aggressor of not long ago, to searching for possible advantages that might accrue from the union of the two states. Jagiello sought social support for his rule not only among the elites, but also among provincial gentry, by accepting them for service and creating conditions that promoted individual careers, and sometimes opened up possibilities for entire families. Genealogical research comprising wider circles of the gentry allow one to assess the scale of involvement of the provincial gentry in the service of the monarch and the state. It is clearly visible that it was above all the sons of the local lower-rank officials who having an easier access to the monarch, were characterized by greater activity in this respect; but also gentry who did not come from families of officials, proved to be active here. Mixed marriages between the Poles, Lithuanians and Ruthenians began to appear already after the Union of Horodło. Initially this phenomenon had an elitist character and it was only later that it began to encompass wider circles of society. Horodło was also one of the turning points which opened up the way to the migration of the gentry to the East.

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The endowment policy of the grand Lithuanian dukes in Zmudz in the first half of the 15th century

Polityka nadań wielkich książąt litewskich na Żmudzi w pierwszej połowie XV wieku

Author(s): Eugenijus Saviščevas / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: endowment; benefice; latifundium; boyars; Zmudz; feudalism

The protracted conflict for the throne between the offsring of Giedymin resulted in numerous endowments of successive rulers of Lithuania for the Lithuanian boyars as well as the extension of the rights to own patrimonies and benefices. Samogitia was practically excluded from this process due to the fact that towards the beginning of the 15th century, it fell under the rule of the Teutonic Order; this situation continued after the incorporation of Zmudz into the Grand Lithuanian Duchy in 1409. The Order continued to have its claims with regard to Zmudz right up to the year 1422. The weakness of the grand dukes which revealed itself from time to time as well as the activity of the Teutonic Order, made it difficult for the Lithuanian rulers to create a wider class of people who remained in the service of the state, that is boyars. That is why, the grand duke Witold began to grant endowments and land to the Zmudz nobles and in this way led to the formation of the local boyar class. The analysis of the endowment acts (altogether 75) from the times of the rule of Witold, Zygmunt Kiejstuto-wicz and those granted at the beginning of the rule of Casimir the Jagiellon (until the end of 1447) shows that the large land holdings (latyfundia) in Zmudz arose not earlier than at the beginning of the rule of Casimir the Jagiellon and because of the haste with which the numerous benefices had been granted, no strong personal and emotional bonds between the ruler and the numerous Zmudz boyar class had been formed.

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The Council of Constance and its attitude towards the Polish-Lithuanian monarchy

Sobór w Konstancji wobec monarchii polsko-litewskiej

Author(s): Tomasz Graff / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Council of Constance; Jagiellon monarchy; doctrinal and legal process; Christianization of Zmudz; church union

In the article the involvement of the delegation of the Kingdom of Poland in the work of the Council of Constance (1414–1418) was assessed. The analysis was carried out chiefly from the point of view of the key issues in the external policy of the Jagiellon monarchy; the analysis also focused on the reactions of the participants of the Council to the activities of the Polish delegation. Although the author agrees with the opinions that the Polish Kingdom did achieve an image success in Constance, yet he is of the opinion that the success played a secondary role as regards real-life events which took place in Central Europe; he also thinks that the success tends to be exagerated by Polish historiography. Apart from a narrow group of intellectuals, the contention between Poland and the Teutonic Order was of little interest to the Council participants, and hence he comes to the conclusion that military activities were a much more effective weapon in the defense of Polish-Lithuanian interests.Although without a doubt, Jagiello and Witold overestimated the significance of the Council in respect of solving the conflict with the Teutonic Order, yet they achieved a tangible success which consisted in a change of perception of their states as well as subjects by the contemporary European elites. Therefore, the author puts forward a hypothesis that the mission of the delegation of the Ja-giellon monarchy to the Council of Constance was one of those episodes in the history of Poland and Lithuania, which constitutes a permanent legacy of common historical identity

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The Teutonic Order’s attitude towards Poland and Lithuania in the years 1411–1414

Zakon krzyżacki wobec Polski i Litwy w latach 1411–1414

Author(s): Adam Szweda / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Teutonic Order; Kingdom of Poland; court of arbitration; diplomatic negotiations; subarbiter Benedict Makrai

