dr hab. Adam Krawiec, prof. UAM

Section 27.: Ways of manifesting secular and ecclesiastical power in medieval sources

The contribution addresses the problem of the possibility of reconstructing, on the base of available sources, the activities of a high medieval ruler concerning the creation of his own image, taking into consideration the fundamental issue, i.e. the relevance of the use, in relation to the Middle Ages, of contemporary terms such as ‘image strategy’, ‘image creation’, etc. The above mentioned issues will be analysed on the example of Władysław I Herman, Duke of Poland. Possible source evidence of the ruler's image-making activities from different categories of historical sources will be discussed. Particular attention will be paid to the research difficulties involved in analysing these sources and to assess to what extent these difficulties are specific to the particular case of Władysław Herman and to what extent they are of a more general nature. An attempt will also be made to reconstruct Herman's ‘image strategy’ in the light of the sources, and to estimate its effectiveness.