Wąż Miedziany i rzekoma nobilitacja. Przyczynek do biografii Tomasza Tretera

Abstract

The Brazen Serpent and the Alleged Ennoblement: A Case for Tomasz Treter’s Biography The article discusses signs of identity (burgher arms) of Tomasz Treter (Treterus, 1547–1610). Treter was a trusted secretary of Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz (Hosius), but also a draughtsman, a painter, an engraver, a designer of monuments and prints, and a Neo-Latin poet. The texts focuses on Treter’s non-armorial seals, depicting a shield with a winged snake twisted around a cross (the Brazen Serpent) and on Treter’s two supralibros (one with the burgher arms and the other displaying an impresa). The paper also analyses emblematic compositions in Symbolica vitae Christi meditatio, a volume of meditations composed by Treter. These sources are used to undermine the belief that Treter was ennobled by Pope Gregory XIII and that he used the Boncompagni’s coat of arms (Draco).