The „eternal peace” between Poland, Lithuania and the Teutonic Order, ratified on 10 May 1411, turned out to be an extremely impermanent agreement. The first symptoms of a crisis appeared already in September of the same year, when at a session held in Kujawy, a mixed court of arbitration decided that the Polish-Lithuanian side strives toward a revision of the Toruń agreements. The Order reacted instantly by implementing a military draft action and striking up a cooperation with the King of Rome as well as the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxemburg who from the very beginning contested the Toruń truce. The author of the article analyzes minutely the diplomatic efforts of all sides of the conflict as well as the propaganda campaign of the Order and the simultaneous preparations to a new war which had led to the removal of Henry von Plauen from the post of the Grand Master. The Order’s return to the negotiation table, did not put an end to the threat of an armed conflict, as Poland had presented a maximum program of territorial claims, sygnalizing clearly that it is not interested in negotiations. Ultimately in July 1414, Ladislaus Jagiello and Alexander Witold had sent warning letters to Malbork, thereby initiating the so called hunger war. The events of 1411–1414 had shown that the Teutonic Order was at that becoming to an increasing extent the subject, and not the object of international policy.

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The Czech attitude towards the states of Ladislaus Jagiello until 1419. An outline of the problem

Czechy wobec państw Władysława Jagiełły do 1419 roku. Zarys problemu

Author(s): Jarosław Nikodem / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Kingdom of Poland; Hussite movement; Czech Crown; Venceslaus IV; the university; Czech-Polish alliance

The article constitutes an attempt to present in a synthetic way the policy conducted by Venceslaus IV of the Luxembourg dynasty towards the Polish Kingdom and the Polish-Czech contacts in the period which preceded the outbreak of the Hussite revolution. The author associates the beginning of the warming of the Czech-Polish relations with the deterioration of the situation within the Luxembourg dynasty around the year 1393 and the conflict between the king and Jednota Panska. A search for potential allies by Venceslaus IV who had felt threatened in his position as ruler, led to his decision to sign an alliance treaty with King Ladislaus Jagiello in the year 1395. In spite of the fact that the position of the Czech monarch continued to weaken, Poland did not become a strategic partner of the Czechs.What turned out to be more significant than political alliances in the pre-Hussite period were the contacts between the intellectual circles of Czechia and Poland, but also these contacts had been abruptly severed by Venceslaus’ proclamation and subsequent implementation of the so called Decree of Kutna Hora. When due to the internal problems and the total collapse of the monarch’s authority following the year 1410, the interest of the Czech Crown in relations with the Kingdom of Poland had practically died down, unsuccesful attempts to win over the sympathy of the Krakow court for the religious novelties had been undertaken by Jan Hus and his supporters.

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Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland at the time of Jagiello and Witold in the Ruthenian historical annals

Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie i Królestwo Polskie za czasów Jagiełły i Witolda w latopisarstwie ruskim

Author(s): Sergiey Polechov / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2014

Keywords: Grand Duchy of Lithuania; charters; annals; Polish-Lithuanian union

The aim of the article is to carry out a review of Ruthenian annals, particularly with the view of finding entries relating to the Grand Lithuanian Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland, during the rule of Ladislaus Jagiello. The author also analyzes the issue of the degree of interest of various chronicle-writing centers in problems relating to the Polish-Lithuanian union and the image of the two rulers – Jagiello and Witold that had been created by them. From the analyzed data one can clearly see that the events in the Grand Lithuanian Duchy had been carefully followed by various Ruthenian centers which testifies to the fact that good-neighborly relations with the Duchy had been treated with due attention. On the other hand, the information conveyed by them had not always been precise. The way of presenting Lithuanian topics in Ruthenian annals was closely associated with the traditional image of Lithuania and Lithuanians, as well as with the image of religious dissenters, including among others Catholics, as it had functioned in the social awareness of Ruthenian residents. At the turn of the 14th and at the beginning of the 15th century, on the territory of north-eastern and north-western Ruthenia there already circulated an image of Northern Ruthenia or its part as an “entirely Ruthenian land”. In the effect of this way of reasoning, Witold is presented in the annals as the leader of a tight-knit “Lithuania”, “Lithuanian land”, and Ruthenians are referred to as his subjects only indirectly. The annals devote a lot of attention to the rule of Witold and there is much less information in them about Jagiello. All annals fail to even mention his death in the year 1434. However, their authors were well aware of the fact that Ladislaus Jagiello was a Polish king, ally and sovereign of Witold.

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