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Nasza Przeszłość

Vol. 98 (2002): Our Past

Articles

The Miechów convent of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre until the mid-15th century. Studies in monastic prosopography

  • Radosław S. Gałczyński
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2002.98.163-195  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2002-12-30

Abstract

The convent at Miechów was the most important centre of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Poland. The abbot of the Miechów convent was at the same time head of the Polish branch of the order and in certain periods his authority extended even to some communities outside Poland. From time to time the abbots of Miechów also took up a role on the political scene of medieval Lessr Poland (eg. during the revolt of Albert, Mayor of Krakow, in 1311). Although historians of monastic orders in Poland have shown little interest in monastic prosopography, it is a field well worth exploring. The sources usually contain more information about various office holders in an order or convent, while other members of the community are mentioned very
sparingly. This is reflected in most of the studies where the focus is invariably on persons of high rank. The history of the Miechów convent is no exception. Although we have enough information about the superiors of the convent to compile their more or less detailed biograms, it is practically impossible to find out anything about the rank-and-file monks. The early history of the Miechów convent still remains a blank: we do not know how many monks came to Poland in the first place, who they were, or what kind of formation was peculiar to the Order of Holy Sepulchre at that time. The later stages of the convent's history are better documented and pose fewer problems of interpretation. Thus it was possible for the writer of this study to describe the structure and the various activities of the convent. By matching S. Nakielski’s list with other sources the author has drawn up a new survey of the Miechów abbots. It contains biograms of individual lives and assessments of each rule on the functioning of the convent. Thanks to generous donations and, perhaps more importantly, good economic manage ment (especially under the rule of Abbot Stanisław Stojkow and Abbot Michał of Radomsko in 1383-1424) the Miechów convent belonged to the richest monasteries in Małopolska. In conclusion it should be said that the main concern of this study is to take a broad view of the Miechów community and throw more light on the ‘human factor’ in the history of that remarkable outpost of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

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