The history of Poland as reflected in written versions of the Bible

Abstract

This paper presents the connection between selected Polish biblical translations and the national and personal history of Polish people (14th–18th century). The history of Florian Psalter (14th/15th century) and that of Queen Sophia’s Bible (15th century) are related to the beginning of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The first printed biblical text in Polish (Prologue to the Gospel according to St. John, 1518/1519) and editions of the New Testament translated by Stanisław Murzynowski (1551–1553) testify to the development of Polish orthography. Both, the woodcuts of the Leopolita’s Bible (1561, 1575/1577) and the notes to the commentary on the Acts of the Apostles by Tomas Falconius (1566) give an account of the tumultuous history of Polish Reformation. The dedication in the second edition of Leopolita’s Bible (1975) and its alteration in 1577 attest to the failure of the first free royal election in Poland. The manuscript notes in Wrocław copy of Simon Budny’s Bible (1572) constitute an eyewitness account of the collapse of Poland at the end of 18th century. Whereas, the manuscript notes in the translation of Psalter by W. Wróbel constitute a chronicle of the Wilieziński family. Therefore, while talking about the history of Polish biblical translations one can talk about the history of Poland as a country, at the same time.

Keywords

• Przekład, Biblia, Psałterz floriański, Biblia Królowej Zofii, Nowy Testament królewiecki, Biblia Leopolity, Biblia brzeska, Biblia Szymona Budnego, Żołtarz proroka Dawida, historia Polski, ortografia, reformacja, Jagiellonowie, św. Jadwiga