mgr Michał Machalski

Section 19.: Realm and National Community in Vincentius Kadłubek’s „Chronicle of the Poles”

The conference paper focuses on the role played by loyalty - one of the key concepts of medieval political culture - in  Kadłubek’s vision of the relationship between ruler and subjects. Analyzing both the chronicler's direct reflections and the meaning of selected narratives, the conference paper seeks to answer questions about the place of ties of loyalty in res publica imagined by Kadłubek and the circumstances in which they could be dissolved. Kadłubek's idea of a virtuous res publica, as well as the immediate political context of the chronicle's creation, influenced his vision in which subjects and rulers were bound by ties of mutual, selfless loyalty. The shifting allegiances of the arbiters of Piast power - the dignitaries of Lesser Poland - were justified in the eyes of the chronicler, as long as they remained steadfastly loyal to the political community itself.