The Polish Tradition
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PAUL SUPER THE POLISH TRADITION AN INTERPRETATIQN . OF A NATION THE POLISH TRADITION BY THE SAME AUTHOR ELEMENTS OF POLISH CULTURE AS. SEEN BY A RESIDENT FOREIGNER EVENTS AND PERSONALITIES IN POLISH HISTORY Photo by Plat Church and Street Market, Lublin THE POLISH TRADITION AN INTERPRETATION OF A NATION BY PAUL SUPER • Special Edition published for THE POLISH MINISTRY OF INFORMATION with · permission of Geo�ge Allen & U nwin Ltd. FIRST �UBLISHED IN I 939 SECOND IMPRESSION 1940 THIRD IMPRESSION 1941 POURTH lMPRESSION 1944 (PRODUCED BY MAXLOVE PUBLISHING CO. LTD., LONDON, N,1', FOR THE POLISH MINISTRY OF INFORMĄTJON) . All rights reserved PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BRADFORD AND DICKENS., LONDON, W.C.I PUBLISHERS' NOTE The Po{ish Tradition was written before the outbreak of war, and although a number of sentences are rendered out-of-date we have purposely refrained from altering them as they serve to show the indomitable spirit of a great people. It will be seen that at the time the book was written a firm attitude to Nazi Germany was always backed by a willingness for conciliation right to the end. October 1939. ON PRONOUNCING POLISH NAMES EvERY writer on Poland who writes in the English language faces the problem of getting Polish names and significant words into a form manageable by one not speaking Polish. Long experience has led me to the conclusion that the best thing to do is as a rule to keep to the Polish spelling and give the reader . usable indications as to pronunciation. Here is a key which has been found useful : a broad as in "father." c pronounced as ts except as follows, but never as k. c before i is eh. eh a strongly aspirated h. cz exactly as though it were eh. dz like j in "jump." e short as in "bed." is ee. j is our y. I rounder and fullerthan ours, and when crossed like a t it resembles our w. o is between our o and aw. ó is like oo in "moon." rz like si in "vision." s before i is sh. sz as though it were sh. u · like oo in "moon." w is v. viii THE POLISH TRAD ITION y is a short i as in "is"; never as in "sky." z as in English. There are two other kinds of z but they do not occur in this book. z beforei is zh. As a rule each vowel is pronounced separately. Always accent the next to the last syllable. _ A few illustrations, chiefly names : Bolesław is Bo-le' swaw, the second 1 being crossed. Jadwiga is Yad-vee'ga. Jagiello is Ya-gee-el'wo, touching the 1 but lightly. Matejko is Ma-tay'-ko. Mickiewicz is Mits-kee-ay'-vich. Mieszko is Mee-esh'-ko. Pułaski is Poo-wa' ski, the 1 being crossed. Sienkiewicz is Shee-en-kee-ay' -vich. Sobieski is So-bee-e' -ski. Stanisław is Sta-ni'-swaw, i as in "is," the 1 crossed. Szlachta is shlach' ta, the eh as in German "nacht." Wilno is Veel'no. · Wit Stwosz is Veet Stvosh. Wladyslaw is Vwa-di' -swav. Both l's are crossed, i as in "is." Zygmunt is Zig' -munt ; i as in "is." CONTENTS PAGE ON PRO NOUNCING POLISH NAMES vii HISTORICAL FOREWORD xiii CHAP. I. THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF A NATIONAL TRAD ITION I 2. THE POLISH TRADITION AS TO SOCIAL CLASSES 29 3· THE POLISH TRADITION AS TO PERSONAL TRAITS 56 4. AS TO SOCIAL LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS I I I )• AS TO POLITICAL LIFE AND ORGANIZATION IJ2 6. TRADITIONS RO OTED IN THE FACTS OF GEOGRAPHY 156 7. THE PLACE OF OTHER NATIONS IN THE POLISH TRADITION 177. SUMMARY 206 SOUR CES 208 INDEX 209 lx ILLUSTRATIONS Church and Street Market, Lublin Frontispiece FACING PAGE New National łduseum, Warsaw 16 Castle of the Princes Czartoryski at Goluchow 32 Old Castle at Luck, Poland. Scene of 44 Tartar attacks. (Pronounced W ootsk) 48 Peasant wedding in the Lowicz district. Bride in centre-background with high flower headdress 64 Court of University Library at Kraka�. Statue of Copernicus who was a Pole and studied there 80 Warsaw Jews 96 Jan Zamoyski. A famous 16th Century N oble 112 The 16th Century Poznan City Hall 112 . Typical manor-house ; in Polish, "dwor" 128 King Jan Sobieski, the deliverer of Vienna from the Turk in 1683, on a IO zloty silver coin 144 The Polish Eagle on a IO zloty silver coin 144 xl xii THE POLISH TRADITION FACING PAGE View of the Carpathian Mountains (Tatra) from the Pieniny Range 160 Order from King Jan Kazimierz, April 1656; to help organize the army that drove the Swedes out of Poland 192 Map At end HISTORICAL FOREWORD PoLANDemerges fromthe mists, uncertainty, and legends of its earlier centuries into authentic written bistory with the accession to power of its first great ruler Mieczysław the First, Mieszko forshort, in 962, the most significant event of his career being his acceptance of Christianity in its Latin form in 966. He was followed by his capable son Bolesław the Brave, the head of a nation now becoming Christian, <i. man of extraordinary organizing abilities and a warrior of note, of whose remarkable career the British historian G. E. Slocombe says, "it had no parallel in the history of contemporary Europe�" The vast empire. built up by this able king was un fortunate1y divided among his sons and grandsons, in accordance with contemporary eustom, into a group of four independent principalities with no central authority over them, a decentralization of control that resulted in disintegration. One of these dukes, Conrad of Mazowia, was troubled by the invasions of his northern neighbours, the then pagan Prussians, and in 1226 called in the Tęutonic Knights, a militant order of monks, to conquer and evangelize these heathen. This the Knights did all . too well, combining conquest and extermination as the most simple process ofi conversion and discipline, and . so strongly established their rule that it was only broken . by the Polęs and Lith�anians at the Battle of Grunwald, xitt XIV THE POLISH TRAD ITION in 1410 and the long-deferred treaty of 1466, giving the Teutonie Knights East Prussia but as vassals of the Polish king,. For the kingdom 1'ad been restored by Wladyslaw the Short in 1 J20, a warlike king, followed by his peaceful and wise son Kazimierz the Great, 1333-1370-the last of the Piast dynasty. The grand-nieee of this king, Jadwiga, became queen - and ruler in 1383. In 1386 she married Władysław J agiello, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and thus both led that prince and duchy into the Christian faith and united these two lands under one dynasty, a dynastie and social . union deepened in 1413 and resulting in a complete political union as the Republic of Poland in 1569, three years before the death without heir of the last of the Jagiello kings, Zygmunt August, when Poland was at the height of its Golden Age. Then followed the series of elected kings, the greatest of whom were Stefan Batory, 1576-1586, and Jan Sobieski, who led the· Polish cavalry to besieged Vienna and there defeated the Turks in the great victory of 1683. In 1648 troubles in the Ukraine culminated in the Cossack wars, soon followed by wars with Russia, the Swedish wars of 1656-1660, and other minor wars, all so weakening Polanc;l that its decline as a power set in, to end in the three partitions of. Poland among Prussia, Russia, and Austria in 1772, 1793, and 1795, and the disappearance of Poland as a State until November 11, 1918, when the famous 14 points of President Wilson, the victory of the Allies, and the military genius of the late Marshal Piłsudski restored to Poland her unity and independence. HISTORICAL FOREWORD XV Polish history thus falls into five periods: First Period The Piast Dynasty, 962-1370. Second Period The Jagiellon Dynasty, 1386-1572. Third Period The Elected Kings, 1574-1795. F ourth Period The Period of Partitioned Poland, 1795-1918. Fifth Period Contemporary Poland,- 1918- 0ther significant events in Polish history will be spoken of later in relation to topics developed as part of the theme of this book. This brief outline will suffice as a framewor� sketch. A short history of Poland may be foundin the 14th Edition of the Ency clopaedia Britannica, and more extensive accounts are listed in the bibliography at the end of this book. CH APTER ONE THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF A NATIONAL TRADITION 1. How thisboolc came to be written When Dr. W. J. Rose was inaugurated as Reader in Polish in the University of London in February 1936 he chose as the theme of his inaugural lecture the interest awakening topie "The Polish Tradition." In the open ing paragraph of the printed edition of that leeture Dr. Rose states that he proposes rather to raise issues than to resolve them, implies that he will· not make startling revelations of any kind, and would be content if his presentation led to future studies of the subjeet by others. The preserit monograph is at least one realization of that hope. I foundthe topie extraordinarily stimulating, leading me to desire to crystallize into very definite form the observations of seventeen years of residence among the Poles and extensive study of their land, life, and literature�the last with the help of my . wife, both a linguist and an expert in researeh. During the three years that have passed since the day of Dr.